Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is one of my most highly anticipated titles this year, right next to Capcom’s Monster Hunter Wilds. After playing the first 10 hours of this sequel, I’ve been left with a mix of confusion and wonder.
The first Death Stranding was one of my favorite games of 2019. While others mockingly referred to it as a "walking simulator," I never saw that as a negative. The sheer novelty of its gameplay felt completely fresh to me in my 20-plus years of playing video games. Never would I have thought I’d enjoy wandering across barren dunes, hauling a truckload of packages, and running from shadowy figures with a baby strapped to my chest. Only Kojima’s Death Stranding could make that kind of experience resonate with me.
And in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, that feeling remains… mostly.
Weird Familiarity
The first few hours of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach gave me a strong sense of weird familiarity. After a fantastic opening sequence in Mexico featuring WOODKID’s “Minus Sixty One,” I found myself engaging in the same kind of activities as the first game: walking, fending off bandits, and delivering cargo.
This routine went on for about five hours, delivering packages and helping out other players by making a simple ladder to cross a river.
After that, I came face to face with the game's first BT boss fight. While the grotesque design of the creature was certainly impressive, I found myself repeating old patterns — throwing Blood Grenades and dodging attacks, just like the first game. I’ll admit, it didn’t excite me. It felt like more of the same, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that nothing had really changed yet.
READ: Should You Play Death Stranding 1 Before Death Stranding 2?
But Then, Something Shifted...
Following the boss fight, the game suddenly felt like the climax of a film. Sam falls into a state of depression and anguish after a major event, which I won’t spoil, and I found myself working for DRAWBRIDGE, a new private delivery company led by Lea Seydoux’s Fragile, aiming to reconnect all of Australia to the Chiral Network.
That’s when I realized the real game had just begun.
Mexico didn’t leave much of an impression on me, but Australia? That’s the true opening act. This is where the game comes alive and begins to show off everything new it has to offer. From new BTs and enemy types to new weapons, I found myself laughing at the thought that the first five hours were just Kojima messing with us. It’s like he wanted us to think this was the same game all over again, only to pull the rug out and drop us into something genuinely fresh.
Now I'm not only delivering packages, but facing off against a new enemy type with an AI smart enough to catch me by surprise. Despite coming from Metal Gear Solid, my proclivity for a stealthier approach is maintained here, but higher difficulties tend to have smarter AI, and I regretted picking that option. Then again, I won't let that bother me that much, as that's all part of the challenge.
There’s still so much more to explore in my early hours in Australia, and I already know this is going to be another 50-hour journey filled with emotional highs and lows.
I can’t wait to see what happens next.
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