What I learned about reviewing games between Death Stranding 1 and 2
It was 2019 and I'd just started contributing to the site as a freelancer focused exclusively on Destiny 2 guides and DLC reviews. I was only a few months in when my editor asked if I'd be interested in critiquing Hideo Kojima's latest game come November. I enthusiastically accepted through the safety of a text chat, but I was a little terrified in real life.
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Despite writing about games for well over a decade in some form, reviewing them for blogs when I was in high school even, it still felt like a daunting responsibility. I'd be one of the first people to write about what I knew would be an important entry into video game canon. My voice would represent Digital Trends. It was a routine assignment, but the stakes couldn't feel higher. It felt like all eyes were on me.
I found myself reflecting on that moment earlier this month when my review code for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach hit my inbox. That email came with no anxiety attack attached, as I've reviewed countless games for Digital Trends since 2019. These days, I get an assignment like this, start my download, and get to work without thinking about it. A once nerve-wracking process has become second nature to me. But this time, I stopped before punching my code into my PS5. How have I changed as a critic since Death Stranding's release?
To properly reflect on that, I'd have to revisit my 2019 review – something I just couldn't work up the courage to do.
To be transparent, I've never really liked my Death Stranding assessment. I was proud of it in 2019 because it was my major review for a site as high profile as Digital Trends, but it was a critique born from a self conscious moment. I worried too much about whether my opinion would be right or wrong, wondering if a lukewarm take would out me as a fool who had no business assessing games for a large publication. I agonized over my opinion and would focus instead on how divisive I felt it would be. It felt like an immediate cop out, as if to remove my voice from the equation. It was Schrödinger's game: It could either be good or bad until you put the disc in.
What I didn't do so much at the time was engage with what Kojima was actually trying to communicate to players. I made references to the fact that it was about connecting a divided America and noted that the social features stressed how much easier life is when we're on the same page, but so much time was spent treating the review like a book report. The acting is good. The visuals look great. The controls are interesting. There wasn't much substance to any of it; it was like I was assessing a laptop. What was the point of writing about it, let alone playing it at all, if I wasn't absorbing anything from it?
To strengthen my approach to reviews, I'd have to change the way I thought about games. I wondered why I was so hesitant to interact with them the same way I do any other artistic medium. I could talk your ear off about the camera work in Citizen Kane and what it establishes about Charles Foster Kane at every juncture of his life, but I wasn't thinking about the minutiae of game design the same way. Why not? Surely these decisions aren't random. Something as simple as The Last of Us' crafting system communicates something about the world. It tells us that resources are scarce in an apocalyptic world that's been cleaned out by scavengers. As elementary as something like that is, that marriage of play and message is what makes games so special.
I've spent the last six years following that thread and seeing where it leads me. I stopped approaching games as products to be evaluated on a checklist and began focusing on how effectively they communicated something to me. Fun became secondary to function. It's how I found myself loving Pikmin 4, a game that practices what it preaches about the joys of organization by turning Pikmin's classically chaotic strategy gameplay into something tidy and streamlined. It's why I lambasted The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered's roguelike mode, an addition that I felt spat in the face of the base game's mediation on cyclical violence. It's why Despelote is one of my favorite games of 2025, towering above glitzy games 1000 times its size. I don't just want games to distract me; I want them to speak to me.
My criticism has improved thanks to that, sure, but what's more important is that my relationship to games has deepened too. They are no longer toys that I forget about the moment I put them down. I find myself more engaged with everything I play, always analyzing and interpreting rather than hyper focusing on immediate thrills. That has opened my mind up to games that I would have written off earlier in my life. I would have dropped something like The Banished Vault back in the day after failing to find the 'fun' in its oppressive survival systems, but now I'm more easily able to appreciate how its antagonistic nature creates a tone that mimics the merciless nature of its world (read Dia Lacina's phenomenal review). I've learned to embrace friction as a communication tool, something I wish I was more open to when initially reviewing Death Stranding in 2019. After all, the slapstick comedy routine that comes from trying to navigate uneven terrain makes the moments where the community bands together to build a road that much more meaningful. While a job like this can often leave writers entirely burnt out on games, I find myself more in love with the medium with each passing year.
