Death Stranding 2 Deserves to be the Game of the Year?

The Game Awards 2025 arrives with one of the most diverse lineups in recent years. Among productions that are born with strong personalities—such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hades II, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, and Hollow Knight: Silksong—there is one title that stands out through its auteur style, narrative construction, and technical ambition that only Hideo Kojima seems willing to pursue with such conviction: Death Stranding 2.

The Kojima Productions sequel doesn't try to rebuild its concept from scratch, advancing towards what the studio does best, with purpose in every choice and refined mechanics, and this is evident from the first minutes of gameplay; the title stands out within this competitive ecosystem for its combination of creative ambition, technical solidity, and identity as it deepens themes, evolves mechanics, and expands the worldview proposed by the first title.

The project also received visual enhancements that reflect the generational leap of recent years. Character models, lighting, particles, material textures, and facial expressions reach a level of realism in both raw quality and artistic care in scene composition and cinematography.

Amid so many competitive projects, Death Stranding 2 stands out because it knows exactly what it wants to be. It takes risks, delivers something few others do, and ties everything together in a work that engages the player through a carefully constructed experience, thus giving it a real argument to win the Game of the Year award.

A direct improvement on the first game

The main criticism, often unfair, of the original Death Stranding has always been the same: "It's about delivering packages".

The sequel directly responds to this perception by intelligently expanding and refining the central concept, blending more traditional action elements while deepening the formula and message of its predecessor with new mechanics and tools that broaden gameplay possibilities. The journey remains central to the experience, but now it unfolds into more tactical paths, with tools that increase player autonomy and transform delivering into something more engaging.

Despite the structure still centered on the journey and planning, routes seem more organic and equipment more elaborate, with broader customization of details and vehicles, and interactions with companions that make the experience of this title feel more vivid and less desolate than that of Death Stranding. Furthermore, the game incorporates new risky situations, from small encounters with threats and enemies to more complex operations, offering more action. Death Stranding 2 better balances the pace between "being the delivery person" and "being the protagonist."

For newcomers, the system may seem unusual, but it's this initial strangeness that makes the reward more exciting. There's a genuine sense of accomplishment in mastering the environment, planning a route that only you saw, or realizing how the world responds. While it doesn't try to please all audiences, this is a game that rewards those who embrace its premise while presenting new and old challenges for fans of the first title in the series.

Highest Quality Graphics

Kojima Productions has reaffirmed its place among the world's most competent studios in the use of graphic technology. Its engine was already impressive in the first game, but it reaches an even higher level, thanks to the current generation of hardware and the technical refinement accumulated over the years. The use of motion capture is among the most sophisticated ever recorded in games, bringing facial expressions and body movements that few studios can provide with such fidelity and quality.

The audio design also integrates perfectly with the whole: ambient sounds, storms, creature noises, and a soundtrack packed with great artists accompany the journey with a quality worthy of Hideo Kojima's constant flirtations with cinema.

A narrative worthy of cinema

Death Stranding 2 delves into the themes already present in the first game but does so with a more in-depth perspective. Kojima demonstrates mastery over character development and understands that the audience arrived at the sequel with strong ties to Sam, Fragile, and the other survivors. The story uses this familiarity to develop its plot with an original approach, even while still retaining the convoluted nuances that are a trademark of the first game.

The cast, already packed with big names in the first game, has expanded: Norman Reedus returns as Sam Porter Bridges, but it also features notable appearances by Elle Fanning, Shioli Kutsuna, and other names that reinforce Kojima's commitment to organically uniting cinema and video games.

The result is a narrative that supports the most dramatic performances with a mature narrative pace and a fearless willingness to take risks. The plot's rhythm is more intense than its predecessor, with less dispersion and more focus on core conflicts, resulting in a clearer storyline aimed at connecting the player to Sam's journey as we reinterpret past events and address loose ends from the first game. This is combined with the dense performances of Reedus, Seydoux, and Fanning, who deliver key moments that become memorable scenes.

