Though it won't be for everyone, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is poised to be one of 2025's most intriguing projects. Following 2019's Death Stranding, which was the debut of the newly independent Kojima Productions, Death Stranding 2 will follow several of the heroes from the first game as they journey through Kojima's bizarre, uncanny apocalyptic future.
As one might expect from a Hideo Kojima game, Death Stranding 2 will almost certainly be full of surprises, offering new gameplay and narrative twists that subvert audience expectations. At the same time, its role as a sequel could inform much of its design, with Kojima and his teammates working to polish up some of the weaker areas of the first game while doubling down on its strengths. Put another way, Death Stranding 2 isn't entering the games industry as fresh-faced and untested as its predecessor: it will be rubbing up against audience expectations, feedback, and the foundation set by the first entry. Naturally, Kojima games march to the beat of their own drum, but it looks like at least one major feature has been implemented with the aim of making DS2 more player-friendly, and it's being executed in a rather unique manner.
Death Stranding 2's Best Surprise Would Be an Overhaul for One Feature
Though it's not exactly the most heavily discussed aspect of Death Stranding 2, key improvements to one feature would be a nice surprise.
Death Stranding 2's Boss Skip Feature Is a Surprising New Addition
The Ability To Skip Bosses in Death Stranding 2 Is a Win for Accessibility
According to Kojima himself, Death Stranding 2 will allow players to skip bosses that they find too difficult. After dying to a boss, there will be a button to skip the battle in addition to the regular restart/continue button. If players choose to skip, they will be presented with a novel-like text description of the battle, coupled with relevant images. It's not entirely clear if this option will be available to all players, or only those playing Death Stranding 2 on easier difficulties. Similarly, it's unclear whether this option will appear upon the player's first failure, or if it requires repeated deaths to activate.
Either way, this seems like a thoughtful way to approach combat accessibility. Death Stranding 2 is far from the first game to allow players to skip significant challenges—Red Dead Redemption 2 lets players bypass entire missions if they fail enough times, for instance—but the addition of the text-and-pictures summary is a good step toward inclusivity. Newcomers to a game, genre, or gaming as a whole can often be discouraged from taking advantage of these "skip" functions because it can feel like missing out on key parts of the experience, but the additional content provided through DS2's boss skip feature could make it feel like an alternative way to engage with the game, rather than a sacrifice.
Boss-Skipping Is a Smart Feature for Death Stranding 2
The first Death Stranding has been criticized for many things, but one of the most significant points of contention is its boss design. Indeed, those expecting intense and intuitive boss battles often express disappointment with Death Stranding's epic showdowns, with common critiques focusing on their integration into the broader gameplay loop, underdeveloped shooting mechanics, and the game's stiff movement controls. How one feels about these points is subjective, but it's clear that many Death Stranding players view boss fights as a weak spot.
These concerns could be addressed in Death Stranding 2, but the sequel could also stick to its guns, as it were: its boss fights might draw the same sorts of criticisms, remaining unappealing to those who took umbridge with the boss fights of the first game; many of the "shortcomings" of Death Stranding's bosses relate to the game's core mechanics, after all. Since so many will be playing Death Stranding for its story and novel locomotion gameplay, with little care for boss fights and combat in general, adding an exit hatch seems like a no-brainer.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 90 /100 Critics Rec: 95%
- Released
- June 26, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Violence, Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Kojima Productions
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
WHERE TO PLAY
Embark on an inspiring mission of human connection beyond the UCA. Sam—with companions by his side—sets out on a new journey to save humanity from extinction. Join them as they traverse a world beset by otherworldly enemies, obstacles and a haunting question: should we have connected? Step by step, legendary game creator Hideo Kojima changes the world once again.
- Engine
- Decima
- Franchise
- Death Stranding
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- PS5 Release Date
- June 26, 2025
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5
