Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Review – Delivering Hope at the End of the World

Death Stranding has always been a polarising game that divided Hideo Kojima’s fanbase. Players who loved Metal Gear Solid were ready for ‘the next big thing’ from their favourite game director, only to be met with something unexpected in 2019. 

The original Death Stranding was a surprising breath of fresh air from an industry oversaturated with big-budget open-world games filled with microtransactions, DLCs, and ‘live-service’ models. It was a quiet, introspective journey across America, pondering the questions of interconnectivity, human emotion, and our future as a species. Some loved it, some hated it. 

The undeniable fact is that Death Stranding was an impressively polished, focused experience that knew exactly what it was trying to do. Now, in 2025, Kojima Productions is sharing Death Stranding 2: On the Beach with the world. In it, Kojima is asking the opposite of what he did in the original game. ‘Should we have connected?’ is the tagline this time around, putting into question everything you achieved as a player in the first game. 

Death Stranding was a game that flourished because it was so strange and original when we played it in 2019. With the sequel inevitably being less surprising, does Death Stranding 2: On the Beach do enough to bring players back to its surreal world?

TL;DR

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a sequel to one of the most original PlayStation 4 games. It succeeds at expanding its world and evolving the gameplay formula, all while offering a personal, emotional journey to players willing to embrace its esoteric nature.

All images in this article are screenshots captured in-game or during cinematics from the PlayStation 5 version of the game, carefully chosen to avoid story spoilers.

Story – Continuing Straight from the First Game

When the world was introduced to Death Stranding in 2019, we had a lot of questions for Kojima Productions. How does this world operate? What caused the world to end up the way it did? What’s with all the monsters and delivery drivers? We had six full years to analyse every bit of the first game in preparation for the second. 

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is an iterative sequel that acts as a ‘second half’ of the story. Even if you haven’t played the first game, you should at least watch a few recap videos before diving into this one. The game assumes you’re fully caught up on its world and rules as we catch up with Sam, played by Norman Reedus. 

Picking up almost a year after the first game, the world hasn’t benefited from our actions in the first game as we initially hoped. Unexpected earthquakes and climate changes are more and more frequent as a result of us connecting the American continent in Death Stranding. Sam is contacted by his friends to come back into the fold and help them fix the state of the world before it’s too late. 

While the story is much more nuanced than it initially seems, talking about it here would delve into spoiler territory. It’s a smaller-scale, personal story compared to the first game, focusing on family and dealing with the loss of loved ones. If you enjoyed the first game’s narrative, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach provides closure for many of the questions you’ve had for years.

Gameplay – Trekking Across Australia

Technically, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a third-person open-world game. However, the nuances of its gameplay are far more complicated than that. Similar to the first game, you’ll control Sam as he reconnects Australia just like he did with America in Death Stranding. In practice, this means carrying specific cargo across great distances, through mountains, rivers, valleys, and various obstacles. 

On your way, you’ll often run across hostile creatures and bandits who want to steal your cargo. Depending on the state of your cargo on delivery, you’ll be graded based on speed, weight of your packages, your combat skills, etc. This is a gameplay loop carried over from the first game and remains largely unchanged. What has changed is the continent you’ll travel to, as Australia is much different from America in that regard. 

Weather conditions can deteriorate in moments, and you’ll fight floods, wildfires, sandstorms, and other obstacles. While you can use bikes and trucks to travel, they are battery-powered, and you can easily get stuck midway to your destination without a power source. Planning your route is more important than actually travelling from A to B in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.

More Action This Time Around

The original Death Stranding was brutal when it came to action, and not because of its difficulty. In this world, killing someone is a big deal because their bodies have to be disposed of within a certain timeframe. Otherwise, you’ll get a ‘Game Over’ screen. This made the original game frustrating when it came to combat because of how good it felt, but at the same time, how limiting it was. 

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is much more lenient in this regard due to two major factors: non-lethal weapons and mechanised enemies. The first allows you to go crazy with your enemies and play the game the way you want to play it. Whether you want to sneak around enemies or eliminate them directly, the game now allows you to do it. Mechanised enemies are more straightforward and require you to confront them with your weapons. 

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach shares its DNA with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and acts as a sandbox environment. No matter how you want to deal with a situation, the game will likely allow you to do exactly what you planned. It’s what makes the gameplay so addictive, and once you get hooked, you’ll easily spend dozens of hours delivering packages without ever touching the main story.

Asynchronous Multiplayer Makes the World Feel Alive

Death Stranding features multiplayer. Technically. It’s an asynchronous multiplayer system similar to games like Demon’s Souls. You’ll essentially know when other players have travelled the same paths you have, but you won’t be able to interact with them directly. Similarly, any buildings you create or vehicles you leave on the road will be accessible to other players–the same applies the other way around. 

