Hideo Kojima’s Focus For Death Stranding 2 Was Ensuring Fans Enjoyed It ‘All the Way to the End’

Hideo Kojima stressed to his team that he wanted to ensure that players jumping into Death Stranding 2: On the Beach would have a great time “all the way to the end.”

Talking to PC Gamer, lead level designer Hiroaki Yoshiike said that his boss Kojima “wanted more people to enjoy the game” right up until the credits rolled. “This was an order he provided,” Yoshiike said.

It’s an interesting revelation, especially as just ahead of the sequel’s release last June, musician Yoann “Woodkid” Lemoine said that Kojima made some big changes to the game halfway through because playtesting results were “too good,” and he didn’t want his work to be “mainstream” or easily forgotten.

Yoshiike said that while the first game “introduced all the new concepts and what the world is like” and was, at times, “very elaborate,” feedback was that the game “might’ve been a little bit slow.”

“In the second game, we didn’t need to provide too many worldbuilding elements, we could make it less elaborate,” he explained. “For completionists, they can enjoy it, but at the same time, people who don’t necessarily care about it that much, we made sure they can follow the story through other supplemental elements within the game. That was one of the design choices that we made.

“We’ve gotten a lot of feedback that it’s much easier to recommend DS2 to people. And we’re able to see the metrics, and we saw that people progress much further than they previously had. So that was just as we designed, I think.”

Death Stranding 2’s latest update includes a new hard difficulty mode, called To The Wilder, replayable boss fights (including Neil), new items, and live-action cutscenes. There’s also 21:9 ultrawide mode for PS5 as well as PC, various “gameplay adjustments” implemented following player feedback, plus new nightmares for Sam, and a new Chiral Cat for his room. The new PC version also includes options for an uncapped framerate, plus Ultrawide monitor support and 32:9 Super UltraWidescreen for PC, all in 4K resolution.

“Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a triumphant sequel that emphatically delivers on the promise of its original,” we wrote in our Death Stranding 2 review.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.