Considering its exclusivity to the PS5, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach making use of the modern hardware capabilities of the console should come as no surprise. As Reddit user NecessaryAd6735 noticed, the game takes seemingly no time at all to load up a save file. In a short clip on Reddit, the user showed off loading into the game from the main menu almost instantly.
While it is difficult to draw direct comparisons with other titles, since loading times across the board on modern console and PC hardware have been getting shorter and shorter, the quick load times in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach feel like it might be nearly instantaneous.
While we don’t know what kind of technical trickery was used to accomplish these loading speeds, one of the replies in the Reddit thread postulates that the game had likely begun loading save data the moment its splash screen showed up. With most of the loading being completed early on, the near-instant load times would make a lot more sense.
It is also worth noting that these quick load times are only really possible thanks to not only high-speed processors in modern hardware, but also high-speed SSDs that don’t rely on a spinning disk where data has to be manually found by a needle.
Celebrating the recent release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Kojima Productions has also released a 6-minute-long trailer, which you can check out here. While the trailer might offer some spoilers, the lack of context surrounding the scenes shown off in the trailer will likely mean that these spoilers will only make sense to players that have already beaten the title.
Leading up to the release of the game, actor Luca Marinelli – who plays Neil in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach – revealed that he originally thought he was going to be playing the role of Snake in a new Metal Gear game. Kojima told Marinelli that, “no, you’re not Snake. You just have a bandana on your head!”
“I needed someone who can top Mads [Mikkelsen] and Cliff,” explained Kojima. “I thought Luca could do it. His acting was just so, so spectacular. Léa [Seydoux] comes in, or Norman [Reedus] comes in, and they’re usually on their phones. But then, when Luca started to perform, everyone put their phones down and concentrated.”
Earlier this month, Kojima had expressed concerns that early previews of the game were quite positive. He spoke about how he would be happier with the title if it were a bit more controversial. “For Death Stranding 2, when I tested it, it wasn’t like that,” he said. “Everyone liked it. That’s why I said, ‘Maybe this is a problem.’ It was more than my prediction, in the first Death Stranding, everyone had pros and cons.”
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is available exclusively on PS5. For more details, check out our review. While you’re at it, also check out some of the ways the title sets itself apart from its predecessor.