Death Stranding 2 devs prepare for a "grueling and fun climb" ahead

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That's according to Hideo Kojima himself

Death Stranding 2 PS5 screenshot
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)

Death Stranding 2's developers are preparing for a "grueling and fun climb ahead," according to game director Hideo Kojima.

Kojima Productions recently held a 'Death Stranding 2 Assembly' event at the studio's office in Tokyo, as revealed by Kojima in the tweet below. Apparently this event united the "entire DS2 staff to rally together before the grueling and fun climb ahead," which is a long way of saying that it was a morale boost for the work to come in the immediate future.

Back in May, Kojima revealed that Death Stranding 2 was entering an "adjustment phase" that would take over a year to complete. Aside from subtly revealing that the sequel wouldn't launch until the latter half of 2025 on PS5, this was also Kojima's way of basically notifying fans that Death Stranding 2 was moving into the final stages of development.

Because yes, the final stages of game development can very easily last over a year. Think back to when The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launched last year, for example - series producer Eiji Aonuma revealed that he had completed Tears of the Kingdom over 20 times to prepare for launch and properly test and debug the title to the best possible standard.

This is what's effectively happening at Kojima Productions right now, if Kojima's past comments in May are still accurate. In other words, settle in for a long ride, and keep the developers of Death Stranding 2 in your thoughts, because it sounds like they're working extremely hard right now.

Death Stranding 2's Norman Reedus says the sequel is more violent than its predecessor: "I feel like this one has a bit more violence in it."

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.