Well this was always going to be either a train wreck of a sequel or another masterclass in gaming from Hideo Kojima. For me Death Stranding on the PS4 was easily a top 5 of that generation and it became one of my favourites of all time.
Luckily for me and everyone else who enjoyed part 1 this was not a let down. Easily my game of 2025, granted I didn’t play a whole heap and I do have expedition 33 to sink my teeth into eventually.
This title sticks with the decima engine which Kojima has used previously and its the right choice, this gaming engine is nothing short of incredible. Visually this game is stunning, it’s probably the best looking game I’ve played on the PS5 and I’d hope it would look even better on the pro or the top setting on the upcoming PC port. The world is stunning from the lighting and photorealistic textures, it’s an incredible achievement. Not too mention the likeness to the many famous faces who play the central characters are second to none. The were already impressive on the PS4 but the fidelity has somehow been ramped up again. Along with the uncanny valley addition of Dollman who acts as the Mimir type figure from God of War.
Once again this is a game that centres heavily on the blurred line between gaming and a full series or film. Kojima really nails the direction on the head here this can be shown with the emotionally driven story and the motion capture of the main characters coming in from top notch actors from the industry allowing for more nuanced storytelling. Along with more precise camerawork as it were which is bundled up in the 6 hour worth of cinematics within the game.
The game world you inhabit whether it be the opening area of Mexico or the main area of Australia which I believe is three times the size of the first game. Really expanding the differing biomes within the open area you can explore. This become especially apparent towards the end of the game when you have to traverse all the way from one end to the other. The landscapes are bigger, more impressive and imposing, there is a vastness that comes along with unlocking new facilities. The environments seem more detailed and individual. The world is more reactive with the timefall rain, which effects rivers causing floods, theirs rockfalls, avalanches along with sand and snow storms. Most of these are luckily are relatively trivial but are nice addition to give a sense Sam inhabits a real breathing world. Especially once you get a truck for the most part you can just power through and normally a good egg has left a conveniently placed charger to use allowing for ease of travel.
One of the parts I enjoyed the most in the first game was the horror aspects of the beached creatures and how they would often stunt your progress until late into the game when you were better equipped. Now they still do what they did the first time round but straight out of the gate you are loaded up with better weapons and ways of dealing with theses beasties. The need to sneak round holding your breath isn’t as necessary every weapon can near enough annihilate them. The only ones that cause you to stop and fight a bit are the bigger ones which can kill you causing avoid out. They seem more minimalist but from a story point of view it makes sense seeing as everything you learned has carried over and acts as a general civilian/porter improvement between each of the facilities. Showing how what Sam achieved connecting North America. I find this has inadvertently watered down the horror aspects just by giving you the player all these quality of life improvements, striping away the terror these otherworldly creatures bring forth.
The quality of life don’t stop just at better weapons and easier transportation. You can now fast travel via the DHV Magellan to any place you have connected. That is unless Tarman has popped up tot tell you the tar currents are unstable or some shit which happens a lot. Hindering your fast travel, late game this can become somewhat tiresome. What else helps is you can once again rebuild roads,along with a monorail system. These allow for transporting heavy loads especially from the mines you can reactivate for materials. These are a specific connected line between the bigger facilities so you can directly travel albeit a slow travel to a specific destination with relative ease.
I think in a lot of regards the game does seem easier which could be seen as a detriment especially to the games aesthetic. As this is a game at its core a delivery sim, I mean that does belittle the game somewhat but its true. But the gameplay loop is so fun, it’s oddly relaxing and this is probably helped by the stellar soundtrack, this time coming from Woodkid who deserved to win the soundtrack at the game awards. You always know you’ve hit the right path when a haunting yet beautiful song kicks filling in the usual gloomy and lonesome vistas.
