I didn’t exactly ‘get’ Death Stranding. I know, I’m a special unique snowflake and no lived experience is quite like my own. But it has a strange magnetism that draws me to it. While no game is quite like Death Stranding, there are a few games like this for me – ones that I know I don’t really get on with, but am powerless to resist. I tried Tears of the Kingdom despite falling off Breath of the Wild. I checked out Elden Ring even though I don’t get on with Souls games. And after giving up on World and Rise, I’m back in the saddle for Monster Hunter Wilds.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will be no different. I might not finish it, I might not like it, I might not understand it. But I promise you this: I will start it. Up until the most recent trailer though, I didn’t have much clue what I was even starting. Previous trailers did highlight some returning characters, like Sam and Fragile, but also introduced new ones like, um, the weird Alan Wake lookalike puppet. I didn’t know what to expect, but after the latest trailer, I finally do. Kind of.
Death Stranding 2’s Story Is Looking Clearer… Kinda
The story revolving around submarines diving through oil seemed so far removed from my wonky experience with the first Death Stranding that I wasn’t sure if I should be excited about the change or wary of where the weirdness would go next – after all, doing something different to the first game would give me another chance to like it more, but would also mean yet more mechanics acting as metaphors to stumble through. But the new trailer makes Death Stranding 2 look like a sequel to Death Stranding. It’s the first time since the game was revealed that I’ve felt that, and it’s a strange kind of comfort.
Across the ten minute long trailer, we see a lot of the things that we associate with Death Stranding in that kooky Kojima big picture sense – lots of celebrity cameos, lines that sound cool in isolation but probably don’t connect to the narrative effectively, a baby being sucked down the birth canal, that strange emo eye makeup everywhere… but that was all present in the previous stuff. It’s why people who love Death Stranding have been all in on this one from the very beginning.
What I hadn’t really seen a lot of is what we actually do in the game. There had been flashes of gameplay in the other trailers, but nothing that had made me go ‘oh so I’ll be doing this’. Lotta watching. Lotta pointing at the screen saying, “hey look it’s Elle Fanning”. Lotta not really following what’s going on then listening to other people explain it and wondering if they actually get it or if they’re pretending they do to look smart. But doing? Wasn’t sure.
The Best Way To Play Death Stranding Is To Give In To It
But this new trailer makes everything okay. Though we don’t see Sam with boxes stacked on his back, we do see a lot of him walking around pretty uneven ground with little in the horizon but the sunset and no company but his own rapidly unfurling thoughts. This means it will be like Death Stranding, and therefore that I won’t be good enough at it or patient enough for it, all while not really enjoying it. My own thoughts have clearly begun to unfurl too, because I’m really looking forward to it.
Knowing that Death Stranding 2 is just more Death Stranding means I know what’s coming. I can prepare myself that some parts will be boring and difficult without even being challenging, and brace for having to get through them. Death Stranding was rarely hard the way other video games are hard, it was hard like trying not to blink for a minute. You’re not really sure what you’ve achieved by the end of it, but you know it was tough.
I feel ready to not blink for a minute this June. Death Stranding 2 will be hard to get through, and at times feel pointless, but I hope that the sequel will get me the way the first game didn’t. And Tears of the Kingdom didn’t. And Elden Ring didn’t. The jury’s still out on Monster Hunter Wilds. If nothing else, I’ll be able to point at my TV and say “hey look it’s Elle Fanning”. I get the sense Kojima would be happy enough if that was everyone’s takeaway from his work.
- Released
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June 26, 2025
- Publisher(s)
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Sony Interactive Entertainment