PlayStation Releases ‘Death Stranding’ Story Recap, and the Plot Is Still Too Confusing To Understand

To prepare players for the launch of Death Stranding 2, PlayStation has released an official story recap video of the first game. The only problem is that the plot of Death Stranding is still too confusing to understand in the video. Here is the best way to decipher Hideo Kojima’s complicated narrative.

‘Death Stranding’ Story Recap Is Still Confusing

With Death Stranding 2’s launch just weeks away on June 26, the official PlayStation YouTube account uploaded a story recap to catch fans up. While well-intentioned, the six-minute video is essentially a series of montage clips. Like, it covers some of the game’s most important cinematics, but it doesn’t actually help you understand what is going on in the game’s overall story.

While it would be easy to make a joke about Hideo Kojima writing overly complex narratives, there is, in fact, a solid plot in Death Stranding. Sure, a lot of the game’s emotional story beats are buried under a whole lot of weird lore, but there is a coherent story there! Plus, it doesn’t help that it throws a lot at you within the first few minutes of gameplay. An hour into my first playthrough, my head was spinning trying to understand what “DOOMS,” “repatriate,” and “voidouts” meant.

The official “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach – The Story So Far” video has the impossible task of trying to sum all this up in a concise package. Understandably, many new players reacted to the recap in confusion. I mean, how do you accurately tell a narrative this complex in six minutes? Unfortunately, if you truly want to understand the complete story of Death Stranding, you will need to set aside an hour of your time. There are better recaps out there, but they require a little more patience.

Best Way to Prepare for ‘DS2: On The Beach’

While subjective, I believe the best story recap to watch is the “Death Stranding Timeline – Complete Story So Far” video from YouTube channel Suggestive Gaming. Yes, it clocks in at 1 hour and 25 minutes. I know this is a tall ask for players. But trust me when I say, it’s worth the investment if you plan on diving into Death Stranding 2.

One of the reasons Death Stranding is so hard to summarize? The game jumps around a lot in its timelines. Major story beats are revealed at times in a non-linear fashion. This makes quick summary videos sound like the rantings of a crazy person. And while having to sit through a movie-length YouTube video might sound like a chore, just consider it’s better than having to play a 100-hour game again if you’ve already beaten it or are a new player.

If you absolutely can’t sit through Suggestive Gaming’s excellent video? Then, I believe the recap from PlayStationGrenade is also better than the official one. But even at 25 minutes, I warn you it’s still pretty confusing. And if all else fails, Death Stranding 2 is said to have a 15-minute recap in the game itself. Hopefully, it does a better job of summarizing the narrative, though. That said, this is a Hideo Kojima story. So, confusion — to some degree — goes hand-in-hand with the experience.