Death Stranding 2 Review

Death Stranding 2 is the latest game by the legendary Hideo Kojima. Developed by Kojima Productions on Guerilla Game studios in-house engine, Decima, which allows the game to have high quality cutscenes and immersive environments thanks to the photorealistic art style. The game for the majority of its duration takes place in Australia, which looks and feels amazing to play in. If DS1 was about making connections, DS2 is about maintaining them.

DS2 sees Sam, who is now retired from being a porter, living with his daughter Lou, in Mexico. Away from cities and any sort of human civilization. A far cry from where we see Sam at the start of DS1, a hermit like figure who just delivers packages, that's all. Now Sam sings songs to Lou, cooks food for her and takes long enjoyable walks with the occasional nap in between. Until an old friend visits Sam. It's none other than Fragile, who helped Sam during the events of the first game, quite a bit might I add.

Unlike Sam she is still a porter albeit working for a new company of her own making (with the help of an unknown benefactor), Bridges. She asks Sam to get back in the game one more time and help her connect Mexico. All these events lead to a twist that kicks off the adventure of death stranding 2.

The gameplay has been refined and streamlined from the first game, for example instead of pausing the game, clicking on cargo and pushing some buttons to organize your bag pack, the player can do that within the game without pausing using the D-pad. DS2 also takes a lot of inspiration from the Metal Gear Solid series (made by Kojima as well). Such as being able to mark enemy NPC's, getting access to bizarre yet creative gadgets such as the new hologram grenades, being able to mark multiple points on the map, etc. There is also the class asynchronous multiplayer concept from the first game. Allowing real life players to build and share their structures, markers and roads with each other all over the world. The game also has a skill tree, and an Oblivion-esque passive upgrade system which upgrades Sam passively the more he repeats something. The gameplay loop is still the same where Sam accepts orders from different facilities and has to deliver them.

The biggest difference comes in the form of story pacing, DS2 starts its action immediately and with a bang. Throwing Sam into Australia, giving the player all the context they need and adding huge amounts of lore to the DS universe. The biggest one coming in the form of plate gates which form whenever a chiral network is completed. It allows anyone walking through one to be teleported to another land mass on the planet. The goal of DS2 is to connect Australia and make sure another gate plate is formed. Australia is a wonderous land structure to explore and works really well with a new mechanic I won't spoil. But the way Australia is accurately shaped (circular) comes into play. As well as its ecosystem of animals and biomes.

In my opinion DS2 is better than DS1 in every way, including story. Some may prefer the first one due to its pacing and original cast of characters. But I think the way DS2 deals with grief, its themes about always being with your loved ones and the gameplay makes it the clear winner.

The cast of characters, their relation with Sam it all comes together wonderfully. The player truly feels they are Sam, I think another aspect that helps with that is the fact that Sam does not speak as much in this game. Which lends itself to the player empathizing with Sam. Although two of my favorite characters in this game are Neil Vana played by Luca Marinelli and Higgs played eccentrically by Troy Baker. Neil's story here has obvious parallels to Cliffs from the last game but the way it unfolds and when the player sees Marinelli's performance you cannot help but feel for him, a truly tragic character stuck in his own nightmare. Higgs has a guitar this time, surely a reference to Troy Bakers real life affinity for music. Every time Troy Baker is on screen it screams energy. He brings Higgs to life in a completely different way from DS1 and his character has depth the way it did not before. He can be considered Sam's Joker but he is so much more and there is a sadness to him.

George Miller as Tarman is almost hilarious because of the amount of times he lets Sam know that the tar currents are preventing him from travelling but he stills gets a brief backstory, Rainy and Tomorrow are the cheerful positive elements in the cast of characters, seeing them together is adorable. Dollman is the unsung hero because he provides a way for Sam to speak during gameplay when no one is around and also comes in handy to surveil enemy NPC's. Dollman also allows for similar flashbacks that Sam experiences from the first game, due to his nature of being a spirit medium.

I think the fault in DS2 comes with its difficulty or rather lack thereof. Immediately at the start of the game you are presented with a vehicle for deliveries, and due to the asynchronous multiplayer you can find generators with ease. I myself ran into several level 3 generators at the start of the game. Eventually Sam gets access to an off-roading truck which makes traversal even easier. Looking at combat and stealth, Sam has so many tools at his disposal that it is very hard to pick which ones you want to use and which ones you do not. Again there are a few devices/weapons you can get early on that make stealth and combat a breeze, especially when you get the silenced sniper and stun bola gun.

DS2 is a story of grief, loss and bringing people together, its about the future and I love it. I think this does not hit Kojima's peak of the original Metal Gear Series but certainly comes close in its execution. Sam's journey is wonderful to experience and connecting with the characters via Sam is just a pleasure. Everyone has acted well in the game, and it plays perfectly. The ease in the gameplay may be a turn off for some but it still allows for a sense of accomplishment. One of my favorite things to experience is create a new structure and come back to it in a few days only to see its been liked and upgraded by other players. This is the overarching theme of series. LETS CONNECT, so we can help each other.