Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Review: A Better Game, a Slightly Less Haunting One

The short version

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is what happens when Kojima actually listens to criticism, then responds in the most Kojima way possible. It is bigger, cleaner, more action-forward, less stubbornly obtuse in the moment-to-moment play, and a lot easier to recommend than the first game. It is also, weirdly, a little less special because of that.

The original Death Stranding was divisive for a reason. Half the appeal was that it felt like nobody else would even dare make something that committed that hard to walking, balance, terrain, weather, cargo management, and loneliness. On the Beach keeps that foundation, but layers on more combat options, more mobility, more convenience, more spectacle, and a more generous pace. For most players, that is a straight upgrade. For the sickos who loved the first game precisely because it was abrasive, the sequel can feel like it has been sanded down.

Traversal still rules, and now the rest of the game can keep up

The best thing about Death Stranding 2 is that the core act of getting from one place to another is still insanely satisfying. Kojima Productions understands terrain better than most open-world studios understand combat. Slopes matter. Rivers matter. Loadouts matter. The feeling of preparing for a route, improvising when the weather turns ugly, then barely dragging yourself and your cargo to the destination still hits.

The difference now is that the supporting systems are much better. Vehicles come earlier and feel more useful. Combat has more tools and more purpose. Stealth is less clunky. Infrastructure building remains one of the game’s smartest ideas, especially once the shared online layer kicks in and the world starts showing traces of other players helping, flexing, or trolling in useful ways. It still feels oddly human in a genre full of empty “live service” nonsense.

There is also more variety in how the game asks you to solve problems. You can brute-force your way through some encounters, sneak through others, or just route around trouble like a true delivery goblin. That flexibility makes the whole experience less monotonous than the first game, and it is a big reason why critical reception landed so strongly in its favour.

The catch: making Death Stranding easier changes what Death Stranding is

This is where the review splits depending on who you are.

If you bounced off the first game because it was too slow, too punishing, or too in love with its own friction, On the Beach is clearly better. If you loved the original because every successful delivery felt earned through suffering, this sequel may feel a bit too accommodating.

That tension has shown up a lot in community response too. The broad consensus is that Death Stranding 2 improves combat, pacing, and usability, but some players miss the harsher edge of the first game. When traversal becomes smoother and the toolbox gets bigger, the world can feel slightly less threatening. The journey is still the point, but it no longer feels quite as brutal or alien.

That does not ruin the game. It just changes its flavour. This is less “endure the apocalypse” and more “master the apocalypse.” Whether that sounds better or worse depends on why you came here.

Kojima is still a genius, still indulgent, still incapable of chilling

Story-wise, this is classic late-period Kojima. That means huge themes, big emotions, ridiculous names, heavy symbolism, blunt dialogue, incredible visual imagination, and a total refusal to edit himself like a normal person.

When it works, it really works. The new cast brings strong screen presence, the world remains fascinating, and the sequel is more emotionally direct than the first game in ways that make its biggest swings land harder. There is a confidence here that helps the narrative move with more purpose.

But let’s be real, Kojima still disappears into his own myth-making sometimes. Cutscenes can over-explain, under-explain, then explain the wrong thing for 12 more minutes. Some twists feel easier to see coming. Some dialogue still sounds like an alien trying to imitate prestige TV. If you already roll your eyes at Kojima writing, this game will not magically convert you.

On PS5, this thing is absurdly pretty

Visually, this is one of the strongest arguments for owning a PS5. The landscapes are outrageous, character models are properly expensive-looking, and the environmental detail sells the world even when the script is busy doing backflips. More importantly, the tech is serving the mood, not just flexing. Weather, lighting, terrain readability, and sheer scale all feed back into play.

It also helps that the game reportedly runs very well on base PS5, which matters because a cinematic blockbuster that feels bad in the hands would collapse under its own self-importance. This one mostly doesn’t.

Malaysia and SEA check

For Malaysia and the wider SEA crowd, the good news is simple: this is not the kind of game where you need to stress about server ping, because the online component is asynchronous, not competitive. You still get the community-driven structures and shared-world vibes without sweaty latency drama. The less fun part is platform access. At launch, this is PS5-only, so the PC gang kena wait. Price-wise, local physical listings in Malaysia have hovered around RM315, which is very much premium Sony first-party territory. Painful, yes, but not unusual. The upside is that Kojima games always generate strong local chatter, from spoiler-free Discord reactions to the usual “bro what is this cutscene” posting, so if you like experiencing a weird game alongside a loud community, this one has that energy.

Final call

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is not Kojima at his most dangerous. It is Kojima refining, polishing, and broadening a strange idea that used to feel almost hostile to mainstream tastes. That makes it a better video game, even if it makes it a slightly less haunting piece of art.

If you hated the first one, don’t let the review scores gaslight you, this still belongs to the same family. But if the original ever clicked for you, or even almost clicked, this sequel is easier to sink into and much harder to put down. Weird, beautiful, self-indulgent, and unexpectedly generous, it is one of 2025’s most interesting big-budget games.