I just got done playing Death Stranding 2, and it left me a sobbing mess at the end of fifty hours. An absolute masterpiece from start to end, Death Stranding is a must-play, generational experience, and I said as much in my excellent review of the PlayStation 5 exclusive game.

Speaking of exclusivity, it just so happens that some of my PC-exclusive friends have been going through bouts of good ol' FOMO, and it's been happening the world over. Usage statistics for Death Stranding on Steam spiked significantly with the release of the second game, showing that plenty of gamers want to experience it, despite being restricted to PC.

We may not know the Death Stranding 2 PC release date just yet, but until then, there are still some incredible games on PC you can play to experience the same vibes or themes as Death Stranding 2.

7 Honorable mention: Death Stranding Director's Cut

When Death Stranding 2 reaches PCs, I might wait for a potential Director's Cut

I played Death Stranding in 2019 during launch week, which was long before the stabilizers, ramps, firing range, or improved ziplines existed. Sure, I loved the game then, but the Director's Cut came out some time later, and in hindsight, it honestly made the base game feel... incomplete. The Director's Cut for Death Stranding smoothed over its rough edges, added some genuinely fun extras, and gave the game a whole new coat of polish. Plus, what could feel more like Death Stranding 2, than Death Stranding itself?

Coming off of Death Stranding 2, I found myself recommending the original to all my friends who had once dismissed it as a walking simulator. The Director's Cut is how I hope to make them listen to me, since it's the definitive version of one of the boldest AAA games ever made. Even if you're like me and have played the base game, the Director's Cut is still worth a revisit just to see how much better Kojima's vision feels with a little extra love and balance, and how much closer it feels to Death Stranding 2 in terms of accessibility and enjoyability.

6 Mad Max offers a desolate wasteland to explore alone

It even does combat and driving better than Death Stranding

Mad Max is one of my favorite sleeper hit games of all time. Nobody expected it to be a great game, chalking it up as a run-of-the-mill movie tie-in game, but it delivered spectacularly. There's a loneliness in Mad Max's post-apocalyptic desert hellscape that hits really hard. There are no cities, no co-op, or friendly faces in the wild. It's just you, your car, the endless desert, and haunting ruins of a world lost to time. The sense of isolation here mirrors Death Stranding in tone, even if the gameplay couldn't be more different. Where DS2 is cautious and deliberate, Mad Max is brutal, fast, and forgiving. The car combat is so good you'll wonder why more open-world games haven't copied it.

What I love about Mad Max is that it never felt bloated. You collected scrap, upgraded your gear, and charted your own course through the wasteland. Tiny details like filling your canteen from a leftover puddle? Mad Max did that way before Death Stranding did, and while the Death Stranding games are about rebuilding with heart, Mad Max is about surviving with grit. Tonally, they couldn't be more different, but the vibe and the rewarding feeling you get from the gameplay? Unmatched in both. Don't sleep on this one.

5 Metal Gear Solid V was Kojima's first open-world experiment

Playing Death Stranding 2 was highly reminiscent of playing The Phantom Pain at times

The entire time I played Death Stranding 2, I couldn't help but feel how MGS V-esque the entire experience felt. Sure, there are the obvious reasons — Kojima's directed the Metal Gear series and this final game, along with Yoji Shinkawa's art style. MGS V: The Phantom Pain was the beginning of Kojima's open-world sandbox vision, and boy does it show. You're given a single objective, a sprawling battlefield, and complete freedom in how to tackle it. Combat is deeply satisfying, traversal is often the real challenge, and the logistics of the whole thing — loadouts, base management, and resources — are front and center.

The camera language of Death Stranding 2, the UI, the buddy system, and even the weird, otherworldly tone — all of it makes the game feel like MGSV sometimes. If what you loved about Death Stranding 2 was less the delivery loop and more Kojima-style sandbox problem-solving, then Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a no-brainer. No ghosts here, sure, but there's more than enough weirdness, solitude, and depth to feel like the spiritual prequel it really is.

4 SnowRunner gets the vibe down pat

Long, arduous journeys with just your thoughts

If you're after a game that captures the struggle of traversal from Death Stranding, SnowRunner is the one you need. This isn't about blazing through checkpoints, but rather, about slowly and painfully clawing your way through mud, snow, rocks, and rivers to deliver precious cargo with just your truck, a winch, and sheer force of will. SnowRunner is punishing, deliberate, and rewards the kind of patience that makes you feel like a god once you succeed.

