Where we’re going, we don’t need roads. Oh, how I wish that notable quotable from Doc Emmett Brown held true in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Truth be told, in my sixty-some hours of playing, I perhaps spent most of those hours lugging massive quantities of metal and ceramics halfway across Australia, just to build out another mile-long section of tarmac to make my trip on Pickup Off-Roader. Sure, it’s a vehicle that should be used off roads, given the name, but the reward for fabricating a new stretch of highway is a smooth cruise past any pesky BTs or MULEs.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach opens in a way that many Hollywood sequels do, years after the original: the protagonist, having settled down with the comforts of daily life and a family, is pulled out of retirement for one last job. In Sam Porter Bridges’ case, that’s to head south into the Mexican frontier to bring them into the chiral network, a post-internet-connection that permits the transfer of knowledge and resources across vast distances. It’s here that the player is onboarded back into the role of being a porter and bringing goods from one distant point to the next. It isn’t long before Sam’s daily life is upended by a new antagonist, forcing him out of early retirement for good and venturing out into an even further frontier: Australia.
Kojima Productions has leaned more into science fiction and the implausible with the concept of harnessing the power of The Beach, a metaphysical realm where the dead wait before proceeding into the afterlife. Despite a brief story recap before getting back into Sam’s boots, there’s still much to The Beach and how it connects worlds that would need an hour-long video essay to unpack truly. The narrative to Death Stranding 2: On the Beach weaves together impossible concepts and strange interpretations on known supernatural forces so effortlessly into the story that it almost feels insane watching actors chat back and forth about bridge babies (BB’s, for short), stillborn mothers, timefall rain, and many other such examples as if these were commonplace in the world.
Some time during my time with Death Stranding 2 for review, after most of my articles from Summer Game Fest 2025 were put to paper and published, the online servers were intentionally shut down ahead of release. For that last week or two, I braved the Australian landscape all on my own with only a few remnants of players I had connected with prior still littering the paths. Each time I’d pass that introductory stretch of highway leading to the Western Environmental Observatory, I’d pass by a generator dedicated by YongYea or some other internet celebrity with early access to Death Stranding 2.
Over time, I would see all of the likes and Legend of Legends grades dedicated to one of these monuments and make it my personal goal to surpass them. After all, these were my only connections outside of the world that I was helping to rebuild solo on hours 25-50 of what I’ve played thus far. Perhaps if I spent less time hauling cargo to build out a highway all on my own, I would’ve gone on to finish Death Stranding 2 in time to fill out a complete review. As it stands, I’ve only seen enough of the story to reach the cutoff point that Kojima Productions requested to keep any spoilers down to a minimum. Going by a chapter count in the trophy list, I’m roughly halfway through the story (which isn’t saying much, as Death Stranding 2 features a similar chapter progression to the first game, with some chapters being played out in just a couple of story missions).
Combat remains a sore spot for me in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, much as it did in the first game. While the actual gunplay has been massively improved, with a much wider selection of less-than-lethal weaponry (and explosive ordinance/live ammunition when needed) at Sam’s disposal, the act of using it still feels cumbersome in the end. When it came time to clear a MULE base out to take back a mine they had hijacked, I felt much better playing it stealthily at long range with a silenced sniper rifle than I did trying to hit boots on the ground and take these enemy rogues out in CQC combat or with rubber pellet shotguns. The big, bombastic set-piece boss fights are also a bit of a chore and drawn out to where I’d much prefer to see the action played out in a well-directed cutscene versus actually taking part in it myself. I know that I’m in the minority here, especially with how well the combat feels, but I much prefer the laid-back aspects of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach to some of Hideo Kojima’s contemporaries.
Trying to sum up what makes Death Stranding 2: On the Beach such an interesting title is a gargantuan undertaking. What starts as a simple porter job, carrying parcels with love by foot from one point to the next, slowly evolves into an adventure of building out infrastructure and automated networks, mining out resources in one corner of the map while traveling about to find a new hot spring fount or Australian wildlife to rescue for the local animal conservation in the next. Each time you feel like you’re getting a grasp on the porter loop, Kojima Productions throws in another system to contend with.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a world of both the familiar and the alien, of trails well-worn yet frontiers to be explored. So much of what made Kojima Productions’ first title such a unique experience is here, with something brand new to explore. Those looking for a comfortable walking simulator to transport goods by food and explore nature have exactly what they’re looking for, while those who come to Hideo Kojima’s works for the off-the-wall narrative and memorable fight scenes will also walk away satisfied with plenty to chat about online. This is one title that I’ve been taking my time with and enjoying at my own pace, even if that experience has been hauntingly lonely the past couple of weeks.
Review code provided by the publisher.
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