Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is now available on PS5, and is an expansive journey across Australia as Sam Porter Bridges aims to connect another continent to the Chiral Network. But just how long is it? Here we’ll let you know exactly how many hours it took different members of the IGN team to finish the story, and what they prioritised doing with their time.Simon Cardy - Senior EditorBy the time I reached the end of Death Stranding 2’s story, I had just passed the 34-hour mark. Granted, I was so engaged with its twisting tale that I took the mainline path of missions, doing only a dozen or so optional objectives along the way. Thankfully, this didn’t make my journey much more difficult – although completing side orders does grant you extra tools to help you on your way, the Death Stranding sequel removes a lot of friction from the original game, meaning it’s never too difficult to reach your goal. That’s not to say it’s too easy, though, as towards the campaign’s end, a few combat encounters and long-haul deliveries did give me pause for thought.I’ve played another ten hours since, and have now completely joined the whole of Australia and Mexico up with the Chiral Network. But I still feel the urge to get every one of those facility connections up to five stars. As someone who can’t leave a project unfinished, I’ll be back in the boots of Sam Porter Bridges soon and mopping up each of the moreish missions Death Stranding 2 still has in store for me.Matt Kim - Senior Feature EditorIt took me about 38 hours to beat the main story of Death Stranding 2 and to hit credits. And no, 50% of those hours were not cinematics. Hideo Kojima clearly wanted to be more intentional with cutscenes in Death Stranding 2, and it feels like he purposefully restrained himself by trimming the cinematics’ runtime so we could all focus on playing the game. And focus is exactly what I did, almost exclusively on the campaign’s main missions. I did complete a handful of side quests that probably extended my final runtime by a couple of hours, but there’s still so much I didn’t get around to doing that I’m excited to jump back in to try and complete for something closer to a 100% run. Maybe I’ll try to platinum this game, who knows?How Does Death Stranding 2 Compare to Other Kojima Games?Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a lengthy, continent-spanning journey, but how does its runtime compare to the original and Kojima’s other games? We’ve looked at How Long to Beat to find out the average main story completion time for each of the mainline Metal Gear Solid entries, plus Sam Porter Bridges’ first adventure.Metal Gear Solid - 11 ½ HoursMetal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - 13 hoursMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - 16 hoursMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - 18 ½ hoursMetal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain - 45 ½ hoursDeath Stranding - 40 ½ hoursDeath Stranding 2: On the Beach - 37 ⅔ hours (IGN average)Nick Limon - Executive ProducerI hit credits on Death Stranding 2 at 41 hours. I took my time, exploring the nooks and crannies of Mexico and Australia, taking in the sights, sounds, and walking to the tune of my portable music player. While I didn't reconnect the entirety of Australia, I did connect most of the region to the Chiral Network. There are now just a handful of stragglers left, which I plan on checking off my list in the coming days. Where I spent most of my time was advancing my rating with Preppers using items and upgrades that caught my attention and suited my playstyle. Unlike the first game, Death Stranding 2 features far more bespoke side content (at least from my experience -- though I didn't play much of the original's "Director's Cut") that I can’t wait to investigate. Keep on keeping on!Will you be playing Death Stranding 2? Planning on taking your time and completing every side delivery available, or here for the story and want to get to the end of it as quickly as possible? Let us know in the comments below!Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.