Death Stranding (2019)

This is an odd bird of a game. A sort of walking simulator game combined with a sci-fi film. There are so many long cut-scenes in DS that I bet the collectively run the length of a feature film, and with Hollywood actors, too! While I found the combination of utter strangeness (crude-oil monsters, bubble babies and dimensional beaches) off-putting at first, it seems we can adapt to anything. I actually learned to like the exactness of the walking-and-carrying simulation for its unique combination of planning and meditative boredom. I found the upgrades interesting and felt rewarded as I was able to carry more further and faster, even though it cut under the meditative part. I'm still not sure what I think about the road repairs - it's part genius and part ridiculous.

What I really disliked, though, and caused me eventually to just stop playing, was that I lost cargo. Not "lost" as in "it was destroyed" but "lost" as in "I couldn't find where I'd placed it in the giant environment". I wasted over an hour searching for mission-critical objects to no avail, and even trying to reset the mission items didn't work. I couldn't stomach reloading an old save file and running around like an idiot for 2-3 more hours. It's not a job, after all, and I'm not being payed for the privilege...so I just quit. I could always go to youtube to see the drama. I bet someone stitched together all those cut-scenes.

Hideo Kojimas last released game (wrote this before DS2). A well known figure in the industry, creator of the Metal Gear games.

The game is set in a post-apocalyptic America, where supernatural events known as the Death Stranding have blurred the line between life and death.

You play as Sam Porter Bridges, who is played by actor Norman Reedus. He’s a courier who’s job is to reconnecting isolated cities by delivering vital supplies.

Gameplay is mainly about traveling from A to B with a lot of cargo on your back, managing cargo weight and try to balance that. Planning your route between mountains, heavy terrain and dangerous rain called timefall. This rain make everything it touch accelerate time. If it comes in contact with your skin it hurts and make the skin age. It makes cargo degraded as well.

In this rain you will also encounter BT’s. Some kind of creature between life and death that tries to drag you down in tar. On your suit you have a portable pod that functions as a womb, which contains your little BB (Bridge Baby, a living baby). When your BB is connected to you it helps you see these creatures called BT. Combat and quite fun but a bit clunky, it’s not the core of the game.

It is kind of hard to explain everything, it’s a bit weird and complex. The storytelling is great, with all the cutscenes it often feels like a movie. Especially with the great acting in it. Besides Norman Reedus, the cast includes Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Margaret Qualley and Troy Baker to mention a few. Also a surprise funny appearance from Conan O’Brien in a otter-hat! 🦦

There is an online aspect of it too. In your world you are connected with other players. You don’t see each other but you can contribute with materials together to build roads, buildings and object in the world. Put up signs with icons or warnings etc. You can interact with these and gives thumbs up.

The game is slow paced but I think it’s well worth the time! Took some time to get into the game but it’s great. A unique game in many aspects.

The sequel Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, is coming sometime this year. It looks fantastic!

Rating: 🌲🌲🌲🌲

This is not a perfect game, but it is simply a must-play one. There is nothing quite like it.

The narrative has some flaws: The major points have some small details that bother me (for example, World = USA), but once you accept them as the basis for everything else, the rest really shines. The characters are all quirky and interesting. You grow attached not only to them but to the world you are connecting/rebuilding. There are also some interesting twists.

I usually don't bother with online play on my games, but the way its implemented in this one adds up prefectly to the feeling of world-building. I can't recall seeing an online-play implementation that was so inventive as this one recently.

The gameplay is very fun too. Making deliveries ultimately become "environment puzzles". It is fun traversing the world and thinking beforehand what you need to overcome any surprises you may find. Combat lacks a bit though. I think the normal encounters are fine (either with the BTs or humans), but boss fights are pretty meh.

Overall it is an experience I'd recommend for anyone that is into something more profound.

ps: the Director's Cut has many references/love letters to other pieces of art from other mediums and it's awesome.

If not, I'll set up a bookstore called 'Dumbster's House of Splaining' and wear a name tag that same Mr. Dumb... Because that's certainly how I feel after playing this... WAT?

