Not everyone's cup of tea, but if you're looking for a profound plot, this might become your new favorite piece of art. It seems like just a """"""walking simulation"""""" (a lazy and shallow way to describe this game) at first, but things are deeper than that. You're Sam Porter Bridges, wandering around the UCA (United Cities of America), with the mission to connect everything, since a phenomenon called the Death Stranding split everything apart. Only to discover that everything isn't just about connecting people. I won't elaborate anymore since this game is the definition of a rabbit hole — while one question is answered, another three might come to your mind!
Besides its wonderful plot, this game is unique on its own. You will never play anything like it again and that's one of the aspects that make this game so special. I'm not even mentioning its soundtrack. One of the best feelings in this game is walking through a beautiful landscape, and out of nowhere, an interesting song starts to play. Definition of perfection. "Asylums For The Feelings" is one of the best. <3 I have a feeling that these songs say a lot about some characters.~

One of the most batshit games I've ever played, but the story ended up making complete sense by the end, and turned out to be surprisingly awesome.

The delivery gameplay is actually quite fun, and relaxing. You can use your carrier as a fucking hoverboard!

But fuck any combat-heavy encounters, genuinely some of the worst I've experienced in a game in a very long time.

It's not perfect, but this game is definitely a work of art. From the character designs, to the vastly original setting, this game is something that should absolutely be experienced.

But if the beginning turns you away, from how much of a litmus test it is at driving away the people that can't handle how unbelievably weird and stupid it is, then you're likely not going to enjoy the rest of what the game offers.

Can't wait for the sequel to HOPEFULLY improve the combat.

Death Stranding is the best multiplayer game going because it does away with the worst part about multiplayer games; other players.

I think the thing that caught me most by surprise in revisiting this game 4 years after it's release was the confusion on just how divisive it was when it came out. At the time I remember phrases like "walking sim" getting thrown around and not to be rude but you'd have to be purposefully oblivious to think Death Stranding has only walking to offer.

Sure, the core of the game is walking from point A to point B. But the world is designed in such a way to make such a simple task incredibly engaging. Traversing this uniquely post-apocalyptic America is never dull, and you're always kept on your toes. As an experiment I TRIED to check my phone during seeming quiet moments and ended up eating shit and ruining somebody's precious cargo (Apologies to the poor denizen of Port Knot City whose stuff I ruined, if it's any consolation the poor Porters Grade I received dampened my spirits).

DS does an incredible job of creating a new kind of game, that of the humble delivery man, and kept adding new ways to keep it engaging during my 60+ hour run time. Either through new tools, vehicles, or environmental hazards. It's online system also works wonders in evolving the world, and making you feel connected with others. The amount of times I mashed the like button because some kind soul had placed a vehicle, Timestop shelter, or some other handy resource in the middle of nowhere, seemingly out of the goodness of their heart, is too many to count. I have never had such an engaging and heartwarming experience with a community I can't directly communicate with.

It's story is equally as entapturing, it's the standard Kojima affair, and you can feel his style oozing through almost every facet of prose, it had my smiling, laughing, crying, and just all around hooked.

I truly am thrilled this game is receiving a sequel, there are so many moments I could gush about, it has some amazing gameplay segments that rely on the players cunning and knowledge to resolve, it treats the player with respect and patience, and asks only you do the same with it.

If your were turned away from Death Stranding because of some of the negative press it received on launch, go back and give it a go, it's a title that demands your attention.

I'll be waiting for you on the Beach.

Uma experiência grandiosa.
Minha história com o jogo é, no mínimo, engraçada. Em um pequeno resumo: já havia tentado jogá-lo em outra oportunidade — apenas por 3 horas: e desisti. Praticamente dois anos depois retorno ao título.
Com 5 horas iniciais o jogo finalmente me intrigou — e não somente isto, me fez adorá-lo. Dito isto, é importante destacar o maior defeito dele: o roteiro é deplorável. Os personagens conversam de maneira vergonhosa. Não há elo a ser criado entre eles, ou até mesmo um vislumbre de desenvolvimento ou arco.
Passado isto: a jogabilidade é o ouro aqui. A maneira que o game design funciona, dea tal forma que define como o mundo como um personagem a parte — e obstáculo, é magistral. A história é bem interessante e os gráficos são lindos. Direção de arte impecável e trilha sonora de muito bom gosto.
Por fim, a sensação é de não querer deixar o jogo e a jornada de lado. Uma das poucas experiências que tive na vida, no sentido de se conectar com a jogabilidade.
Simplesmente maravilhoso.

