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GAMING FEATURE

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DELIVERING A DEATH STRANDING SEQUEL

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach , the much-anticipated sequel to Hideo Kojima’s genre-defying 2019 smash, is with us this month.The man himself speaks of bringing the new game into the world. Words Sachie Kobari

We weren’t initially sure if players would use the SSS, but we found that many players enjoyed the feature. Even now, five years after the game’s release, there are players that are still devoted to building highways, and that was a pleasant surprise. When developing the sequel, we came up with various ways to accommodate players who are passionate about building infrastructure like highways, and as part of that, we added the ability to build monorails. One system the team debated over was the ‘likes’ mechanic. Likes in the game don’t have a physical impact – they can’t be converted to currency, nor do they make you stronger. Yet it feels good when you receive a like from another player as a token of appreciation. We anticipated some backlash when we implemented the feature in Death Stranding , but instead, players seemed to like the mechanic. When working on Death Stranding Director’s Cut , we reviewed the likes data

What were your goals when creating the sequel to Death Stranding ? Were there any major changes or enhancements you were looking to implement? As we made the jump from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5, most of the changes were focused on game design and story. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach was designed with a similar philosophy to the first two Metal Gear Solid games. Players familiarised themselves with the ‘delivery game’ genre with the first game, and the sequel builds on that and provides players with more choice and freedom, particularly around combat - you can go in guns blazing, or you can choose not to use weapons at all. We also made cars and motorcycles more accessible. Did the way players utilised the Social Strand System (SSS) surprise you in the first game? Did that have any impact on the development of Death Stranding 2 ?

12 JUNE 2025

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