OK. No, I think I understood a good chunk of the ideas and concepts, but they still dont feel like they make sense or can really be all put together. Still, this was worthwhile. I don't know if it was worth the 90 hours that I slogged through across the whole US doing grindy this-and-that's that had little in game rewards or purpose, but whatever, it was a unique experience, albeit a pretentiously fabricated one (Yes, it is pretentious it has at least FOUR CREDIT ROLLS) I like cinematic games with long cutscenes, however i'm not so sure that the format works so great with mindless wandering and trekking and then every several hours you get more cryptic narrative of such a nature as this.

These mechanics though get bullshitty and super old after 20 hours though. The constant falling, grindy quests for 'likes' and deterioration of roads greatly lessened my enjoyment. However, during the initial 8 hours it all felt great.

I probably wouldn't have finished this and gone to a let's play if I couldn't have found a trainer to clean up the final half of the game. The grievances in game design were then overcome by an interesting mish mash of ideas in sci fi setting.

For a game which I choose to describe with triple "B" words, this game is truly triple "A" in every sense. Kojima never disappoints when it comes to intricacy, and you can feel it in every single particle of this game world. I think that only James Cameron and major theme-park designers can give Kojima a run-for-his-money in terms of world-building and such ludicrously specific attention to detail. Everything in this game is thought out and has some sort of reason to it; whether that reasoning is apparent or not, at first, is another story entirely.

Really, what Death Stranding reminded me of most strongly, was the pivotal, foundational science-fiction novel "Dune". Like Dune, the story just takes off, without any regard for your understanding, indeed with nary an assurance for even your eventual understanding, except for its confidence as it strides off into the sunset without you. It's up to you to decide if you want to go along for the ride; if you do, you're richly rewarded. And, just like Dune, by the time you get to the end, absolutely every little thing that seemed utterly inexplicable at first, not only is explained, but makes perfect sense, and has the weight of history, culture, a whole world behind it. You will, in every sense of the word, understand Death Stranding, should you see it through.

Like Dune, I felt the "pull" through this game, and did see it through to the end. I was utterly captivated by the gameplay, which you've simultaneously never played before, but have played many times before. You will simultaneously know exactly what to do, while having very little idea how to do it. Kojima's signature "semi-diegetic" interface design perfectly suits this gameplay loop that is, simultaneously, perfectly sensible within the frame of the game-world, and perfectly sensible as a "game" to be played.

We all already knew that Hideo Kojima is a genius, but Death Stranding is genuine proof. I really don't think this could have been made by anyone who wasn't vibrating on a frequency fundamentally different from the rest of us.

1. Amazingly directed and stylish cutscenes/cinematography
2. Great voice acting by Die-Hardman, Sam and Clifford
3. Original in concept and execution
4. Gameplay loop (for me) was tedious, frustrating and repetitively boring
5. Story was too over top, I didn't care for most of the characters motives, bad writing

I respect the ambition, but coming from Phantom Pain, the gameplay here did not satisfy me whatsoever as a Kojima fanboy. I wasn't expecting Metal Gear, but to literally hold R2 + L2 the majority of the game while walking does not equal FUN to me. I cannot agree with hype calling this a masterpiece, but it DOES go in a unique direction in the artform of video games.

Rating: 5/10

My score doesn't really matter this time and is only there because I have to do it. The truth is, I'm so on the fence about Death Stranding it's ridiculous. A disclaimer first: I didn't beat it (you'll understand why as I go on) and I'm actually a Kojima fanboy. Metal Gear is my favourite series and I quite enjoyed Snatcher. Haven't gotten a chance to play Policenauts. Also, I know that the term "walking simulator" is seen as a pejorative these days but I use it not in that way. At least, not inherently. I'm not against a walking simulator by default.

I avoided playing Death Stranding until earlier this year because the gameplay loop didn't look enticing to me. It hurt me though because I wanted that Kojima story. I don't watch people play video games so that option was out. I decided to take the plunge because the game was cheap and... for a few hours I was glad I did.

The idea of managing your stuff and walking is still not appealing to me, but at first it didn't bother me enough to quit the game. It was hitting me with intriguing story, which kept me stumbling through areas in order to unlock more. I was ignoring the fact that the hook is making us do something we do everyday, just with more difficulty. The BT encounters, at first, were tense. I remember thinking "Ahhh, Metal Gear" when I was able to stealth the MULEs.

