I wondered this myself. What I liked the most in DS1 was the exploration, the atmosphere, the feeling of being alone in that world and I avoided any combat I could.
I have to premise to have finished the prequel just because the story. Sure the concept was fascinating but the execution well the stealth part especially for my tastes were really bad paced and quite boring to play. The thing is, can I appreciate it somehow or I have to stay away to it? Any suggestion?
I remember wrapping up DS1 mainly because it was so novel and quirky and because I was fascinated by the setting. Looking back I only liked some of the set pieces and boss fight.
Death Stranding 2 on the other hand is LEGIT an amazing game. I would say I'm around 50-60% finished now at I'm a peak entertainment point and for it and doesn't look like it'll flatten or decline going forward.
My memory is a fuzzy when it comes to the first but I remember being bored a lot of the time because the travelling was either too long or the environments too boring. 2 feels much more guided then 1 with less freedom, meaning more curated as to the progress. While some don't like that for sure, I love it because almost every single delivery has something unique to it. Be it the environment, what you are transporting or how you are transporting it. And then in between you have super impressive boss fights. In part 1 most of the delivery felt quite samey. Not here.
Only downside for me so far is, interestingly for a Kojima game, the writing. Most of it is just world exposition. There are cool characters and all but I couldn't say that the game has an entertaining plot going where I am looking forward to what happens next.
I loved E33 when playing it earlier this year after around 25 hours Death Stranding 2 has beaten it for me. Such a good game. Don't miss out.
I'm personally waiting for the DLC which I hope will somehow fix the problems of game apparently being too easy when traveling. It doesn't sound too exciting to just drive around without any worries. DS1 was great with how hard and frustrating but at the same time rewarding to overcome some of the terrain was.
I regret buying it. I loved DS1, but DS2 really feels like 1.5. And I just dropped it about 4 hours in. I'll probably continue some day, but if the first burned out you... don't get it.