Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is almost a week away, and the excitement surrounding its release on PS5 is palpable. Between all the new story beats, equipment, gameplay mechanics, and gorgeous visuals, it’s looking to be an incredible follow-up to the original. Here are 15 new things you should know before its June 26th launch, culled from a recent event, trailer and interview.
Note: All information in this article is through official sources.
Starting Area and Tutorial
As showcased during the Game Premiere Event, the beginning features Sam and Lou on the border between Mexico and the United Cities of America. This serves as a tutorial of sorts, with players having to find the ideal route to Sam’s hideout, descending a mountainous range in the process. It’s easier said than anything, especially when earthquakes and landslides are reshaping the landscape, making Lou cry. Don’t worry, though – the minigame to soothe her returns, motion controls and all.
The Peter Jackson Camera
While traversing the range, director Hideo Kojima highlighted something called the “Peter Jackson Camera.” The camera zooms out extensively to the side and showcases Sam walking across the range, not unlike a shot from The Lord of the Rings. This view will likely be used multiple times in-game, but the benefit is that you won’t easily stumble despite the perspective shift. Of course, if you want to return to the default camera, just hit R3.
Procedural Music
The music, composed by Yoann Lemoine, aka Woodkid, doesn’t just set the mood for the experience – it also serves as a guide while exploring. Kojima demonstrated how it changes depending on your actions, with percussion and other instruments becoming more active when running. Deviate from the main path, and some of the rhythm goes away while piano notes take prominence. While speaking to Rolling Stone, Lemoine noted, “Every song that I was giving him was just a pop song, but it was also like 100 alternatives of that song that then the programmers could work with and exchange back and forth with us, so we would fine tune things.”
Deadman Returns
The opening credits from the Game Premiere event didn’t just provide a gorgeous overview of some locations that Sam will explore. It also listed Guillermo del Toro as appearing in a special performance, in turn confirming the return of Deadman. Granted, previous trailers have been hinting at his inclusion in the sequel, but this pretty much seals the deal.
Summon the DHV Magellan
Sam encounters several new characters throughout the story, including Drawbridge members Rainy, Tomorrow, and Tarman. While the DHV Magellan is used to travel to different locations via tar, you can actually summon it anytime after establishing the Chiral Network in a region, as noted in the Game Reveal event. It’s like a home for Sam, and he can check the progress of the crew as the narrative progresses.
Battle Against Neil
The brief cutscene from Summer Game Fest showcased newcomer Neil, played by Luca Marinelli, meeting up with Lucy, his wife. However, for some reason, he couldn’t recognize her. While Kojima and crew obviously didn’t explain why this is the case (or what the matching marks on their hands mean), they did showcase a battle against Neil and his warriors.
As with Cliff in the first game, Sam ventures to another world to fight Neil, and you can either play stealthily, taking down each member and even shooting Neil in the back or go guns-blazing. Of course, he’ll teleport around the environment, including to higher vantage points, which means adjusting your strategy accordingly. Interestingly, you’ll travel to this world several times throughout the story to meet Neil. While the gameplay showcased a fire as its key natural disaster, there may be earthquakes or floods represented in this world as well.
Chiral Antigravity Device
Before the fight with Neil, Kojima highlighted something called the Chiral Antigravity Device, which allows for putting a “lot of weight” on the backpack. How exactly it works is unknown, but it does give some hope that the Gravity Gloves from Death Stranding 1, which allow for retrieving Chiral crystals, cryptobiotes, and whatnot from up to 15 meters, will return.
Blood Boomerang and Tar Cannon
With all the fire spreading through Neil’s world in the Game Premiere demo, you’ll need something to douse the flames. Behold the new Tar Cannon, a heavy piece of equipment which can extinguish Neil’s soldiers and even forest fires. It can also knock out humans, but be careful when using it on Catchers since it will restore their health. Kojima also highlighted the Blood Boomerang. The more of Sam’s blood is loaded, the higher the damage (and it does additional damage on headshots), but you won’t be able to throw it if blood levels are too low. It can hit multiple enemies on returning and be used as a melee weapon against B.T.s.
New Firearms
Firearms are more prominent in Death Stranding 2 and come in handy while fighting the likes of Neil or the new Armed Survivalists. In addition to the returning assault rifles and shotguns, you have new weapons like the grenade launcher, which is especially useful for quickly defeating tougher enemies.
The Tar Lady Cometh
However, perhaps the highlight of the Game Premiere event was a showcase of Tomorrow’s abilities. She can quickly traverse through the tar or skate along its surface, use it to annihilate enemies and even drag them into the inky depths with her. This is alongside possessing exceptional agility and acrobatically dodging shots. If the mystery surrounding wasn’t already intriguing, we’re now dying to learn the full story.
Building Watchtowers
The recent “Explore. Connect. Survive.” trailer highlighted the different gameplay avenues present in the sequel, including stealth. Before infiltration, it’s advised to build a watchtower, a returning structure from Death Stranding 1. It’s ideal for surveilling an area over longer ranges and gathering intelligence.
Increased Cargo Capacity and Skeleton Auto-Assist
Transporting cargo can get rough for Sam, especially when the weight exceeds the usual limits. However, if you do this for long periods, your Carrying Capacity stat will improve, making heavier loads that much easier to transport. Level 2 allows for transporting up to 10 kg comfortably, while level 3 has a maximum carrying capacity of 15 kg, as noted in the latest overview trailer. Another notable element is the APAS system and enhancements it can provide to exoskeleton equipment. These include Skeleton Auto-Assist, which automatically adjusts Sam’s posture, meaning he’ll lose balance far less often. Perfect for more reckless sprinting with numerous packages across the environment (within reason, of course).
Placing Holograms Next to Built Structures
While you can project holograms of environmental features for sneaking or tossing out decoy grenades of B.T.s to scare away enemies, there are other functions for the same. When customizing structures, you can place holograms of characters like Tomorrow, Tarman, or a giant rubber ducky. As out of left field as that may be, you can spot a duck toy in the very first trailer at Tokyo Game Show 2022 in Lou’s room, so it has some significance.
Grappling Hook on Vehicles
Players will have access to vehicles in Death Stranding 2 sooner than in the previous game, and their functionality has increased accordingly. You can shoot from the driver’s seat, making for more convenient ways to tackle threats on the move (not to mention those incredible highway battles), but the most impressive function? Using a grappling hook while seated to retrieve packages. The age of leaving your seat to pick up a wayward package is officially over.
Initially Not Polarizing Enough
Kojima has spoken previously about the story of Death Stranding 2 changing due to the pandemic. However, Woodkid also revealed that halfway through development, Kojima approached him to say “something was wrong.” The problem? “’We have been testing the game with players, and the results are too good. They like it too much.’” This seemingly meant that it was “mainstream, conventional and already pre-digested,” which Kojima didn’t want. Instead, he wanted “’people to end up liking things they didn’t like when they first encountered it because that’s where you really end up loving something’.”
This resulted in changing certain elements of the script and how “some crucial stuff” occurs because “he thought his work was not polarizing and not triggering enough emotions,” per Lemoine. “And that was really a lesson for me; not doing stuff to please people, but to make them shift a little bit and move them.”