And then eventually something changed. While the gameplay loop was still not my jam, I realized that the BT/MULEs interactions quickly became annoying obstacles that I'd just have to get over, rather than an engrossing experience themselves. So it turns out, I would have rather have just did the delivery shit without them. If the gameplay was made up of JUST that and the weird-ass story, we'd have a wonderful meditative experience. There's that part fairly early on where you're going to that port city (I think it's called Port Knot City) and you come to the edge of a cliff and you see it, then "Asylums for the Feelings" starts playing and you just make your way towards the city. THAT is this game at its best. It was emotional, powerful, and the songs are both awesome and utilized brilliantly. It makes the trek so fantastic, even with the wonky mechanics. But the game isn't just that.

Sure, visually it's pretty stunning. Character/villain design is inspired. Seeing what other people build is cool. I understand how thematically everything makes sense. But along with what I said about the BT/MULEs, the stealth, combat AND boss battles suck. And all that stuff is thrown in there. And I'm obligated to do it if I want to experience the good shit. So this is a tale of two games for me, one I really like and the other I hate.

I wish I could have brought myself to finish the game. I just couldn't force myself. I don't know what happens as the game progresses past where I quit. I could read what happens but this is a Kojima joint, so it's better to SEE it. He's one of the few people in the games industry that knows how to make cinematic cutscenes... because he's well versed in movies and gets it. Alas, I probably will never see how it unfolds.

The core mechanic of this game - walking across beautiful terrain with cool music playing and crafting stuff to help you (and others) is fantastic. I never got bored walking. I really appreciated other people’s structure and the hours I spent building roads was more than worth it when I saw how many other players used them

But so much of the rest of the game is just really annoying and distracts from this core mechanic:

• way too much exposition
• combat is pointless
• boss battles are pointless and annoying
• did I mention the exposition?
• oh, I got hit and now the baby is crying and I have to pick up my entire inventory, AGAIN
• ffs stop crying baby!!

The endgame is just ridiculous. Finish already would you? Don’t make me watch your badly written (sorry, “deep”) movie while I run around aimlessly.

Core game 5/5. Incredibly engaging and memorable journeys

The rest: 1/5

Overall 3/5.

This is the most recent game to make it to the top 10 most hrs (120 on record) played on Steam. Although I am a fan of Kojima's previous classics like the Metal Gear franchise, I haven't picked up Death Stranding until nearly one year later after its release. Still not grasping the full scope of the gameplay or story, I struck it blindly anyway... And it was worth it.

Without picking up on what other reviews already covered, my personal opinions will be stated here. It takes a special kind of person to appreciate the premise of using package delivery as means of gameplay and progression and I happen to check that box. Not only did I get to live my dreams of carrying out deliveries near-and-far, I did it in a post-apocalyptic world where danger lurks along the route. I think the amount of hours tells how satisfying these missions, due to distinguishable characters, the unpredictable nature of the plot (a Kojima trademark) and the reward of progress.

The online function of the game enables a form of player ecology less commonly seen in modern games, such as giving and taking both equipments and assignments that may be of more use to others than yourself. I've had my offbeaten routes made more accessible in advance, thanks to someone placing a ladder, rope, bridge or whatever else. Not only does the feature make the progression more convenient (if you like that), it takes the online interaction on a new way that could only be deemed mutually productive.

All in all, I've had a blast playing through Death Stranding to the end and completing with most of the achievements. But I can also understand where detractors are coming from; besides the transportation taking the precedence over the action gameplay, the story is also treading on unorthodox grounds. As we know of Kojima's games, you can expect lengthy cutscenes with little to no interactivity, which are dominant in the first couple of hours. After that, though, the balance between that and actual gameplay are more even.

I am curious about the lore and the nature of the state that the world is in, but got only half-invested into it since the lore is deep and could be dug more in the journals being unlocked. Heck, you could even write an essay on Death Stranding's background and world building. I reckon it would take more than one playthrough to grasp how it's come to the present state, but I am content nevertheless. Hideo Kojima and his team has delivered quite a surprise for a non-Metal Gear product and I will keep coming back when they have more to, erm, deliver!