It's easy to lose yourself in the rhythm of it all. You're driving a vehicle, sure, but SnowRunner is the farthest thing imaginable from a racing game. One moment, you're carefully adjusting tire pressure and gear shifts. The next, you're alone with your thoughts as the sun sets behind you, over a distant treeline. There's something meditative about SnowRunner's core gameplay loop, which isn't unlike Death Stranding 2, where every safe delivery brings with it a silent sense of pride. If you loved the act of delivering in Death Stranding, SnowRunner is the toughest, most satisfying delivery sim out there.

3 Days Gone is another solid PlayStation exclusive

One man on a motorcycle, reclaiming territory — heard that before?

Say what you will about Days Gone (and there's plenty you could), it does echo what Kojima's Death Stranding does. There's a broken world, and themes of reconnecting people and rebuilding something worth holding onto are present in both games. Sure, the overall writing and nuance is weaker, and it doesn't hit as hard, but there's a sincerity here that carries it all the way. The twisty narrative of Days Gone is actually more compelling than it lets on, and only really reveals itself once you actually play the game. A few moments, in particular, really caught me off guard, and travelling through this dangerous yet beautiful, desolate world, on a motorcycle that loved to give up on me occasionally, was very reminiscent of my Death Stranding experience.

At its heart, Days Gone is a game about survival and brotherhood. You roam the world on a growling bike that is your lifeline, and fixing and upgrading it is the only way you can stay alive. The entire time, the fuel gauge must be kept an eye on, as you slowly explore the map, reclaim territory and clear out nests of zombies instead of BTs, deciding which camps deserve your help. If that isn't running parallel to Death Stranding's core loop, I don't know what is. Clearly, Days Gone didn't reach the emotional heights of something like Death Stranding 1 or 2, but it does try its very best, and when it comes to the atmosphere and vibe of this game's world, it's one heck of a ride.

2 Horizon Forbidden West is built on the fantastic Decima engine as well

The Decima engine is clearly my favorite game engine today, followed by Northlight. After all, it's an absolute miracle to uphold. The engine has always delivered some of the best-looking games of their generation, and neither of the two Death Stranding games were exceptions. Heck, I even played half of Death Stranding 2 locked at 30fps in this day and age just to stay in Quality Mode, and it never once looked or played bad. Guerrilla absolutely flexes what the engine can do, crafting a beautiful and punishing world that's bursting with foliage, detail, and just enough storytelling through data logs and recordings to make you feel like you're deep-diving into the same ruined Earth that Sam once walked, ten centuries before Horizon's events.

If Death Stranding 2 made you long for another post-post-apocalyptic world like it did for me, where every new region comes with its own lore, atmosphere, and threats, Horizon Forbidden West, with its giant machines, harsh biomes, and tribal politics, is the perfect follow-up.

1 Red Dead Redemption 2 is the most atmospheric open-world game you'll ever play

Behind, of course, Death Stranding 2... but it still took 7 years to dethrone

Honestly, nobody could ever talk about great open-world games, in any regard, and not include Red Dead Redemption 2. There's open-world design, and then there's RDR2. If you play it like an action game, you're doing what you want to, sure, but you're doing it wrong. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a meditative slow burn that gives you time to breathe between its shootouts. You can hunt, you can fish, and you can even get caught in the rain, and shiver by the fire. The story of RDR2 is by far the most emotional narrative on this list, but the game's magic lies in how independent your joy could be from it. You can just exist in this world, and that alone is worth the price of admission.

Much like Death Stranding 2, the weight of the world in Red Dead Redemption 2 is felt in every single movement of your character. Horseback traversal feels deeply personal, and the skies, the animals, and the wind in the grass — they all feel intimate. There is atmosphere in every frame, and I'd daresay that RDR2 remained the most atmospheric open-world game for all seven years of its existence, and has now become second only to Death Stranding 2. Arthur Morgan's story is a tragic tale, yes, but the West he rides through is unforgiving, alive, and unforgettable in the best way.

These are for while the PC crowd waits for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Some of these are even superior to Death Stranding 2, excelling at combat or exploration.

Death Stranding 2 is a phenomenal experience that everyone who loves the beautiful medium of gaming should play. However, don't go buying a PlayStation 5 just yet. We know the game will come to PC sooner rather than later, and it will be mechanically and visually superior, as PC ports often are — especially the ones we have to wait for.

Until then, however, we've got plenty of fantastic open-world games over on PC to enjoy, explore, and lose ourselves in. In fact, some are even superior to Death Stranding 2 in some aspects, excelling at things like combat or exploration. Regardless, there's no shortage of fantastic and unforgettable open worlds in PC gaming to experience, so all PC gamers have to do is strap on their waiting caps and go exploring other worlds in the meantime.