Death Stranding aka Norman Reedus and the Funky Fetus is a sort of mixed bag of highs and lows, though with enough strengths to make it a solid game that I enjoyed. The game strongly ties in its unorthodox for the AAA scene game mechanics of delivering packages with its narrative themes. Having other players help you through their structures they built and you in turn paying them back through your own creations is a great feature that ties into the game’s themes of community so well. Going around delivering packages is also nice though I wish the bike controlled a bit better and there was slightly less rocks, it’s sometimes a bit of a janky pain to maneuver. The combat and the BTs drag the game down though as they’re just sort of a slog to deal with and the game initially loves just throwing them at you in chokepoints where you can’t just maneuver around them. And it’s even more annoying in endgame when a couple of giant BTs will just spawn out of thin air at you so you have to slowly run away from them. Combat with bandits is okay, but one boss fight just sucks and feels really jank. This game is definite proof to me that Kojima needs an editor or the like to reign him in though because he genuinely does have a good grasp of integrating themes with the gameplay as I said, but man is this game’s narrative rather bogged down in goofy technobabble and mostly adhering to the Garth Marenghi’s school of subtlety. On the other hand though it does have some genuine narrative highs and manages to nail the moments that really matter.

I think the ending is the best example of the dichotomy of the game’s hill and valleys as it’s paced like shit and really needed a second pass, but it also has some of the best parts of the game. The first half is just a total slog with you primarily trudging along a wasteland as the credits slowly go by interspersed with some exposition cutscenes; it’s something that desperately needed to get cut because it just an absolute waste of time. But then the second half kicks in and there you start really learning the truth of what happened and this is where the game pulls off its best narrative moments with genuine emotional gravitas. I’ve seen people mention it before I played this and I have to agree, Tommie Earl Jenkins goes hard, holy shit.

Overall a flawed, yet interesting game that manages to nail the parts that matter to make a worthwhile experience. I’m up for Norman Reedus and the Funky Fetus 2: Electric Boogaloo.

I have discovered that Death Stranding is my “cozy game”.

I don’t think I’ve gotten such fulfillment from a video game as I have with Death Stranding. The actions you’re taking in the game actually feel like they matter. You’re delivering these packages to people who are, well, stranded by themselves and they are actively relying on you. Whenever you fuck up by either tripping on a rock, not taking your time down a slope, or running into a B.T. infested area a little to fast, you feel awful. That responsibility that was on your shoulders weighs SO heavy after little mistakes like these.

Listen, I get how people don’t like this game: You’re just walking everywhere delivering packages… where’s the gameplay? How can you like this? Aren’t you bored? Nope, I’m absolutely loving my time spent in this game.

Let me ask this: When’s the last time you’ve seen a triple-A game take a risk? Take a change on something completely new? I’m not saying Death Stranding is absolutely revolutionary, I don’t think it is. However, its core mechanics are a new idea I haven’t seen in another game on this scale. Needing to watch your path while running in order to not trip and ruin packages, organizing your loadout for max efficiency, planning out your path either using the fastest route or a route that hits multiple locations, all of these things I love! There’s a lot of preparation you can do and, most of the time, it pays off. Add all the preparation to the acts of service you’re providing for those in need and that’s where I get my fulfillment from.

With all these interesting elements, adding in a batshit unique story that we still don’t have all the answers to make this a game right up my alley. Kojima knows how to build a world and knows how to make the player question certain elements that need explaining, but do they actually need explanations? I won’t get into the story at all here, but it’s a trip and extremely engaging. Plus, all the emails and documents you are able to read build the world incredibly well. Definitely recommend you read everything the game has to offer to get the most out of it.

Overall, I’d recommend this game to those with an open mind on their experiences. You won’t win over people who stick with what they like and don’t venture out past that, but if you find yourself craving something different with depth, this is the one for you.

I find it hard to describe exactly what it is that makes Death Stranding so special to me.

