Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
I played and finished Death Stranding 2 when it released earlier this summer. As a fan of the first game, I was eager to play this one but also a little skeptical on if it would retain the magic I felt from the first game and I’m happy to say it has surpassed the first game in pretty much every category. Only exception is music but like how the first game introduced me to one of my favorite artists in Low Roar, the new one introduced me to another new artist who I feel has potential for being a favorite of the same level but I don’t like to make that determination when an artist is still very new for me. The new one being Magnolian. Ironically, my skepticism for the new game started when I saw the first trailer which had a song by Magnolian in it, which I think I was just not ready for the change of vibe yet. I wanted another game full of Low Roar music since he had released around half a dozen albums so there’s plenty of great music to have there but I understand why this didn’t happen. Honestly, I’m happy it went this way too. Magnolian is a phenomenal artist that I hope more people discover.
But back to the game, the improvements I noticed immediately were also how soon you get into playing the game. I love Kojima’s semi movie style in the experience of his games with the long cutscenes but I would say the balance is better struck if the longer cutscenes are saved for later in the game and doesn’t start them off like how the first Death Stranding game started with like a 30 minute cutscene from what I remember. I also like how quickly you are brought in to fighting BT’s and the first major BT so soon as that was the mystical gameplay loop of the first game that most didn’t seem to get to before dismissing it. Which I couldn’t blame them since in the first game it felt like you had to play for 3 hours before that and in this one you get there within 45 minutes.
A major quality of life improvement I enjoyed a lot in the new game is the ability to listen to music at another time via the music player as oppose to only being able to listen to music in the private rooms in the first game. Another thing that made the first game hurt more in this regard was it didn’t allow you to have Spotify play on the PS4/PS5 like how I would with other games if I was playing through a grind, which made me just listen on my phone while playing instead but it was much nicer this time where I can listen to the music in the game while making the deliveries and to have it only work in the Chrial network made it even better and more impactful when getting new music. The fact of getting new music as you played through the main orders and connecting more people to the Chiral network was also a perfect choice and is helped me balance between doing sub orders and main orders to progress in a great way in the game.
This time around I also feel that the rewards for completing sub orders and increasing my rating amongst the different places mattered more and lead me to playing a lot more of the game. Also being able to connect most of the Australia with roads made me play more of the post game as well. If you played and there were roads built out of nowhere, that’s likely me, I didn’t do much for building other structures but I love building the roads in these games and upgrading the roads. The sense of completion from this is something that I don’t experience much in games nowadays, the last one probably being how I felt building up my house in Tears of the Kingdom and building up Tarrey Town in Breath of the Wild before that.
When it comes to the story, I felt it was handled a lot better in the second game as well, at least in regards to striking a balance between the mystery and being easily understandable. I would say I was able to see the main twist coming but my emotions were so wrapped up in the story that I was just happy to see what I suspected came to fruition. But other times in the story that had me so happy that I felt was like when Kojima had a great moment of displaying one characters arc, without words or spoon feeding and it was one thing I didn’t see coming and when that cutscene played out there was just such a sense of catharsis as someone who’s felt like someone who doesn’t fit in find their place where their existence was exactly what was needed to make things better. Such a beautiful moment that I wish anyone struggling out there, has the chance to feel and know there is a place for them.