Death Stranding 2 Review
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach picks up years after Sam Porter Bridges reconnected the shattered United Cities of America, and it wastes no time proving that Kojima Productions has no intention of playing it safe with a sequel. Where the first game spent much of its runtime teaching players to appreciate the rhythm of careful movement across broken terrain, this follow-up assumes that lesson is learned and builds outward from it, adding new continents, new threats, and a noticeably faster pace without abandoning the meditative core that made the original such a divisive, memorable release.
This review covers the PS5 version, played through the main story and a significant chunk of the optional delivery and connection content, with particular attention to how the sequel handles pacing, combat, and the technical showcase Kojima Productions built around PS5 hardware.
What Is Death Stranding 2: On the Beach?
Death Stranding 2 is a third-person action game built around delivery, traversal, and reconnection, the same pillars as its predecessor, expanded and refined. Sam is pulled out of a quiet retirement to extend a new communications and supply network across Mexico and Australia, regions hit by their own version of the Death Stranding phenomenon that tore holes between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The core loop remains: plan a route, load cargo, manage stamina and balance, and get packages to isolated outposts while avoiding or fighting through BTs, terrain hazards, and hostile humans.
What’s changed is scope and confidence. The map is denser with points of interest, side content is more varied, and the moment-to-moment traversal has been tuned so that failure feels less punishing while still respecting the physical, weighty movement that defines the series. It’s still not a game for players who want constant action, but it is a noticeably more generous and varied experience than the original.
Kojima Productions also uses the new regions to vary the tone of the world itself. Mexico’s early stretches lean into arid isolation and long sightlines that make planning a route feel like solving a small puzzle before ever pressing a button, while Australia introduces denser hazards and a harsher, more hostile relationship between Sam and the terrain. The shift between the two settings gives the back half of the campaign a distinct identity rather than simply repeating the opening region’s rhythm with new scenery.
Gameplay: Refining the Walking Simulator Formula
Traversal and Terrain
Movement is where Death Stranding 2 makes its clearest improvements. Sam’s balance and cargo management still matter, but new tools (an upgraded exoskeleton, better rope and ladder placement, and vehicles that handle far more predictably than the original’s clunky trucks and bikes) make covering long distances feel purposeful rather than tedious. Mountain passes, rivers, and Australia’s arid expanses each demand different approaches, and the game rewards players who scout a route before committing to it rather than brute-forcing a path with supplies alone.
Combat and Stealth
Combat against human enemies (MULEs, Homo Demens factions, and new hostile groups) is more capable this time, with a wider non-lethal and lethal toolkit, better cover mechanics, and enemy AI that reacts more convincingly to noise and light. BT encounters retain the tense, hold-your-breath quality of the original, but new detection tools and evasive options give players more room to improvise rather than simply memorizing patrol patterns.
New Tools and Vehicles
The equipment progression is one of the sequel’s biggest quality-of-life wins. Structures built by other players (via the asynchronous online layer) and Sam’s own gear unlock at a pace that keeps early hours from feeling as barren as the original’s opening chapters. A monorail-style cargo system for base-building, upgraded floating carriers, and a redesigned bike all make the mid-game noticeably less grind-heavy.
Story and Presentation
Where the first game spent long stretches establishing why connection mattered in the abstract, the sequel is more willing to let that theme play out through specific, personal relationships rather than broad philosophical monologue. That doesn’t mean the writing has gotten leaner. Kojima’s scripts are still dense with tangents, flashbacks, and codec-style archive entries for players who want to dig into the lore, but the emotional through-line is easier to follow scene to scene than in the original.
Sam Porter Bridges’ New Journey
The story leans further into found-family dynamics, introducing a young companion named Tomorrow alongside returning faces from the first game. Kojima’s writing is as maximalist as ever, with long cutscenes, dense lore dumps, and thematic detours into grief, connection, and found identity, but the pacing between story beats and playable stretches is better balanced than in the original, so fewer hours pass without meaningful player input.
Cast and Performances
Norman Reedus anchors the cast again as a more weathered, reluctant Sam, and Léa Seydoux returns with expanded material as Fragile. New and returning performers bring a mix of restraint and theatrical menace to the antagonist roster, and the motion-capture work remains some of the best in the medium. Faces carry real weight in the quieter conversations, which matters given how much of the story unfolds in dialogue rather than action.
Visual and Audio Design
Visually, this is a showcase title. Environmental detail, weather transitions, and lighting hold up under scrutiny whether you’re crossing a moonlit beach or descending into a fog-choked canyon. The soundtrack mixes licensed tracks with an original score, and the series’ trademark trick of letting a needle-drop moment land during a long, quiet traversal stretch still works because the game earns those moments rather than leaning on them as a crutch.
