I cant speak for everyone else, but to me the lighting during the gameplay sequences is a massive step up from the first game. I legit said wow when they showed this sequence because its as close to that rebirth demo we have gotten so far. The very first shot of Death Stranding 1 is Norman Reedus on a bike in a very similar lighting environment, and it looked straight up CG at the time. It was a pre-rendered shot before the game switches to realtime graphics, and had the same exact lighting as this gif below.
The lighting in the rain and the desert shots are amazing too.
I do wish the asset quality was higher. UE5 demos definitely have better looking rocks. That said, I honestly dont think the difference in cutscene vs gameplay is going to be that drastic when the game comes out and we see it running on our tvs. This indoor room will look virtually the same. same asset quality, same diffused reflections, same lighting. It's not like the cutscenes will use RTGI or reflections and leave that out during the gameplay. The only thing different will be higher quality models and fancy DoF effects.
This thread was the same way towards Alan Wake 2 before it came out. People revolted when i dared compare it to UE5 demos. Then the game came out, people saw it in person, and realized that all those cutscene visuals translated across the game with the same level of asset fidelity, very similar lighting quality and volumetric effects. Im not quite seeing the volumetric effects in DS2 gameplay shots, but the rest should be very noticeable when you see it. Avatar too. I took so much shit for Avatar before it came out because some people i guess didnt realize how much detail is lost in youtube and again, when these things are posted as screenshots or gifs on imgur. Honestly, my heart sinks every time i create gifs from my captures because they dont look half as good as they do in 4k hdr