Words & Games: “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach”
So, it’s been about two months since I’ve had a chance to sink my teeth into Hideo Kojima’s followup to his 2019 cult-hit, Death Stranding and in-short, I’m genuinely torn on which game I love more. Despite this writeup coming a little later after the fact, I wanted to share a well-rounded review and offer my own impressions well after those few, sweet initial hours following Death Stranding 2: On the Beach’s prologue.
“Though the future is a product of every present that precedes it, tomorrow does not belong to today.”
If you aren’t familiar, the basic gist of this video game can be summed up as a cinematic and interactive piece of media that’s equal parts cyberpunk dystopia, post-apocalyptic survival, horror-adjacent supernatural thriller and (at-times) over-the-top anime soap opera (think: something along the lines of Kevin Costner’s The Postman meets Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within [at-least visually/aesthetically-speaking] meets Blade Runner meets Children of Men meets the Silo series, to name just a few that come to mind). There’s already a lot happening in this duology of a franchise in terms of aesthetics, symbolism, commentary, influences and even the gameplay itself that I think makes DS2 both explicitly engaging and compelling in an immediate sense, while also at the same time lending the brainchild of Hideo Kojima to be perhaps if-too dense with unorthodox modalities and competing themes. While on its surface, DS2 provides its players with a simple enough premise (man must trek harsh wildernesses and deliver packages in a post-post-apocalyptic wasteland), what soon develops is a larger-than-life plot about the nature of humanity’s transience, death itself, how connectivity overall can paradoxically become disconnecting, parenthood, masculinity, trauma, capitalism—I mean, you name it and there’s probably something worth mentioning in either game about it. It’s hard to put into words just what exactly DS2 is about, but I think (in this case, for the better) that it’s besides the point, because what Kojima Productions have done is created a seminal piece of interactive media that I’d argue transcends the barrier of its medium and limitations and pushes the envelope into becoming bonafide art (despite the series’ creator’s rather complex thoughts about video games ever being art).
As far as the story is concerned, the actionable items feel mostly conventional I (if-not to the point of being overdone): We’re put into the shoes of our stoic-hero/protagonist™ Sam Bridges, who because of innate abilities and powers, must traverse a post-apocalyptic world and deliver packages in-order to save said planet. Having said that, there are a lot of story beats and world/lore-building that are tacked onto this story that feel wholly unique, original, relevant and engaging—heck, the original Death Stranding was downright revelatory when imagining a world before COVID-19, where civilization dwells in futuristic landscapes and can’t venture outside, having to rely on porters to deliver everything for survival. So…here’s the shtick per se: People can’t go outside because something called “timefall” which looks like rain but is actually the outcome of the dead breaching our side through a symbolic motif/device of gateways/portals called “beaches” (hence: death getting “stranding” on “beaches”) that profoundly ages organic things very quickly until they can die within seconds. Then, in-addition to “timefall,” there are ghost monsters (aka “BT’s in this game) that hang about to eat the living and can cause “voidouts” (aka big explosions), so only those somewhat few in this world of Death Stranding 1/2 with a rarer condition called DOOMS can traverse the “timefall” and detect these monsters so they can deliver packages to a world living in subterranean cities. Sam has DOOMS, the United States is no more, there’s sci-fi technology based on chirality and crystals to build connective networks, there’s robots, samurai-robots, terrorists, time travel subplots, I mean…let’s just say that Death Stranding 2: On the Beach somehow manages to both capture the imagination while also having just so much going on that its plot sometimes can feel convoluted, disjointed, even unintelligible.
One of many screenshots I took across my vast journey in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach’s rather generous photo-mode.