This means that Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a collective experience despite being a single-player game. As you come across useful items, bridges, vehicles, and other things left behind by others, you can award them with ‘Likes’. This global counter shows each player’s overall helpfulness toward others, incentivising you to contribute to the global network. 

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach can often feel like an isolating, quiet experience. It can also feel like a road trip with thousands of other players inhabiting the world just like you are, doing their own thing and crossing paths with you. It’s a living environment, and the system really makes Death Stranding stand out from other games.

Visuals – Powered by the Decima Engine

Death Stranding’s post-apocalypse is rendered in the Decima Engine. Originally developed by Guerrilla Games for their Horizon series, Kojima Productions decided to utilise it for Death Stranding as well. Given the focus on expansive vistas and smart AI, the Decima Engine has proven to be the best choice for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. 

The game features a Quality (30 FPS) and Performance (60 FPS) modes, as well as PlayStation 5 Pro enhancements. Depending on the type of PS5 you play it on, you can pick the mode that best suits your preferences and display. Whichever mode you choose, you’ll be greeted with a beautiful, haunting version of Australia, void of human life and filled with unknown dangers and surprises. 

Because of the low character density, Kojima Productions could really focus on the visual quality of the environments Sam will travel through. The motion capture technology utilised here is even more impressive compared to the first game, with even the slightest facial movements perfectly captured in every cutscene. What’s also impressive is just how technically polished Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is even before launch. 

Loading times are virtually non-existent, and we experienced no bugs or technical issues during our time with the game. It goes back to traditional player expectations when it comes to new game launches. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a full game on day one—nothing missing, nothing broken.

Audio – Signature Quality from Kojima Productions

One of the key factors differentiating Death Stranding from other AAA games is its reliance on Hollywood actors, both in motion and voice acting. The second game evolves the formula with a fresh set of faces that join Sam on his journey across Australia. Some friends, some foes, these actors do a tremendous job at breathing life into their characters. 

Surprisingly, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach features shorter, clearer cutscenes compared to Kojima’s previous games. You won’t spend 30 minutes watching your TV and waiting for the game to resume here. This makes the game more involved for the player, ensuring you’re actually excited to watch the next cutscene when it starts playing. Here’s the list of actors you’ll see in the game:

• Norman Reedus as Sam Porter
• Léa Seydoux as Fragile
• George Miller as Tarman (Performance by Marty Rhone)
• Troy Baker as Higgs
• Elle Fanning as Tomorrow
• Fatih Akin as Dollman (Performance by Jonathan Roumie)
• Shioli Kutsuna as Rainy
• Alastair Duncan as The President
• Alissa Jung as Lucy
• Nicolas Winding Refn as Heartman (Performance by Darren Jacobs)
• Luca Marinelli as Neil
• Debra Wilson as Doctor

Vibing to the Sounds of the Post-Apocalypse

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a game that revolves heavily around delivering packages. As such, you’ll spend a lot of time driving around, finding the best path forward in the minimal time and least possible danger. Just like the first game, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will hit you with feelings when you least expect it, in a way that’s both brilliant and obvious. 

While the first game featured Low Roar as the centrepiece of its soundtrack, this time we’re listening to Woodkid (along with a few special music appearances). The game features dynamic music that reacts to gameplay, extending, repeating, or annunciating certain elements based on your actions. It’s a wonderful experience, especially with a great set of headphones. 

Paired with PlayStation 5’s haptic feedback functionality, simply playing Death Stranding is an experience unlike any other. The closest we’ve gotten to this level of immersion this generation is with Returnal, another beautiful first-party experience from Sony.

Conclusion – Should You Play Death Stranding 2: On the Beach?

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a game made for the fans of the first game. If you didn’t enjoy the gameplay loop of delivering packages across great distances, dodging monsters and bandits, you likely won’t enjoy this game either. However, if you loved the first game, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is an unforgettable, emotional journey you owe it to yourself to experience. 

It improves the formula in minor, valuable ways while tightening the gameplay up to eliminate annoyances. Its story is not as bizarre this time around, and it was to be expected. We are already familiar with the world of Death Stranding and its rules, so the sequel was always going to be more straightforward as a result. 

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach continues PlayStation’s trend of high-budget story-driven games in the vein of The Last of Us and the recently released Days Gone Remastered. It’s not for everyone, but nothing ever really is. The difference is that this game doesn’t shy away from making it clear who its target audience is and shows it proudly to the world. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is now available on the PlayStation 5.

Big thanks to PlayStation Greece for providing us with the review copy!