Death Stranding 2 gets June 2025 release date, new trailer at SXSW

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will be released on June 26 for PlayStation 5, game director and Kojima Productions founder Hideo Kojima announced Sunday during a panel at SXSW 2025 with a lengthy new trailer for the game.

That trailer offered a new 10-minute look at Death Stranding 2 and its stars, including some fresh faces. The sequel to the 2019 action game will once again star Norman Reedus as Sam Bridges, the package-toting hero of its bizarre story. Léa Seydoux and Troy Baker will return too, as Fragile and Higgs, respectively. They’ll be joined by new characters played by Elle Fanning (Tomorrow), Shioli Kutsuna (Rainy), and George Miller (Tarman). Also joining the cast are Luca Marinelli as Neil, Debra Wilson as Doctor, and Alissa Jung as Lucy.

Death Stranding 2’s new trailer even appears to have a handful of nods to Kojima’s previous game franchise, Metal Gear Solid. Marinelli’s Neil looks unmistakably like Solid Snake at one point, with the giant tar creature that fuses with the DHV Magellan — becoming the Magellan Man, Kojima said — giving Metal Gear Rex/Sahelanthropus vibes. Beyond that, there’s plenty of gameplay action and story hints to chew on for Death Stranding fans.

For more insight into Death Stranding 2, check out Kojima Productions and PlayStation’s special panel from SXSW 2025.

In Death Stranding 2’s first trailer at 2022’s The Game Awards, Kojima said his experiences during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic prompted him to rework the script, which will follow the events of the first game’s journey across a post-apocalyptic America ravaged by inky black monsters known as Beached Things.

The second, 10-minute trailer from a State of Play stream last year showed the delivery company Bridges worked for has dissolved and a new organization called Drawbridge has risen in its place. But as with all Kojima-led games, the exact details are murky.

A live-action Death Stranding movie was announced in 2022 and picked up by renowned film production house A24 in 2023. The film will take place in the same world, but won’t directly recreate the events of the first game, Kojima said at the time of the original announcement.

Death Stranding 2 has only been announced for PlayStation 5, but a PC version could appear later if Sony’s trend of delayed ports continues.