What we've seen of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach makes it feel like Hideo Kojima has been listening to people calling his game bonkers for years and has decided to, almost tongue in cheek, lean into it. Dialling up the weirdness for the first game and turning around to the audience to check, he's throwing in airships that come out of freaky babies' mouths, stop-motion living puppets, and electric guitar battles. But my biggest question is: how is all that sand going to affect my meticulously planned hiking journey when I'm delivering packages twice my size?
Don't get me wrong, I understand all that strangeness will doubtless get the Death Stranding curious to prick up their ears. But the real delivery sickos like me were instead leaning forwards as each new region (this sequel has Sam Bridges expanding the UCA network outside of the US) revealed new complications for the true heart of the series: holding tight onto your backpack and trundling forwards to make your package deliveries. Steep cliffs! Sandy dunes! Floods!? Rockslides!? I'm scared, yet also… compelled.