Maybe it's the beautiful landscapes, maybe it's the unusual setting, maybe it's the relaxing pace. Maybe it's the design, maybe it's the humour, maybe it's the... strangeness.

Yes, I can't tell you precisely WHY, but Death Stranding really is such a special game for me. Just a wonderful, unique experience that is unlike anything I have ever played before.

Thank goodness we have this to enjoy. Thank goodness there are people out there willing to make stuff like this. Stuff that makes you go: OOOOOOOH and WHHHHAAAT in equal measure.

Death Stranding is special. Play Death Stranding.

Very conflicted feelings on this one…

The themes, art direction, voice acting, music, plot (kinda, will touch on it later) are all fantastic. All worthy of a top tier AAA game, and worthy of the hype attached to anything Kojima touches, BUT the presentation lets it down massively.

All of the above are phenomenal but the gameplay is so tedious, it’s halfway there to something great and just falls flat. I can understand why someone would love this but it’s not for me. Stealth/combat could be very fun but there’s just some tall grass and the strand weapon thing for takedowns, guns are uninteresting, hand to hand combat consists of a single 3 hit combo and a jump attack. The BT territory sections could also be very fun and engaging but they’re not, early on they’re gripping and feel very horror-esque but it’s not long before you just run through them with a Speed Skeleton or a Trike.

The meat of the game is traversal, and here I can see the appeal. I just felt like there was too much meandering and tedious journeys, to the point where it made it difficult to care about any of the cast beyond a few of the main characters. I can’t recall the name of a single person or story of any of the people at the way station things that I was constantly delivering to. Maybe this is on me, but by about 30% into the game I wasn’t giving any thought whatsoever into how I traverse areas, I’d simply craft a Bike, bring a few PCCs to keep it fully charged when I can, a Speed Skeleton, and just raw dog it to my destination lol. They kept throwing new items at me that would make my journey “easier” but why would I go through the hassle of carrying more cargo when I can just zip A-Z with the bike? Vibes are good tho

The story… idk how to feel. I think it’s solid but it’s presented so awfully. Boring exposition dumps, filler, uninteresting side characters, convoluted menus, “lore” hidden behind walls and walls and walls of text, and much more that just muddy what could be a more enjoyable experience. Kojima is just trying too hard. The game is also longer than it needed to be. I think cutting down from roughly 35 hours to 25 would do the game wonders, but I guess that would cause issues considering over half the game would then be cutscenes… I guess that’s why the game is statpadded with so much nonsense in the first place.

There genuinely is something really phenomenal here but very deep under the surface, because of the poor presentation it comes off as pretentious, self absorbed, pseudo intellectual, fake deep HOOPLA.

Some positives… I LOVE that Kojima doesn’t shy away from the fact that this is a video game. He fully embraces that whether it be through the hilarious 4th wall breaks, health bars in the Higgs fight, Heartman giving the players thumbs up, etc etc. very good

The core theme is about the strands (lol) that connect us to each other, and if anything, they nailed this on the head through the narrative and the gameplay. Out in the world you’ll never encounter another player, and you’ll never talk to another player, but you will find yourself rejoicing when you find a structure left behind by another player when you’re in a pinch. You’ll feel useful when you get the notification that another player used your structure that you left behind, you’ll spam likes on every structure to others know it was useful. Basically, it’s a very good feeling and it best emphasises selflessness and extending a helping hand out of kindness to a stranger through video games in a way never done. The closest comparison I can think of is NieR Automata’s Ending E, but like this is a whole game out of that credits sequence. sometimes I did dismantle my structures after finding a crazy route tho sorry lol I’m gatekeeping 😅😅 and thank you to every player that left generators everywhere, you made blitzing through everything with just a bike and speed skeleton easier

Some phenomenal characters in Cliff, Fragile, Malingen/Lockne and Die Hardman. Higgs had potential but eventually he became uninteresting, look forward to seeing what he’s cooking in the sequel. Cliff specifically tho… I don’t know if it’s because I’m just a huge Mads Mikkelsen fan but he’s one of my favourite video game characters already. What a man.

