Death Stranding is a weird game. It's hard to even call it a game for that matter. A substantially portion of my playthrough was simply holding down the 'W' key alongside the occasional balancing act when stepping on uneven terrain or some course correction here and there. But I'm so glad I stuck with the game through the credits, until the very end.

Hideo Kojima and his team have crafted what can easily be considered one of the best and most intriguing video game campaigns of all time. I mean it when I say to go in as blind as possible. This game is filled with masterful metaphor and extremely complex symbolism that can easily have infinite interpretations. The story itself is far from straightforward, however, rest assured knowing that nearly every question worth answering is answered to some meaningful capacity. Each character is finely crafted to serve a purpose, and while the actions of the player may seem inconsequential at times, every action builds to make the world feel more real.

Let's talk gameplay, as that is easily the most divisive aspect of this game. I am a fan. While it is objectively boring and tedious (almost to a point where I almost assume it was defined to be aggravating) it really puts you in Sam's shoes. Your struggles are his, and his are your's. The multiplayer aspect integrates seamlessly into general gameplay and helps you realize just how much impact you have not only in your individual instance, but in the world of other players. Combat sequences are tight and responsive, with everything from grenades to a wide arsenal of guns feeling incredible to use. This is in stark contrast to the rest of the controls which are serviceable at best and miserable at the absolute worst. Some menus are clunky, and several mechanics are hard to initially grasp, but it all makes sense in due time.

The game is an incredibly slow burn, however, towards the end (after about Chapter 7) it picks up significantly. However, chapter duration ranges wildly. For example, Chapter 8 took me around 8 hours to complete (although I wouldn't be surprised if it takes some much more) while the very next chapter took me just eleven minutes (excluding cutscenes).

Lastly, let's talk this PC port. 505 Games have done an excellent job of porting the Director's Cut to PC platforms, with incredibly solid performance, in depths options (minus an FOV slider), and some nice quality of life options such as Ultrawide resolution support.

I truly can't recommend this game enough. While not for everyone, sticking with this game despite it's flaws is absolutely worth it. I cannot wait to see what Kojima and his team are cooking up next.

One of the most creative and fantastic narratives and worlds in gaming, Hideo Kojima is no doubt a genius. The gameplay is fantastic as well, but in my opinion overstays its welcome a little bit - the overall game loop gets a bit tiring about 75% through, perhaps due to pacing, and then the end sequence is about 4 hours long, with 2 hours being after you defeat the final boss. Most of it is excellent narrative, but you'd hope that more of that narrative would be scattered throughout the game.

The final boss and a few other encounter segments are little bit weak and frustrating as well. It doesn't detract much from the general gameplay which is far from the walking sim that many tell it to be.

Yo ya me considero fanatico de Death Stranding, me puse muy feliz cuando anunciaron la secuela. Tiene pinta de que va a ser divertidisimo y lleno de delirios Kojimescos.

Yo jugué al Death Stranding original en PS4 cuando salió y lo defendí a capa y espada en su momento y a lo largo de los años. Sabiendo que el tiempo le iba a dar el reconocimiento que se merecia.

Hoy, me pone muy contento ver que muchas personas lo están rejugando en este último tiempo (a causa del trailer y el hype por la secuela) y lo esten revalorizando mucho, además de darle el buen lugar que se merece.

Siempre me dio curiosidad jugar a este Director's Cut, ya que leí que es la mejor manera de vivir el Death Stranding, así que, vamo a ver que onda. Vamo a jugá.

I'm emotionally conflicted about this game.
Did I enjoy it? Well... yeah... but not really...honestly it's not even a good game, it's actually a terrible game, it does everything a game needs to do in a very bad way, and it's just not meant to be a fun experience overall, yet I still believe that it's not a bad game.

At first, I enjoyed the gameplay more than the story, walking actually feels nice, having to be careful about the terrain, managing my cargo and exploring the world felt really cool. Sure there are many annoying mechanics, but if you're careful enough, it's relaxing.
The driving is kind of weird though, sometimes it's alright but most of the time you end up getting stuck on rocks and it can get irritating, so there are moments where walking is the superior option.

There are many gadgets and tools to use, you can even create bridges and roads, and that's great but the game never really explains how to actually do it, so I ended up walking or using a vehicle. I did take advantage of the online features though, which are pretty helpful but nothing special.

