Review by C.J. Bunce
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach was last year’s follow-up to the 2019 action-adventure video game Death Stranding, both among Japan’s most popular, award-winning games. It’s set in an Earth dystopia following a cataclysmic event called the Death Stranding, which unleashed Beached Things on the planet. These creatures can create their own nuclear-type explosions. The story follows The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges as a literal porter–a courier who carries packages from town to town, to supply outlying communities and try to tie them into a wireless telecom network. He dodges these creatures while also pursued by others. The first game was The Postman meets The Walking Dead, featuring images of actors including Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Margaret Qualley, and even Guillermo de Toro and Lindsay Wagner. After the events of the real-world pandemic, the creators updated the encounters for Death Stranding 2, which also moves the game setting to Australia. Fans of the franchise can view the detailed concept artwork behind the sequel game in The Art of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, available for pre-order now here at Amazon.
In this giant, full-color, gilded-edged hardcover volume, you’ll see why artist Yoki Shinkawa and the game’s creator Hideo Kojima are second to none among today’s designers of dystopian futurism. Readers will spot the influence of George Miller’s Mad Max and Nevil Shute’s On the Beach in this new setting, and notice the addition of genre actor Elle Fanning and an appearance by George Miller himself.
The action of the game may conjure the vibe of Gears of War and Halo. For fans of the franchise and dystopian science fiction, this book is a study in modern Japanese style, but you will notice French science fiction influences, too. The style in Death Stranding 2 is even more like the late French icon Jean “Moebius” Giraud‘s landscapes and Valerian and Laureline artist Jean-Claude Mézières’s style than that incorporated into the Valerian movie.
Incorporating found objects, buildings, and other objects to show a bleak balance of both low-tech and future tech is also similar to that found in Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 and Elysium. Fans of the genre may want to compare Kojima & Co.’s work in this book with that found in Elysium: The Art of the Film (reviewed here) and The Art of the Film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (reviewed here).
But Kojima’s worldbuilding boiled down to so many visual elements is also unique and eye-opening, from organic beasts to its survivor gear. Along with the concept sketches and paintings you’ll find photographs of props, useful for anyone cosplaying characters from the franchise.
The artwork is laid out for the reader with little commentary, showcasing first each key character, then all the other characters, the creatures, the weapons, the vehicles, and the locations.
The designs are often elegant and heroic, the weapons and environments cold and industrial. Mechanical design director and artist Yoji Shinkawa’s designs are included along with contributions by concept artists Chihoko Uchiyama, Toshiki Suda, Masaaki Kosaka, Entei Ryu, Ma Zheng, Bahi JD, and Tatsuya Seko.
If you see even more of an anime or manga look to the concept artwork than what found its way to the final version of the game, don’t be surprised. And anime is in production called Death Stranding Mosquito and another animated series, Death Stranding Isolation, is heading to Disney+, expected in 2027. Here’s a teaser for the anime from Kojima Productions, which looks very much like The Art of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach in motion:
The Art of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is an impressive follow-up and companion volume to Titan Books’ 2020 volume The Art of Death Stranding (available here). You can pre-order The Art of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach now here at Amazon. Its street date is February 17, 2026. Find the game in its various platforms here.
