They say beauty is only skin deep, but does that also apply to the world of video games?

Released on June 26, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is the latest action-adventure game from Japanese auteur Hideo Kojima and his studio, Kojima Productions. The follow-up to 2019’s Death Stranding, the game sets players in a postapocalyptic Australia, where they must deliver supplies to and establish communications between remote colonies of survivors — all while unwrapping the mysteries of the cataclysm that brought humanity to the brink of extinction.

Kojima's games are more an acquired taste than mass-market hits, but even accounting for this niche appeal, the game currently sits at a 90 rating on Metacritic and is measuring up to be one of the best games the 61-year-old developer has ever made.