Now, for the story, I don't know what to say except from the fact that it's very confusing, especially the first half of the game, so many unanswered questions, bizarre scenes and things that don't make sense at all. It's honestly quite funny, and I was very desperate to get to know more and more, but in the end... the story did make more sense, and it got better, but many things still confuse me, it's a complicated story and the characters are interesting, but there's just so much information, you can easily lose track of what's happening, mostly because the last few hours are just non-stop cutscenes and explanations upon explanations. I got to admit though, the plot twists near the end, and the emotional scenes actually made me appreciate the story more.

I don't know if I even recommend this game to anyone, it's truly one-of-a-kind, a unique experience like no other, and even though it's a mess of a videogame, it's just something else.

Final Rating: "Almost Good" ~ 6.5/10.

I have mixed feelings about this one, in many ways this game is a truly unique and wondrous experience - it tackles perennial issues in game design in novel and exciting ways. It's easy to criticize because you spend a lot of time walking in it, but they made the walking engaging - that's the point! It requires planning and focus to walk. On several occasions during my time with Death Stranding I stopped paying attention to look at my phone or talk to someone, and Sam promptly fell flat on his face because I didn't avoid a rock or see a big step up ahead. There is a level of realism here that you just don't see in games, it's not 1:1 mapping of walking but it succeeds in requiring just about the same amount of focus and attention that walking would in the real world - an impressive feat.

Then there's the inventory system - normally in games with lots of items, your character has the ability to carry an absurd amount of items with sign that they're holding anything. In Death Stranding, almost everything you carry - you really carry it. That means careful planning of your inventory before a journey, considering what items you might need depending on the terrain you plan to cross, or the type of cargo you're carrying. The game has a fast travel system, but you can't travel with most items - the only way to get stuff from point A to point B is to schlep it there, and there are a bunch of smart ideas and systems in place (like 3D printing new items), to keep that diagetic and not too onerous.

Another cool idea is Timefall - magical rain that advances time for everything it touches. On the surface this is a pretty cool idea anyway (though doesn't really hold up to too much scrutiny), but it allows the game to include item degradation in a way that doesn't feel ridiculous. Most games with this feature, your items last for a laughably short time - iron swords that break after only 10 swings, etc. In this game, stuff gets ruined by time acceleration whenever it rains - it helps to explain why external structures get damaged, why your cargo and items get damaged, etc. I found it really satisfying.

For me, Death Stranding was at its best when I was simply carrying a large delivery over new, uncertain terrain and a cool song kicked in. The path between my and my destination was a puzzle to solve, and I found a lot of beauty in the bleakness and solitude. However, those songs never really got to play out because they always kicked in too late, and I'd find myself either waiting around outside my destination for the song to finish or just abruptly cutting it off.

That's how I felt for much of my playtime, stretches of awesome scenery, tranquility, engaging movement mechanics and mild problem solving, using a well placed ladder to make a journey much simpler, resting under a shelter left by another player.. only to be abruptly cut off from those feelings and thrust into some weird combat encounter, or an overly long cutscene filled with meaningless exposition. Some of the story beats and character moments were really cool, especially the opening of the game, but I really found myself struggling to stay invested by the end. I just wanted to deliver packages! Maybe that's how Sam feels too, and that's the point? I don't know. But I do know I dreaded being whisked off to World War 2 or whatever for a boring stealth battle, and I let out just a few too many exasperated sighs in my time with this game to say that I truly loved it. I think.

Absolutely a fantastic experience. The sound design and atmosphere are excellent, but the most suprising thing for me was the gameplay and narrative. The gameplay is seemingly composed of disparate elements on the surface. It's mostly non-violent walking simulator esque gameplay is juxtaposed by its mechanical language borrowed from action games, however the mere act of walking in death stranding is full of polish and ingenuity. There's concious thought to how you want to balance your cargo, and what you can add and subtract. The molded geometry assert attention and make sure you aren't playing half-aware. These elements all come together to create a game that's both relaxing and engaging, almost a form of zen meditation or flow-state in it of itself. I loved the gameplay of this game.