Hideo Kojima's innovative touch

Even when he doesn't reinvent entire mechanics, Kojima is recognized for his avant-garde stance, and Death Stranding 2 reinforces this characteristic. The innovation in this title is evident in how different elements—gameplay, narrative, music, performances, and setting—are integrated.

The theme of human connections, central to the first title, gains new facets by addressing social and spiritual bonds, exploring and discussing the fragility of relationships in broken worlds, and thus exploring what it means to rebuild the bonds that emerge in the series' own premise.

Kojima's signature is present in every layer of the development: in the narrative that explores collective responsibility and social fragility—but also playfully engages with philosophy, politics, and existentialism naturally, as in the director's previous works, making this one of the most coherent and ambitious projects of 2025.

Art direction worthy of Hollywood

The game's art direction is built with exemplary visual attention: the scenarios vary between vast and menacing landscapes, silent valleys, and regions that seem suspended on another plane. Each environment is crafted to convey something specific to the player, carrying a cinematic sensibility, but without abandoning the immersion that the interactive format allows.

The cast reinforces this cinematic dimension. Norman Reedus and Léa Seydoux return confidently, but it is the ensemble of new and old names that elevates the game. Elle Fanning, Shioli Kutsuna, and Troy Baker deliver performances that extract the best from the facial capture and dramatic direction. The moments with Fanning, in particular, have become highlights for the precision of her interpretation.

Despite all its merits, there are solid arguments that could weigh against the game's victory at the awards. Death Stranding 2 is not a perfect game, far from it, and there are other strong contenders that could overshadow its brilliance for The Game Awards jury.

Lack of radical innovation compared to other titles

The evolution of Death Stranding 2 compared to the first game is clear, but part of the discussion among critics revolves around the degree of this change. The refinement is evident, as is the expansion of mechanics and systems, but the foundations remain firmly anchored in what has already been presented.

The impression is that Kojima's game advances within its own logic, while other titles try to expand genre horizons. Even if this is entirely consistent with the franchise's authorial vision, it may not be enough to guarantee preference in an award like The Game Awards.

Gameplay that remains divisive and alienates part of the audience

Death Stranding doesn't try to conform to external expectations, and this makes it authentic, although it inevitably restricts its reach. The essence of the series remains anchored in the journey, the contemplative pace, and a cadence that prioritizes atmosphere over action, which creates a strong identity but also maintains the barrier that has already alienated some players in the past.

For those who didn't connect with the first title, the sequel brings important changes but maintains the same conceptual core. There's no twist that invites this audience back with different promises, and this affects the perception of novelty, and even among players who enjoyed the original title, some of the reception points to the absence of something truly surprising within the gameplay.

The revolutionary competition of Clair Obscur

Among all the nominees, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 emerges as the title that most stirred the industry's expectations in 2025. Its turn-based combat system, synchronized rhythmic drive, combined with a surrealist belle-époque aesthetic and experimental narrative, produced a critical explosion.

Sandfall Studio's game carved out its own space in the debate about the future of RPGs. The mix of musical rhythm, strategy, and artistic expression presented something many players had never seen or experienced in decades, a freshness that helped position it as one of the most influential projects of the year.

Compared to this, Death Stranding 2 appears as a less disruptive work. Its consistency is admirable, but Clair Obscur's pursuit of aesthetic and mechanical innovation may incline it to favoritism among judges who value experimentation over continuity.

Death Stranding 2 stands out as one of the most complete and artistically ambitious works of 2025. In a year marked by high-level projects, the sequel consolidates the maturation of the original concept and reaffirms Hideo Kojima's talent, but at the same time, it faces a complex competition.

The contemplative style and its unique genre focused on connections still divide opinions; the structural continuity may sound conservative compared to more experimental competitors, and the impact of games like Clair Obscur alters the balance of the competition.

These elements make the final result less predictable—and make it clear that the competition for the trophy is fierce—but even so, Death Stranding 2's merits are so solid and consistent that its candidacy for Game of the Year is one of the most justified of the edition. Regardless of the final result, the game has already cemented its place as one of the most remarkable and influential works of 2025.