Death Stranding 2: On the Beachgrows ever closer, with its June 26 release date hobbling towards us like Norman Reedus with a rigid, rectangular backpack. There’s still a few weeks before the sequel arrives and for many follow-ups like this, that would be more than enough time to get caught up, but I just don’t see it happening for Death Stranding 2.
Not just for me, it seems like a bad idea for anyone. Not because the first game isn’t good — I liked the five hours I played in early 2020 — and not because DS2 won’t be worth the investment. Previews point to the new game being terrific and an improvement on its predecessor in every way. ButDeath Strandingis the exact wrong series to attempt this kind of marathon catch-up with.
Open-World Games Are Worlds, Not Race Tracks
I talked earlier this year about how it would bea bad idea to try playing the other Grand Theft Auto games in anticipation of GTA 6. In that case, I argued that there would be no real benefit and some major downsides.GTA 6will have a standalone story, so you don’t need to refresh your memory. Meanwhile, the gameplay loop will likely be incredibly similar to past games, so you risk tiring yourself out with dozens, perhaps even hundreds of hours of missions.
Most of the time, when a new open-world game comes out, this is the case.Ghost of Yotei, the sequel to the very plot-drivenGhost of Tsushima, stars a new character and is set 329 years after its predecessor.Assassin’s Creed,Forza Horizon,Far Cry,The Elder Scrolls,Fallout, and many other open-world series are standalone. Story elements and characters often recur, but new entries aren’t direct follow-ups to previous ones. So, when a new game in one of these series is set to release, there’s no pressure to revisit (or play for the first time) the game that came before. There’s no danger of being lost.
So Much Story, So Little Time
But Death Stranding exists at the exact wrong intersection: extremely open-ended while being narrowly plot-focused. This is the kind of game you really do want to remember the details about. Kojima games always focus heavily on narrative (often complex ones) and similarly dense characters, so being up to date is essential.
But seeing the story, and only the story,still takes 40-plus hourshas me feeling awfully discouraged. That makes it aboutten hours longer than GTA 5, andten hours shorter than Red Dead Redemption 2. Those are both games that I absolutely would not recommend blitzing through before a sequel’s release. If you try to rapidly play a game like that just for the story without breaks for open-world adventuring, you’ll burn yourself out. It’s like marathoning four seasons of a prestige TV show over a single weekend. If you try to rapidly play through the mainandside quests in a couple of weeks, then start the next game when it launches, there’s a good chance you’ll burn yourself out, too.
It also hurts that Death Stranding is a game that could uncharitably be described as tedious. Trying to shotgun frustration is always a bad idea.
No, it seems like the best approach to preparing for a game like Death Stranding 2 is to make peace withnotplaying it immediately upon release. Play the original, take your time, enjoy the strangeness of its story and its tactile, tactical traversal. Let Hideo Kojima put you on to his favorite indie band. Enjoy the ads for Norman Reedus’ six-year-old AMC series about riding a motorcycle (which, come to think of it, has probably been patched out at this point — in which case, go watch a few episodes for full immersion). Stop and smell the Monster Energy Drink (wait, that was patched out too).
Don’t rush. Because if Death Stranding teaches us anything, it’s that hurrying is a great way to fall flat on your face.
