Death Stranding 2 - Play Session 3

A TIME JUMP

Okay, I’ve now spent several more hours with Death Stranding 2 and a lot has happened. If you read my last post, I had just finished the first major section in Mexico, fought my first boss, learned all the new controls, got my first PCCs, met Deadman, and had my first real "what-the-hell-is-going-on" moment.

So let’s catch up.

Lou’s Death, Sam’s Rebirth, and a Six-Month Time Skip

After returning home, Fragile and Lou are attacked. It seems like Lou dies. Then we get a time jump—six months later, I think. Sam has clearly been through it. He’s not okay. From what I can tell, he’s been repeatedly killing himself to travel to the Beach, trying to reach Lou. It’s not said outright, but that’s how it plays. He literally shoots himself in the head and repatriates. The game implies he can come back from even the worst injuries.

Eventually, Fragile pulls Sam back into action by reminding him he still has a purpose. She tasks him with working for her as an official porter, and off we go again.

Is Lou a BT Now?

It’s ambiguous, but I believe Lou is now a BT. On the way to investigate an alarm back at Sam’s place, you're ambushed by a squad of red-armored ninjas (yes, seriously), and one massive red-armored soldier shows up—the one we’ve seen in previews. It’s hard to tell whether this figure is connected to Lou or not, but I get the feeling we’ll find out soon. The Big Cyborg ninja kills all the other ones though and disappears. Obviously we will see him later.

All Aboard

You reunite with Fragile and board the Magellan—basically your mobile base from here on out. Think: Metal Gear Rex head turned floating submarine.

It’s captained by a character named Tarman, who looks like George Miller (Mad Max Series). Onboard, you’ve got a private room, a shooting range (actually useful for testing weapons), and something very strange: a mannequin AI assistant. Here’s the trippy part. You can choose the AI's personality—Deadman, Die-Hardman, etc.—and I picked Die-Hardman. Except… it didn’t call itself Die-Hardman. It called itself “Charlie.”

Now, I am Charlie. So... did the game know that? Did it pull my name from the system? Or is everyone’s mannequin named Charlie? Because when Fragile says the name “Charlie,” she kind of pauses and emphasizes it—like it’s pre-recorded or something. Super weird but awesome!

If that’s not universal, and the game somehow customizes the AI name to your own? Hideo Kojima’s messing with us again and I love it. Remember when you would play Zelda as a kid and you would get to pick your name? Like instead of “Link” you would do something like “Barf” or “Fart” or “Shut up”… I wonder if you had done something like that it would have tricked the game… Ha!

Plate Gate, Australia, and the Return of Higgs

Next up: You reach the “Plate Gate,” which connects Mexico to Australia. You follow red-armored people carrying what looks like a high-tech sarcophagus through the gate, and then Sam heads through too.

Oh—and now you’ve got a new companion: Dollman. Dollman is a tiny marionette puppet—basically he was a human medium who died and whose soul (or “Ha”) now possesses this little puppet body. He's strapped to Sam’s belt and serves as both comic relief and gameplay function.

You can toss Dollman into the air, where he attaches to a strand and surveys the land—basically functioning as a mobile watchtower. I actually really like this mechanic for scouting terrain ahead of time.

Tarman’s Backstory

Eventually, you get some backstory on Tarman. He and his son were in Australia, where they caught a giant BT whale from a tar pit. The whale had a C-section-style cut in its stomach, and out of it came a bunch of humanoid BT “Catchers”. The ctachers grab Tarman’s son and drag him into the tar, and while trying to save him, Tarman lost a hand — cut dimensionally, almost like it was phased out of existence. From the tar emerged… a winged cat. A cat with wings. Possibly representing his son’s soul, or something like an alebrije. Those spirit animals you might remember from Coco. Except in Kojima’s mind they are covered in wet tar and not neon-glowing.

Boss Fight Time: Tar Mechs and Higgs’ Return

Eventually, you cross paths with Higgs again—now resurrected and rocking that red-orange armor. He summons a mech-like squid monster from the tar and throws down a tough boss fight. It’s honestly kind of brutal. The boss fights have ramped up in difficulty. I didn’t die, but only because I had a ton of blood bags and called in help from the Sam-ghosts who throw you ammo and weapons.

Also, I love that the game openly uses video game language. At one point, it literally refers to the fight as a “good old-fashioned boss fight.” Death Stranding 2 is completely aware it’s a game, and I love that. It has obvious weak points on it’s tentacles, but they are hard to hit with a machine gun or shotgun because they wiggle and thrash and wave all over the place. Eventually you’ll beat it and move on to the next set of tasks.

Meet Rainey: The Timefall Rewinder

Finally, I met a new character named Rainey. She has the ability to reverse timefall. I’m still not sure how it works, but her rain seems to undo decay instead of accelerate it. I’m curious to see where her storyline goes.

Final Thoughts (For Now)

That’s about eight hours of gameplay, and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. New mechanics, old mysteries, and just enough existential dread to keep me hooked.

Until next time…
Keep on keepin’ on.