Death Stranding é o tipo de jogo que todos deveriam tentar jogar. Digo tentar porque para alguns pode ser difícil engatar no jogo por ter um ritmo bem lento, com foco em momentos cinematográficos para aprofundar a história e em momentos de solidão e travessia meticulosa pelos terrenos de um EUA quebrado por um evento catastrófico.

Para algumas pessoas (pra mim foi um pouco no começo) o estilo de escrita do Kojima e as pirações dele podem ser uma barreira também. Estas que pra mim são o brilho do jogo e da pessoa criativa que o Kojima é. Em TUDO, literalmente TUDO, da pra ver que teve um cuidado e uma visão muito específica do que é a história e de como ela devia ser contada. Isso num mundo de Ubisoft e EA que mercantilizam a arte que é os videogames de uma forma totalmente desesperadora, é um alívio e um dos jogos que vamos olhar para traz e ver o impacto que teve na liberdade de criação e no desenvolvimento da forma de arte.

Saindo um pouco dessa divagação sobre a importância de DS, queria falar sobre a história. Esse jogo ter sido lançado antes da pandemia é simplesmente surreal pra mim. Ele explora grandes partes das ansiedades que cada um de nós teve durante a época (sobreviver, conexão humana, humanidade, extinção da espécie...) e coloca em sentidos filosóficos que mesmo após a COVID 19 são novas para mim, uma pessoa que por bem ou por mal gosta muito de pensar em qual o sentido do que a gente chama de humanidade hoje em dia.

Agora, no jogar é onde DS apresenta as suas imperfeições. Toda a parte de entrega e "walking simulator" é DE LONGE mas muito MESMO a melhor parte do jogo, simplesmente revolucionário. Mas no combate, especialmente corpo a corpo o jogo perde força demais... Algumas boss fights ficam até meio ruins justamente por esse motivo, enquanto alguns momentos e boss são tão bons que o combate meio travado fica em segundo plano.

Na minha opinião, esse é o melhor uso dos recursos online em um jogo que já joguei. Casa diretamente com a história e agrega MUITO a tudo o que se propõe.

Como toda obra prima, DS é imperfeito. E como toda obra prima DS revolucionou e revolucionará a arte para sempre.

O jogo mais honesto já feito e uma pedrada do kojima, o cara é uma das últimas mentes realmente criativas nessa indústria.
O cara criou todo um universo do nada em cima de uma premissa simples de entregador, e não se limita a isso, a variedade de mecânica e progressão é absurda, e a melhor parte é seu fator online.
Pra mim esse é o shadow of the colossus dessa geração.

08/10.

After initially bouncing off this game in 2021, I saw parts of the announcement trailer for the sequel a few weeks ago that made me give this game another try. This time, I finished it. In hindsight, I should have focused less on building nearly every road there is and finishing most optional deliveries. The delivery type gameplay is fine, there are some aspects that I like, some that I do not (like the horrible feeling of the reverse trike that consistently refuses to brake properly and knows only full throttle or none in its boosted mode). By far the most intriguing part of the game for me is the story and world-building. Kojima and his team are very creative minds and sometimes I just laughed out loud because what was happening on screen was just so absurd. I do not regret finishing the game, I just should have done it faster. It feels like 65% of the story happen at the very end of the game though and I would have preferred if that story was paced across the game a bit better. I played the game from start to finish on the pre-selected difficulty "hard" and that felt good for most of the game, except for those boss-fights against a certain someone played by Mads Mikkelsen. These parts were quite the difficulty spikes. The music in-game is a nice collection of licensed songs that are sadly rarely used and when they do, I never got to listen to the end of a single song, as they would start 30 seconds before arriving at my destination or shortly before the traversal of a BT territory is necessary and entering such an area simply stops the music. There is no portable music player feature as well, you can only listen to the unlocked songs in the private room, which is a shame. All in all, I am happy that I am done now with the game and look forward to the sequel, but I am probably going to skip a lot of optional stuff in that game to get through it with better pacing.

Look, i know it took me FIVE years to finish!!!! but i loved this game. When I picked back up this most recent time, i was at the start of chapter 9. Up to this point I already had played about 60 hours. I love the way just moving feels in this game.

Playing it with so much time in between was interesting. As the last acts of the game have you walking to the very beginning of the game, it was awesome seeing all my old structures and my old path. Everything in this game is just so cool too. The character designs, the guns, the vehicles all of it goes so hard.

My only issue is the controls can be a bit obtuse sometimes, especially when it comes to combat. The story I know is an issue for some but I enjoyed all of it and appreciate it doesn't take itself seriously the whole time.

Can not wait for part 2.

well what do i do know :(
8,5/10 - Length
8,5/10 - Enjoyment
7,5/10 - Perfomance/Bugs
9,5/10 - Story/Experience
7,5/10 - Gameplay

Score = 8,3/10