Yes, there are clear beats and generalized archetypes for us to stick with and follow for brevity’s sake, however I haven’t begun to scratch the surface of DS2’s actual plot directly—and maybe that’s a good thing, that because there’s just so much to unpack here, multiple playthroughs and auteur fact-finders will be rewarded upon reengagement. To be fair, I am also under the persuasion that it can be difficult to summate equally comparable sci-fi/fantasy epics into digestible soundbites or through-lines, so with such a rich world presented in DS2, I feel that the real draw isn’t the plot in its bareness but the end-product we’re given. I don’t think there was one singular point in where Death Stranding 2: On the Beach truly grasped me in a vacuum, in one catechizing moment of singularity that made me think, “This is something special,” but it was the overall journey, trajectory, individual little moments that amounted to something which once again surpassed my expectations entirely. Take for instance, when employing a similar perspective about the sum of many moments, DS2’s culmination of sounds, gameplay, visuals, acting (that’s another thing, the acting!) came together in a way that felt similar to Blade Runner—i.e., where there was no one single point I felt awestruck per se, but it was the revelation afterwards that truly cemented its roots, impressions into my psyche, after the dust settles, noise gone, game is off and we are left in the absence of this space and in the void, silence, comparison of what we felt walking into something versus walking out. Not to get too woo-woo and abstract here, but it’s not DS2’s gameplay (which, granted is demonstrable engineered with remarkable precision) nor plot that (to quote the late-great Billy Wilder) grabbed me by the throat and didn’t let me go, however it was this interesting space between showing and telling, like what this game was meant to do was provoke a sense of lingering reflection…and one that still hasn’t left me since finishing it in June.
Nevertheless, one moment that perhaps for some wasn’t as big as some of the others in the plot, but when in-game on one particular delivery in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach’s virtual rendition of Mexico, it was at some point I was running through a disinterred basin and this song Indigo by Magnolian came on and I think I will forever keep a part of me to remember just how it felt at that same moment. Nothing was “happening” per se, but just this vibe, mood (going back to the Blade Runner example) that I think goes so far and well for DS2. There’s the fact that when I think about the characters, I still get goosebumps thinking about one of the central figures to both games, Fragile and her subsequent impact, trajectory and character arc (it wouldn’t be hard to say that she was by far my favorite character of this game). There’s a moment I remember about first being dropped in Australia and coming out of the first major package upon surviving one particular bad stretch of BT-zone and timefall, only to be greeted by beautifully-rendered clay-like sand and mountains; there’s a moment from my gameplay where I got to ride on one of the new vehicle types and being amazed I could essentially surf through the terrain; there’s a particularly big reveal near the end of the game’s second act that specifically made me question my own relationally with those whom I’ve loved and are no longer with us; there was another big reveal about losing one key mechanic as I had relied on for a game and half, only to lose it and subsequently never feeling the same way after, ever; there was frustration with the new target range’s S-Rank times; there was building an entire level 2-chiral highway throughout Australia that felt Herculean; there was the joy of learning how to use the DHV-Magellan when it finally clicked on how to “properly” use it; and the music, the music choice—listening to Low Roar once again and feeling the drop in my gut.
Robots & Polaroids, also from my playthrough.
At its core, DS2 can be more or less essentialized as a delivery game that’s infused with combat, exploration, survival, espionage, driving and building-logistics gameplay elements. All of the previous installment’s tenets remain relatively intact with its sequel, although there are some notable exceptions as to what didn’t get transferred over the first game (mainly in the form of vehicles and added director’s cut content), but for the most part, veterans of Death Stranding’s robust delivery gameplay can expect to feel right at home here. Whether one decides to transport precious cargo by foot, cycle, truck or zip-line, the focus of what each ‘mission’ (aka “orders”) is to get from Point A to Point B by whatever means one deems necessary and that’s about it. Sure there are a few combat missions, as well as search and destroy, time-sensitive orders and so forth, however at the end of the day each gameplay sequence’s goals are relatively straightforward, though DS2’s pacing is broken down into much more manageable, coherent and bite-sized portions than its predecessor. Conversely, its the simplicity of DS2’s gameplay loop that allows for a much broader experience when things like stamina, cargo weight and condition, weather, enemies, geography, supplies and available tools start to be accounted for once the game releases you from its prologue and out into the open world (which is more of an open-sandbox, to be fair). This also gives the player the freedom to “choose” in some sense on how to get a job done—if you want to use brute force and go guns blazing, that is a way, or you can be sneaky and go on foot, or you can try to outrun your enemies, etc., etc.
