Death Stranding 2: On the Beach sees Hideo Kojima do something he rarely has done in the past—repeat himself. Each Metal Gear Solid provided a wildly different mechanical and systemic experience to the last, whereas Death Stranding 2 very much feels like more Death Stranding, structurally identical to the last game. It also sees him reference his prior work on Metal Gear more than ever before. What if, however, through this repetition, Kojima was trying to tell a story on the level of Sons of Liberty? What if Neil Vana is actually Solid Snake? What if Death Stranding 2 is actually the sequel to the Phantom Pain we’ve been waiting a decade for?!
Or, what if Kojima wants us to move on from Metal Gear Solid altogether?
In this analysis of Death Stranding 2, let’s talk about how the structural similarities between the first game and its sequel allow Kojima to tell a much more personal story about grief than before, and crucially, how the game’s constant references to Metal Gear Solid and what came before, make us feel Sam’s grief too, encouraging us to move on in the same way.
Death Stranding 2 early review code provided by PlayStation. This video contains spoilers for Death Stranding 2.
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0:00 – Intro and spoiler warning
0:16 – Sam Porter Bridges walks on decayed ground
4:01 – Death Stranding 2 is a game about grief
6:28 – It’s also an absolute blast to play
10:04 – A far more personal story
13:04 – Sam’s grief is conveyed through mechanics
17:03 – Combat in Death Stranding 2
19:16 – Is Death Stranding 2 secretly a new Metal Gear Solid game?
21:48 – Is Neil Vana really Solid Snake?!
23:07 – Kojima’s most exciting ending in decades
24:53 – Kojima wants you to move on from Metal Gear Solid (ENDING SPOILERS)
27:06 – Repetition tells a story, one step at a time
31:05 – Outro
#deathstranding2 #deathstranding2onthebeach #hideokojima #metalgearsolid
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A thing to remember is that while the MGS games were innovative in their own way, there WAS an identical narrative formula to them. Between Metal Gear (1987) to MGS3, the setup is always "there is a group of badguys who have a giant mech, they also have some hostages, including a scientist. Now go infiltrate their base, save the hostages, destroy the mech and kill the leader".
What made them different from one another is that each installment added a lot of new systems and iterated on the ones that came before, while nonetheless rarely removing existing mechanics. Each game could afford the freshness that they had because the previous game was always relatively simple and had a lot of room for improvement by virtue of coming out at a time where game design was still a thing that people were figuring out. The difference with Death Stranding is that it was very fleshed out from the get go so a sequel was always gonna feel very similar unless beside adding new stuff they would also remove/modify existing systems to a significant degree. I also think that the elephant in the room is that AAA games cost a shit ton to make nowadays so devs can't afford to have sequels that change too much stuff unless you have a GTA budget (see the other recent Sony first party sequels).
One thing that they could have made to make it more different is to have very different ~vibes~ which is what MGS did pretty well. I personnally had always wished for DS2 to be set in space/on the moon and it probably would have done the trick in that regard.
Still loved the game though.
I finally finished it. Enjoyed the gameplay but some of the writing and self referencing was getting to me in a bad way. Still one of the best games this year.
The way Higgs was dealt with was so unexpected it made me laugh so hard my roommates asked me if I was okay.
Grenade Pistol, my beloved
Kojima is strands ahead for this one
damn this vid had me tearing up at points 🥲 seriously phenomenal stuff, it really captures parts of the DS2 experience that I think is so difficult to put into words but you NAILED IT
I liked ds1 but it just looks the same? how is it not the same?
Very sorry to see this channel dying. Great video.
I haven't played either DS games but your narration really moved me. The last 3 years have been the worst of my entire life. Trauma after trauma. But I'm still here and still, slowly but surely, healing and looking for hope.
The cyber truck of video games.
"Kept you waiting, huh?"
Best moment in the entire game.
Thank you for this video! Ive hardly see anyone talk about the role grief and mourning play in this game.
Happy 10 years, Hamish! Wow, I've been watching your vids since your witcher 3 one! Will come back to this one to see the full spoiler sections, but I loved what I saw.
Someday I'm going to make something defending MGS5. Someday…
This is the first game that i finished with a sense of hopeful melancholy.
A very hard to describe feeling, but one that not only explained how i felt beating this game but also life in general.
The world of Death Stranding 2 is not fixed by the games ending, its still bad, the Death Stranding still lives on. Sam has lost so much, missed so much, just when he was ready to embrace again.
Yet… Tomorrow is here. And Tomorrow will always come. And thats how i feel in life right now.
Suffering, pain, loss and death are all on the horizon, the causes of which, ones we can change and ones that are inevitable live on. Time feels like its moved too fast, people are growing up as faster than we realise it. But… tomorrow is here, not just for me, but for everyone. Theres always another step to take, or another road to build for others.
It's cool to see the love for DS2
Now that's a good thumbnail!
Worthy of sitting in my watch later until I beat the game.
As a game I think the game is great, it is the 1st one but better, but when it comes to the story, I think it is just a mess; no character development, no character interaction, lots of deus ex machina moments, tons of off-screen important moments, tons of dropped plot-points, lots of excessive fan service. It really lost me on the story department.
I hope one of these days I get my "Death Stranding Epiphany" as I've seen so many others have and just finally enjoy this series. But for now, I'll accept it's not for me and enjoy that others are getting enjoyment out of it. Congrats on the 10 years bud!
Would sell my soul and feet pics to Kojima for a solely combat focused spinoff game or even DLC expansion. Supernatural beach abilities/DOOMS superpowers in this world just look like too much fun and I desperately need it.
I will say, as someone who booked a cancer screening test while sitting on the john, the fact that you can field important calls while relieving yourself in this game is an immersion booster to me. Life isn't a Hollywood movie – important things don't wait for opportune moments to happen.
(And if anyone wants to know, the results came back fine, no cancer.)
One must imagine Sam Porter Bridges happy.
I think the Death Stranding games make the strongest argument for being AAA that any game in its category does. Truckin on two legs is what highly realistic graphics were made for
I need to watch this video but I can't. I'll come back in a week
MAN, I dont have a PS5 yet, but I will be back to this video the NANOSECOND I finish DS2. See you then.
This is exactly the video I needed to watch to convince myself that I do, in fact, need to and want to play Death Stranding 2. I now need to see all of this for myself.
Congrats on 10 years!
I look forward to playing this in 2026 on PC
What does Mario Kart World and Death Stranding 2 have in common?
Empty open world 2
But it's only bad when Bethesda does it….
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