Hideo Kojima’s long-anticipated sequel to Death Stranding received its full title at Wednesday’s State of Play showcase—you’ll probably want to check out this bonkers new trailer–and it’s a dual reference to a place in the universe of the game and also to a classic novel about the end of the world: Nevil Shute’s On the Beach. Before your fellow Kojima fans buy up all the copies, you can save a few bucks on the paperback edition of the book at Amazon.

On the Beach by Nevil Shute

$13.39 (was $18)

On the Beach focuses on folks in Australia in the wake of a global nuclear war, with the rest of human civilization seemingly wiped from existence. And they attempt to go about their lives as best they can while they wait for the nuclear fallout to eventually arrive and kill them. It’s not hard to see the similarities with the premise of Death Stranding, which follows a sort of spiritual apocalypse and carries a similarly dour overall mood.

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Published in 1957, On the Beach is the sort of literary classic that’s easy to love–the premise is compelling, the characters interesting, and the length is short enough that you can read the whole thing in an afternoon. Certainly it’s a much less time-consuming experience than Death Stranding 2 will be.

But if you prefer screen versions of things, there’s also an old 1957 movie version of On the Beach starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire–that’s a stacked cast. The film has sorta been lost to time in the USA, but you can import the Korean release (with English audio) of the DVD for a decent price here.

I wouldn’t read too much into Kojima referencing this book for the subtitle, because it’s probably more a vibes thing, not a “here’s how the story will play out” thing. We’ll all find out together when Death Stranding 2: On the Beach hits PS5 in 2025.