Death Stranding 2’s Boss Skips Prove Kojima Knows When to Let Go

There’s a new button in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach that might seem small at first, but it quietly reshapes the entire pacing of the game. Fail a boss fight and you're met with a message: “Pretend you won?” Tap yes, and the game plays out a brief summary of what would’ve happened, as if you beat the enemy yourself. You take a small ranking penalty. You miss a non-critical cutscene. But the game moves on.

There’s no scolding, no death screen, no shame. Just a clean exit from something that could’ve stalled your entire playthrough.

This isn't just a quality-of-life feature. It’s a quiet design revolution for narrative-driven games, especially ones that aren’t built on combat depth. Because for all its massive BTs, ghost-swarms, and tense shootouts, Death Stranding 2 is not a combat game. It’s a game about endurance, connection, strange science, and long walks through loneliness. That makes this “pretend you won” feature not just welcome — it’s perfectly aligned with what the game wants to be.

If you’ve followed our earlier coverage — like our Death Stranding PC player’s review or the visual deep dive into Death Stranding RTX — you already know this is a series more about mood and message than mechanics. That’s not to say the combat is terrible. It isn’t. The boss fights are well-framed, cinematic, and sometimes emotional. One early example is the Giant BT that drops in mid-conversation during a Deadman message. It’s not just a tutorial — it’s a narrative interruption. Sam’s already on edge, and this is just one more thing pushing him toward the brink.

But then you die. Maybe it’s the wonky camera. Maybe it’s the dodge not landing right. Maybe it’s a poorly timed AoE and a missed revive item. You retry. Die again. Watch the same intro sequence. Eventually, you realize: nothing about this fight is changing except your patience.

That’s when the “pretend you won” screen shows up. And honestly? It might be the smartest thing Kojima Productions added this time around.

It works because the bosses aren’t gatekeepers. They’re part of the narrative stream, not walls to be overcome. A lot of them play out like mid-2000s boss designs — simple loops, basic arenas, a few flashy attacks. They’re meant to hit you emotionally, not mechanically. And once that hit lands, repeating the sequence offers diminishing returns.

We’ve previously explored some of Kojima’s weirdest decisions — the kind that make other devs cringe, but that he commits to fully. This is one of them. Giving players a “skip” button in a genre that usually prides itself on challenge? It’s risky. But here, it feels earned. Kojima isn’t trying to be edgy for attention. He’s trying to build something that respects time, story, and mood.

It also helps that Death Stranding 2 is such a strong story vehicle. You’re not just trying to win fights. You’re trying to understand what’s happening to Sam, Lou, and the rest of the cast. So when a boss blocks your path to new dialogue or emotional beats, it gets in the way. The skip button is a bypass that doesn't break immersion. It actually supports it.

That’s not to say skipping is the only way to play. If you want to stick with each fight until it’s done, nothing stops you. But the power here is in choice — a rare freedom in an era of games that often either hand-hold you through everything or lock you into endless grind-retries.

Looking ahead, the inclusion of this system also sparks questions about where Kojima will go next. Will Death Stranding 2 ever come to PC, where the modding and visuals communities are already eager? If the pattern holds, it might. The first game was released on PS4 in November 2019 and landed on PC by July 2020, so a 2026 PC launch for the sequel seems likely. Especially considering how well Death Stranding performed with RTX mods and reshade packs, as we showed in our recent coverage of Death Stranding RTX on 5090 GPUs in 8K.

That kind of visual fidelity would pair perfectly with the relaxed pacing that the skip option supports. No pressure to win. Just a cinematic, player-led ride through a world that’s slowly unraveling.

The only real downside? Skipping does slightly lower your mission rank and might cut off a few non-essential moments. But this isn’t a Soulslike where every scrap of lore is locked behind boss fight cinematics. It’s a journey where atmosphere matters more than attack patterns. And the game makes sure the big moments still land, whether you earn them or not.

For some players, this is going to be the reason they finish the game at all. And for others, it’s just a nice escape hatch for those moments when the systems don’t click. Either way, it’s a bold call from a studio that’s never been afraid to go against genre trends.

So yes, you can now skip boss fights in Death Stranding 2. And yes, Kojima once again made a strange design call that somehow fits perfectly.

And no, we’re not done writing about this game. Stay tuned for more, including future updates on the expected PC port and more weird moments from a developer who just can’t help himself — and we’re all better off for it.