Done With #23: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

People who know me know how much Death Stranding means to me. It was my graduation gift that was given to me by my mother whom I have a difficult relationship with, and we actually played through the game together. Which is kind of funny to think that my mother witnessed the birth of the “strand-type” genre (Kojima, I don’t know what drugs you were on, man) with the usage of asynchronous multiplayer that allows you to give and take items to other players without being connected to the internet all the time. The more I think about it, the more bizarre it gets as I have to translate the story to my mom, with how the team’s writing style is heavily “tell, don’t show” and cutscenes that go on for an hour or so, or seeing my mom laughing as ass off with the Princess Beach (Mario reference) pun really made this game so memorable to me.

Death Stranding also came out at an amazing time, as the world was still suffering from the COVID-19 infestation. The game theme, which champions essential workers and love for humankind, really resonates with many people, including myself. People from around the globe connect with each other through the internet and share so many memorable moments during tough times and lockdown woes. It’s still crazy to think that the game literally “predicted” that an event like this would happen, and was there to help heal many by teaching that the human connection is very important.

With that said, I was pretty stunned when I first saw Death Stranding 2: On the Beach’s trailer, where the question that goes against the entirety of the first game’s theme comes up. “Should we have connected?” was the text that could be seen in it, and at that time, it was true. We’re starting to see the more negative impact of the world where we share more of our lives online, be it vitriol attacks we do against each other, or the political propaganda globally that’s being pushed toward us. Following up with the launch trailer that contains the phrase “We Should Not Have Connected” was even crazier, leaving me even more confused and intrigued with where the game is going storywise. Son of a bitch, Kojima and co. I was super in!

After spending 50 hours in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and upon much consideration, I found the answer to the trailer’s question for myself. Let’s talk more about it.

Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

DS2 (too lazy to type the full name at this point) happens roughly 11 months after the first game. After Sam (Norman Reedus) helped unite the US, or as they call it in the game, United Cities of America, through the Chiral Network, humans are replaced by robots and automations, and many jobs become obsolete. Porters are no longer needed, leading to Sam and his adopted daughter, Lou, to retire and live a quiet life on the outskirts of the country, but that peaceful life doesn’t last long with earthquakes happen all around the world due to the rise of Chiral energy allows for intercontinental travels, which prompts Fragile, Sam’s love interest, and the UCA to recruit him and Lou on another adventure to use the opportunity to expand the connection worldwide. Back at it again, with more friends than ever, Sam and Lou embark on a brand new adventure in Australia.

If you haven’t played the first game, I bet half of that doesn’t make sense. That’s one of the problems with DS2, as you need quite a bit of context from the first game. I reckon that even if you watch the summary that’s provided by the dev team themselves on YouTube or in-game, a lot of context and the inner workings of the world can still come off as rather confusing.

It’s pretty clear that the team knows this, leading them to build up the Corpus system, which is essentially the increasingly popular glossary system that we’ve been seeing since Final Fantasy XVI, where you can quickly refer to it to get additional context for the cutscenes and the world events. There are also dialogue options in-game that can make Sam ask “refresher questions” to NPCs you meet throughout the journey, which serves as a refresher for players who might’ve forgotten the smaller details of the first game and a lore drop for newer players. However, if possible, I’d still rather play the first game or watch some extensive summary before playing to understand the relationship between characters better.

Death Stranding 2 is hella romantic. It is a story about love and its many forms. The love from a dad to his child, from one person to another romantically, the platonic friendships we have and the love for humanity itself. If you are familiar with Sam from the first game, then you might remember that he has aphenphosmphobia (fear of touch), which leads him to seclude himself from others but the adventure taught him to overcome that fear and allows him to embrace others around him. This is heavily showcased in this game, where the guy wants to hug everybody he meets, and it brings a huge smile to my face every time, as he genuinely loves the world and everyone. The biggest difference between the previous adventure with the BB and the now named Lou, along with our sidekick Dollman, can be felt throughout. There’s never a dull moment, with Dollman making appropriate comments in reactions to things that are happening without feeling too quippy. The contrast of the story not only reflects the game’s message, which is still inline with the first game, but also leads to a more engaging gameplay loop with more to hear from friends and those around Sam.

