Death Stranding 2: a great story sequel, a bad gameplay expansion

I'll start this review by saying that I am probably not the target audience for the Death Stranding franchise. I've tried to get into Kojima's stories before, and I ended up bouncing off a lot of the MGS games. I also played through the entire first Death Stranding and thought that the story was just ok. Unlike most that played Death Stranding, I didn't really stick around for the story, I actually found the gameplay to be its main appeal for me.

The gameplay of Death Stranding is super unique and ticks pretty much all the boxes that I wanted out of a logistics sim/survival hybrid. While it could have been better balanced, I thought the core gameplay was so unique and special that I played for over 200 hours in the endgame. The variations in terrain and delivery tech, along with unique hazards separated Death Stranding from other delivery-focused games, like Cloudpunk and the Truck Simulators. I often felt like I actually had to plan my route, often backtracking when I opted to wing it.

As Death Stranding 2 was revealed and subsequently released on PS, I had high hopes that the mechanical aspect of the game would be expanded on more heavily. I wanted more natural disasters, delivery tech, hazards in the world, and unique terrain. I heard a lot before I got the game about how some of these mechanics would be expanded into DS2, and I was excited! I waited for about a year for them to port it onto PC, all while tapping my foot very impatiently. Wrong sub, I know.

Eventually I did get my hands on the game, and at first I was a big, big fan. The world was beautiful. I was put into a dust storm right away, which slowed me down if I was headwind, and affected my balance if the wind was behind me or to my sides. They introduced exoskeletons very early, and I was actually starting to get down with some of the Kojima story wackiness! In fact, I think the entire duration of the story was quite fun for me. What quickly started to show its cracks, however, was the balance of delivering.

It was way, WAY too easy. Like, don't plan a route at all, just take a bike, forget about the canteen easy. Terrain was no longer an issue for vehicles. There weren't any areas that pushed me to go on-foot, like the first game's ravines and dense rock placement. Mountains barely reacted to my vehicle, I could go up what felt like 70 degree inclines in the vehicles that would have otherwise flipped or slid down those very same inclines. Meter management did not matter, stamina made no difference on my carrying abilities (and most of the time I wouldn't even use it, because of the OP vehicles).

The preparation that I remember doing throughout Death Stranding 1 was completely unnecessary here. I often didn't check where I was going on main orders until I had already accepted them. The extent of my decision making for most deliveries/missions ends at "am I going into combat or not". Simply put, the gameplay that I remember didn't really matter anymore, because nothing was pushing back against me.

Now, you're probably wondering about those weather effects that I was praising when I picked up the game. The issue with these events... they're pretty much all scripted story events. Yep, that landslide in the intro when you are taking Lou around Mexico? Never happened again to me, after nearly 100 hours of endgame time. The same for the avalanche and dust storm. Needless to say, this was extremely disappointing for me.

There was, of course, a bunch of new tech to be unlocked that would expand my delivery options and make things easier for me. But I didn't need things to be easier, I barely used structures or tech anyway! Each new unlock (unless it was combat-related) was essentially forgotten about considering I could just take a vehicle everywhere. Not to mention, there's upgrades for the vehicles too.

So all in all, the main reason that I don't like DS2 as a sequel is just due to the lack of difficulty or pushback on the player. Oftentimes it felt like what DS1 was accused of being, a "walking simulator". But instead of walking, you're just driving. And unlike the "walking sim" of the first game, there's not much in the way of planning your route or bringing specific items to help. The item that helps is the truck.

But, I don't want to end the review there, as I do have quite a lot of good stuff to say about DS2.

For one, the story hooked me a lot more than the first game's story. I still think Higgs is a relatively uninteresting antagonist, which is why the inclusion of ALLMIND was a very welcome one for me. I also liked the twist with Lou (even though it was quite obvious from the moment we meet Tomorrow). I also think that Sam just gets waaaay more character development in this game, as opposed to the first game where he felt more like a vehicle (no pun intended) just to get the plot along up until the final moments of the game. I also liked the preppers and side characters more.

Along with the more interesting story, I also found that there were a ton of quality of life improvements that I wanted to see implemented into the first game. Things like being able to rearrange cargo without menuing, streamlined UI, and a dedicated Hangar to store all of our gear and vehicles in one, centralised location.

I loved how big the map was, and how it felt more varied in terms of biomes and environments. DS2's map makes the first game feel tiny in comparison, and while that may have made the map design suffer in comparison, I atleast can appreciate the variety that comes with sightseeing in varied locations. Also expanded were the default structures in-world, the inclusion of Monorails was pretty cool and I also appreciated the upgrades to roads.

Well, there's my Death Stranding 2 review. I think a lot of others liked it as a sequel because of its good story follow-up, and maybe they were more of a passive fan of the gameplay of the first game. Or didn't go as in-depth as I did into the endgame.