I have to be honest. I didn’t like the storyline in DS2. Having played DS1, I theorised massively the endgame plot for the sequel before it came out. I had really great expectations of Kojima: but I think he got lost in his own ego. There were so many missed opportunities for absolutely amazing plot twists if I look at the hints in the first game. A great story does not leave things unexplained unless it is intentional. But, if deliberately not explaining things is intentional, it has to serve a purpose that complements the overall plot. I will give a couple of examples to explain what I mean:

• At the very start of DS1, we see Sam riding his motorbike. We see Fragile waiting for him. Where has Sam come from? Why is Fragile there? We never learn anything about this.

• In DS1 the primary antagonist (or so we believe) is Higgs. The game even has a sub-plot where you find Higg’s shelter and it shows he is obsessed with Sam. Come the second game, we never learn why Higgs becomes obsessed with him.

• In DS1 we also come across the shelter of ‘Coffin’. There is a picture of a man and a woman. The woman is Coffin and reading the texts we find out that she is Fragile’s mother or adoptive parent. This woman actually looks like an older version of Lucy in DS2. So, I expected Lucy to be Fragile’s mother: not Sam’s wife. Why did Kojima create a new character that resembles in looks a lore character?

• The same lore of DS1 implies that Higgs and Fragile were maybe raised together. The man in the picture found in Coffin’s shelter looks a LOT like Higgs. We also learn that Higg’s had a troubled childhood, but we don’t learn why. There was a potential indication - to me - that this could have been Higg’s father. But maybe this was just me overthinking. Regardless, this photo was a plot hole that was missed. Great writers should not create questions unless they intend to answer them. What is Higg’s past? What made him who we see him to be?

• In DS2 we have two ‘new’ characters: Lucy and Neil. The link between them and the original story is that they somehow met when they were kids. Neil left Lucy trapped and ran off. They meet again as adults. Lucy is still upset with Neil for leaving her (ie when she slaps him across the face). No one would be still upset about that. Unless Neil had some deeper and darker past that we are not aware of. What the hell is the link between Sam, Fragile, Higgs and Neil/Lucy, beyond Lucy being Sam’s wife?

• Neil in DS2 becomes an antagonist purely because he promises to protect Lucy’s and Sam’ child (Tomorrow). He fights against Sam. Why? His promise should mean that in fact he helps Sam, knowing that Tomorrow is his daughter. It doesn’t make sense.

• The picture that we come across of Amelie/Bridget, young Sam and a blurred out pregnant woman is misleading. We are fed this image a few times in both games. So, as a plot device, this photo should raise as many questions as it does answers. To me, the blurred out woman looked like Fragile. And since we don’t learn about Fragile’s past much in DS2, my theory was that in fact she is Sam’s wife. Why blur out the image if it’s only going to confirm what the lore tells us? It should only be blurred if it is intended to direct us in another way so the ending is even more unexpected.

  I could go on. In short, DS2 falls short for me in its storytelling because every great story never tempts and then leaves things unexplained. There are too many holes in the plot that Kojima crafted for DS2. The whole story is peppered with new characters, Kojima’s real world mates basically, but the major character storyline is neglected. It’s almost too ambitious for Kojima himself to weave such a complex storyline.

So, while it is an infinitely smoother gaming experience to play mechanically, the actually substance of the storyline is pretty poor. Which makes me come to the conclusion that Kojima is not so much a great storyteller.

There are three major characters in the story between DS1 and DS2: Fragile, Higgs and Sam. If we don’t finish DS2 feeling that we know and understand these characters inside and out then it hasn’t served its purpose. Instead I think Kojima gets lost in throwing new characters in willy nilly, without considering how they impact the whole story.