It has been my goal in the past few years to inspire that feeling in anyone who reads a Digital Trends game review. Gaming is an evolving artform and I believe that the way we talk about it needs to change to meet that transformation. It now feels hollow to praise a game simply because it has hyper realistic graphics and 100's of hours of content. What emotions do those games inspire in us? What do they tell us about our world? How do they challenge us in ways that go beyond physical skill? Those are the conversations I want to have more often whenever a game like Death Stranding 2 releases.
I'm not writing all of this to try and dictate what a video game review should look like or how we talk about games. If you take anything from this, let is be that art demands different perspectives. It asks us to be open-minded, to challenge ourselves, to have confidence in our instincts. It is not a pop quiz to be aced. There is no objectively correct take. I wish I had a better handle on that in 2019, or at least trusted myself a little more back then to stand firm in my interpretation. Maybe Death Stranding 2 isn't really that much of an improvement over its predecessor; maybe I'm the one who really changed.
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Gizmodo
6 hours ago
- Gizmodo
‘Death Stranding 2: On the Beach' Composer Had Free Rein to Make a Headbanging Soundtrack
Hideo Kojima's long-anticipated sequel Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is out now on PlayStation 5. While the game itself poses the question of whether the world should be connected, gamers on social media are coming to life with every neat gameplay secret and discovery they unearth in every nook and cranny of the game. Speaking of connections, io9 spoke with On the Beach composer Ludvig Forssell, whose credits include Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain as well as Mamoru Hosoda's 2022 animated film, Belle. Among other topics, we asked about how his musical philosophy evolved to make the sequel's soundtrack live up to what's being called an early candidate for game of the year. Isaiah Colbert, io9: If you had to describe Death Stranding 2's score in three words, what would they be? Ludvig Forssell: I'm gonna go ahead and not use adjectives, but rather just words. Expansion, heart, and I would say, headbanging. io9: As a composer, you greatly influence players by subtly highlighting key moments and quiet periods in gameplay— delivering packages, avoiding ink ghosts, and linking Mexico and Australia by surfing on a coffin. With Death Stranding 2, which emotional themes were crucial for you to emphasize or expand on? Forssell: One of the most important parts for me with Death Stranding 2 was to give a connection to the emotional parts of the story that are a bit more expansive, again, compared to the first one. I really wanted to make sure that what we gave the player in terms of musicality on the second one was way more not on the sleeve, but a bit more easy to grasp in a way. A bit more straightforward. io9: You've worked closely with Kojima Productions for years. How has your creative shorthand with Hideo Kojima evolved, especially when shaping the musicality of the emotional arc in its sequel? Forssell: I've worked with Mr. Kojima for over 10 years. That relationship has expanded bit by bit. I think, at this point, he is able to give me a lot of freedom to where I'm basically thrown in the deep end at the very get-go like, 'Here's the story. Figure it out yourself and give me something to run with in the game in terms of music.' I'll be obviously in direct contact with him while delivering things like shooting him emails, [like], 'Hey, this is the new cue for this part.' He'll check it out on his phone or wherever he is. It's very much letting me run with things and then we throw them into the game and see if they work or not. Then we might change things up. But generally—even now that I'm working as a freelancer on the game, and obviously not as hands-on with having a dev kid or anything in my house—I'm still given the freedom to use very little information to create something that I perceive and create out of my own mind without too much oversight. io9: Kojima's storytelling often blurs the line between surreal and profoundly human, even if actors like Norman Reedus can't entirely suss out where the story is going in the moment and have to trust that things will pan out. With this being your second go-around for a game like Death Stranding, would you say you've cracked what's going on in its narrative in a way that informs the composing of its music? Forssell: With the first game, having been the audio director on that and having the process be a certain way when working in-house, with the second game I was fortunate enough to join in for some of the performance capture sessions—literally the times that Norman might have gotten the questions answered the way he did in what you just stated. Being there for those sessions and seeing Hideo work with the actors, explaining the scenes, and