Content warnings have become, if not standard, then at least more common in entertainment media over the past decade. Films and video games dealing with sensitive topics add small messages alerting viewers and players that they might encounter something troubling. Two highly sensitive topics that would fit the bill are an integral part of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach’s opening hours, but there are no such warnings in sight. This decision is not just irresponsible — it’s counterproductive to Death Stranding 2’s storytelling in general.

[Ed. note: Spoilers for the end of Death Stranding 2’s first episode and the entire second episode follow.]

At the end of Death Stranding 2’s first episode, main character Sam Bridges receives a message from his home’s security system saying it’s under attack. An empty home and signs of a struggle greet Sam upon his arrival, and you use Sam’s scanner to follow the footprints of someone who fled the scene on a motorcycle. Death Stranding 2 gives you little time to ponder the discrepancy, though, as Sam quickly finds his friend Fragile — but no Lou, Sam’s adopted child who Fragile was minding. Fragile temporarily transported Lou to a Beach (Death Stranding-speak for the land of the dead) to try and save her, and the child died there, or seemed to.

Whether Lou permanently dies or gets revived later by the same Death Stranding magic that........

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