As Death Stranding 2: On the Beach gets rated in South Korea and Hideo Kojima appears to tease a new trailer, a release date seems more likely than ever

It's looking more and more likely that we might be learning Death Stranding 2: On the Beach's release date soon, as the upcoming Kojima Productions sequel has now been rated in South Korea.

As spotted by VGC, South Korea's Game Rating and Administration Committee posted Death Stranding 2's rating today. The verdict? According to machine translations, it's not for kids, which was to be expected given its predecessor's M rating. Specifically, the ratings board explains that the sequel features "excessive violence" and "vulgar language," as well as depictions of smoking, drinking, and drugs.

Although it's no guarantee of a game's imminent launch, it's always promising to see these sorts of ratings come through – it's often a solid indicator that things are coming together behind the scenes. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach was already slated for a 2025 release, so it's not an enormous shock to see this come through like it was with Silent Hill f, which was also rated in South Korea last month after two years of silence. Konami still hasn't said a word about it since, mind you, but at least it shows the game is still alive.

The thing with Death Stranding 2's rating, as VGC points out, is that it's come right after director Hideo Kojima teased something rather trailer-shaped on social media. In a tweet posted yesterday (translated by Google and DeepL), he said he was sitting at the "editing machine," before sharing an image of text reading "a Hideo Kojima game" in what looked like video editing software.

Rumors of an upcoming PlayStation State of Play have also been running rampant lately, adding even more fuel to the fire. Just today, PlayStation itself leaked Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater's release date, which is set for August 28 according to a trailer that appeared on the PS App. We'll just have to wait and see if a full presentation is happening soon, too.

For now, be sure to check out our roundup of new PS5 games coming this year and beyond.