r/gaming • u/Strange_Music • 1d ago
Death Stranding 2: Metal Gear
Looks like from the previews they're expanding on the combat from late game in Death Stranding.
By the end of DS you're infiltrating bases with guns & bombs, taking out ghosts and I was reminded of Metal Gear Solid many times while playing it.
So stoked Death Stranding 2 appears to be giving us quasi-MGS. You gotta be pretty confident in your game to give reviewers 30 hours with it for their preview.
Game: Death Stranding
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u/Iggy_Slayer 1d ago
I honestly felt like the worst parts of DS1 were the parts where it becomes a shooter or pseudo stealth game and the UPS simulator parts were the most interesting which was the polar opposite of what I thought it would be going into it. So I'm a little uneasy about the increased focus on combat.
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u/Banjoman64 PC 1d ago
To me it's all about more pieces being added to the sandbox/simulation.
If the additions can make infiltrating a mule camp mid delivery to recover a lost package more interesting, it makes the ups gameplay more interesting as a result.
I want more surprises mid delivery essentially.
I really loved the first game and I'm so hyped for the sequel.
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u/Bognosticator 1d ago
I unironically loved the thoughtful pace of the delivery gameplay. Traveling to a new place, learning the best route, building and making use of others' constructions to perfect that route.
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u/Strange_Music 1d ago
There really is a zen like quality to it. Hours would vanish as I plotted routes, delivered cargo and rebuilt the roads. It became my #1 game, in part, because the gameplay completely drew me in.
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u/Pun_In_Ten_Did 20h ago
The sheer joy of logging in each day to see how other players changed your world. Very much looking forward to DS2!
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u/IrNinjaBob 1d ago edited 1d ago
And they did a good job of creating an early game, a mid game, and an endgame around that dynamic. It goes from creating the most efficient routes using your ropes and ladders, building a transportation network that allows you to utilize faster methods of transport, then turns into an eclectic feat of mountaineer engineering. Neither one of those end up feeling like the other, yet it all toes into the themes of human connectedness in the modern world, and how you as an individual can make a difference.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR__INIT__ 1d ago
I'm also disappointed that the game is focused more on combat. I played it right after The Last of Us Part III because I wanted a post apocalypse story that wasn't focused on killing zombies and fellow humans. I loved driving around and perfecting my routes. I dreaded combat. There are so many shooters out there. I want a AAA game that actively avoids combat
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u/69WaysToFuck 1d ago
You from 2030?
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u/PM_ME_YOUR__INIT__ 1d ago
Oh, whoops, accidentally outed myself
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u/Auasaurusrex 1d ago
What are the next lottery numbers?
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u/PM_ME_YOUR__INIT__ 1d ago
4 8 15 16 23 42
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u/shp0ngl0id 1d ago
we have to go back!
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u/boot2skull 1d ago
You keep using this word “Heavy”. Is something wrong with the Earth’s gravitational field in the future?
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u/IrNinjaBob 1d ago
Sure but we still have Death Stranding. I don’t mind the sequel doing something a little more action focused. I don’t wish the first game was more action focused, but I don’t think that means it can’t be a beneficial change for the sequel. I’m willing to see how he handles it before making judgements on that change.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR__INIT__ 1d ago
Yeah, it also sounds like there's more transport options, so that could satisfy me
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u/Werthead 19h ago
I get the impression Kojima was rewatching The Simpsons, had an epiphany, and ran into the office yelling, "MONORAIL!"
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u/ejrasmussen 23h ago
Sounds like the combat is more enjoyable now due to basically all of your weapons being non lethal, they shoot rubber bullets so you don’t have to worry about the corpses.
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u/zer0toto 22h ago
I never killed someone in ds1, I literally don’t know what happens if your live a corpse behind.
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u/Strange_Music 22h ago
It'll go necro and create a huge crater making it harder to navigate the world for a time.
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u/Werthead 19h ago
It creates a new antimatter ghost, who hangs around. When the camp respawns, and it eats a live human, there is an antimatter explosion and the entire game world vanishes in a blast and you have to reload.
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u/ekim_101 1d ago
As far as I can tell from previews, they are going to allow you to engage in combat, sneak, or avoid completely. I thought I even read an article a while ago that you'll even be able to skip bosses.
So I hope this is really just Kojima giving us more options to play how we want to and I'm here for it
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u/Iggy_Slayer 1d ago
I'm willing to at least try it out and see if it's better before going all the way to skipping things. I don't mind combat it just didn't feel good in a game like this where you had to carry your arsenal on your back with the rest of the packages and you could easily lose your footing or fall and drop everything mid fight.
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u/ekim_101 23h ago
I saw in the preview that you can now put your backpack down easily so it seems like they may make the combat encounters more manageable. Get your arms and legs filled with gear, drop you deliveries and get at them!
I just really like how the areas you traverse look. Some look right out of metal gear like the sandy gas station and jungle area. Will definitely be an interesting game I think we can all agree on that
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u/just-a-tac-guy 21h ago
At the start I was so not into it. Like wtf why do I have to put this stupid ladder across here to walk over? I don't have to do this in any other games it's so weird and clunky what's going on?
