With some choice tweaks made to its predecessor's formula, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is way more enjoyable than the first entry in the series, as it gets you into the thick of the action right away, and with so many quality-of-life improvements that will make it very difficult to return to the original down the line. Still, there are some settings that you can change that can make the experience even more enjoyable.
The first setting to look into changing to tailor the experience to your liking, as in every modern console game, is Graphics Mode in the Graphics tab of the Options menu, which can be accessed via the Ring menu at any time during the game or from the main screen before starting the game. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach offers a Prioritize Quality mode targeting 4K resolution and 30 FPS gameplay, and a Prioritize Performance mode targeting 1440p resolution and 60 FPS gameplay. For those looking for a more responsive experience, the Prioritize Performance setting is the one to choose, and even those who want to enjoy the game with high quality visuals may opt for this setting as well, since the differences between the two Graphics Modes are not massive, but the 60 FPS gameplay undoutbedly makes the game smoother and ultimately more enjoyable.
The second setting in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach to change as soon as possible is found in the Controls tab of the Options menu, the Minimum Button Hold Duration, which determines how long a button must be held down when required. As the game features a lot of actions that require holding down the button, reducing this value will cut some time down to complete these actions, and make the experience feel a little snappier. To make further improvements in this regard, you may also want to reduce the Dead Zone settings for both sticks to zero from the default value of 1. While the difference is minimal, it does make the sticks feel a bit more responsive, which is great, especially in the Prioritize Performance Mode. One more setting that you may want to change is the Controls for Ready Weapons or Structures, which is set to hold by default. Considering you will be using this feature a lot during the course of the game, you may want to switch this setting to Toggle to avoid potential hand fatigue in long play sessions.
Every other setting to change in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach as soon as possible to have a better time can be found in the Camera Settings tab. The first ones to look into are the Normal Camera Vertical and Horizontal Speeds. The default speed of 50 can feel a little slow in most scenarios, especially if you're playing in the Prioritize Performance mode, so you may want to increase it to move the camera much faster. Since I get a bit of motion sickness with sudden camera movements, I have found a speed of 60 to 65 to be a good setting to have faster camera movement that doesn't induce motion sickness, but if you do not have this issue, you can consider increasing the speed a bit more for a better experience.
Another important setting to look into changing is the Aiming Response Curve Type. The default setting, which increases the camera movement speed while aiming depending on the degree of tilt on the screen generally works fine, but doesn't feel that good during intense combat sequences, so switching to Linear may be a better option for most, as the speed remains constant, and will remove any variable that could get in the way as you get into a shootout, potentially improving your aiming considerably. Also consider tweaking the Aiming Camera Acceleration and Deceleration settings to enhance your aiming further.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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