Death Stranding: Director's Cut (2021)

I love, love the world-building that Kojima did with this IP. So much so that I even read the books. And playing the game feels so much fun. I will preface with the fact that I played on the baby mode, which was a lifesaver for me. I don't care much for the combat encounters. I come for the vibes and the story.

I gave this game a five-star review because I think it's an important game for games as a whole. Think about it. In movies, we get more symbolic and abstract, more suggestive and widely interpreted scenes and stories. Not to mention slow cinema, with the watching paint dry movie. Now this is a mainstream game pushing for a more symbolic storytelling, along with slow shots and drawn-out dialogue.

And I think it works great. It's interesting, and it builds not only the world but also the characters. I will say a shortcoming of the plot is that each episode feels like we're jumping between each character, only to forget that person for a long while before coming back to it. I didn't attach especially to any specific character, but more to how that character told more about the world. And also, of course, building the connection between Sam and the world. I guess that was probably the whole point. And it succeeded, I feel.

I often rank experiences the highest if it's a memory impression that stays with me for a long time afterward. And I often come back to think about the world and Sam's fate.

Very excited to play the 2nd in the near future!

I love the game, it is one of the most unique games I have ever played. I loved walking around delivering packets, traversing the terrain, using ladders etc... it is truly my favorite part of the game even though that is the main reason some people don't like it. It can invoke amazing feelings with it's music, story and atmosphere. I love it, so why 4 stars?

Well, the part I hate is the boss battles... They are utter garbage. One boss battle repeats 3 times, different settings (and I have to say the idea is really good) but in it's core it is the same battle but repeated 3 times. To make things worse, combat is not that great in this game and it can get real clunky. The clunk and awkwardness works while traversing the terrain and it makes sense, it makes it interesting and good, but while in combat it is just extremely annoying.

The other thing I hate is the ending, it took me like 2 hours to get through it, mostly because of the long cutscenes. Kojima obviously REALLY wants to make a movie, but in my opinion, he shouldn't because these damn last cutscenes explain pretty much the same thing over and over but in a different way. Too much dialogue and exposition. My initial plan was to beat the game and then connect and 5 star all the facilities that were left, but after that prolonged ending I just couldn't bother, it killed it for me.

I would recommend this game to anyone, I think it is an amazing experience everyone should try, but some pretty BIG negatives for me just bumped it from 5 stars to 4 unfortunately.

The game is very good graphically and technically. The gameplay is also enjoyable despite some shortcomings. The effort to get from one place to another, searching for a way, building roads and reasoning is good, even though it gets overwhelming at times. The variety of equipment we use makes the game more enjoyable. But I can't make good comments for the scenario of the game.

The script is complete confusion and strain. Frankly, I understood as much as I could, and I didn't want to force myself to do more. Basically, rebuilding America, but very complicated with side stories and metaphors. This is a hard game to recommend to anyone, but I do recommend everyone experiences this game at least once. It's unique unlike anything else out there and while it is repetitive and can drag out at times, it all pays off at the end.