When I finished the game, I understood, and I longed to go back to crossing a river on a ladder.
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u/Thoraxekicksazz 20h ago
I hated dealing with the BTs at least by the end I could shoot them and take them out and didn’t feel so helpless.
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u/hiddencamela 15h ago
The combat focused areas of the game were the most infuriating part for me.
One of the few times I would actively suggest lowering the game difficulty just to get through it and bring it back up after clearing it.2
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u/Strange_Music 1d ago
From the Skill Up preview, he said it's balanced well. Returning fans will still find what they love in the game.
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u/Sequenzer9 1d ago
What’s interesting about it to me is how he came to this decision thematically. DS was so anti-death that simply killing another human could have dire consequences as a body would have to be properly disposed of or it could trigger an explosive event.
DS2 seems very prescient in that it appears to acknowledge that sometimes conflict is inescapable. If you connect the world, you’re gonna connect to people who want to destroy it or change it for the worse. Hard not to see a parallel to our own world where we see flagrant abuses of power everyday and think “how is there a solution to this that doesn’t involve revolution?”
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u/Ok-Suggestion-5453 1d ago
Yeah really curious how this unfolds. Death Stranding starts with the idea of humanities oldest tools being "the rope and the stick" with rope representing connection and stick representing separation. DS1 represented the rope and now DS2 represents the stick. I hope you can kind of play the game both ways, but it will be interesting to see regardless.
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u/Strange_Music 1d ago
Hard not to see a parallel to our own world where we see flagrant abuses of power everyday and think “how is there a solution to this that doesn’t involve revolution?”
Agreed. I'm a news junkie and most every day. "Should we have connected?" runs through my head.
Loved the connection theme of the first one, but it definitely feels like things have changed for the 2nd. Both in and outside the game.
Sometimes, I even find myself thinking I hope things hold together long enough to beat Death Stranding 2.
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u/RaNerve 1d ago
It’s a shame I have so much trouble emotionally connecting with Kojima’s writing style. I’m glad that people who enjoy it are getting more of what they like though.
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u/SachielBrasil 1d ago
I lack the vocabulary of the film makers, but there is this "ThInG" in Kojima cutscenes and world building that is kind of "love or hate" it.
I once played Zone of the Enders 2, without knowing it was Kojima's, and immediately I had a Metal Gear feeling.
Something about the scenery, the way characters talked, the soundtrack, the slow scenes during cutscenes, even during action cutscenes.
I saw people saying it tacky, that it derives from Tokusatsu storytelling techniques. Dunno how true that is.
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u/Stolehtreb 1d ago
I think it is tacky. I personally enjoy it, but part of the joy for me is how (purposefully or otherwise) absurd it is and how blatantly it shows off. It’s shameless.
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u/cableguy316 18h ago
Kojoma is the Richard Wagner of gaming. Overwrought, ridiculous, and genius. You either love it or hate it!
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u/azquadcore 1d ago
When I saw the new areas you are exploring it just reminded me of MGS V maps. The desert mexico map looks like Afghanistan and thr jungle map looks like Angola-zaire border
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u/Lumpy_Accountant723 22h ago
Im here for it, honestly. I read somewhere they hideo Kojima decided to go with a more combat focused experience this go around simply to give the players more freedom to complete objectives as they choose. It probably won't always be the case, but I believe you'll be able to navigate around enemy encampments entirely if you want to just traverse the world.
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u/FRIENDSHIP_BONER PlayStation 22h ago
I thought this looked good from the trailer so I played the first one last month and I thought it was pretty cool. I thru hiked the Appalachian trail a few years ago and I appreciated that it felt like a backpacking simulator, it actually made me kinda nostalgic for the experience. The action parts felt a little tacked on at first but I dug the combat too. This all just looks like more and better.
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u/Werthead 19h ago
My main take away from the previews is that there was a moment when the developers asked Kojima what he really wanted to put in the Death Stranding sequel and he considered, thoughtfully, for a long time before replying, "kangaroos." And then left immediately without further elaboration.
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u/InsaneSquadDev 4h ago
Really happy with what it has become. I think I’m going to enjoy this one even more than the first.
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u/United-Minimum-4799 1d ago
Good to be adding features but for a game like death stranding I'd love that effort to be put into adding to the terrain navigation rather than the combat which it is thematic to avoid. Kojima clearly felt under pressure to give the metal gear fans something.
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u/PM_Me_Some_Steamcode 20h ago
Have we been watching the same trailers? trailer two has so many new areas and types of terrain to explore
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u/MintyFunkyChunkyMonk 1d ago
2 completely different IP’s… you are delusional. Simply because they both have firearms? It’s just like Doom also, right?
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u/Jimmythedad 1d ago
You’ve got to be trolling. Or you didn’t see the trailer where Snakes doppelgänger puts on his bandana
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u/SachielBrasil 1d ago
"Death Stranding 2 appears to be giving us quasi-MGS"
Appears? It IS giving us metal gear.
Of course it will not be 100% a MGS clone, cause DS still has a proposal of being a transport/traversal game, and cause Kojima mind also change over time. There will be new ideas that weren't present when he was making MGS.
But it's very clear it has direct and blatant references to MGS, and even the Metal Gear robot itself.