Death Stranding 2 release date, time countdown and how to get early access

Death Stranding 2 is nearly here! It’s the highly-anticipated sequel to Kojima’s most divisive experience, and it’s even bigger, better, and, although hard to believe, even weirder. Kojima has said it is more of a return to Metal Gear Solid V than he expected it to be, and the director also recently revealed that DS2 was changed after playtests because players liked it too much. While news surrounding the game’s development has been extremely interesting, the time for talk is over. Here you will find the release date and time countdown for when Death Stranding 2 will come out, and you’ll also find how to get early access and more.

Death Stranding 2 release date

The release date for Death Stranding 2 is June 26th. However, early access comes out slightly earlier on June 24th.

It is coming out nearly six years after the first game released in November 2019 exclusively for PlayStation. It then joined PC in 2020, and in 2021 we were treated to an excellent Director’s Cut.

Unfortunately, if you have a PC, history is repeating itself as Death Stranding 2 is launching on PlayStation only as a timed exclusive. We don’t know when it will launch on PC, but hopefully it won’t take too long to arrive similar to DS1.

When does Death Stranding 2 come out?

The release time for when Death Stranding 2 will come out is 9PM PT on June 25th, and 12AM ET/12AM BST on June 26th. If you opt for early access, it will come out at 9PM PT on June 23rd, and 12AM ET/12AM BST on June 24th.

All of the above launch hours come courtesy of the PSN store. We will update this article if anything changes.

Death Stranding 2 early access release time

• 9PM PT on Monday, June 23rd
• 12AM ET on Tuesday, June 24th
• 12AM BST on Tuesday, June 24th

Death Stranding 2 Standard edition release time

• 9PM PT on Wednesday, June 25th
• 12AM ET on Thursday, June 26th
• 12AM BST on Thursday, June 26th

Early access countdown

Standard edition countdown

How to play DS2 early access

In order to get and play early access, you must pre-order the Deluxe edition. This will allow you to play 48-hours before everyone who opts for the Standard edition.

The sequel is only on PS5 this time around, so there is no last-gen version for the PS4. In addition, the game is PS5 Pro enhanced, so you will be treated to slightly better visuals and performance if you own Sony’s PS5 Pro.

There is no traditional multiplayer or co-op, but there is multiplayer returning in a similar format to the first game. As confirmed on the PlayStation store, the Social Strand System is returning, which means porters will be able to use shortcuts created around the world by other players while also leaving reviews and comments.

DS2 pre-order bonuses

Below are the price and pre-order bonuses for both available editions of Death Stranding 2 via PSN store:

Standard edition – £69.99:

• Custom Hologram: Quokka
• Battle Skeleton: Silver (Lv.1)(Lv.2)(Lv.3)
• Boost Skeleton: Silver (Lv.1)(Lv.2)(Lv.3)
• Bokka Skeleton: Silver (Lv.1)(Lv.2)(Lv.3)

Deluxe edition – £79.99:

• 48h early access
• Machine Gun [MP] (Lv.1) early unlock
• Patches:
• Battle Skeleton: Gold (Lv.1)(Lv.2)(Lv.3)
• Boost Skeleton: Gold (Lv.1)(Lv.2)(Lv.3)
• Bokka Skeleton: Gold (Lv.1)(Lv.2)(Lv.3)

How to preload Death Stranding 2

Per PlayStationSize on X, you can preload the Deluxe edition starting June 17th, meanwhile, the Standard edition will be ready to preload on June 19th. The download file size is reportedly a whopping 91.476 GB.

In more DS2 news, Kojima has said he already has a great idea for DS3 but someone else needs to make it as the director has already started work on his next game.