Courier Friendship: Death Stranding 2 came to Russia with dubbing
The game Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is called the main event of the season. It has just been brought to Russia, and with a full official translation into Russian, the same actors even worked on the dubbing as in the first part, released in 2019. The new project has already set several records and won the first place among the most highly rated games. However, this release is so ambitious and controversial that two Izvestia columnists— Sergei Sychev and Anton Bely— wrote about it, each sharing their impressions. This is quite consistent with the dialectical nature of Kojima's new creation, which even the most severe critics call a masterpiece.
Sergey Sychev: Death Stranding and suitcases
There are at least two ways to write about Death Stranding 2. The first is to list everything that thousands of articles have already been written about by those who got early access or who bought it and went into a binge game in order to get through and tell everyone as soon as possible. The second way is to talk about your personal emotions. I'll choose the second one.
A shot from the game "Death Stranding 2: On the Beach"
I must say that I dropped the first part pretty quickly. The fact is that Death Stranding is a courier simulator. But conceptual. The author of the game, Hideo Kojima, came up with a story that the apocalypse happened on Earth and now acid rains are everywhere, and the angry ghosts of dead people are always crawling out from under their feet. The action takes place on the territory of the former United States of America, and the main character — the best courier of all possible — needs to make sure that if not the States (they no longer exist), then at least the cities become United again. To do this, he must sneak special equipment into each bunker where there are survivors. If it is launched, the bunker and the surrounding area will not just enter under a common shield, but will find themselves in a system of powerful communications, become immune to creatures and rains, in general, will become part of a new world.
A shot from the game "Death Stranding 2: On the Beach"
All this is somewhat reminiscent of the history of Israel, when houses built with settlers automatically incorporated the territory of Palestine into the Jewish state. And, by the way, the game begins with the fact that the hero is asked to "connect" Mexico to the United States (United Cities of America). He wonders if this is an occupation, but they console him that no, of course, it's just like the Internet: if he works in a new territory, it doesn't mean an occupation, just a new way of communication. It's funny, but in this dialogue there will be an option to "opt out", but it's false: after a couple of "no" you have to admit that Mexico needs to be connected, otherwise it, and indeed everyone, will not survive.
So, I quit my first game because I never dreamed of working as a courier. In one of the early missions, my hero had to carry a bunch of suitcases with equipment somewhere. I carried them under my arms and on my back, monsters attacked me, it lasted for two hours in real time, and I lost a couple of suitcases on the way. And when I got to the end point, I was told that I had to go the same way again and deliver everything. To spend two more hours of my life. I deleted the game and did not turn it on anymore.
A shot from the game Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
The sequel to Death Stranding is once again a courier service filled with personal impressions (for example, an adopted baby from a test tube), sorrows, worries and doubts. There are monsters here again, and a lot of monsters, plus killer robots, plus some villains who will have to be defeated in the finale. And the first impression: no, you have to give it up, you can't play it at all. Already in the opening scene, the main character needs to run through the hills for a very long time to his house, slipping and rising again, while the credits will mockingly appear on the screen. And then you'll have to run a lot on your own two feet. Death Stranding 2 is still a lot of wasted time.
The hero constantly falls, drops all his belongings, loaded on him from all sides. We need to pick it all up again, but then everything collapses again, we need to crawl and pick it up again. He puts the load on himself unwisely, so everything takes up too much space, sticks high above his head, makes it difficult to walk, falls in one direction, then the other.
A shot from the game Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
That's not all. At each subsequent point, the hero learns about his new abilities — to interact with objects and murder weapons, to build buildings on a 3D printer and transport ... I don't know how or why to keep all this in mind, but without it you can't survive. And dialogues and briefings drag on and drag out time, at some point you already want to take a notebook and write it down so as not to forget. Otherwise, there will always be moments when you seem to be doing everything right, but you can't go any further. The character is controlled through a million menus, which do not always seem logical (like many things in this game), something you just have to remember.
It's not clear at what point you realize that you're so caught up that you won't quit this game until you pass. Or maybe you won't even quit after that. At first, it is fascinating that it was released with a full dubbing into Russian. I don't remember the last time this happened with big releases for PlayStation 5. Then, of course, the appearance of my favorite movie stars. Lea Seydoux ("The Life of Adele") was already in the first part, as was the lead actor Norman Reedus. And there was a character with the appearance of Guillermo del Toro. But now there's Elle Fanning and even Turkish and German film legend Fatih Akin. And we also used the image of George Miller, the creator of Mad Max, of whom there is, to put it mildly, a lot in this game.
