La meilleure mise en scène que j'ai vu dans un JV, des cinématiques grandioses, un univers avec une DA de bz, le scénario fait rêver mais tout est dans le dernier quart du jeu, le rythme est pas forcément excellent, pareil pour le gameplay qui reste assez frustrant par moment J'ai pas spécialement été gêné par l'aspect "quête fedex" qu'on nous a vendu à la sortie, j'ai trouvé ça assez amusant les péripéties à chaque mission mais parfois la physique fait des siennes et ça devient frustrant
Une BO de malade dommage qu'on ne puisse pas l'écouter librement pendant les balades
Les séquences de gameplay TPS pour certains boss sont pas folles même si finalement l'ambiance et la DA rendent ça plutôt sympa
Je conseille fortement mais faut pas être pressé pour comprendre l'histoire parce que tout est chargé dans les 6 7 dernières heures de jeu et ne pas être gêné par la solitude parce que y'a vraiment aucun PNJ personne vous êtes seuls pendant 90% du jeu

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.

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.~

It's hard to really describe why I enjoyed Death Stranding. Watching Death Stranding would not be an exciting Let's Play, and the cutscenes without the gameplay would be complete drivel. However, something about the combination of a David Lynchian plot with the gameplay of delivering packages really made it work. When you finally unlock a new prepper, and some friendly player made the perfect bridge for you, everything seems so better. A new piece of equipment to help you deal with those pesky MULE's and you can get some new porters traveling the lonely world with you gives you that little bit of dopamine the people of the UCA desperately need. As I finally neared completion and was making my last deliveries in the drivers seat of a chrial roadster along the completed highways, making stops at integral ziplines to rush packages up the mountainside, I knew I would miss the world as soon as I was gone.

This game is not for everyone, and I think you will know whether you want to keep playing it by the time you Port Knot City, so if the gameplay or story or combination are not keeping you invested, then don't feel like you need to stay. If you get that far and you're hooked and you want to know more, make sure you take the time to visit every prepper, and get a few stars from each of them. The upgrades you can get from all of them will have a use at some point, and it's worth it to see to the end.

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.

As is true for a lot of his games, Kojima's writing is at its strongest when he doesn't explain anything. His narratives become a double-edged sword where he puts too much thought into everything, including the things that end up making the final product a lot less interesting at best and bloated at worst. In Death Stranding, he goes for quantity over quality, heaping new concepts and hard worldbuilding science into the niches between gorgeously slow, cinematic traversal segments. Mechanically, the game keeps itself afloat in this sea of science gibberish and Nothing plot with Nothing character development and Nothing narrative twists, but it's so wonderfully transgressively mechanical that I never found it ruining the experience, even when it got less fun listening to people explain things to me while I tried my darnedest not to fall off a cliff. And speaking of cliffs, Cliff's story was by far the most engaging part for me, Mads knocks it out of the park with his performance and is probably the most accessible character with the most relatable arc, being a guy who just loves his family -- unconstrained by the boundaries of life and death, and not needing any more explanation than that.
I'm hesitant to say that I'm excited for a sequel, I think making this into a full franchise will only elevate the fatigue of Kojima's quantity-over-quality hard worldbuilding revelry, but given how much effort he's putting into this concept, and how much he's playing with the boundaries of what the medium can do and what people will theoretically allow to be "a game," I think the world needs more of this.
My other problem is that it's built entirely on the "do small quests in a big sandbox open area" concept that MGSV did really well, but it never feels as satisfying as those side missions, maybe in part because there was more to do and more ways to approach tasks in MGSV versus DS' "just get from A -> B" mechanics. It's not bad for the main quests, but about 1/3 of the way in I found myself less interested in picking up side deliveries even if they were on my main route and started focusing on just the story. I anticipated this being something I'd pick up once in a while to do a few deliveries and feel satisfied with my work, but I don't have any urge to go back and be a completionist about it like with MGSV and Peace Walker.

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.