I think it was a good decision I delayed playing Death Stranding so long so that I can rate it objectively away from the hype and arguments, and due to it having enough time for the other players to make the game less tedious. Still, I found the game to be a quite disappointing one, even tedious and maybe not fun at several other points, but it still has some great ideas that a much better gameplay loop could have benefitted from.

The story on paper was great. This world is fascinating and some of the revelations are mind blowing just like Kojima usually pulls out in his stories. The problem of the story was the pacing for me. The game starts in its first 5 hours or so with ton and ton of cutscenes to set up the world, characters and setting, then the story takes a vacation for 90% of the game before kicking on again in the last 6 hours. That's basically it. Midway in the game nothing happens that progress the story. Terrible direction and pacing. It would have been better if the cutscenes were distributed better or the game wasn't that long. This unfortunately hurts the story a lot.

Gameplay though, is where most of the meat is. I have to confess that playing this game made me strongly believe Kojima's gameplay structure is pretty outdated. This is basically similar in structure to MGSV but instead of being a soldier doing stealthy infiltration, you're a deliveryman doing delivery orders. Every single problem in this world has to be solved by doing a delivery order, and you have to go through ton of menus when you choose an order to prepare yourself with equipment and stuff..etc. Just like MGSV. It's time Kojima reduces the over reliance on menus in his games a little bit and make his gameplay more fluid and natural, instead of being so "video gamey".

The problem isn't that you do nothing bar delivery orders. The problem was how tedious the gameplay loop is, almost not fun at several points. The open world is big, dead and empty, and there're only 2 threats you can face on your way, the BTs, whose encounters become really a waste of time rather than being enjoyable, and the MULEs whose encounters are very uninspiring thanks to the terrible combat. Otherwise you're simply fighting through the mountains and land to find the best way possible to your destination. It's a pretty tedious gameplay loop.

At some point earlier in the game after I traversed the whole map step by step connecting knots on my way till I became close to my original target, the game ordered to return to the very first area in the game, again, to take an order, then traverse the whole freaking map again up till the destination I was already close to, instead of just taking the order from where I was earlier. I asked myself while doing this ridiculous mission "where's the fun in this ?", and guess what, it got repeated again few chapters later. It does seem like a complete lack of respect for the player's time.

Like I get what Kojima was aiming for. He built such dead empty open world so that players built it themselves with roads, bridges and stuff. This idea is great on paper, and uses the online features in a pretty creative way, but it could have been done in a smaller world or with a mission structure that's actually more fun. It's a big problem that in order to build such roads and bridges you have to carry the materials on your own back to them and some of them like the space alloys were pretty heavy, not really helping the case of this game. I'm glad I played this 2 years after its release so that at least some other players already built few nice roads, bridges and safe houses. On its release date this would have been a lot more tedious.

Graphically wise I have no complaints. The game looks amazing. The world is beautiful and everything is well detailed to a breathtaking level. Some of the soundtracks were great to listen to and a lot of the actors did a brilliant job, but unfortunately some of the side ones were really awful. There was one girl in one of the main missions in chapter 3 whose voice acting was ridiculously bad. The main character, Sam, could have also been done better. He almost feels like a silent protagonist, barely talks or interacts with anything and his lines are very few, and I don't think this guy showed any emotions until the very end of the game ?

Overall, This isn't a terrible game. It's just a misstep in my opinion. It has some great ideas regarding the online features, and a great story on paper, but the poor pacing, tedious gameplay loop, and Kojima's outdated mission structure and over-reliance on menus hurt it a lot. It's one of those games that had ton of side missions but I found zero urge to do them. I just wanted to get it done with the story because already the main orders were tedious, I wasn't going to set down back and forth through the side quests as well, considered that most of them seems to be of no value or importance but just to grind your likes level. My response was "no thanks", I just wanted to move on from this game.

Big shame unfortunately. Could have been a far better game if not for such tedious problems, which really should have obvious during developing for Kojima and his crew.

Story : 7/10.

Gameplay : 5/10.

Graphics : 9/10.

Sounds : 7/10.

Overall : 6/10.