Overall, this is probably the easiest to digest game from Kojima. I love how the focus is actually on the well-written characters as opposed to Metal Gear Solid and DS1 world building and political stories (they’re great too, but very on the nose and convoluted, as we all know). They are able to not overexplain with this title, and the appropriate balance between “show don’t tell” and “tell don’t show” that Kojima and his writing team usually struggle with isn’t really here. I mean, of course, there are still cheesy and zany moments, with characters breaking the fourth wall at some hilarious times, but the relationship and love between Sam, Lou, and Fragile really got me crying like hell throughout the 30-hour main campaign.

As for the aforementioned question, “Should We Have Connected?”, it’s hard to talk about it without spoiling the story of the game, as the more you play, the more you would understand the true meaning behind the question. It took me a bit for it to click, but when it did, I cried like a broken dam. This game is incredibly emotional, and Kojima Productions doesn’t pull its punches when it comes to making you cry. The answer I got after playing, to me, was incredibly satisfying. I absolutely love every minute of it.

The Bond We Share

As mentioned earlier, this game is very focused on its vibrant cast of characters, from the minor ones that we meet across Australia to the major peeps that must have been very expensive for them to get onboard.

The new main characters like Rainy (Shioli Kutsuna) and Tarman (George Miller) really stole the show every time they’re on the screen, with emotional side quests and side stories that you can’t help but feel for them. Tomorrow (Elle Fanning) quickly became my favourite out of the entire cast with how cool she was, or the Solid Snake lookalike guy (Luca Marinelli) that was such a force in the scenes that he was in. Got me sitting up straight with some of those reveals with these guys.

However, this doesn’t mean that older characters like Fragile, Heartman, or the fan favourite like Deadman don’t play a huge role here. In fact, with how ‘homey’ the vibes feel in this game, I love how it feels like we’re on another adventure with old friends with these guys. Really got me jumping when they joined the crew. With that said, it’s also hard not to talk about Troy Baker as Higgs, who really acted his ass off and gave probably Troy Baker’s best performance in his entire career. The unhinged Higgs with his guitar was a joy to see, and invoked so many emotions from me, ranging from anger towards Higgs to a couple of handshakes I want to give Troy Baker for how incredible he performed throughout the game.

Furthermore, the NPCs that we will meet along the way during the main and side quests are as crazy as the first game. I sort of come to expect them to be cameos by celebrities just like the first game, but this time I think they’re implemented in a way better way with actual personalities and more dialogues that give us a bit of their background to humanise them. They are quite a huge incentive to keep pushing the main story too, as I was waiting to see who it’s going to be next. We got the entirety of CHVRCHES as animal shelter runners, the hilarious Lauren Tsai, and even Pekora from Hololive is here. These cameos won’t work without strong writing to justify them, and the writing team did an incredible job of not making them feel forced.

On top of the very strong cast, the Easter Eggs also add multiple bizarre events that you don’t really see coming (just like the first game). The hot springs and the pizza fight are a good example of this and have been shared across the internet. I think it’s a great way to balance the game's main campaign being incredibly heavy with these lighthearted moments as they help quite a lot with the pacing and not make the game feel too heavy.

This Is How We Do It

Getting to see these NPCs can be quite troublesome, though. Australia is a huge place despite it not being a 1:1 replica of the country. It’s got a wide array of biomes, like desert, forest, snowy mountains, you name it. Combined with the beautifully implemented day/night cycle and dynamic weather, the trip around the country feels great as there’s so much to do and see. So many screenshot opportunities, be it due to an earthquake or a sandstorm.