having the script obviously on hand is gives me a really good organic way to interact with the script and the story and and build my understanding of it over a longer period of time—having that be very closely connected to more parts of game production than just seeing in-game footage, reading a script, or seeing a description of a track that I'm supposed to write. To me, it's always been quite, [well], not easy. Obviously, it's a very complex story in both games. But I've been given many organic ways of interacting with the production that lead to a better understanding about what the game is, what the game is about, and what the story wants to say. io9: You mentioned earlier that you had a lot of creative freedom to shape the game's musical direction as you saw fit. Through fellow On the Beach artist Woodkid, Kojima mentioned that he was concerned that playtests were too positive and that he had to make changes. Were there moments where he wanted to emphasize different cues when it came to musicality, when you guys were passing drafts back and forth as the tracks were coming along? Forssell: That's a tough question. It's such a granular process of doing things especially with the way game design works where everything comes together bit by bit. If something changes on the map, scripts have to change; everything is just intertwined so deeply, and that changes so incrementally that a lot of that comes into how the music is implemented, rather than going back to really reshaping the core ideas. I thought those were pretty much set in stone once we started out with the conceptual parts of the story being in place. The more granular changes that come along and afterwards are parts that we usually deal with by changing how music is played back and how we edit the music or mix the music in terms of having it feel and have the right impact for the player. Most of those changes that happened throughout game production are usually handled in tandem with the bigger team of sound designers, music editors, and music engineers, along with me being there, looking at, and giving ideas on how to tweak things. Sometimes, you'll get a note from Mr. Kojima that's like, 'Oh, this part is not scary enough,' and the in-house team will be like, 'OK, do we need to rewrite this music?' and I'll have a listen to what's playing back in the game and be like, 'No, this is not scary enough because you can't even hear the music. Just turn the music up 10 dBs and it'll be scary.' It's a lot of technicalities when it comes to working around and making things fit. I was fortunate enough to not have to rewrite and scrap a bunch of stuff, 'cause there's a lot you can do by realizing what the final product is gonna be and and knowing what's lacking in certain situations—that being sound design or other facets. You're always striving towards a certain feeling, and getting that is a very, again, incremental and granular process. io9: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 composer Lorien Testard once told me that while he has inspirations, he tries not to let them influence his compositions too directly. When you're creating music for Death Stranding 2, do you take a similar approach? Or do you find yourself intentionally drawing from other composers, pop culture, your work in anime, or even personal experiences to shape On the Beach's sonic atmosphere? Forssell: First off, shout-outs to Lorien. He did a great job on Expedition 33. I didn't play it, but I've seen a full playthrough of the game, and the music is fantastic. And also, yeah, a good answer because I'm sort of similar. I do mostly consume music through media that I'm watching or playing, rather than actively listening to music in my daily life. That obviously inspires me in certain ways, but I don't get specific things that I try to recreate. It's rather the approach to certain things, like, 'This game wanted to present music in a certain way for this part. That's really cool. I might try to implement that sort of approach for some things that I do.' It's more of getting inspiration in terms of how things are done rather than how things actually sound. io9: When it comes to how things sound, were there new instruments or techniques that you experimented with to give DS2 a unique sonic texture for its score that surprised you by how well they turned out, or proved more difficult to bring to life from concept to track? Forssell: I don't think I had anything that didn't work out, per se. But we definitely wanted to expand upon what the first game's soundtrack was and add more humanity and heart to some of that, which came about by using a small vocal ensemble that we recorded, a certain amount of cues with which we then resampled and used for all these sorts of weird vocal expressions and stuff like that, that was implemented to add to what the original game was. If there was anything that surprised me, you have the main antagonist of the game, Higgs, walking along carrying a guitar the entire game, so we knew that we wanted to implement guitars. Guitars