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THE HOT 50

07 DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH

FORMAT PS5 / ETA 2025 / PUB SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT DEV KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS / PLAYERS 1, ONLINE MULTIPLAYER FEATURES
Nothing else looked or played like the first game, which was wildly original – and the sequel looks set to raise the bar with even more distinctive imagery.

Did you think the first game was bizarre and beautiful? Because the sequel seems set to up the ante. Actors Norman Reedus and Léa Seydoux reprise their roles as Sam Porter Bridges and Fragile respectively, while Troy Baker makes a surprise comeback as purveyor of face paint and now sick guitar solos Higgs. As Fragile explains in a recent trailer, it looks like he found his way back from death just to kill Sam and his allies.

Connecting the few survivors who subsist in this futuristic dystopia remains a key part of what you do, though human porters like Sam are increasingly being replaced by bots. That said, Sam is still trekking through breathtaking environments, though what we’ve seen so far looks a lot less green than we’re used to seeing; the previous game’s verdant vistas are giving way to dunes and rocky cliff faces. Even with all Bridges’ hardware, it was already hard out there – what fresh logistical challenges await us now?

Well, for a start, tides of Timefall! A splash of this on your face, and you can kiss your skincare regime goodbye as this perilous precipitation rapidly accelerates the effects of time on any surface it comes into contact with. We’ve seen Sam legging it from an encroaching deluge as player-built structures crumble in its wake, not to mention all the beasties emerging from black tides elsewhere. Fortunately Sam’s rocking a more lethal arsenal to compensate.

“AS FRAGILE EXPLAINS, IT LOOKS LIKE HIGGS FOUND HIS WAY BACK FROM DEATH JUST TO KILL SAM AND HIS ALLIES.”

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PLAY Magazine
September 2024
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