There’s probably some saying about going on an adventure and needing to prepare that I can’t think of right now, and I mean, we’re embarking on one hell of an adventure across the continent. Not only do we need to study the routes and know the map, but preparing the right tools and equipment for the trip is of utmost importance, be it in-game or real life. Kojima Productions understands this and does an amazing job in fulfilling this fantasy!

The attention to detail and the aim of making a perfect delivery simulator can be seen through the systems that the game has to offer. Death Stranding 2 probably has the most detailed map in all gaming, where you can zoom in and out to your liking to study the terrain condition and the depth of the ground you’re traveling on. The additional features to the map system compared to the first game adds a huge layer of roleplaying to the experience, as we can see weather forecasts and environmental disaster warnings before we embark on every journey. It’s seriously immersive and awesome to bring specific equipment or even the right hat for the job. The effect can range from actual in-game impact to just the aesthetics, but having this be an option for players to roleplay and think what Sam and his crew would actually do is nothing short of cool.

The return of the PCC system and new building types also help travelling throughout Australia a whole lot more convenient. The newly introduced buildings, like Transponders that allow us to teleport to visited places (although you do lose things you are carrying so you can’t cheese the deliveries) or the Hot Spring that you can build, are great additions to the game. With the game being an open world this time around unlike the predecessor’s open zone system, the Tri-Cruiser and Pickup-off Roader are a great addition and give us even more options to approach our deliveries. You could also go fully on foot, utilising the zip-line network that you and other players built for delivery, or you can fix an entire monorail system that runs across half the continent to move the deliverables even faster. The choice is all yours.

The best part about all this is that the pacing is just right. It always feels like you get a new toy every 20-30 minutes, making the game fresh with things to consistently look forward to. This also helps you not feel overwhelmed and helps give you time to put the pieces together and see how these moving parts can interact. The unlockables from the main quest are enough to complete the game, but there’s a lot of incentive to complete side quests for the NPCs to get even more off-the-wall stuff to work with, like Pizza Dough that turns you into a Kung Fu master. You can check out the Corpus to see who gives what, which gives you a rough idea on what to do if you’re working toward a certain tool.

With that said, even with the introduction of these items (especially very creative weapons), it sucks that the game’s enemies' AI suck pretty badly. While you can play Sam literally like Snake from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, there’s nothing really stopping you from going gun blazing, as the AIs can be rather dumb. It doesn’t help either that the majority of the boss fights can feel a bit like bullet sponges. Death Stranding 2 definitely has a great base for a new open-world sandbox game, but the enemy AI isn’t there yet, which is such a shame.

Why We Connect In the First Place...

With all that said, the most important aspect of this game is its asynchronous multiplayer system, which never makes you feel like you’re ever alone in the world despite playing a single-player game. It feels great to be a giver, and in all honesty, it’s even better to be the receiver, and this game is all about that. You’ll receive items and benefits from other players, such as built structures, weapons, vehicles, and a lot of supplies, especially during an emergency. The game also encourages you to give it forward too once you don’t need them; letting you be THAT person who saves someone just like you were once saved during a boss fight or a trip gone wrong. The “Like” system, where players can give a commendation to other players for helping them out, is back and better than ever.

After all, this game is still all about love and human connection, answering its own big question from earlier with a “hell yeah it was great that we connected” through its gameplay on top of its story.

On the Beach

At the end of the day, it’s still Death Stranding. People who aren’t a huge fan of the first game will still not really be into this, I reckon. It’s a niche game that’s gotten bigger, better, and crazier in some aspects. However, I think that it’s very easy to appreciate this game’s artistic vision despite not enjoying it. I hope everyone can feel that way too, even if they aren’t the biggest fan of the gameplay loop, as its gut-wrenching story is still a generational one for gaming.

I’m so lucky that I’m completely into this game, both the gameplay and the story. In a world that needs more love, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach seriously leaves me so much hope for humanity in general (on top of a lot of crying). This isn’t a perfect game and at multiple moments it can get really crazy (XD), but it’s definitely a game with a heart. I think Kojima and his team seriously made one hell of a memorable experience that will stick with me for quite a long time.