Every time Hideo Kojima has a video game in store, he risks upsetting the gaming sector. So it was in 2019 with Death Stranding, an adventure on human connections with a stellar cast. Six years later the sequel is coming, Death Stranding 2: on the beach, available from June 26 on PS5. Here’s what we think after 58 hours of play.
Hideo Kojima loves to amaze. Second Ignwhen the first testers told him that Death stranding 2: on the beach It was a great game, he decided to change some elements to make it less “Mainstream”. An eclecticity that the Japanese author has always shown, since the time of Metal Gear Solid on PlayStation, when the Joystick entry to defeat Psycho Mantis had to be changed: a breakdown of the fourth wall of the most iconic in videogame history.
His desire to subvert the rules reached one of his apices in 2019, with the release of the first Death Stranding. A title that has divided the public and critical by its atypical nature: more than an action, it was A reflection on the bond between people, in which a lonely courier was impersonated in an America devastated by an otherworldly apocalypse.
A cryptic, slow, poetic game, almost prophetic in his talk of isolation and connection – came out a few months before the pandemic. This introduction into the “Kojimiano” style explains the huge expectation that there is for the incoming sequel. Waiting for the author to have to tease with continuous Instagram posts. Meanwhile, we at Fanpage.it We tried the game in preview, and we can immediately say that yes, Death Stranding 2 is actually excellent. If this is good or a limit – with all due respect to Kojima – let’s try to explain it to the following paragraphs.
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Beyond the united cities of America?
Ever since Death Stranding has occurred, the apocalyptic event he put The kingdom of the living in contact with that of the deadthe world as we know it has changed. The rainbows are turned upside down and without blue, the color of peace. Even thunderstorms are no longer the same: now there is the Cronipoggia, whose waters weaken everything on which they fall. It is in these moments that the Ca appear, creeped creatures, souls in pain capable of creating chasms with only touch. Once again, Sam Porter Bridges (Norman Reedus) is called to face all this later the restoration of the United Cities of Americathe UCA. By their behalf, it must unite new territories: Mexico and Australia. Countries that no longer exist as nations, but as places where people who survive the apocalypse live isolated in shelters, frightened by such a hostile external world. Precisely because of the lack of institutional power, brigands and other groups of rebels acute a situation already tense through violence.
Death Stranding 2 | Visually the game is amazing, both as regards the expressions of the characters, and for the environments.
Despite these premises, unlike the first trip from the East to the west of the former United States, this time Sam will not be alone: In addition to little Lou, the Drawbridge crew, led by the fragile note (Lea Seydoux), is ready to give support through the Magellan ship. An incipit with the fantasy -of -the -art declinations in which America is ready to extend its influence towards territories without masters. Fiction dynamics which, however, bring the externalizations of the current President of the United States of America back to Greenland, Panama, Canada and Gulf of Mexico to mind. But on the other hand Kojima has always shown a great ability to know decline the present in creative form: in the case of the first Death Stranding, the main inspirations that prompted a game of the need to connect were Brexit and the first election of Donald Trump in 2016. He said it in An interview from 2021 Kenji Yanoscreenwriter of Kojima Productions.
Death Stranding 2 | The characters of Fragile and Dollman. In general, the cast of characters is broad and counts star of the caliber of George Miller, Elle Fanning, Alissa Jung, Luca Marinelli and many others.
Death Stranding 2 questioned these connections with a questioning sentence: dWhere did we really connect? A question that acts as a slogan to the game and that becomes increasingly cumbersome during a journey that yes, has political implications, but mainly acts by container of powerful and devastating stories. Sam, Fragile, Tarman (George Miller), Dollman (Jonathan Roumie) and the other cast characters, played by cinema giants including the Roman actor Luca Marinelli, become pieces of a larger mosaic he has in the center the concept of loss but also of love. Themes that are recurring in Kojima’s videogame career: one of the most impactful events was the sudden mourning of the father at a young age, as he himself says in the book The talent gene and my adorable meme (Edizioni 451, 2021).