were sort of a very much no-go thing for the first game soundtrack. I did not want to use guitars at all. So having guitars being added—I wouldn't say forced upon me, but conceptually they were gonna be in the soundtrack this time around—[worked] out way better than I thought. That also leaned into more of the headbanging soundtrack, having a more fun side to some of the music rather than just being very action-informative. I feel like all those elements melded together really well for something that keeps the core of the first game soundtrack and adds more facets to it to make it less ambient and a bit more hands-on. Palpable. io9: Death Stranding 2's trailers have drawn many fans to compare Neil Vana to Metal Gear Solid's Snake. While Kojima had to remind actor Luca Marinelli that he wasn't playing Snake, the soundtrack does have a track called 'Crab Battle.' Was this a cheeky musical Easter egg reference to Snake Eater on your part? If so, are there any other subtle musical flairs that paid homage to Hojima's magnum opus? Forssell (laughs): Whatever could you be talking about? Yeah, no, I am aware of the meme, and it felt like we can't just miss this opportunity. No spoilers, but the track is called 'Crab Battle' for a reason. But yeah, that's a meme, you're welcome. I started out working with Mr. Kojima on Metal Gear Solid V, so I've been part of the process in creating music for those games, but in terms of musical legacy and all of that, the one I worked on might have been the one that leans the farthest away from what the other soundtracks were. The direction was very clearly going in a less melodic way for that soundtrack. Personally, it's not stuck to the back of my head, creating original MGS music, so I don't think it could subconsciously peek out somewhere. Obviously, there is sort of an homage track to some of that for the first game for the director's cut, called 'The Big Sneak,' but that's supposed to be on the nose. But generally speaking, I was there when we recorded with Luca doing those scenes, and it didn't feel like it would be obvious. The way people felt when they saw that scene didn't seem like it was gonna turn out that way when we filmed it, but I can't read every thought that Hideo has, and I don't know what his actual plans were around that. But it's good fun at the end of the day and people who play the game will get to get to know and learn about Neil's character. He is very cool on his own, so [I] definitely hope that people get to see that for more than just the meme that it's become with trailers and stuff. io9: During a Twitch stream with PatStaresAt, you noted how a motorcycle maneuver avoiding an early conflict with Higgs' mechanical army means missing out on a cool thing you did with the game's OST. With the reality that some people might finagle their way out of combat or stealth encounters, is there a particular theme or leitmotif from this sequel soundtrack that you hope lingers with players long after they hit credits? Forssell: That's always hard because open world games are always gonna be impossible to force people to play them in certain ways and have them experience certain moments the way you want them to. Shit happens when you see something like that. [PatStaresAt] will see similar scenes that I've done music for in his playthrough going forward, so I'm not too bummed about it. There's some of the boss battles that are not necessarily missable, but if you just run through them, you might not get to experience the full-blown impact of the music. One of the tracks that I'm proud of is called 'Soaring Shadow,' which may not be a huge splash as a big moment in the game, but I'm definitely looking forward to people interacting with that part of the game. Other than that, again, no spoilers, but the endgame is very heavy on a lot of the fun stuff we got to do with the soundtrack this time around. With games being the way they are, you always see a big decrease of players when getting into the end game. Not a lot of games have more than 70% of the players actually finishing the game, so I definitely hope to see a lot of people get to enjoy that part of the game for its music. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is available now on PlayStation 5. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Daichi Miura Talks ‘Miraculous' Effort of ‘Death Stranding 2' Tracks, Perspective as a Longtime Video Game Aficionado: Interview