The improvements to on foot traversal and the vehicles you can use can also be seen in the higher amount of weapons and gadgets at your disposal. This makes for multiple ways in which you can tackle the entire game or type of delivery you have taken on. You can choose to be heavy handed with the action side by shooting the fuck out of everything, my approach. You can be stealthier take limited items to help with silenced weapons or the melee choices. Or you can just be all about the delivery time by streamlining your load-out, dumping everything up on a bike or truck ignoring everything else in your way and driving straight to the destination.
I feel the story this time round isn’t as strong as the first game, it starts off like a crack of thunder, then just dawdles. However by chapter 8/9 it really hits its stride and picks up the pace. The best physical direction of the game starts to shine through here as well, with some very cool cutscenes. I won’t give to many details away but I probably will, but Higgs is fucking fantastic even better this time round. He’s just a horrible asshole for the sake of it mostly. He does some truly wicked shit and Troy Baker is as excellent as he always is. Neil Vana whilst crucial to the story is just a replacement for the superior story of Cliff Ungor. It’s nothing against the actor but filling Mads shoes is a hard ask anyhow.
The ending is nothing short of mental though once on the APAC beach it just turns batshit it the best way. With the personal highlight for me is the game shift of a 1v1 fight against Higgs which then has a ripping guitar solo battle. All the while giant super BTs are brawling in the background and a giant baby Lou is being birthed out of the tar in a lava filled display. Not many games can go from delivering an albino kangaroo one moment to this the next. It’s truly wondrous in the most mental of ways. This can also be said of the flying whale missile strike that happens from time to time as well, I can’t help but feel somewhere out there Gojira are smiling about this.
You get to experience all the cool stuff the dualsense controller can do, with the colour changing light that wraps the touchpad depending where you are and what you are doing. The speaker acting as an extra level of immersion, with talking coming through it. The warning ding of the odaradek to tell you something unruly is coming your way. The sound of rain rattling around the controller or the sound of footsteps sludging through the mud. The trigger feedback is responsive and adds to the feel of losing control going down a hill or falling arse over tit into a fast flowing stream. Giving a bit more of a weighted feel to the controlling of Sam whose saddled with a shit load of cargo.
There is definite nod to the Metal Gear series in this game and not just the obvious ones, the sheer amount of VR missions you can do which amps up the action shooter aspect of the game. Which I think is more solidly integrated into the gameplay for me personally once I got the level 2 shotgun it was go time. I just fucked everyone up, need to clear a mech facility no problem, need to rescue someone from a brigand camp, no problem, a BT pulls you from your truck, no problem. I enjoyed the offence but it did make the stealth options and a good chunk of the equipment pointless for me. If you’re that way inclined there is a hella lot of fun to be had playing a sneaky approach to a lot of these areas.
The online connectivity is still prominent where you all act as a porter within the game world and share built structures which then bleed into one another own games. Its still a really cool socially team-driven idea and brilliantly executed again. Even the delivery of materials and upgrading of roads along pre-existing structures benefit each other which makes them worthwhile doing. You can do it all by yourself but it’d be seriously heavy going along with a metric fuck tonne of time ferrying all the materials.
I reckon I sunk around 50 hours into this by the time I finished the main story. Now I’d argue there is around double that left if I want to 100% the game and achieve the platinum trophy for it. This is down to achieving the 5 star rank on all 42 facilities you connect up. Some of these aren’t too hard to do with the more deliveries unlocking which give higher likes but there are some that take the piss. I have done some post game clear up and I would really like to go for the full trophy listing but its a hard slog sometimes no matter how enjoyable the gameplay is. I’ve left it installed and have periodically gone back to do a bit here and there so hopefully I’ll chip away at it slowly.
Overall I’d rate this a stellar 10/10, Real Fuckin’ Tasty.
I’d imagine much like the first game this won’t be for everyone but if you can stick with it you’re in for nothing more then a masterclass of storytelling, with stellar art direction. The ambience and aesthetics of this game really are phenomenal and its the lynch pin for the strand gameplay which is what both games are built around. With hyper refined gameplay that has improved on everything that came before. Making everything you do worthwhile irrespective of your preferred play style.
Released June 26th 2025 on Playstation 5
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