This article is part of Tom’s Guide’s inaugural Gaming Week, an entire week of content dedicated to all things gaming. From insights into the latest hardware, guides to the best games you can play today, to the essential accessories we can't play without. Tom’s Guide Gaming Week will guide you through the world of video games in 2025.
With Death Stranding 2: On the Beach launching in late June, I figured it was high time for yet another playthrough of its predecessor. But I couldn't just replay Death Stranding (now for the third time running) on a mere PlayStation — that would be far too easy.
Instead, I put the iPhone 16 Pro Max to the test, running the 2019 sci-fi horror masterpiece on-the-go, just as Hideo Kojima would have intended. There's something to be said about playing a game set in a post-apocalyptic world as the real one rattles on all around you, oblivious and unaware of what could be.
It's made all the more interesting in a time wherein handheld gaming PCs (and the Nintendo Switch 2) are ever on the rise. That's why it felt most befitting to re-experience Death Stranding, a video game riddled with themes of loneliness, on one of the most social devices ever designed.
Here's how it went down.
Forget the Steam Deck
I was one of the first to drop $5 to ensure I got my hands on Valve's Steam Deck as fast possible, excitement brimming at the chance to see what the future of handheld gaming could look like. True to its name, the Steam Deck came out swinging with serious promise, but is it the end-all-be-all platform we all dreamed of?
There's already a sophisticated device we keep on our person at almost all times of the day. The smartphone not only proves a melting pot of interactivity in terms of social media and productivity, but plays host to an ever-thriving market that, according to Xsolla, wrangled an estimated $98.7B in revenue last year.
But mobile gaming isn't for everyone. The pastime can easily sink its teeth into most players, but not every gamer's going to stick around forever. Major console experiences, from the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 to Red Dead Redemption 2, make the more middling Flappy Birds and Clash Royales look like high school art projects.
It's why consoles will always reign supreme, even in the face of some of the best handheld gaming consoles (and best phones to boot).
Times are changing, though. More and more AAA titles — Death Stranding main among them — are launching on modern smartphones, like the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
You might not think of Apple's device as a proper Steam Deck replacement at first, especially in the face of its lackluster touch-based on-screen control scheme, but given the latter's bulkier design, it serves as an ample-enough replacement.
The best part? It fits snugly right inside my pocket. I can fulfill all the mailman haunts as Sam Porter Bridges wherever I please, feeding my insatiable delights even as the world keeps moving on around me. That's how gaming on the iPhone feels and, more specifically, what playing Death Stranding is like on such a device.
Loneliness on a device designed for social interaction
It's rather odd playing a game that's as quiet and close to nature as Death Stranding is on a device that screams for constant, moment-to-moment social interaction.
But that's the breath of fresh air only evocative from this kind of experience, one wherein the sounds of nearby waterfalls are punctuated by the crunching of Sam's constantly-moving feet on the ground.
And who needs accompanying music through something like Spotify or Tidal when Death Stranding's soundtrack is packed with bangers from the likes of Low Roar and Silent Poets. That's not to mention the ambient tracks led by the ever-talented Ludvig Forsell, whose "Chiralium" and "BRIDGES" still give me chills to this day (and will remain in all of my playlists).
The music of Death Stranding is at the heart of the experience. Few moments in gaming match the emotional impact of that first foray, as you lug the body of Sam's deceased mother on your back to an incinerator with "Bones" by Low Roar slicing through the quiet stillness of your adventure.
To be able to just stop in the middle of my day, bust out my iPhone and escape into this world is totally unmatched. It's fascinating, largely because Death Stranding isn't exactly home to a world we'd all want to live in, yet it's still a place I find totally enrapturing (even on just a mere 6.86-inch screen).
Of course, it's not a perfect experience against the PS4 or PS5 by any means. You lose a lot of the more intensive textures, and water just doesn't look as good on the iOS build. Plus, it's capped at a mere 30fps.
But Death Stranding's serviceability on this device is praiseworthy, as despite the fact that it might not look as good as the console version, it still looks absolutely incredible. And that's pretty commendable for the iPhone.
Say what you will about Death Stranding, too. Mailman simulator, walking simulator — however you want to look at it, the game definitely isn't for everyone. But, at a certain point in the story, it touches your soul in a way that's hard to put to words.
It's those moments of quiet revelry that prove the most endearing. When it's just you and Lou trudging through the mountains, the vast world in view (decrepit yet still totally breathtaking), Low Roar playing in the background, you get this sense of absolute serenity.
Even on the brink of total annihilation, everything will be alright.
That's so surreal in all the right ways, and makes it all the easier for me to ignore the world around me even as texts and various alerts attempt to pull me out of my daze. It's an unrivaled feeling, one I feel can only be captured on an inherently social device like the iPhone.
Improvements for the future of iPhone gaming
One of the biggest complaints I have for playing Death Stranding on my iPhone was load times. The 16 Pro Max, in particular, runs on an NVMe drive, which stands for Non-Volatile Memory Express. It's flash storage that works in much the same way an SSD would, but isn't quite on the same level as those found in handheld gaming consoles, much less some of the best gaming PCs.
In the same notion, you aren't able to directly play games through an external SSD over USB-C, which is a huge letdown. Every game downloaded via the App Store stays strictly on the iPhone's internal storage, which means you'll always be stuck with rather long load times (and limited phone storage space).
I could also go into a rant about the poor on-screen controller support, which is essentially useless for something like Death Stranding. But with products like the Razer Kishi and the Backbone Pro, you can turn your phone into a full-fledged handheld console (minus the larger screen real estate).
I highly recommend getting one of these devices, or even just using a conventional controller. For the most part, I'd find myself running Death Stranding with my DualSense Edge — even on the go — but that's not ideal for everyone. It's just one more thing to carry, which goes against the extreme portability on offer when gaming on iPhone.
It's by no means a perfect system, but AAA gaming on the iPhone is still in its infancy. If you don't have a PlayStation and are itching to dive into the world of Death Stranding, it's a prime place to start — especially as its highly anticipated sequel draws ever closer.
More from Tom's Guide
- Naughty Dog told us The Last of Us Part II is 'perfect' for Steam Deck — we put that to the test
- Nintendo Switch 2 proves one thing — it's time for Nvidia to make a PC gaming handheld
- I traveled 5,000 miles with the 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 — here’s why it’s the gaming laptop I'd buy
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