First of all i got to say that i rarely review anything ,be it games ,movies ,books or actual physical products ;as i dont really find the need to do so ,but seeing how much i loved this game ,and how much people loved to trash on it when it came out (most of which have never played it) i ought to write this review

I have never played a Kojima game before ,but i got interested in DS (Death Stranding) after seeing the trailers (which i really loved ,for the visuals ,the music ,but especially for the atmosphere they had going in) ....after the game came out and the reviews started popping out ,i got somewhat skeptical (especially seeing the hate the game got) ,but i still was intersted and wanted to try the game (more so knowing that the creator himself said that the game wont please everyone)

So i played the game and ...........i loved it from the first moments to the last ones (where i nearly tear up) ,the cinematics were masterfully done ,the character acting superb ,the music GODLY as itreally adds to the atmosphere and makes things 10 times better (i downloaded all three albums from the game after playing it) ,and the graphics have been one of the most stunning i have seen in a while ,now for the story : it starts out really confusing and cryptic ,but believe me when i say everything makes sense in the end (with a lot of plot twists and big reveals) ,the characters all had very well written backstories and the actor's performances were phenomenal (especially Cliff's and Die Hard Man's actors respectively) ,plus the messages the game convey really touched me on a deep level Lets talk about the gameplay (which most people called boring and not fun) while it may have started a little simple ,it gets waay more varied as you progress ,for example you get new ways of transporting the cargo ,new equipment ,new weapons etc (these arent just some cosmetic level additions ,as they make the gameplay very diverse and give you more choices) ,and even though the open world isn't that rich with NPCs ,there's a lot to interact with: from the little interactions with your BB ,the different gameplay elements ,the Async gameplay mechanics ,building roads and structures ,fighting the mules ,the terrorists and the BTs ,trying to optimize your load and take the best route possible ,the different activities you can do in your private room ,the different references and Easter eggs Kojima threw in ,and i can still go on and on and would only scratch the surface ... Im super glad that this game got made ,in a world full of repetitive shooter looters and battle royale games ,DS is a game like no other where you got to experience the gameplay bit by bit ,get to really explore the world as its meant to be ,and most importantly each trip i took felt like a real one (i got really happy when i arrived at my destination ,really frustrated when i lost my cargo ,really immersed and peaceful when i walked and some amazing music kicked in) ....so yeaah i need to stop now otherwise i would write 10 pages and still wont say everything x) ....but believe me this Game is a masterpiece ,Kojima san in a genius and everyone who really loves to have a unique experience ,and has a real grasp of what art is ,needs to play this game ...

Death Stranding is a game that sure seems like a lot of long walks on the beach at first but contains a staggering amount of world-traversing gameplay in a beautiful world with a story that is weird, risky, and very much pays off.

After a series of explosions have put the planet on the brink of extinction, you play a deliveryman who is tasked not just with bringing cargo from place to place, but to setup a network across the country to resurrect the US to its former glory. Naive dreams of America aside, the main task of the game is to explore this strange and at times dangerous version of a transformed United States. The player starts out at a fairly slow and walking pace but can later speed things up with bikes, trucks, and exo-skeletons. The player must find a variety of locations and perform orders (delivering lost cargo, delivering specific cargo, or retrieval from a hostile camp/hazardous area) to raise the connection level of each location and unlock a variety of useful items and materials.

On top of traversal is a way to build upon the world, tapping into an incredibly useful and engaging social element. The player can use a 3D printing mechanism to create a variety of helpful structures, whether it may be bridges, shelters, power generators, and safe houses which can be upgraded. Even highways are eventually built with the right resources. All of this is optional and can be arduous on the player's own time, but the game connects to a bunch of different players and uses the structures they have built in the game, meaning that a generator and shelter is just within reach when you need it and people can contribute to building roads and upgrading things together. It's a system that works incredibly well and helps move the pace along.

