It seems inevitable that we’ll get Death Stranding 2. The original game performed well, selling over 5 million copies across PC and PS4 by July 2021. It also left more than enough unresolved plot points to make a second (and probably a third) game from. Now, the big question is when we’ll see a Death Stranding 2 release date, what the story will be, the cast, and whether there’ll be any big leaks.
Death Stranding 2 release date rumors
We do know that Death Stranding 2 is in production thanks to a leak (which we’ll cover below). However, there’s been no official announcement yet. So, all we have to go off of is how long it took to develop the original game.
Death Stranding was announced at E3 2016, and it couldn’t have been in production for very long before that. It didn’t enter full development until 2017 and was released just two years later, on November 8, 2019 (and we loved it). So, altogether, it took around three to three and a half years to produce the game. So, if development recently started on Death Stranding 2, we can expect it to release sometime in 2025 at the earliest.
What’s the story?
There are a ton of plot points to pick up from the original game that haven’t been resolved. The most obvious route Death Stranding 2 could take is just picking up where the last one left off. Sam Bridges has gone against UCA orders and freed Lou instead of disposing of her. Afterward, he went off the grid by burning his cufflinks, and we can assume he would try and find somewhere safe and secluded to raise his daughter.
Humanity is in better shape after Amelie disconnects her beach at the end of the original game. Supposedly, this stops the Timefall and BTs, but even if that’s true, she’s only postponing the extinction of humanity, which she says is inevitable. Even without the supernatural stuff, the world is in tatters. MULES and Homo Demens terrorist sects are still around, and the UCA’s unity is likely very precarious.
Additionally, now that humanity knows about the beaches and Chiralium, it’s almost inevitable someone will try to reconnect to them and exploit them. With the worst of the crisis over, old friends will probably start to show their true colors. In fact, a likely enemy for Sam is the UCA. It’s an organization with a lot of blood on its hands, and it still hasn’t addressed the horrors of the Bridge Baby program. Although, Die-Hardman seemed humble at the end of the first game, he’s already shown he’s willing to kill to make Bridget’s dream a reality. Now that America is once again a nation under his presidency, he’ll likely do whatever it takes to protect the union, even if it means killing the man responsible for joining the cities together.
Cast: Which characters are returning?
So far, we know of only one cast member returning for Death Stranding 2. Norman Reedus is confirmed to be involved and is likely reprising his role as Sam Porter Bridges. Other than him, no other cast member or role has been confirmed.
Death Stranding 2 leaks
Surprisingly, the existence of Death Stranding 2 was confirmed by a leak from Norman Reedus. When speaking with Leo, he accidentally let the cat out of the bag:
“Leo: Okay, so you got the book going on, you’ve got the final season coming out, then the spinoff, and you’re filming Death Stranding, the video game.
Reedus: We just started the second one.
L: How did that come about?
R: Guillermo Del Toro, who gave me my first movie, called me up and said, “Hey, there’s a guy named Hideo Kojima, he’s gonna call you, just say yes.” And I go, “What do you mean just say yes?” He goes, “Stop being an asshole, just say yes.” Then I was in San Diego and Hideo came with a big group of people, he’s from Tokyo, and he showed me what he was working on on a game called Silent Hill. I was blown away by what he was showing me, and I was like, “Yes, let’s do this.” It’s not Ms. Pacman; it’s so realistic, it’s so futuristic, it’s so complicated and beautiful, and I was completely blown away.
It took me maybe two or three years to finish all the MoCap sessions and everything. It takes a lot of work. And then the game came out, and it just won all these awards, and it was a huge thing, so we just started part two of that.”
That’s the only leak for now, but it was a pretty big one!
