Death Stranding 2 gets a release date on the PlayStation 5 and jam-packed trailer at SXSW
See if you can spot a familiar face from Kojima's past. #deathstranding2 #hideokojima
Alongside a 10-minute trailer. Image: Kojima Productions.
After five years of waiting, we're closer to the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, the second installment in Hideo Kojima's post-apocalyptic cargo delivery epic featuring Norman Reedus as protagonist Sam Bridges.
Making an appearance at a panel at SXSW, we now know that Death Stranding 2 will be released on 26 June 2025, with pre-orders coming 17 March. To mark the announcement, Kojima also unveiled a 10 minute-long trailer that shows us what the world looks like after the original game's events:
The trailer gives us a little bit of everything: Gameplay, world building, breathtaking scenery (though not so breathtaking when being attacked by BTs) and a cast reveal, with Reedus, Lea Seydoux and Troy Baker reprising their roles as Sam, Fragile and Higgs, joined by Elle Fanning as Tomorrow and the newly announced Luca Marinelli as Neil. Casting Marinelli is an interesting choice; he was previously mentioned by Kojima in an Instagram post in 2020 as a "spitting image of Solid Snake", with a bandana on. Lo and behold, Kojima remembers:
A spitting image. Image: Kojima Productions.
While we can keep guessing whether this is just Kojima having fun or if there's more to it, we do know some new details about Death Stranding 2's world: 11 months after the founding of the United Cities of America (UCA), deliveries are now automated by Servers. Piecing this together with the game's State of Play January 2024 trailer, it seems Sam and Fragile are now working to connect communities outside the UCA.
Outside of that however, the trailer is filled with big moments that will only make sense once the game releases (including what's actually happening to Sam's adopted child / Bridge Baby Lou, and who the mysterious red robed faction really are). Human connection is an overarching theme; across the two trailers and the game's blurb, the question "Should we have connected?" keeps being asked.
Availability and Pricing
The game will be exclusively for the PS5, and its release on 26 June will see three different editions:
- Physical and Digital Standard Edition (S$97.90),
- Digital Deluxe Edition, which includes 48-hour early access to the game prior to launch as well as multiple Gold Power Skeletons and Patches (S$109),
- Collector's Edition, which includes the same early access and freebies as the Digital Deluxe Edition, along with a Collector's Box, a 15-inch Magellan Man (a Tar-infused DHV Magellen ship) Statue and 3-inch Dollman Statue, art cards and a letter from Kojima himself (S$318.90).
Pre-ordering will also get you some freebies as well, including a Quokka Hologram and three Silver Power Skeletons.
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