El gameplay me gusta mucho; es muy chill y es entretenido. Caminar es un puzzle y es muy entretenido, en serio. Es visualmente espectacular, tiene de los mejores gráficos de los últimos tiempos. El motion capture y la calidad de los modelos y las animaciones y los personajes son una locura, realmente de las mejores cosas que hay. Las actuaciones son también increíbles... Todo lo otro... Uffff. La historia no se entiende, o más bien, se entiende a medias. No me gusta, no conecto con los personajes, no me emociona. El guión es un quilombo, en grandes partes. El final son 2 horas de cinemáticas de exposición para intentar explicar lo que sea que hayamos visto pero aún así no se entiende un culo, además de ser aburrido y lento. Siento que si esto fuera cualquier otro que no sea Kojima, jamás se habría salido con la suya pero ni cerca, pero como es Kojima la gente se hacen los que entienden y es profundo y le siguen el juego. OJO, no digo que no tenga buenas ideas; las tiene, estoy seguro que enterrado en el quilombo de narrativa que tenemos, hay un pedazo de fucking historia que te deja sentado, pero la ejecución es... mediocre. Kojima no debería ser guionista, director creativo at best y aún así debería alguien decirle che... Recorta un poco acá. Aún así el juego me gusta mucho, me lo pasé dos veces, pero el final me cansa muchísimo, (tiene creditos 3 veces) y estoy escribiendo esto justo después de terminarlo así que quizás eso le redujo el puntaje un toque. Si pudiera jugar toda la zona intermedia mil veces lo haría, porque es muy divertido. De mis 29 horas de gameplay creo que 15 son de cinemáticas, y es demasiado. Más aún considerando que la información que te dan la repiten 19230182 veces ("Sam! Check the terminal for details on the order")

Prós: A história jutamente com os personagens trás uma experiência criativa, original e marcante. Toda a ambientação do jogo é muito bem amarrada com sua narrativa. Isso acaba entregando eventualmente um peso bacana pro mapa em si, mesmo que ele seja vazio visualmente.

A mecânica de entregas e seus equipamentos foi executado com excelência. Com certeza é o elemento mais divertido e diferenciado do jogo! Pra quem está de saco cheio dos formatos mais padrões na gameplay, as ideias experimentais apresentadas aqui são muito bem vindas.

O fato de podermos ajudar e ser ajudados por outros jogadores foi acertado no contexto do jogo. Isso dá sentido também a questão de fazermos entregas para os NPCs e recebermos equipamentos e informações novas em troca. Mesmo que seja uma estrutura casual e presente de maneira similar em outros jogos, aqui nesse universo acaba sendo mais coerente e instigante por impactar de maneira realmente relevante na gameplay e história.

O jogo trás tambem ótimas músicas da banda Low Roar, que tocam em momentos de contemplação durante as entregas. Inclusive esses momentos são mesclados cirurgicamente com outros que envolvem tensão (seja enfrentando Eps ou Mulas) e também de desafios nos próprios terrenos.

Os efeitos sonoros de maneira geral são de altíssimo nível. Alguns específicos chegam a grudar na cabeça, como por exemplo o efeito sonoro do "like".

As boss fight são satisfatórias, assim como o arsenal do Sam que acabou me surpreendendo diga-se de passagem. Tendo mais variedades de armas do que poderia imaginar pra um jogo com esta proposta!

Contras: Excesso de diálogos expositivos e hologramas durante a campanha. Esse problema ocorre principalmente com o personagem Die-Hardman. Ouvir ele falar Sam toda hora enjoa pra caramba!

A gameplay dos veículos não chega a ser ruim, mas deixa a desejar com certeza. Sendo um tanto quanto bugada e tendo uma curva de aprendizado meio frustrante para novos jogadores.

A física do Sam as vezes também tem seus bugs, principalmente em terrenos rochosos e acidentados é bem recorrente você ver as animações do boneco congelando e tentando processar o que está acontecendo.

Nos gráficos podemos presenciar diversos serrilhados que podem acabar incomodando as pessoas mais atentas e exigentes. (Estava jogando nos gráficos máximos do PC e mesmo assim passei por isso)

O personagem Sam é pouco carismático, o único ponto que me fez se importar com ele foi sua insistência em cumprir o objetivo mesmo com tanto sofrimento na sua vida e nas entregas. Certamente é um dos personagens que mais tive dó na minha história gamer.

Existem capítulos excessivamente grandes, e já incluo nisso também o próprio final que dura uma eternidade de maneira desnecessária.

Imendando com a crítica acima, na reta final temos a pior boss fight do jogo todo. Um dos momentos mais esperados é simplesmente anti-climatico e enfadonho. O que Kojima teve de criatividade no resto do game faltou muito nessa luta específica!

Ainda nos capítulos finais senti que o jogo apela muito, limitando pra caramba o jogador e enchendo o mapa de inimigos. Acaba sendo mais frustrante e cansativo que o normal esse momento.

As partes da guerra são legais em questão de história e cenário, mas em gameplay parece que só esta ali pra preencher o check-list de tiroteio no jogo. Por que não tem nada criativo no âmbito jogatina como o restante dos outros capítulos.

Conclusão: Death Stranding é um jogo ambicioso e fora da curva. Surpreende com seu universo, história e personagens. E trás consigo uma gameplay para aqueles jogadores que desejam sair um pouco da mesmice que anda o mercado gamer.

Tem diversos problemas, mas que acabam não comprometendo a experiência geral! Se numa sequência quase tudo isso for corrigido pode vir um jogão ainda melhor por aí.