Anyone familiar with the first part will know that this is not about shooting, but balancing. Through rivers, over cliffs, with a lot of weight on your back – the gameplay in 2025 is also decelerated and requires patience. However, the calm is not a shortcoming, but a method. Kojima wants us to feel: Loneliness, connection, disintegration. And he succeeds
Technically, thePS5 titleis a high-gloss product:The facial animations are worked out down to the last detail, the landscapes between Mexican ruins and misty forest valleys look so real that you almost freeze. The music and sound design contribute to the dense atmosphere – often calm, then suddenly overwhelming
Puzzles, stars and depth: a bizarre masterpiece with the courage to be unique
It is only in the second act that Death Stranding 2unfolds all its strengths. The story is told more clearly than in its predecessor, but remains Kojima through and through: mysterious, overloaded, fascinating. Thanks to the newencyclopaedia “Corpus”, even newcomers can keep track of things.And those who want to delve deeper will discover references to philosophy, politics – and pop culture.
Stars such as Léa Seydoux, Elle Fanning and Guillermo del Toro(silent this time) lend additional weight to the world. The boss battles are epically staged, even if they are hardly challenging in terms of gameplay. On the other hand, the choices in mission design score points: sneak or shoot, risk or detour – the player finally has real freedom of choice.
Whether you will love the game depends on what you expect. Those looking for action will often be left baffled. But those who embrace Kojima’s stubborn vision will get a game that dares more than almost anything else – and does a lot of things right.Death Stranding 2is not a game for everyone. But for some, it’s the game of the year