Death Stranding 2: On The Beach [Review]

Following the footsteps of other sequels that arrived recently on the PlayStation, Death Stranding 2 is miles ahead of its prequel. While the first one was a bunch of well executed ideas with very bad story and combat, the sequel has the same good ideas, with better combat, way better story and so many nice things to unlock.

The visuals are insanely good and everything runs super well, it is that much polished, one of those games that are so flawless that the only thing that I could think about while playing was the game itself, time flown, and almost every new idea that Kojima Production tried landed flawlessly. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is somewhat easier than the original, at least for half of the game, but not by much.

Every episode of the game is well paced with a bit of plot and exploration, so the story is better paced when compared to the first. Still, some characters just teleport from one scene to another, and there are some exaggerated non-sense, but waaay less than the first time. Now it feels like a proper story, with mysteries, consequences and interesting twists. By the end, I felt connected to the characters and the plot, something that I wasn't really expecting from this game, since this hasn't happened to me on the first.

In my opinion, the biggest strength here are with the rewards of both the side content and main story. Every facility rewards nice, game changing equipment and traversal gear, so completing sidequests and doing the extra mile on the exploration gives amazing rewards. The asynchronous multiplayer is here again too, and it is awesome to see the world evolve while playing the game, as other porters (players) advance their world and that reflects on mine too. It is unique, as unique as the first game, and this is the only franchise to have something like this that well implemented.

Traversing and walking around on the many vehicles or by foot is a joy and can be challenging, the feeling of movement is perfected here, so sometimes I found myself in hard situations because of bad and "videogamey" planning on my part. Death Stranding as a franchise is keen on being different to play when compared to many other games just because of how unique it is to walk, pivot and balance in the game; and how important the terrain is for walking, climbing or driving. Natural phenomenons like earthquakes and avalanches can happen, and while gorgeous to see, they're always very deadly, so in many ways the world still feels hostile and unpredictable with way more types of enemies be them human, machine or ghost.

There aren't many games where you skateboard a coffin while holding an electric guitar that shoots lasers, nor where you can capture gigantic monsters to see them battle in kaiju fights from the ground. Although heavy in themes, DS2 has many silly moments and goofy scenes, not everything is that serious, even on the gameplay. Still, as I said, some moments the story feels a bit too rushed, characters appear and disappear out of nowhere and every time I think too much about the logistics of this world, the worldbuilding shows its holes. It is a follow up to one of the most convoluted stories ever, and while being this much better is an accomplishment, it is still Death Stranding, and there are many moments where I rolled my eye or cringed a bit. It has a "hello fellow kids" energy sometimes.

Even so, it moved me, the new characters are nice and the main story is fulfilling. Although the story of Sam Bridges ended in this game, and much of the mysteries were solved, if they want, we may return to this weird world. Otherwise, as the end of a story, it worked pretty well for me, even if sometimes it stumbles on its own ambitions.

9/10

This review was first published at Backloggd on July, Monday 7th, 2025. This version here has very minor wording changes.

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach took about 71 hours to finish in my playthrough on the PlayStation 5 Pro.

All the screenshots on this review are full-res and my footage.