Hideo Kojima Announced "Death Stranding 2: On the Beach" Launch Date: June 26

[T0@st]

Hideo Kojima took to the stage at SXSW yesterday and—joined by some special guests—discussed new details about Kojima Productions' Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Those details included the reveal of the game's release date: June 26, 2025. To mark the announcement - and pre-orders going live March 17—attendees enjoyed a first look at a special Kojima-directed Pre-Order trailer, which you can watch in full below.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will launch in a range of different versions. This includes a Collector's Edition, which will be available to pre-order directly from PlayStation and select retailers worldwide. Details on the different versions you can find here.




KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS, in collaboration with PlayStation, hosted a special panel for DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH at this year's SXSW in Austin, Texas. Hideo Kojima was joined by Norman Reedus, Troy Baker and Woodkid for the panel where the latest DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH news was announced.

Product Overview

• Game Title: "DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH"
• Platform: PlayStation 5
• Ship Date: June 26th, 2025
• Rating: Mature 17+

Physical Version

• Standard Edition | 69.99 USD
• Collector's Edition | 229.99 USD

Digital Version

• Standard Edition | 69.99 USD
• Digital Deluxe Edition | 79.99 USD

Pre-Order Begins: Mar 17th, 2025 @ 10AM (local time)
Original Song: To The Wilder from Woodkid debut—available on a variety of streaming platforms: click HERE for details.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach "Stranding Harmony" Concert Series
Also announced yesterday was a special concert tour to celebrate the music of Death Stranding. This tour, featuring a full orchestra performing music from the series, will commence November 8, 2025, beginning with a performance at the Sydney Opera House in Australia, followed by dates around the world. You'll find more information on the tour here.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach new screenshots
To mark the SXSW 2025 Special Panel, Kojima Productions also released all-new screenshots for the game, which you can look through here.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Onasi]

Just like the original, this sure will be one of the games of all time. Jokes aside, I kinda liked the OG DS for its absolutely ridiculous story that was actually taking itself seriously (for better and worse) and weirdly excellent gameplay that took the idea of being a courier delivering parcels and tripled down on executing it really well. It’s a weird game, not sure if it’s a GOOD game and I am still convinced that Hideo NEEDS people who can tell him “fuck no, that’s terrible”, but it’s still one of the veeeeeery few auteur games in the AAA space and I give it props for that alone.

 

[dyonoctis]

Just like the original, this sure will be one of the games of all time. Jokes aside, I kinda liked the OG DS for its absolutely ridiculous story that was actually taking itself seriously (for better and worse) and weirdly excellent gameplay that took the idea of being a courier delivering parcels and tripled down on executing it really well. It’s a weird game, not sure if it’s a GOOD game and I am still convinced that Hideo NEEDS people who can tell him “fuck no, that’s terrible”, but it’s still one of the veeeeeery few auteur games in the AAA space and I give it props for that alone.

Hideo Kojima is called the David Lynch of video games. It's not surprising that a game were he got full reign can give that kind of feeling haha. To this day there are still many people who are unsure if mullholland drive is a good or bad movie. The only correct answer is that it's weird

 

[Stephen.]

Flashbacks from the past ... Snake is that you! what took you so long ....

 

[Onasi]

@dyonoctis
Nah, that’s an insult to Lynch. Kojima is mostly hailed as an infallible auteur by people who started gaming with the PS1 and have fallen for his very derivative style of storytelling and design. I love MGS as much as the next guy, but people claiming it as some pinnacle of writing in games are tripping. Neither was it a revolutionary stealth game - it was a simple and arcadey radar stealth essentially unchanged from the MSX games and it stayed that way till 3. I mean, MGS1 came out the same year as Thief and that game is not only a vaaaaaaastly superior stealth game, but is also better written than anything Kojima had written up to that point and, frankly, would ever write since. A lot of people consider MGS2 his peak, which is… kinda true? Except that a lot of credit is on his co-writer and the translation team and all of the interesting things that he had done in Sons of Liberty were already done far better in Deus Ex a year prior.

tl:dr - I enjoy Hideo’s brand of derivative insanity as much as the next guy, but I don’t really rate him highly as either a writer or a game director. Not with a benefit of broad experience with both games and other media.

 

[Makaveli]

lol I use to call the first game a Fedex employee sim.

Hoping #2 will be better

 

[trsttte]

I kinda liked the OG DS for its absolutely ridiculous story that was actually taking itself seriously (for better and worse)

I take issue with this, what game story isn't ridiculous?!

It's super weird but I found it pretty amazing when the pieces came together in the end, the only thing I'd take issue is with how many things were left open but since the sequel is coming it's fine - hopefully. The pacing of the game is a bit all over the place as well, he could have solved some of the pieces earlier on, the central region part really drags on, but having a long walk (or drive) with amazing music from Low Roar (RIP ) was very wholesome

 

[Predictable]

@dyonoctis
Nah, that’s an insult to Lynch. Kojima is mostly hailed as an infallible auteur by people who started gaming with the PS1 and have fallen for his very derivative style of storytelling and design. I love MGS as much as the next guy, but people claiming it as some pinnacle of writing in games are tripping. Neither was it a revolutionary stealth game - it was a simple and arcadey radar stealth essentially unchanged from the MSX games and it stayed that way till 3. I mean, MGS1 came out the same year as Thief and that game is not only a vaaaaaaastly superior stealth game, but is also better written than anything Kojima had written up to that point and, frankly, would ever write since. A lot of people consider MGS2 his peak, which is… kinda true? Except that a lot of credit is on his co-writer and the translation team and all of the interesting things that he had done in Sons of Liberty were already done far better in Deus Ex a year prior.

tl:dr - I enjoy Hideo’s brand of derivative insanity as much as the next guy, but I don’t really rate him highly as either a writer or a game director. Not with a benefit of broad experience with both games and other media.

Yea, I'm mostly in agreeance here. I've played some of the MGS games. Spent more of that time in MGSV. I spent dozens of hours playing Death Stranding both on PC and a handheld. I can't remember but somewhere around 40ish. I didn't finish either MSGV or DS. I enjoyed both of them for a while, and then I just didn't really care where the story was going. The gameplay isn't particularly novel nor is it exciting. But it is very different in an exciting way. (?) Anyway, I'll play DS2 to see what's up, but I have a feeling it will be more of the same.