The soundtrack is some of the best you’ll find in the medium, just wish there were more moments where music would cut in while you’re out doing your deliveries. The game is very good looking, the face work is unreal all the actors killed it.

ok I’m done lol. Everything good but presented like ass making that everything not so good, brings an 8 or 9 down to a 4 or 5 it’s a huge shame

TLDR; just watch the cutscenes on YouTube

Tudo, absolutamente tudo que se diz respeito ao enredo, narrativa, conceito e tema nesse jogo é PERFEITO, primeiro jogo que jogo do Kojima e já virei fã, preciso dizer o quanto a ideia e aplicação do multiplayer é maravilhosa, por causa dele você realmente se sente conectado a uma rede que ta levando pra algum lugar, é muito bom ser ajudado e ajudar os outros.

Eu sei que andar é um dos jeitos que a narrativa trabalha aqui, mas po, o espaçamento entre gameplay e história fica muito ruim as vezes, o capitulo 3 são bem umas 5h andando pra ter migalhas de história, e isso se repete em menor escala lá pro capitulo 6 de novo, adorei os primeiros 2 capítulos, e todos depois do 9, mas alguns capítulos nesse meio são muito arrastados e chega a se tornar chato e trabalhoso pelo tanto que tem que andar. Parabéns por esse capitulo 14 que revelações absurdas, final extremamente digno que anima muito pra uma sequencia, infelizmente não é uma obra pra todo mundo, mas vale muito dar uma chance.

Death Stranding was as incredible as I knew it would be, though it's also a game I can understand others wouldn't see the same way. Every step is a puzzle, and every action serves the narrative. Of course, it took Kojima to discover the best way to make a walking simulator. It's also very convoluted in classic Kojima fashion, but I enjoyed trying to make sense of it. I don't know what the replay value will be like, but I put in 100 hours on one playthrough, so I'd say that's pretty good. Recommend to anyone who likes long walks on the Beach.

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.

When I saw the first trailer for Death Stranding, I wasn't impressed. It looked like a walking/cargo delivery simulator and that seemed like the furthest thing from my own interests in gaming at the time. I quickly brushed it off and put it out of my mind.

Fast forward to the game releasing - I decided to watch some gameplay since it seemed to be a polarizing game and was once again unimpressed. My suspicions had seemed to be confirmed - this looked exactly like a walking/cargo delivery simulator. I couldn't fathom how anyone could possibly enjoy this game; where was the fun in just walking around? I couldn't wrap my head around it.

Fast forward again to this past year - I started playing the Metal Gear Solid series after hearing nothing but glowing things about it. I slowly made my way through each game, admiring the vision and passion that Kojima and his team put into each project. I became fascinated with Kojima specifically, and wanted to understand how he could create something that felt so fresh and inspired.

After beating MGSV recently, I felt a hollowness - it felt like nothing could fill the void that finishing the MGS series had left. I knew Kojima had left Konami to create his own studio and put out that weird game Death Stranding I had seen a couple years ago - could it be as good as what I considered to be his magnum opus?

After roughly 52 hours with Death Stranding, I can confidently say that this game stands next to Metal Gear Solid as a once-in-a-lifetime gaming experience. I don't think one is better than the other; on the contrary, I think both complement each other perfectly. Kojima's ability to tell deeply complex, philosophical stories with nuanced characters and an absurdity that borders on the inane is unmatched. I found myself far more invested in this story than I ever expected to be, and as I write this review I feel the same sort of hollowness that I felt when I completed MGSV. I knew I had experienced something truly special, and I know that very few games, if any, will be able to capture this specific feeling ever again.

Playing this game felt strangely calming a lot of the time; I often get pretty tired of traversing open worlds in a lot of the games I play and will opt to use fast travel to speed up the experience. Walking around the world of Death Stranding felt serene - it allowed me to sit with my thoughts while walking between point A and point B, and rarely did it ever feel like a chore to get where I was going (with a handful of exceptions but they never ruined the experience outright).

