Death Stranding vs Death Stranding 2

Kojima Productions left the gaming community pretty confused after their 2019 release of Death Stranding. The game, highly touted as an action-adventure title, quickly gave fans mixed feelings after its publication. The game had a rather complex story and gameplay, which mainly focused on the adventure with minimal action. Nevertheless, Hideo Kojima remains a hit thanks to his previous spectacular creations like the Silent Hill playable teaser and the long-standing Metal Gear Solid series.

With Death Stranding already five years old, fans can’t wait for the release of Death Stranding 2. Fortunately, the creative director has already confirmed this title for release. According to official news, the game will be land on PlayStation 5 in 2025. Kojima Productions has yet to officially announce the release date. While the game's trailer is with us, it provides us with rather scanty details. However, we continue the speculations about whether the game will take us into another weird narrative and gameplay. For now, let’s compare everything we know about Death Stranding vs Death Stranding 2.

What is Death Stranding?

Created by Kojima Productions and published by Sony Interactive, Death Stranding is an action-adventure video game series released in 2019 for PlayStation 4. It was the first release of the series and is the only prequel to the upcoming Death Stranding 2.

The game places players on a United States map after the occurrence of a baffling catastrophe. The aftermath leaves several unworldly creatures to freely roam the chaotic land.

At this time, much of human life has been wiped out of the land. It is now up to the main protagonist, Sam Porter Bridges, to reunite the remaining few. He also has to reconnect the cities and prevent a possible phenomenon of human extinction.

What is Death Stranding 2?

Death Stranding 2 is the second installation of the video game series Death Stranding. Unlike the prequel that launched on PS4, Death Stranding 2 is expected to launch on PS5 in 2025. It’s still a single-player action-adventure game from the preview, so fans can expect to delve into the United Cities of America just like with Death Stranding. 

The game’s first unveiling happened in 2022 during The Game Awards and has since remained as strange as its prequel, including the mysterious trailer that starts with a disconcerting surgery.  

Like its predecessor, Death Standing 2 which Hideo Kojima revealed will have the title ‘On the Beach,’ appears to be rather time-skipped, showing a much older main protagonist. He is still Sam Porter Bridge, along with other returning characters like Fragile present.

Death Stranding Story

A quick evaluation reveals that Death Stranding 2 will likely have a more ambitious storyline compared to its prequel. In the initial installment, the imminent threat of human extinction persisted but seemed to be deferred for a later time. Sam and his friends could have found a way to save humanity, although this remains unclear for now. But with the new fanatic cult appearing in the trailer, it’s hard to tell if the storyline has really changed and to what. 

However, one pretty apparent thing is that Death Stranding 2 will have a lot of travel. With Sam Porter’s new quad bike and Fragile’s mech ship, the DHV Magellan, players will probably explore far beyond the UCA borders. Also, the released trailer hints at having different timelines based on character appearances. At the beginning of the trailer, Sam appears quite older with grey hair, before appearing in another scene in what seems to be a time reversal with brown hair. Fragile also shows drastic body changes in the trailer as young and healthy, despite seeing an aged Fragile in the original series. 

Characters and Gameplay

Among the things that fans love about Death Stranding is its collection of star-studded characters, and Death Stranding 2 seems to maintain this collection. From the legendary courier and main protagonist, Sam to villains like Higgs, most of the characters seem to return in the sequel. However, it’s still uncertain whether we will be seeing Lou in the next installation. The trailer features Sam asking if the masked Higgs killed Lou, though the conversation does not provide a definitive conclusion on Lou's fate.

Elle Fanning's character is still present and spying on Sam, but there are little hopes for Mads Mikkelsen following the end of his character’s storyline in the original Death Stranding.

Although Hideo Kojima seems to have made a few tweaks to the game features, the gameplay in Death Stranding 2 remains very similar to the original game.

The Features and Missions

For now, players can only anticipate Death Stranding 2’s features by drawing inspiration from the trailer. The game’s specifications remain anonymous, revealing a repeat of what happened with the original Death Stranding. Most of the details remained unknown until the final release, and still, there are no major details about Death Stranding 2. However, as an action-adventure game, we can expect that the gameplay will continue in an open world but with a more immersive playthrough with the quad bike and Fragile’s unicycle and mech ship.

From the trailer, Death Stranding 2 will likely follow the original title’s mission to reconnect the cities and unite the humankind of survivors and researchers. Everything appears to happen in the vast world of cities, so it will most likely be a continuation of the events in the last Death Stranding release. Sam and his friends are still exploring the isolated cities and looking to possibly reunite back with Lou. It's Only in Death Stranding 2, that they are not moving about on foot.

Platforms

The original Death Stranding installation launched on PlayStation 4 in 2019. Later in 2021 and 2022, they released versions for PlayStation 5 and Windows, followed by launches for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS in January 2024. For Death Stranding 2, fans can only wait for its launch on PlayStation 5 in 2025, before launching on other platforms later.

Verdict

While much of the details about Death Stranding 2 are yet to be unveiled, its gameplay seems to be more promising compared to its predecessor. Kojima Productions seems to have managed to capture exciting features, but are leaving them for fans to speculate. For now, you can only enjoy the trailer and wait for the official launch of the sequel, or its early access. 

So, do you agree with our Death Stranding vs Death Stranding 2 comparison? Let us know your thoughts here in our socials or down in the comments.