It took me around 35 hours to finish Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, but its most memorable moments come towards the end of Hideo Kojima’s “strand” epic. I need to talk about it.
Spoilers will follow, obviously, so if you haven’t finished Death Stranding 2 yet or don’t want to know what happens, then steer clear and come back once you’re ready. I promise you, it’s something you want to experience for yourself if you can manage it.
Like the original game, after the dozens of hours of “walking simulator” gameplay, once Sam has successfully connected all of Australia into the Chiral Network, the game’s climax is triggered by Higgs kidnapping Tomorrow and explaining that she is none other than Sam’s daughter somehow.
Tomorrow actually being “Lou” was telegraphed pretty hard in this game, even more so than the revelation that Cliff was actually Sam’s dad and Sam was his “BB” all along. But that didn’t make the twist any less cool, in my eyes.
The real fun then begins as Sam and the DHV Magellan crew track Higgs to his Beach where, in true Kojima fashion, everything escalates into an epic action scene, of which the game has a very memorable handful. Sam leaves the ship to track down Higgs, while in the background, we bear witness to an utterly spectacular battle featuring kaiju-like giant B.T.’s, one of which is hijacked by the DHV Magellan as the vessel replaces one of its heads. It’s just ridiculous, but so damn cool.
Sam makes his way down the beach, fighting B.T.’s and ghost mechs along the way, and is again saved by a mysterious red samurai from earlier in the game. This is no “the Cyborg Ninja is Gray Fox” moment, but it definitely evokes similar memories, as it’s revealed that the badass is none other than the deceased Deadman, controlling the ghost mech from beyond. Outrageous and amazing.
Eventually, Sam finds Higgs on the beach, and this is where Troy Baker delivers one of his best performances, and that’s saying quite a lot for an actor with his repertoire. Here, Higgs reveals that he has been stuck on the beach for “tens of thousands of years,” hence his unquenchable thirst for revenge on Sam and Fragile.
It’s a gorgeous performance, delivered wonderfully by Baker as Higgs pours his heart out to Sam before the two kick off a multi-phase boss battle featuring classic Kojima health bars and…guitars. Yeah, the musical instrument that doubles as both an axe and a gun of sorts becomes the focal point of the duel.
Sam and Higgs shoot at each other, hack away at each other with the axe-like weapon, and then lose their shirts and absolutely shred the instrument like they’re on stage at Coachella, or in a Scott Pilgrim movie. It’s just plain silly, but it is pure Kojima through and through. And there’s no real explanation for any of it, because there just doesn’t have to be.
As the two fight, we see Tomorrow in the background, revealed as another Extinction Entity that Higgs utilizes to bring about the Last Stranding and put an end to humanity for good. It seems like everything is about to come to an end, until the sky gives birth to a giant version of Lou, the baby. Of course.
The giant baby coos as Higgs plays a cover of “BB’s Theme,” the heartbreaking song from the original game, and a lullaby that Cliff used to sing to Sam as a baby. It’s a recurring song throughout the series, and one that I have trouble listening to without crying myself, for my own personal reasons.
And then the skyscraper-sized baby plucks Higgs from the beach, sticks him in her mouth like a Cryptobiote, crunches him like a snack, and then spits out the villain’s gold mask to signify his final end. It’s hilarious, twisted, weird, and poetic all at the same time.
We’re then seemingly transported to the very beginning of the game, where Sam and Lou are returning from a delivery, and “BB’s Theme” plays yet again. Once Sam returns home, he’s brought back to the current moment where he finds Tomorrow’s body, whom he brings back to the DHV Magellan. And then comes the typical Kojima grand exposition.
It’s about 40 minutes of uninterrupted cutscenes to close out the main storyline of the game. This is a lot for many. But for me, and many Kojima fans like me, it’s something we’ve become accustomed to. It’s the cherry on top of a game journey, a reward for everything we went through in the game. Is it perfect? No. Is it nonsensical? Absolutely, but the performances given by the actors in these final scenes are wonderful.
During the ending, Sam finds out that Fragile has been “dead” for quite some time, as she did not survive earlier events in the game, but her living body endured. We then get the full reveal that Neil Vana, an antagonist in the game’s events, was actually a hero who saved and protected Lou (Tomorrow) after she got stuck in the in-between world of the dead, where she grew up before being rescued by Sam earlier in the game.
There’s more to it than I could properly describe here, but I found the ending incredibly satisfying. It all feels like Kojima at his best: ridiculous, hilarious, and silly, yet poignant, beautiful, heartfelt, and soulful all at the same time. I’m thankful that we still get to experience Kojima’s unique mind through games like this, and I continue to look forward to what’s next.
If you want to relive the ending, check it out on YouTube in 4K thanks to YouTuber Shirrako. I’ve watched it a couple times since finishing the game four days ago, and I can’t get enough.
The post It’s been several days since I finished Death Stranding 2, but I still can’t stop thinking about its ‘peak Kojima’ final hours appeared first on Destructoid.