The vocal and facial capture performances in this game are absolutely top notch. I can't think of a game, apart from maybe The Last of Us Part II, that looks this good and has characters that felt this real. Every tear that ran down a face, every subtle facial expression - they all felt so genuine. The casting in this game was also bonkers - I knew Guillermo del Toro had a role but had no idea Troy Baker, Margaret Qualley AND Conan O'Brien would show up as well. The fact that Death Stranding has such a star studded cast speaks volumes about how influential Kojima is as a creator and just how much of a cool opportunity it must be to work with him.

The weakest part of this game is probably the combat - it felt tacked on a lot of the time and often took me out of the experience while playing. I'm guessing that it was included to cater to a larger audience since a game just about delivering cargo probably wouldn't sound like a fun video game to a lot of people (myself included when I first heard about it). Thankfully the combat sections make up a small portion of the overall game and don't detract too much from an otherwise stellar experience.

I think this is the longest review I've ever written on this site but it also feels like I could write pages more about this game. It's insane to me to think that this game exists at all; if I were in a board room hearing Death Stranding pitched to me for the first time I'd have thought that Kojima had lost his mind. But I'm also immensely grateful that he was given the opportunity to tell his off the wall and absolutely unhinged story that resonated so deeply with me. I distinctly remember seeing the trailer for the sequel at the Game Awards last year and thinking that it was wild to me that they were making a sequel to that weird walking simulator game - now, I cannot wait to dive back into this world once again.

posits that even if humanity is irrevocably fucked, even with an end of the world seemingly approaching, it is worth making the changes for our own betterment. it is worth trying to reconstruct from the embers, even in the shadow of an apocalypse, and it is worth forging connections with others. there is value even in the wreckage of humanity, and we will always have the capacity to rebuild from whatever we have left. our links to others are what define and strengthen us throughout our darkest hours. every bit of tedious gameplay is forgivable when confronted with what it serves; the idea that connection is necessary no matter the lengths one goes to.

optimism about the human condition asides, it is also shocking how empathetic this game is on a more minute scale. characters who are set up as villains are treated with such emotional fidelity and have complexity to their actions (there is one exception but i imagine his development is being saved for the second strand type game). the cast of characters are all so memorable and usually quite easy to connect with. malingen, die-hardman, fragile, heartman, etc. clifford unger would have to be my favourite though - mads mikkelsen knocks it out of the park, and his character arc is perhaps the most poignant out of everything here.

admittedly, this game is messy at points, yet that adds a certain endearing nature to it. the sincerity here is something you hardly ever come by. it's so wonderfully dedicated to itself and the story/themes it carries out that i can pardon a few irritating moments here and there. optimistic and earnest and unbelievably human through and through. i cannot thank kojima enough.

Just wow holy fuck man.

I have to start off by saying that aside from Silent Hill 2, this has the best narrative that I think I have ever seen told in a video game ever.

Normally when you are playing are video game you can feel the weight of a cutscene potentially overstaying it's welcome but not here man.

When I finished this game yesterday I watched over an hour of cutscenes and I still could've carried on watching for a long time after that.

All of the actors did a great job here, Mads Mikkelsen, Lea Seydoux and obviously Norman Reedus were the standouts for me. May as well write a letterboxd review for this now because it is basically a film lolz.

The only times I had a bit of a gripe with the game did come from the gameplay as I thought there were sometimes when the BT's did get a fair bit annoying but I still ended up liking the innovative gameplay and mechanics very much. That is basically the same with every game I play really, some moments drive me insane. I mean I am a Silent Hill 4 defender but the sequences on the escalators with the ghosts sticking out of the wall makes me want to quit and never come back.

But other than that, making deliveries in a video game has never been as fun and satisfying as it is here. I mean the gameplay got to me at times but it doesn't take away from how much of a masterpiece I truly think this game is.

It is insane to me how people can suggest that this game is a "walking simulator".