Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Reviews
Despite repeating huge chunks of Death Stranding 1, almost beat for beat, Kojima pulls it out of the bag in the end. The core gameplay loop remains satisfying enough to get you through to the good stuff, but I can't help but feel disappointed just how similar this game is to its predecessor.
Death Stranding 2 isn’t the revolution that the first game was. Instead, it refines almost all aspects of the original to make an excellent, well-polished experience.
This is a mystifying and provocatively slow-paced game with more celebrities than you would find on a Cannes red carpet
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is an epic, big budget sequel to Kojima's controversial cult classic. It offers a better story, an excellent cast of characters, and beautiful world to reconnect.
Death Stranding 2 is engaging and beautiful.
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach improves on all the gameplay of the first episode and offers breathtaking views, it's a shame for a story that loses a bit of intensity in the central part.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, at least judging by its first 25 hours, isn’t some grand reinvention of what made the original game so beloved and divisive then. It is, however, an equally as plodding yet enthralling story about the importance of connection – and the beautiful monotony required to make this happen.
It’s drop-dead gorgeous and introduces enough new mechanics to feel fresh while never alienating what makes the franchise so special. Death Stranding 2 is undoubtedly one of the best games of the year, and well worth the agonizing six-year wait.
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is a triumph in what it sets out to achieve. This isn't a game interested in converting willing consumers into fans, it's a game that takes bold steps in order to succeed what came before it. If you needed proof that Hideo Kojima is still the titan of the industry that he's hailed as, this game is that proof. I was left truly speechless by the end, and I have a feeling that many others will too.
In what will prove to be one of the defining games of the PS5 generation, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a profound achievement of design, gameplay, narrative, and visuals. As all four meet in the middle, Kojima Productions has crafted a cinematic spectacle that flawlessly transitions between action and traversal, all wrapped up in the most absorbing of narratives. An immense upgrade on the first game, Death Stranding 2 is an unequivocal masterpiece.
Death Stranding 2 is phenomenal. It’s among Kojima’s very best work not just for its narrative, but for the near-limitless variety in its gameplay opportunities. While it may very well end up being the final game in the series, at least with Kojima at the helm, we can only hope someone else picks up the mantle and continues to iterate on one of gaming’s most unique experiences. After all, why else would we have connected?
Hideo Kojima once again proves to be a singular creative force in the video game industry, crafting a sequel in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach that is not just essential for fans of the first game, but an essential experience for all gamers.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a game different enough for those who enjoyed the 2019 installment to admire the evolution that Kojima Productions presents this time around. However, those who didn't connect with the PS4 title will hardly be convinced by what the sequel has in store for us, and that's okay.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
While I’m playing “Death Stranding 2,” I keep thinking how it is the latest in a proud tradition of art that expands horizons and helps you identify with the beauty in life and living things, even as the truth of it all eludes us. If you care about that, consider this review an urging but friendly recommendation. Trust me, you’ll love this.
Death Stranding 2 is the almost perfect sequel for anyone who enjoyed Sam's first post-apocalyptic adventure
Review in German | Read full review
Despite not fielding revolutions, the gameplay demonstrates a solidity that, even if it does not completely compensate for the shortcomings of the story, at least circumscribes its effects, giving the player a well-assorted and valid game bouquet, which offers a different balance between delivery and combat dynamics, managing to enhance both sides of the offer.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is one of those rare moments where a game takes itself seriously as a work of art. It’s beautiful, touching, joyful, and tragic all at once. While you’ll be spending most of its runtime just driving trucks around instead of contending with the terrain, it’s still incredibly fun to play and witness its very human story unfold.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, developed by Kojima Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, is a new journey with a tonal shift compared to its predecessor, as the narrative is smaller in scope and far more personal. On the gameplay side of the tracks, the new game tightens a lot of loose ends from the first game, expands the world of Death Stranding through new environments and gameplay improvements, and exceeds all expectations with how a game should look on PlayStation 5. This is a solid contender for Game of the Year.
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach does everything it can to eclipse the original in practically every way, improving on the systems surrounding the already solid core of the original. The result is a livelier world to explore, an engaging story to experience and an overall much better paced adventure through Australia that I struggled to put down. It's well worth your time and more respectful of it too.