The narrative again, is also composed of seemingly disparate elements. Thematically it's about connection but Kojima's authorship is of course all over the place (For the record I don't like the notion that Kojima is an auteur. I don't like auteur theory in films and I especially don't like it in games, despite the fact that his games are all stylistically connected, more recognition of the other devs should be emphasized) Crazy twists and exposition dumps are spread throughout the story. It can get tiring at times trying to keep up with the lore of this game. It's surrealistic imagery at times I wish didn't warrant explanation, and the game is at it's best when it let's the player interpret these meanings and connections. In that same breath however, I don't think the game would not quite pack the pure emotional punch it had at points if it didn't have this exposition. The sci-fi world is fascinating here, and the focus on using it's mechanics to push it's emotional moment is refreshing for the genre. I'd almost liken the dialogue to lynch, where characters are more so encapsulations of emotions and collections of their pasr rather than giving them complete realistic reactions, and like Lynch I think it's earnest humanity it wears on it's sleeve is completely effective.

One of the first missions involves throwing The President’s carcass into a furnace. There’s a lady named Fragile who always makes a point to tell you she isn’t fragile, a dude named Heartman who goes into cardiac arrest every 20 minutes, and Guillermo del Toro plays a Frankenstein’s Monster. The dialogue is super hokey, and there is no shortage of goofiness. And it all birthed from the ashes a scrapped Kojima Silent Hill game.

I’m glad that there are people like Hideo Kojima in the industry who not only have the creativity and resources to make weird big budget protects, but also surround themselves with brilliant and creative people to help them bring those ideas to life. Death Stranding is such a unique game about connectivity in a world that wants to be separated and defying the very forces of the universe to survive.

Great game.

In more ways than one, the journey really is the destination in Death Stranding.

I would describe the game as a slow burn. The beginning is pretty top heavy with proper nouns and long cutscenes setting the stage, and I would say the entire introductory area is a bit of a slog to work through. That's not even really a criticism because I think it's all like this for a reason. I think part of the reason it felt slow at the beginning is it takes some time to adjust to what the game is doing. YOU need to slow down to its pace, and I think this might cause some people to bounce off the title but my recommendation is you see it through because once you get to the more open second area of the game, it really starts to all come together.

But even then it is slow, and you won't notice it. Eventually you meet the game where it's at. You start engaging with the mechanics that you might have felt seemed like busywork before but now you're min-maxing delivery load and what route should I take? This order takes me past several other locations, should I make stops along the way? This route has MULEs or BTs in its path, what if I took a slight detour and went around this mountain? Then you come across a structure another player has built and it opens up a new route possibility. You see things enough times you start doing mental calculus, what if I put a bridge there and there, then I could skip this huge detour. Pretty soon you are spending hours going back and forth, delivering cargo, improving your routing and methods so that the next delivery run goes smoother. You start thinking about how helpful it would be for the next guy if you took the time to set up that road or make that zipline. It takes actual work and time to do this stuff, it's not what I would traditionally call fun. But you find yourself doing it anyway because it's compelling. I'm earning likes from other players. I'm part of a wordless, cooperative community that's all in this together and we're all looking to make it easier for each other. Eventually you feel obligated to do SOMETHING, contribute your small piece. But then the positive feedback sucks you in, now I don't feel obligated, I feel motivated. You look up and it's 3AM on Monday morning, you have to go to work tomorrow but what if I just did one last delivery, or built that one last structure?

Needless to say I got sucked in hard. 55 hours over the course of 4 or 5 days. And notice how I haven't even mentioned the story yet.

The story is weird, definitely. It's not incomprehensible, though, if you're paying attention. To keep it short and sweet and to not potentially spoil anything, I will just describe my broad thoughts. As I said it starts slow and can be difficult to keep up with at first. Once you get into the groove, it starts to be more about unraveling the mystery of what's going on. That unraveling is very fun to experience. My biggest criticism of the story is that the ending falls a bit flat for me. Not insomuch that it is bad but that it is a bit anticlimactic and only really seems to complete one "arc" of Death Stranding's canon, a seeming origin story for our hero, Sam Bridges. Now that we have set the stage completely, now we can truly begin. But that's where the game ends. Knowing that a second game is coming mitigates this criticism somewhat, but as a singular package I found the end to be a bit disappointing. But as an "episode one", so to speak, it makes for a very compelling reason to tune in next time for episode two.