The result is an intricate plot full of facets, composed of a plurality of voices, which however advances in a more linear and clear way Compared to the type of cryptic narration seen in the first Death stranding. Which is not bad at all, because it promotes greater empathy towards monumental characters, each protagonist of stories with delicate and melancholy tones. The merit of this also goes to the incredible performances of the supermented cast, which give deep humanity to heroes and villains in many surreal aspects.
A game that focuses on the action
In terms of playability, the narrative concept of Death Stranding 2 allows an expansion of what was seen in the first chapteralready starting from geography: the black and snow -covered soils of the Icelandic mold leave room for a really important diversity of environments. This translates into new challenges for Sam, forced to face storms of sand, fires, earthquakes, but also snowy peaks, tar coasts and jagged soils. Human threats are also more frequent and varied: there are mules, i.e. ex -couriers Reietti, brigands and followers of Higgs (Troy Baker), an antagonist known in the first chapter. There is also no shortage the ca, which are now more aggressive and of different typesalbeit less incisive than the first chapter, if the clashes against the bosses are not considered.
To face all these dangers, Sam has a series of gadgets, some already seen, many others unpublished – especially between weapons – which allow you to adopt the favorite method to complete the delivery of the required possible damages. From the old style shoes armed with stairs and climbing nails, passing through motorcycles or in the van, up to the Metal coffin used as an overboard to float on impervious soils: The available and enhanceable tools are really many and guarantee the most advantageous method of action to advance according to their criteria. This allows you to customize the experience in full, even in the duration. Death Stranding 2 can be finished in 30 as well as in 1oo hoursit depends on how much you want to give space to secondary deliveries, which are different and often delicious, such as the rescue of animals.
Death Stranding 2 | Also in this sequel you can count on the support of other players, between likes and support buildings such as bridges, roads, generators. This component, taken from the first chapter, is called asynchronous multiplayer.
Packled freedom also concerns The fights. Given the greater amount of enemies, it is not uncommon to run into clashes, so it is good to have the right offensive equipment with you. Better a silent stealth approach? Then it is appropriate to bring the suitable boots and shoot as weapons; In case of pure action, it is better to opt for sniper, assault and grenades rifles. The opportunities to experiment are different since, beyond the greater frequency of the clashes, there are several main missions focused on the elimination of enemies. In short, Sam is now more a soldier than a courier. Legitimate choice, given that in the first chapter he found himself forced to be able to fight – even in the middle of the two world wars against Cliff – however it must be admitted that this choice, while favoring a more rhythmic and varied playability, alters the contemplative nature of Death Stranding 2019. Nothing still takes away from lengthening the journey to get around the dangers, and enjoy the only path, letting himself be surprised from the atmospheres of the game.
A mix between poetry and madness
In this, Death Stranding 2 proves to be masterful: that it is the voice of Woodkid In growth while we approach the arrival point, the sunset on the tar sea as we dart on the monorotory or the sound from the Japanese school of Magellan when it is in our vicinity, that immediately cancel the sense of solitude That pervades us when we walk under the Cronipgoggia, the game tries to involve the heart through fragments of simplicity. But not only: to excite, the title also uses a good dose of madness- not a novelty in the production of Kojima. About Death Stranding 2, first we mentioned the metal coffin, but the obvious also fall into the speech Quotes in Metal Gearup to the central elements of the paradoxical plot. The result is certainly surprising, sometimes capable of tearing a smile, but as many times to appear cloying, in order to itself.
Death Stranding 2 | Luca Marinelli thought he was playing Metal Gear’s Snake, but Kojima specified immediately that he was just a guy with a bandana, Neil. The Japanese author himself told the Sydney Film Festival 2025.
In summary, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach expands all the elements of the predecessorto offer a more enjoyable, customizable experience and, at the end of the accounts, more mainstream. Having pressed the accelerator on the action makes the new title of Kojima Productions less unique and rare of the first, but still splendid and effective. The main strengths reside in the choral perspective of history, which allows you to become attached to wonderful and unforgettable characters, and in the peculiar ability of Kojima to know how to bleed cinema, music and video game in a synergistic way to create an experience that is worth remembering, even through simple sensations. Although in a less visionary way – we still speak of a sequel, the author reconfirms a master of audiovisual capable of giving the playstation 5 generation a great title.