A shot from the game "Death Stranding 2: On the Beach"
Yes, Hideo Kojima sometimes, after a dozen video exhibitions, seems like a man with a failed cinematographer complex, and what is perceived as "wow" in games would look like second-rate in movies today. But combined with the gameplay, these scenes really enhance the immersion, and the process itself — yes, it's too long and slow, but how beautiful! When the hero catches the dawn, you want to stop and just contemplate. I would like to examine each locality in all its details, each costume is written as if twenty people worked on it (maybe it is, by the way).
The silent protagonist nevertheless reacts to new information, but in such a way that it does not look like dumb nervousness, but creates psychology, suspense, even philosophy. That's the key word. Death Stranding 2 is a philosophy, and in the classical sense of the word, that is, love for the very process of thinking. When you play it, when the hero is running somewhere with suitcases again, at some point you start to move from contemplation to reflection.
A shot from the game Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
This was the case in Sergei Dvortsevoy's brilliant film "Bread Day" — the famous scene where several old men push a carriage along a narrow-gauge railway. At first you get angry that the director doesn't help them, then you get angry at those whose fault it is that people have to push this car, then you get bored, but soon you wonder if you don't have a car that you're pointlessly pushing over and over the same track. And when you come to this image, the scene ends. The same thing happened in Death Stranding 2. The first part, perhaps, did not achieve this balance, or I did not have the patience to feel it. In the second one, this happens, and you have to admit that Kojima is a genius, no matter how much they joke about it.
Anton Bely: the main facts about Death Stranding 2
Sometimes facts and figures speak for themselves better than any emotions. Recently, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach surpassed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and took the first place among the highest—rated games in the PlayStation Store, a digital store that serves as the main criterion for popular love. Death Stranding's score is 4.93 out of 5 points, which is a high score, almost the highest possible.
A shot from the game Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
According to the head of the department "Development of games and the gaming community" of the company "M.The video "Eldorado" by Sergey Mezin, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach demonstrated a phenomenal sales start — the first batch was completely sold out overnight after entering the sales channels. To date, this is the project with the highest dynamics among the video games that entered this network in 2025.
— The new product is confidently ahead of such releases as Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II in this indicator. The success is natural: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is one of Sony's most anticipated exclusives of recent years, with a powerful copyright legacy built on a unique visual and style, narrative, impressive soundtrack and a huge fan base. I remind you that the first part of the game has sold over 100,000 copies on our network," the expert added.
A shot from the game "Death Stranding 2: On the Beach"
Russians make up a significant proportion of the total number of fans — all notable distributors brought the new game to Russia. This once again makes it clear that the phenomenon jokingly called "Kojima the genius" has a real effect, and not ironic optics, when the "naked king" is not noticed. The phrase was born as an ironic meme, but over time it proved its worth. The author's latest works symbolize the thesis "game as art" and have a real Stendhal effect: gamers lose consciousness from spectacular plot twists and cinematic scenes.
The first Death Stranding was like a bolt from the blue: no one expected that couriering could be so exciting. The second one is not a surprise. Everything that was pleasant (and annoying) in the first part remains here: the same endless trails, the same boxes, the same falls off a cliff. But now it's all polished to a mirror-like shine. The battles have become more dynamic, the map is more detailed, and the tasks are more diverse. At first glance, it sounds like a joke: "Lugging boxes again?" But no — thanks to the depth of the plot and clever mechanics, you equip your backpack again. And you don't even notice how you run for hours through the hills, because now it's not just a routine, but like... well, like a cup of coffee without sugar: it's bitter at first, but then you realize that it's this bitterness that makes it alive.
A shot from the game "Death Stranding 2: On the Beach"
Death Stranding 2 is like talking to a friend who doesn't seem to be saying anything new, but does it in such a way that you suddenly start listening. And I want to believe that Kojima will not stop "dragging boxes" until we realize that this is the point. The genius of the game is also that this author was the first of the greats to directly criticize the main trend of our time — AI assistants. As the game openly says, being too attached to them is fraught with consequences. The Internet, coupled with AI, helped us survive the pandemic, but people also need personal communication, not just virtual.
Copies of the game were provided by the companies "M.Video-Eldorado and Achivka are the largest players in the gaming industry market in the Russian Federation.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
