I wonder what IGNFrance is up to?
I miss my friends you see. But they’re not so much friends, as they are strands. Connections I found within my world of Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. Since inception, Kojima has stated that Death Stranding is a “strand-type game”. What is a strand-type game? One where the asynchronous multiplayer elements of the game foster connection and cooperation between players. In Death Stranding, that means forging connections to cross continents and rebuild the world.
For newcomers to Death Stranding—or Kojima’s mind—what you’ll find is anything but expected. Whether that’s the intention of Kojima or not is up to you, but this strand-type game is parts science fiction. Parts horror. Parts trauma. And a lot of parts walking. In fact, this game may be one of the most accurate walking simulators ever created. Terrain, environmental effects and more can affect how Norman Reedus traverses the world, as you strain to keep balance, avoid slipping and run out of stamina which is also affected by all of these. But just how does this create Death Stranding?
You are Sam.
Fromerly Sam Porter Bridges. In this world, most people either have quirky names. Or in Sam’s case (played by Reedus) you have a surname dictated by your job as a Porter, and the faction you belonged too. But you left that life behind as you broke your Bridge Baby, Lou (Louise), out of their pod and struck out into the lands of Mexico to find a new life. I mean, to be fair, Sam did save the world after all. I’ll try to briefly surmise the why and how this happened.
Your adopted sister AND mother, Amelie and Bridget, turned out to be the sixth extinction entity who brought about the Death Stranding. Without you knowing this, they convinced you to reconnect America, now known as the United Cities of America (or UCA). Using a piece of technology known as the Q-Pid, this allowed instantaneous sharing of data by using the Beach as a network. The Beach is the game’s facsimile for limbo, an area reserved for individuals before they crossover after death. But with the Death Stranding, much like how we have access to the Beach, the Beach now has access to the living. While we connected the UCA, it also completed Amelie’s plans. By using both Sam, and the game antagonist Higgs (played by Troy Baker), she gained enough energy from the connected beaches to start the Last Stranding; The final extinction level event that completes her role in life. But thanks to having grown up with Sam, he appeals to Amelie to give humanity a chance. She accepts it, and seals herself away with the Last Stranding on her beach to stop it.
And now it’s 11 months after that.
I know, I know. The exposition right? But it is a Hideo Kojima game after all. With Lou in tow, you’ve settled into a nice routine of doing jobs when needed. And making sure Lou has a good life. Fragile (played by Lea Seydoux) returns and reaches out to ask if you’d like to join her company, and if you could take on a job only you can do. And from there it’s back into being the world’s best delivery man.
Mexico acts as a kind of tutorial zone. It introduces the new environmental effects, like flooding rivers, sandstorms, quakes of varying intensity and active slippages. A big change from the avalanches, snowstorms, high winds and rainfall of the first. Which also all reappear in this game. It includes a handful of civilian locations and distribution centers, which help Sam in accruing ‘likes’. These act as the games experience points, and reiterate Kojima’s strand-type gameplay. These buildings also provide you with more orders to help you further connect different locations, the ability to fabricate tools and weapons you may need, and access to their resources should you need to build anything while exploring. That’s right, a lot of the time it’s one giant exercise in managing what you’re carrying, where you’re going and the most efficient way to do it.
I want people to end up liking things they didn’t like when they first encountered it, because that’s where you really end up loving something.”
Hideo Kojima, Rolling Stone
Once you move on to Australia, this is where the game really jumps into the territory of being a sequel. Higgs is back and wants to make the sure the Last Stranding occurs. And with that, it gives you enough ammo to do what you do best. Connect people. And Death Stranding 2: On The Beach has a lot more efficient ways to do so. The best way to put it, is that Kojima didn’t reinvent the wheel.
But he put some spikes on it to make sure it had a lot more grip.