Performance and Technical Details
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Platform tested | PS5 |
| Performance mode | Targets 60fps with dynamic resolution scaling |
| Fidelity mode | Prioritizes resolution and ray-traced lighting at a lower frame rate |
| Load times | Fast SSD-driven loads; near-instant fast travel between unlocked structures |
| DualSense features | Adaptive trigger feedback for terrain and cargo balance, haptic weather cues |
On PS5, performance mode holds a stable frame rate through the vast majority of play, with only brief dips during the densest weather and BT-heavy sequences. Fidelity mode is genuinely tempting given how much of the game is about admiring vistas, but the responsiveness of 60fps suits the traversal-heavy combat encounters better. DualSense integration is meaningfully used rather than tacked on: trigger resistance changes with terrain incline and cargo weight, which reinforces the physical feel the whole game is built around.
Is Death Stranding 2 Worth Playing? Value and Replayability
The main story runs long by modern standards, and side deliveries, structure-building, and the online “chiral network” layer add substantially more if you engage with them. Players who found the original’s pace frustrating will find this sequel more forgiving without feeling watered down, and returning fans get meaningfully new toolsets rather than a reskin of familiar mechanics.
Where value gets debated is density versus padding: some side deliveries feel essential to understanding the world, while others exist mainly to pad out the map. That said, the online structure-sharing system does a good job of making even repetitive delivery runs feel less solitary, since other players’ bridges, ladders, and shelters appear organically along your route.
Players who invest in the base-building and network-strengthening side systems will also notice a slower, more tangible sense of progress than in the original — regions visibly change as roads, bridges, and shelters accumulate, and returning to an early area late in the campaign to see it transformed by collective effort is one of the sequel’s most satisfying long-term rewards.
Death Stranding 2 Review: The Verdict
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Gameplay | 9/10 |
| Story & Presentation | 9/10 |
| Performance | 8.5/10 |
| Value | 8/10 |
| Overall | 9/10 |
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach earns a 9/10. It takes the divisive foundation of the first game and builds a more generous, better-paced sequel around it without sanding down what made the original distinctive. This is still a game about the quiet work of connection more than it is about combat, but it’s a more confident, more varied version of that idea.
Reasons this sequel stands out from the original:
- Traversal tools and vehicle handling remove much of the early-game friction
- Combat against human factions is deeper and more controllable
- Pacing between cutscenes and playable segments is noticeably tighter
- PS5-specific technical features are used with real intent, not as an afterthought
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Death Stranding 2 a direct sequel to the first game?
Yes. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach picks up after the events of the original Death Stranding, following Sam Porter Bridges as he’s drawn back into delivery work across new regions affected by the same rift phenomenon.
Do I need to play the first Death Stranding before this one?
You can follow the plot without it, but a lot of the emotional weight relies on relationships and events established in the first game. Playing the original first is strongly recommended for the story to land fully.
Is Death Stranding 2 more action-focused than the original?
It leans slightly more toward combat and confrontation than the original, but traversal and cargo delivery remain the core of the experience. It’s a refinement of the walking-and-delivery formula, not a genre shift.
How long does Death Stranding 2 take to complete?
A focused playthrough of the main story runs well into the double digits of hours, and engaging with side deliveries, structure-building, and the online network layer extends that considerably further.
Is Death Stranding 2 a PS5 exclusive?
At launch, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach released as a PlayStation console exclusive, and this review covers the PS5 version specifically, including its use of DualSense haptic and trigger features.
Does Death Stranding 2 fix the pacing issues of the first game?
Largely, yes. Traversal tools unlock faster, cutscenes are better distributed across playable stretches, and the opening hours are less punishing than the original’s slow introduction.
Are the online “chiral network” features required to enjoy the game?
No, the campaign is fully playable offline, but the asynchronous sharing of structures like bridges and ladders adds a meaningful layer of convenience and a sense of connection to other players’ worlds.
Which performance mode should I use on PS5?
Performance mode is the better default choice, since the stable 60fps meaningfully improves the feel of combat and precise traversal. Fidelity mode is worth switching to for vista-heavy exploration sessions where frame rate matters less.
Is Death Stranding 2 worth playing if I found the first game boring?
It’s a fairer test than the original, thanks to faster tool unlocks and tighter pacing, but the core idea — deliberate, weighty traversal over pure action — is still the foundation. If that specific loop never clicked for you, the sequel is unlikely to fully convert you.
Does the story make sense on its own without outside lore explainers?
The game recaps key events for returning and new players alike through in-game archives and character dialogue, though its dense terminology and abstract themes mean some concepts still reward careful attention rather than passive viewing.
Conclusion
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is the rare sequel that understands exactly what needed fixing without losing the identity that made the original stand out. Traversal is faster to master, combat is more capable, and the story finds a better rhythm between spectacle and quiet, contemplative delivery runs. For players already receptive to the series’ unusual pace, this is an easy recommendation; for skeptics of the format, it’s the most convincing version of Kojima Productions’ pitch yet.