5 reasons Death Stranding 2 is the most anticipated 2025 game

Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions recently held a 90-minute special presentation at Tokyo Game Show for Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. Here, the acclaimed studio director went over some interesting and exciting new details for the upcoming sequel. Of course, as with the original Death Stranding, there’s still an air of mystery from top to bottom.

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach sees the return of Sam ‘Porter’ Bridges and Fragile, played by Norman Reedus and Léa Seydoux respectively. The main crux of the story is still unknown, but we do know that Lou, AKA Sam’s BB, is missing. Without divulging too much information, Kojima and co. gave us quite a few tidbits as far as new characters and modes. There were other interesting bits of news peppered in that — as a fan of the original game — made Death Stranding 2: On The Beach one of my most anticipated games of 2025.

1 New information on Death Stranding 2’s Dollman has me totally invested

Kojima has a way of contextualizing Dollman to make sense in this universe

Earlier looks at Death Stranding 2: On The Beach introduced us to Dollman, a stop-motion puppet who looks to be our companion throughout the game. The original Death Stranding gave us characters like Deadman, Die-Hardman, and Heartman. Sure, the naming convention was bizarre, but the characters were all steeped in some sort of reality. Dollman made the internet collectively question, “What the heck is that?”

During the 90-minute presentation, it’s explained that Dollman is a man stuck inside a puppet. One of the in-game clips states that prior to being stuck inside the puppet, Dollman was a spirit medium, but has since lost his power. Now, Dollman acts as a member of Drawbridge, the company striving to reconnect fractured regions outside the United Cities of America. Much like Mirir in God of War, Dollman is clipped onto the waist of Sam during many video segments, making me believe he’ll be an active part of Sam’s journey in Death Stranding 2: On The Beach.

Dollman is confirmed to be based on Turkish-German film director, screenwriter and producer Fatih Akin. Prior to production, Akin approached Kojima and asked him to “become one of the characters in the game.” Plus, Kojima Productions appears to be putting a lot of stock into Dollman. In collaboration with artist Daichi Miura, Dollman is heavily featured in the Horizon Dreamer music video. This is described as an in-game event where Sam can watch concert footage featuring artists and actual songs.

2 Casting Elle Fanning as Tomorrow in Death Stranding 2 was inspired

We finally have confirmation of who Elle Fanning will be playing

During the string of cut scenes and clips from Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, we’re introduced to Tomorrow, played by Elle Fanning. Known for her work on Maleficent, Super 8, and The Great, Fanning joins the cast alongside Reedus, Seydoux, George Miller and Shioli Kutsuna. The latter two also serve as Drawbridge members, Tarman and Rainy. Fanning’s Tomorrow character is shown interacting with Rainy during one of the clips.

Aboard the DHV Magellan, Tomorrow explains that she comes from a place where women don’t give birth to babies. Instead, they remain in the womb. Considering that in a previous trailer, Tomorrow is seen trapped in stasis inside a chrysalis, her origins could be otherworldly. Fanning’s Tomorrow appears to have an inquisitive mind and might be considered an outsider from the rest of the Drawbridge cast.

Fanning is an incredibly adept actress, like both Reedus and Seydoux. Adding to the roster of Hollywood talent in Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, Kojima and his team can elevate and strive for more compelling cinematics and story telling throughout the game. Death Stranding rested on drawn out, filmic cutscenes to do a lot of heavy lifting for the game’s narrative, and by having talented actors on set that have chemistry together, I can’t wait to see the performances Kojima was able to tap for Death Stranding 2: On The Beach.

3 Death Stranding 2: On The Beach’s Photo Mode is insanely deep

Kojima confirms that the Photo Mode plays a role in the game’s story

Kojima Productions

One of the biggest gameplay reveals during the Tokyo Game Show presentation was that Death Stranding 2’s Photo Mode is incredibly deep. Reflecting Kojima’s own love of photography, the upcoming game features an elevated Photo Mode to play around with. In what’s called a Photo Shoot Event, characters Fragile, Tomorrow, and Rainy are shown goofing around on the DHV Magellan.

The footage shown has an uncanny valley level of realism to it. At first, I thought I was looking at BTS photos and videos taken during production. However, I was mistaken — during the Photo Shoot Event, Fragile, Tomorrow, and Rainy are seen posing, throwing stuffed Cryptobiotes and generally having fun for the camera. It’s a natural and progressive evolution of Photo Mode where, instead of characters on screen standing in a stagnant pose, players can snap photos as if they’re conducting a real-life photo shoot.

I’m a nut for Photo Mode in games. The more options I have available, the more I get caught fine-tuning an angle, the lighting, or character poses. Death Stranding 2’s Photo Shoot Event is a dream come true for any player who loves capturing an album’s worth of in-game pictures. Kojima himself even states that this will somehow influence the story within the game, incentivizing deeper investigation upon Death Stranding 2’s release.

4 Death Stranding 2: On the Beach isn’t shying away from being weird

Kojima is one of the few developers able to tackle tone and subject like this in AAA game development

If this article has told you anything so far, it’s that Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is continuing to barrel towards absurd and compelling storytelling and gameplay. Part of why Death Stranding is one of my favorite games in the last 10 years is because of how bold and ambitious it is — it doesn’t pretend to offer a cookie-cutter narrative or introduce stale characters. Every concept and every story beat is authentically Kojima.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach continues this trend. Whether or not you buy into the fact that Miller’s Tarman pilots the DHV Magellan through the black goop underground or the reasoning for why everyone’s skin is blue, Kojima and his team continue to broad strange themes and concepts. One of my favorite parts leading into a release from Kojima is theorizing where the story will go and how core gameplay mechanics tie into the themes of the game. Case in point, Death Stranding’s core thesis is establishing connections. Of course, it also eerily predicted the global pandemic and isolation everyone experienced, but that’s a whole other story in itself.

5 The Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date is already set

Kojima Productions will reveal the release date in 2025

Kojima Productions

While the Tokyo Game Show presentation was full of great bits of information, Kojima and his team did gatekeep the biggest piece of information — a release date. Previously, Kojima Productions committed to a 2025 release date for Death Stranding 2. However, when it comes to narrowing down that window, the team keeps the cards close to its chest. While it doesn’t appear as though the game is being delayed until 2025, we won’t have a release date until next year.

Of course, many would jump to the idea that Kojima may announce the launch date during Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards later this year. Unfortunately, it appears as though something came up that affects the announcement of a release. “Since we are talking about 2025, it will be released next year, so we will announce it at some point next year. But, due to some unforeseen circumstances, we cannot announce it today.”

While on paper, this may spell trouble in some regards to the game. However, there’s a certain confidence being spelled out by Kojima and his team. To come out once again and reiterate a 2025 launch window shows a substantial amount of confidence, even if a firm date isn’t set yet. “I put a lot of things inside [the trailer] so I want you guys to talk about it and find details in it,” Kojima said. Based on the reception of the presentation, fans are doing exactly that.