That proverbial freedom on how to meet your objective is welcome, despite how linear and straightforward the core gameplay loop is. Sure, there are RPG-esque elements, connection stats and strands with other players, a rank dedicated to your abilities as a porter, yes there are a lot of smoke and mirrors around the meat and potatoes of DS2, though they are welcome and help incentivize improving your skills once the landscape gets to be less strenuous and unknown. From the start, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach allows for the player to go about things their own way that allow for creative improvisation on-the-fly. Package accidentally destroyed? Use it as a weapon when you run out of ammo, or use it to distract an enemy, or throw it to get another package from off a ledge above you, or scrap it for raw materials. Run into timefall and you’re out in the middle of nowhere? Make sure to utilize the online buildings left by other players in your world to get by, whether they be a postbox, bridge, weapon, vehicle or even shelter to take advantage of when times get tough. It seems as though no one playthrough will resemble another except for important checkpoints and plot bottlenecks that are reminiscent of the Mass Effect series (in a gameplay sense). Then as you start to build your profile as a porter and get new gear and upgrades, the pathing/mapping/resource management aspect of this game (as well as the over-the-shoulder, Fox-Engine-worthy perspective) also invokes some sense of Kojima’s flawed pièce de résistance, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain as almost sort of a forbidden, lost, longing love letter in some metatextual way (including a quasi-direct nod).
Another taken by me, amidst one of the more imaginative and unforgettable boss fights of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.
To get the nuts and bolts out of the way: on a plain-Jane, year-two base model Playstation 5, the game ran great and outperformed my expectations. While I initially played the opening few hours of the prologue and Mexico area in graphics-mode, it was to my surprise that there seemed to be no heightened loss of graphical fidelity when switching to performance mode. The game’s frame rate seemed locked in at a steady and constant 60fps-ish, though there were times when it would stutter, or some draw-distance didn’t render properly if I went too fast with the boost skeleton, and occasionally there was a dip in frame rate when entering a new contract for some reason, however those times seemed few and far between. Then there was the sound design, which was superb and sounded great between the rotation of headphones and the TV’s natural speakers. Music selection, excellent as always, which I feel in some way Kojima just features artists of his own choice just to show off his taste in music. Between each biome and distinct zone there were memorable geographical markers in a way that I don’t think any other game has struck me with—for example, if one were to turn off all maps in DS2, I feel like I could get around just based on the topography alone, not even mentioning buildings. Yes, the world is massive, sometimes breathtaking, sometimes barren or even boring, but it’s an experience, probably inadvertently the best hiking and rock climbing simulator games we will ever get without Kojima Productions ever really trying. The cars handle fine, perhaps not great, but worlds better than the first game and get the job done more or less. Controls are responsive and intuitive without feeling clunky or overtly-complicated, although to someone who enjoys a more casual kind of experience, some of the button combinations you can utilize in DS2 may feel as if they’re needlessly tacked on for the sake of ornament rather than function (there are many examples of things you can do which are perhaps not self-evidentiary, such as tying down cargo, or using the strand to essentially quick-time-takedown the mecha-enemies at specific times), yet I would argue that the plethora of options available only add to DS2’s creative-solution focus.
There will be some people who might resonate with DS2 more than the first, even if they have not played the first (based on some preliminary reading of other reviews online). While I won’t say it’s undoubtably necessary to play the first game per se, I do think that there are some more emotionally-charged beats that probably won’t be as an effective plot device had not someone had some grasp of pretext. Now on the other side of having played both games, I also do think the first game is a much better encapsulated product which manages to tell a singular story and not get derailed by a host of philosophical tangents, yet with that being said, I would probably still place my vote for DS2 over the first purely on the grounds of what this game feels like to play it. There’s a joy to DS2 suffused with a commixture of love, sorrow, pain and childish-free-like indulgence that resonates throughout the final product. Similar to how I described an admittedly much different game (Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII), Death Stranding 2: On the Beach just feels alive, burgeoning with emotion, creative risks, overshoots, truth, eye-rolling-inducing anime-runaway-scenes, an incredibly rewarding gameplay loop, stellar lineup of artists, an exceptional Latin-American dub and translation (something that I feel Kojima Productions does not get enough credit for—full translations and dubs in so many languages), the acting…there’s an experience here that I think, despite what missteps or imperfections (as did I feel with the first), DS2 comes across to me as something that needs to be felt in order to have a meaningful dialogue with what its creators were trying to say.
So far I haven’t spoke about the story and…I don’t think I will, nor have to. There’s a lot in that, I think to write about wouldn’t do it justice, though I will say what struck out to me were themes of grief, the nature of time, the nature of time and how it relates to our perceptions of ourselves, death when in-context to love, the implications of how we delineate past from present and future, connectedness as facilitated by technology, how disconnectedness paradoxically and conversely connects us. Highly recommended, something that coincidentally, came across to me in my life as I moved to near a different kind of beach and lost something dear to me as well.
Thanks for reading <3
“Death can’t tear us apart. We will always be with you.”