Daichi Miura dropped a double A-sided single called 'Horizon Dreamer / Polytope' on June 25. Produced by Nao'ymt, who has collaborated with the J-pop singer and dancer on a number of his previous works, both 'Horizon Dreamer' and 'Polytope' are featured in DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH, the latest video game by world-renowned game creator Hideo Kojima. The 37-year-old pop star spoke to Billboard Japan about the creative process of both tracks and shared his enthusiasm for and longtime love of gaming in this latest interview. 'Horizon Dreamer' and 'Polytope' were written for the video game DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH for PlayStation®︎5. The former is a track featuring a very primitive rhythm and melody. More from Billboard Debbie Harry on Image Expectations in Music: 'I Wanted to Work' Wallows Recall Morrissey Walking Out of Their Show: 'That's the Perfect Morrissey Story' Bob Vylan Axed From Radar, Kave Fest After Glastonbury Backlash Daichi Miura: The song has a very grounded feel to it, with a sound that evokes a scene of people walking through the wilderness step by step to reach a new land. It has a touch of bluegrass, with banjos and such, and the music has an indigenous, very physical feel to it. 'Horizon Dreamer' was written with images of the game in mind, of course, but since I exist as Daichi Miura in the world of DS 2, Kojima-san said to me, 'Don't make it a song that expresses the world of the game too much. I'd like it to be one that stands on its own as a new single by Daichi Miura and also have proper strength as a pop song.' So Nao'ymt (pronounced 'Nao why em tee') wrote it as a new song for me, incorporating the essence and progress of my music up to now. I see. Nao'ymt wrote and produced both songs. Could you share what you discussed with him in the beginning of the production process? I've always loved playing video games, and had an opportunity to connect with Kojima-san through an interview during the production of (the first) DEATH STRANDING. As a fan of both Kojima-san and Nao-san, I'd been thinking that it was pretty clear the two of them should collaborate to create something together. Things began to take shape in a miraculous way for this project and we agreed to work together as a triangle. So it was an eagerly anticipated triangle for you. Right. I knew there were things that would definitely resonate between them, so I thought it'd be great if they'd connect. Oh, and there was this miracle that happened regarding 'Horizon Dreamer.' Tell us about it. Kojima-san had told me he was working on DS 2, and shared that 'this time there will be a ship that didn't appear last time, and you'll be traveling on it.' Around the same time, I received a demo from Nao-san, who said, 'I had this image of a man who is floating in the sea, and then a ship comes and he gets on it and heads to a new land.' I thought it was miraculous and felt like I was witnessing an amazing moment. So I personally think that the two were meant to meet at some point, and it was through a combination of such miracles that 'Horizon Dreamer' and 'Polytope' were born. You even host a TV show on video games, so your love for them is pretty well known. What do you think makes Kojima-san's games so compelling? What I've been thinking about regarding Kojima-san's works recently is that he's someone who's relentless in his craftsmanship. When you're making something, there will be moments when you go, 'This might not work.' And you probably come up with various ideas and overcome those moments. The thing about Kojima-san is that there's no compromise in the way he does that. The message that he wants to convey, the things he wants to create, the passion with which he wants to create things with certain people, the camera angles, the way he depicts things… it's like that gene is in everything. I think he's a really relentless person. Going back to your music, how do you feel about the epic sound of 'Horizon Dreamer'? It was so incredibly cool from the demo stage. I just focused on how I should express the music. The two songs are completely different in tone, but they're like a set with connected parts. As I mentioned earlier, 'Horizon Dreamer' has an indigenous or primitive feel to it, but the way Nao-san breezily transformed that into a Daichi Miura pop song is really amazing. How about 'Polytope'? I think Nao-san trusts me with what he really wants to do, and it's one of those songs where he's like, 'Daichi will be able to handle this' and just goes full out with it. In that sense, 'Polytope' couldn't have been created without this triangle of the DS 2 project and Kojima-san's presence, and from the moment I heard both songs, I was excited about how I'd go about expressing them. You've already released 'Horizon Dreamer' digitally, and performed 'Polytope' live (ahead of the single's release). How do you feel about the response? I premiered the music and performance at my concert, but to be honest, I don't remember much about 'Polytope.' I was so focused on expressing it that there was no room for thought… like I was in harmony with the music. I only vaguely remember what I was thinking and how I expressed it. But I do remember that the atmosphere in the venue after the performance was pretty incredible and that the audience was buzzing with excitement. Apparently everyone felt like they'd seen something they'd never seen before, and that makes me happy. 'Horizon Dreamer' is a song that invites everyone to sing and dance together, so there might have been some confusion about the tone and performance of 'Polytope.' Do you see those two songs as two sides of the same coin in terms of expression? 