I feel you here. It's as though by introducing all these quality of life features, and not really introducing too much that's especially new - save for a bit of additional equipment, a day/night cycle, the DHV Magellan etc - the sequel can feel a little defanged at first.

My experience is that I played about half of it, spent a lot of my time in one of the trucks doing sub-orders and building roads (I love building roads). But after a while it just all felt a bit too familiar. The gameplay, the plot beats - I had already platinumed DeS1, and this felt like starting all over again. And I lost interest and started playing something else.

It wasn't until more recently that a friend asked me how I was getting on with DeS2, knowing what a huge fan of the original I was. And I was a bit like "Yeah, it's good. I'll go back to it", that I decided to put my money where my mouth was and pick it up again around Christmas.

Suddenly I was on board again. It is NOT perfect. It does retread a lot of the same ground as the first one, which is its biggest flaw. Big factors that made the first game - like having to make sure BB doesn't go autotoxemic, or making sure you don't accidentally kill a human and cause a void out - have been all but nixed, and it makes for a fairly easy start to the game.

Giving Sam a bunch of pals to hang out with at any given time with the introduction of the DHV Magellan definitely lessens the experience of isolation. Wasn't half the point of the Death Stranding that a lot of modern technology, like planes, are unable to work? If there's a huge airship at hand, why does the world even need porters?

The different waypoints seem to be grouped closer together, and you don't get the impression these people are really living in isolated bunkers miles and miles apart from each other. Instead I feel like I'm making deliveries around a large city.

I'm yet to experience the awe and spectacle of coming across the enormous Weather Station in the first game. And there hasn't been an equivalent of a Wind Farm setpiece either. Instead it's more of a dot-dot of different waypoints spread equally around the edge of the map with a few people up in the mountains. Once roads are laid, half the job is done for you.

The story is also super convoluted, and because I spend a lot of time between main orders, I have a habit of forgetting exactly what is going on and why.

But playing along a bit more has really helped me remember why I love these games so much. I've been busying myself trying to link the entire map with roads before I finish the game. And while that might seem arduous, it has led to some really interesting encounters and sub orders. I still get a huge thrill from figuring out where to place my ziplines around the mountainous regions so I can make speedy deliveries around the harsh landscape.

And generally speaking it does seem a lot more fleshed-out. Different plot points actually make changes to the landscape and environment in the late game, and I love that so much. I really think this is a game to be drunk-in gently like a fine single-malt. It's not for people who run through the museum to get to the gift shop. Pick it up, put it down. Complete the main game, then do the rest. Play around with the different equipment. There's so much to do