As well as the game's exploration and building aspect, there are also stealth and action segments as well, with the heights of each one usually connected to the story. Often there are fields of creatures called BTs which swarm an area. Using an attached baby on the player's self, the player can detect these usually invisible creatures at the cost of stressing the baby. The player can stealth past them using careful crouching and holding their breath, attempt to run/drive past, or take them head on with the risk of triggering a large explosion on death. These creatures are very terrifying in their engaged form (squids, lions, whales) that transform the landscape around them to make it tricky to escape. Later on there are also human enemies that try to steal cargo or kill the player depending on the type, which can either be killed or disarmed (as killing a human requires incinerating the body).

The plot is less intrusive than people might be led to believe in a Kojima game, taking the Phantom Pain route and taking a backseat to a wide open world. Each character takes their role in connecting with and explaining to the player how the world is why it is as well as helps them with various game aspects like fast travel, taking care of the baby, or antagonizes the player at every turn and even forces BT battles. It's a game that's keen on showcasing the voice acting and facial animation talent of every actor involved, and they do a remarkable job in bringing these people to life in Death Stranding. Without revealing too much of the plot, the process of connecting humanity once again becomes a complex affair on the extinction of life and the struggle to move on, becoming twisted but ultimately a sensitive and heartfelt journey. It's pretty great.

As for the music and visuals, the music is very sparse, usually playing licensed music during key plot moments or more ambient music in reaction to finding new facilities on the network or sneaking past/battling BTs. The ambient music is appropriately sci-fi, and the choice of licensed music varies but is usually the more laid-back, melancholy vibe (i.e. Low Roar, Silent Poets). It fits the world pretty well and is very memorable. The visuals are flat-out GORGEOUS for a PS4 game, with an intimately detailed world for traversal from many different pathways across rivers, mountains, canyons, beaches, fields, and other such things. The world is very important to gameplay, so to see it so beautifully and uniquely constructed at every turn makes every journey well worth traversing and new routes worth exploring. The oily and pitch-black BTs are also fishy, fleshy, and terrifying and the sci-fi near future tech designs are sleek, modern, and feel very functional.

Death Stranding is a monster of a game, threatening to take up many hours of laying down a connected network across a whole country and to build a variety of useful structures for other players to join in. It's a soothing and at times terrifying experience that knows exactly what it's doing and knows when to pick up the pace and let things ease up, creating a story more laid back than what people are used to feeling but that very much pays off. Keep that baby close.

Death Stranding tells the unprecedenting tale of a genius game designer and director having as much money as he needed to make whatever the hell he wanted while all the suits were sleeping.

It is a deep dive into Kojima's artistry.

It is the most Hideo Kojima game Hideo Kojima has ever made.

It is an experience unlike any other I've ever had with a video game, and also one of the very best.

It is an absolute must play if you don't believe that every piece of media you consume is only meant to make you have fun, if you're open to the idea that art can instill a whole spectrum of emotions and if you find that enjoyable.

It is as if it was designed to be boring*, however, I never found it so. It was contemplative, it was intriguing, it was beautiful, sometimes relaxing, sometimes stressful. The design of a broken world will never allow you to simply walk a straight line to your destination. It creates engagement through crazily refined collision detection, and a meticulously designed open world only rivaled by Breath of the Wild.

It could never be a (good) movie or a (good) TV show. It is as game as game and the hours of cutscenes would never hit as hard without everything that's in between. Saying Death Strandig should be a movie is like saying Shadow of the Colossus would be better with only boss fights and no open world.

It is as if David Lynch and Tarkovsky had a sci-fi video game (bridge) baby. It is as if The Room was good and was also Evangelion.

ALSO THE CONTROLS ARE NOT FLOPPY OR CLUNKY GODDARNIT I ONLY TRIPPED AND FELL LIKE 5 TIME THROUGHOUT THE GAME YOU JUST GOTTA PLAY IT SMART AND PAY ATENTION TO YOUR SURROUNDINGS. THE CONTROLS WERE PERFECT!!!

Hideo Kojima's masterpiece of a game that truly pushes you to get creative.

Is the game long? Yes. Is the game slow? Purposefully so. Is the game a drag? Never.

There are several instances in the game that make you feel like you outsmarted the master game director and they feel so damn rewarding. Other times the hauntingly beautiful music that goes with the eerie setup of the landscape just keeps you coming back for more.

As a narrative, Death Stranding offers a story unlike any other. The ending leaves you in shambles with the perfect exit.