If you’re a master deliverer like me from the first game, you’ll know some things needed refining. The zip-line system became the dominant force for deliveries, with its speed and ability to be placed almost anywhere becoming the go-to for getting around. Outside of this, vehicles became the second most useful mode of transport thanks to the road network. But the infrastructure for On The Beach has been planned out well, with every form being considered to be able to get you from A to B quickly. This includes the new monorail network which adds new ways to move around extra resources, yourself and your vehicles. And you can also use it as a zip-line. Because Kojima.
The trike has gone through a small change, with a new seated system and visible means of seeing your cargo stack. You also have the ability to use weapons when driving because that will be explained by the game. And trucks gain spiked wheels, because Kojima knows we all tried to drive up and over the snowy slopes of the first game. Tools gain new additions such as guide lights, which are useful for storms and climbing over certain heights while the rest remain as is with function still in place.
But with all these tools, does it close the distance?
I found the fast travel to be supremely innovative. During your time discovering the events of Death Stranding 2, you’ll meet the DHV Magellan. Piloted by Tarman (played by MAD MAX Director George Miller), this vehicle becomes both a forward operating base and fast travel. That’s right. While private rooms in Distribution Centers still exist, you have your very own quarters aboard the Magellan that can be requested and travelled to different major locations with on the map. Add in the new transponder technology which allows you to beach jump to any placed by players or order locations, then you have ways to cut down more time. Don’t forget though. You’ll leave anything in, or hanging on, your backpack behind. And there’s one other way to jump, but I’d love for players to discover that themselves.
The sequel builds on that and provides players with more choice and freedom, particularly around combat; you can go in guns blazing, or you can choose not to use weapons at all.”
Hideo Kojima, PlayStation Blog
Compared to the first game, it’s almost all-out war from the first order. There’s a sense of “we know you know what you’re dealing with”. While the slo-mo intros of meeting or going into enemy territory remains, it’s only for the first time thanks to new options. From there, you can either stealthily take out a BT or Brigand, or go in guns blazing as all locations have new technology that can avoid killing humans, but send BT’s back to the beach. There’s a whole other piece of exposition to that, so we’ll leave it for now.
While fun, the combat also has a clunkiness to it.
It has the stalled menu selection, famously used in the Metal Gear series, which stops time when you want to change weapons. Or change clothes on accident. There’s now melee weapons which can be used by Sam, and also can be thrown with varying effects applied. And the majority of firearms and grenades from the first game and Director’s Cut return. Each with slight adjustments to fit the new narrative. There are also new weapons and add-ons. I won’t disclose what these are due to how fun they are and how they further bridge that Metal Gear gap we all yearn for Kojima to close. You’ll also gain long range bombardment and a Pokémon-like summon, but I’ve already said too much.
There’s also some new ways to enhance Sam’s overall skills. He has separate stats earned from either delivering or combat, and a new APAS enhancement system. This has points earned by growing connections with facilities which can enhance your combat skills by allowing you to discharge electricity from your battery. Or gives you the ability to tell the weather of the next day by looking at the sky. So you’ll be re-slotting these enhancements frequently in the early game for your best benefit.
Yup, this is a Kojima game alright.
From calling on more famous friends to act in the game, to showcasing just how good the Decima engine really is; Death Stranding 2: On The Beach isn’t really made for any one. It’s like Kojima said. It’s made for the people who will hate it and then love it. I don’t know if I was ever one of them. I enjoyed the absurd nature of the first game. And this one further builds on it. While we lose our Monster energy drinks, we get more from a better, more streamlined experience. And because of this, it becomes more accessible to others. And the loneliness from the first game, quickly disappears as you reconnect everyone. With non-playable porters rapidly popping up to help you keep on, keepin’ on.
I wonder what IGNFrance is doing. I wonder if they enjoyed their time with this game as much as I did.
From making everything more easier to grasp and understand, and the Decima engine being put on display, DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH is a fantastic follow-up to Kojima's cult hit. More quirky things to discover and explore, more people to connect and more ways to do it sees me having already reached 80+ hours with the title.
And I don't even think I'm close to finishing it just yet. It's a 10 for me.
