‘Death Stranding 2: On The Beach’ review: arty masterpiece sequel is loads of fun

Video games are designed to be played, so being boring is a far more grievous charge than it is in other artforms. As Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima highlighted in his 2023 visit to the Criterion Closet; you wouldn’t be taken very seriously if, after the credits rolled on Yasujirō Ozu’s 1949 masterpiece Late Spring, you said that the classic character study needed a few high-octane bike chases.

This brings us neatly to Death Stranding, Kojima’s hit 2019 creation that saw immortal freelance courier Sam Porter Bridges (Norman Reedus) lug packages across a barren, post-apocalyptic America. The game featured an auteur’s direction and satirical wit rare in blockbuster titles, but still went on to sell 19million copies. However there were plenty of moments where the monotonous grind of in-game deliveries felt a bit too much like real-life chores, and there are only so many times you could say ‘“Kojima intended this as a satire of modern-life-as-fetch-quest,” before you longed for something more instantly gratifying.

Death Stranding 2 solves that main issue. Kojima’s singular vision remains intact but gameplay is massively broadened. To put it simply, it’s a lot more fun.

Death Stranding 2 takes place 11 months after the end of the first game. Sam’s been hiding out in an underground bunker with Lou, his ‘Bridge Baby’ freed from its canister, taking lots of cute social media photos and generally loving life as a father. Then Fragile (Léa Seydoux) turns up and asks Sam to connect the ‘Chiral Network’ to Mexico. This mission forms the game’s tutorial before things inevitably take a turn for the worse. Red cloaked warriors attack Sam’s makeshift home and later, he agrees to connect another vast land mass, Australia, now easily accessible through a kind of paranormal portal known as a ‘Plate Gate.’

Acolytes, fear not: Kojima’s unique aesthetic remains unpolluted. Death Stranding 2 offers a compelling narrative blend of impenetrable melodrama and thoughtful beauty. You’ll still engage in semi-wondrous semi-monotonous cross-country backpacking, soundtracked by baby wailing and Caroline Polachek’s haunted pop banger.  George Miller also makes an appearance as the ‘Tarman’, who lectures you about the properties of paranormal tar.

But Death Stranding 2 feels more urgent than its predecessor. You dive into the story straight away and the world is already established, so no time is wasted in setting up the post-apocalyptic landscape. The best changes see Kojima draw quite liberally from his beloved Metal Gear series. Camps of enemies are plentiful, bosses are epic. Sam can draw on a bounty of 3D printed vehicles and non-lethal weapons. BTs, the shadowy spirits that cause explosions on contact, return as regular combatants with Sam able to vaporise them with specialised blood weapons.

Stealth is key though. Getting shot up will ruin your cargo while new companion Dollman (a doll with the soul of a man) can be hurled into bases to scout patrolling enemies. There’s also a deeper upgrade system which mixes both Oblivion-esque skill increases that depend on your play style, and adjustable ‘APAS Enhancements’ for tools and equipment.

Even travelling across the vast world is smoothed out to feel less of a chore thanks to an abundance of vehicles. There’s a new movable base, the DHV Magellan, which is helmed by Miller, as well as a full-on monorail system. There’s nothing to stop masochists from making the deliveries on foot though. Across Death Stranding 2, there are just more ways to play.

‘Death Stranding 2: On The Beach’ is released on June 26 for PlayStation 5

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