'Horizon Dreamer' ends with the lyrics, 'The sun's going down again today,' and 'Polytope' begins, 'The sun's setting,' so there's a connection here. The staging of the live performance of 'Polytope' also starts with a setting sun, so that's also perfectly linked. While the songs depict different worlds from a sonic standpoint, I feel that their roots are the same, so it's really like a gradation. I'd like people to listen to every part of the songs, especially 'Polytope,' and wonder, 'What's this world like?' and experience them together with the game. In your recent Instagram Live, you repeatedly said you wanted people to try playing DS 2. I have a feeling that for a lot of people who don't play video games, the rough idea of what they're like actually hasn't been updated for a long time. But they're pretty incredible nowadays. Video games are the only kind of entertainment where you can play it yourself and control the main character. They contain elements of music, stories and drama, cinematic aspects, and are truly a comprehensive art form in my view. As a gamer and game fan, I feel pretty disappointed that so many people aren't aware of this. I wish it would reach a wider audience somehow. So, if there are people out there who know about me, and they found out about DEATH STRANDING 2 through me, then I'd really like them to try it out once. I'm sure you'll be pretty amazed… I really encourage everyone to experience it. Japanese video games are highly acclaimed around the world. Do you also want to introduce your music to a global audience along with DS 2? I've never considered collaborating with a video game intending to reach a global audience through the game. I'm a fan of music, a fan of games, a fan of Kojima-san, and a fan of Nao-san, so it's like I'm immersed in the joy of being able to devote all my energy to the things I love and to create something with all my might here. But Kojima-san is someone who continues to create works that are loved by many players everywhere, so if people happen to find out about me through a game of his, of course I'd be very happy about it. —This interview by Takayuki Okamoto first appeared on Billboard Japan Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Newsweek
13 hours ago
- Newsweek
PlayStation Game Helldivers 2 is Coming to Xbox Next Month
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors After a successful launch on PS5 and PC last year, Sony has announced that it will be bringing Helldivers 2 to Xbox Series X|S next month. The announcement was made during a stream by developer Arrowhead Games, where it was announced that Helldivers 2 will be released on Xbox Series X|S on August 26, 2025. PlayStation Publishing, the publishing arm of Sony Interactive Entertainment, will predictably be publishing the multiplayer third-person shooter on Xbox, as it did on PS5 and PC. A promotional screenshot for Helldivers 2, with four armored soldiers firing at enemies off-screen. A promotional screenshot for Helldivers 2, with four armored soldiers firing at enemies off-screen. Sony Helldivers 2 first launched on PC and PS5 in February 2024, where it immediately became a huge success among critics and players. Despite some post-launch hiccups, with player backlash arising from a PlayStation login requirement on PC added after launch, the game went on to sell over 15 million copies and win dozens of awards, including Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards 2024. In the year and change since its release, it's also received a swathe of post-launch content, including expansions and regular in-game events, all of which has been well-received by the community. It's also been praised for its emergent storytelling, with actions from the community helping shape the overall story of the game. Helldivers 2 will be available in two editions on Xbox Series X|S, a standard edition costing $39.99 and a deluxe "Super Citizen Edition" coming in at $59.99, which includes an armor set, a cape, a weapon, Super Citizen status, and a Stratagem Hero Ship Game. Both are available to preorder on the Xbox store now, and preordering offers three promotional armor sets. "We know gamers have been asking for this for some time and we are so excited to bring more Helldivers into our game," Helldivers 2 game director Mikael Eriksson said in a post on Xbox Wire. "We have so much more in store for the future months and years – and the more players we have the more stories we can tell! The fight for Super Earth has only just begun." Curiously, the game is launching on the same date as one of Xbox's in-house games, Gears of War Reloaded, which is coming to Xbox, PC, and PS5. It comes after Microsoft cancelled multiple Xbox games amid aggressive layoffs that have seen 9000 staff laid off across the company, many of which were under the Microsoft Gaming and Xbox Game Studios banner. Rare's Everwild, The Initiative's Perfect Dark, and more games were shut down, with other projects expected to be announced to be ending in the coming days.
