Players embarking on Sam Porter Bridges’ latest journey across a fractured world are asking a crucial question: How long is Death Stranding 2: On the Beach? This highly anticipated sequel promises another expansive trek, and understanding its length can help you prepare for the delivery ahead.
While playtime can vary significantly based on your approach, insights from those who have completed the game indicate that finishing the main story will take a substantial amount of time.
How Long is the Death Stranding 2 Main Story?
Based on early playthroughs, the core narrative of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach typically ranges from approximately 34 to 41 hours for players focusing primarily on the main missions and critical path objectives.
This range reflects different playstyles. Some players pushed through the mainline quests with minimal detours, reaching the credits on the lower end of the spectrum. Others, while still prioritizing the story, took a little more time to engage with some side activities or simply savored the journey, resulting in a slightly longer main story completion time.
For example, one player who stuck mostly to the critical path finished just past the 34-hour mark. Another, who included a handful of side quests, took around 38 hours. A third player, who actively took their time exploring the environments, immersing themselves in the world, and developing relationships with facilities, finished closer to 41 hours.
This suggests that while the narrative provides a clear goal, the open world design and optional content naturally influence the pace, even for those aiming primarily for the ending.
What Extends Your Playtime in Death Stranding 2?
Like its predecessor, Death Stranding 2 offers a wealth of activities beyond the main story that can significantly increase your total playtime. For completionists or those who simply enjoy the core loop, the hours can easily mount up.
Activities that will extend your time in Death Stranding 2 include:
Full Chiral Network Connection: Connecting every facility and region across the game’s vast maps (spanning both Australia and Mexico) requires completing many optional delivery orders.
Maximizing Facility/Prepper Connections: Building relationships with Preppers and facilities by earning Likes and increasing your Porter Grade unlocks new equipment and upgrades. Reaching the maximum 5-star rating for everyone is a lengthy endeavor.
Completing Optional Deliveries & Side Missions: Beyond the main story missions, countless standard and unique delivery orders are available. These can involve varied tasks, from maintaining cargo temperature and orientation to rescuing hostages or finding specific items in challenging environments.
Exploring the World: The environments are expansive and filled with hidden paths, resources, and optional points of interest. Simply taking time to explore off the beaten path adds hours.
Infrastructure Building: Contributing to the shared world by building roads, ziplines, bridges, generators, and shelters, and upgrading your own private structures, is a time-consuming but rewarding activity that benefits you and other players.
Engaging with Combat and Hazards: Death Stranding 2 features more emphasis on combat and introduces dynamic environmental hazards (flooding rivers, sandstorms, fires). Experimenting with the expanded arsenal of weapons and tools, tackling enemy camps (MULEs, Survivalists, new Chiral Creatures), and navigating environmental threats can add strategic time to deliveries.
APAS Upgrades: Earning bandwidth to invest in the APAS perk tree, which grants customizable abilities for Sam, requires completing missions and objectives beyond the main path.
Private Room Activities: While optional, spending time in the Private Room interacting with companions like Dollman or organizing your gear and delivery playlists contributes to the overall experience and playtime.
One reviewer noted that the gameplay, particularly the cargo delivery simulation and infrastructure building, is so engaging that it can become the primary driver for playing, easily pushing total hours well beyond the main story completion as players simply “fucking love delivering cargo” and helping others via the asynchronous multiplayer system.
Death Stranding 2 Playtime Compared to Other Kojima Games
To put Death Stranding 2‘s length into perspective, here’s how its average main story completion time compares to other notable games directed by Hideo Kojima, based on aggregated data:
| Game Title | Average Main Story Length |
| :—————————— | :———————— |
| Metal Gear Solid | 11 ½ Hours |
| Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty | 13 Hours |
| Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater | 16 Hours |
| Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots | 18 ½ Hours |
| Death Stranding | 40 ½ Hours |
| Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain | 45 ½ Hours |
| Death Stranding 2: On the Beach | ~34-41 Hours (Main Story) |
As the comparison shows, Death Stranding 2 is a lengthy experience, falling in line with the expansive scope of the original Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
More Than Just Hours
Beyond the raw numbers, the experience of playing Death Stranding 2 is defined by its unique blend of methodical traversal, strategic planning, environmental challenges, and a dense, often bizarre narrative. The sequel is noted as being potentially more approachable and streamlined than the first game in certain areas, offering more varied missions and enhanced tools earlier on. However, it retains the core “journey, not destination” philosophy and demands player engagement with its distinct mechanics.
Whether you choose to focus solely on Sam’s quest to connect the continent or lose yourself in building a vast network of helpful structures and maximizing every connection, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach offers a substantial and memorable playtime.
