Video Games

Death Stranding 2 looks impossibly good in new photo mode, still doesn’t make sense

If you were hoping for some clarity on Death Stranding 2, you've got another thing coming

Oliver Brandt

Kojima Productions

The Tokyo Game Show took place over the weekend, and with it came a 90-minute presentation from Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions showing off Death Stranding 2. 90 minutes is a long time, so you’re probably thinking that it cleared some things up and helped make sense of whatever this game is going to be. Good news! It absolutely did not. 

While the presentation was primarily in Japanese, the Kojima Productions account has been showing off some of the revelations that took place during the show. Among them was a new photo mode, which Kojima is calling “photo shoot event” and it looks impossibly good. The animations are terrifyingly human-like, and the results could pass for real photos at first glance. It almost makes it out of the uncanny valley, too. 

The presentation also officially introduced Tomorrow and Rainy, portrayed by Elle Fanning and Shioli Kutsuna respectively, in a fascinating scene in which the latter is pregnant and the former sings to her. There’s a discussion about different worlds, followed by Tomorrow singing to Rainy and her unborn baby, and it’s all very strange. Everyone is doing a bang-up job, at least, and the performances are top-notch, I just have no idea what the heck is going on. 

Kojima previously said that Death Stranding 2 has allowed the team to do “things that were impossible” in previous games, thanks in part to the big leap in technology afforded by the PS5. That’s definitely on display here, with visual fidelity that is far beyond just about anything we’ve seen in other games. 

Unfortunately, despite the lengthy showing of the game, there’s still no set release date for Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. When it does come out – at some point in 2025, apparently – it will be available on PS5. There’s no word on whether or not the game will be PS5 Pro Enhanced at launch, but given its 2025 release window and the fact that other games on the Decima engine like Horizon Forbidden West will be enhanced, it’s probably a safe bet. 

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Oliver Brandt
OLIVER BRANDT

Oliver Brandt is a writer based in Tasmania, Australia. A marketing and journalism graduate, they have a love for puzzle games, JRPGs, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and any platformer with a double jump.

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