High key the best ending to any video game tbh

Warning: This review is gonna be long and messy (just like the game). Hope you enjoy it!

Advice: If you already know the struggles of Kojima and his team leading into Death Stranding, the Prologue is optional.

PROLOGUE

Before I jump into this game, we gotta go back. Way back. So far back you’d never believe it. So far back, you’d probably not be alive for it. A time so far back it makes dinosaurs feel like a modern species. Of course, I’m talking about the year 2014. The date is August 14th, and I am 12 years old. And on that day something absolutely terrifying happened. Something that felt otherworldly and indescribable.

The iconic P.T. came out.

I’m not going to dwell too long on this game, since it’s not the game I’m reviewing, but I think it’s super important to bring this game up since it’s what connected Norman Reedus, Guillermo Del Toro, and Hideo Kojima together for the first time. And what’s equally important is the public’s reaction to this game. People went fucking apeshit over this game. Many people call this game one of the scariest interactive experiences ever made and looking at my high score for said game, I’m inclined to agree.

Kojima of course followed this up with Metal Gear Solid V, which did fantastically. It was near-universally loved and sold 3 million copies in five days. At this point, Kojima’s reputation was the highest of his entire career. He was making money for the publishing studio Konami, millions of people adored him, and he was pushing the medium of video games artistically with every new release he came out with. It really seemed like he was on top of the world. So it only makes sense that Konami would make the 1000 IQ move of fucking firing him.

So yeah, in 2015, Kojima no longer had a publishing company. Many gamers were really pissed at this decision. So Konami made an even smarter decision by disallowing Kojima to accept any awards he would have gotten for making The Phantom Pain. Konami must have been surprised that this didn’t make said gamers any happier, so they made an even smarter decision! They took P.T. off the Playstation store, made it unavailable to re-download it if you had already downloaded it in the past, and have shut down every person who’s tried to recreate the game in any capacity; in other words, if you don’t own a Playstation 4 that already has P.T. downloaded on it, the game is now literally impossible to play. Thanks, Konami! Later, they would take Metal Gear Solid, Kojima’s precious artistic baby that he led for over 20 years, and make a spin-off zombie-themed game that nobody asked for and everybody hated.

At this point, it was seen as Kojima was an absolute superhero in the industry and Konami had been pinned as his personal supervillain. It seemed like people were ready to support Kojima in literally whatever endeavor he did next. And when people saw in an E3 Trailer that Norman Reedus and Guillermo Del Toro would both be involved in a new game that Kojima was working on, made completely without Konami’s interference. As each trailer came out, the hype grew more and more. They revealed an eerie, depressing but somewhat beautiful tone without spoiling a single thing about the plot, which led to a sort of mystery when thinking of what the game would even be.

This hype and mystery carried three years, right up to the release of the game on November 8, 2019. And now that the game is out, people’s reaction has been… uh… mixed. Some find it beautiful, some find it stupid. Some find it complex, others find it redundant. The questions on people’s minds seem to be “What the hell was that? Why are there babies in my esophagus? Why am I making piss grenades? Why does the map feel so broken? Why are there so many twins? What is going on? Where am I? Who am I? What?” Well, while I definitely don’t have the answers to all of these questions, I think that keeping all the context beforehand in mind while reviewing this game adds a few dimensions and layers to the project.

So as I dive into the actual review section of this, well, review, I think that it’s important to keep all that in mind when I dive into the review (especially Episode II of this review). I feel like I’ve wasted enough time, so let’s just jump in.

EPISODE I: GAMEPLAY AND GAME DESIGN

I’m going to be blunt here: I did not enjoy the game design here. I found it to be frustrating, sure, but above all else it’s endlessly repetitive. Lemme break down the structure of 90% of all levels in this game:

Step 1: Make your way over to a terminal.

Step 2: Gather supplies for your journey.

Step 3: Deliver a package by making your way over to another terminal.

That’s it. There’s pretty much no room for creativity, except for what supplies you’re bringing with you and where you’re using those supplies. I find the swap from Metal Gear Solid V to Death Stranding (in terms of gameplay) to be similar to The Beatles’ swap from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to the “White Album” (in terms of album covers). One is colorful, full of life and creativity, keeping the viewer engaged and loved by pretty much everyone (MGSV / SPLHCB); and the other, in response, says “fuck that Imma do the exact opposite” (TWA / DS), leaving viewers with a blank nothingness. However, where The White Album’s content ended up being varied and revolutionary, Death Stranding’s content was very disappointing.
Maybe this wouldn’t have hit as hard if it wasn’t HIDEO KOJIMA behind the production; my literal favorite game designer of all time. But since it is, there are these insane expectations placed upon his seal of approval.

But that’s my thoughts on the game DESIGN. My thoughts on the gamePLAY are a little more positive. And a big reason for why is because the way the game functions ties into the themes of the game itself. The themes of the game revolve around traversing through a rough landscape and relying on the help of others, which is really powerful to be completely honest. Themes of helping one another and finding community have been seen in film and novel mediums, but there’s something powerful about the video game medium carrying out this message. It specifically makes it so that YOU have to connect with other people, not just a character. Kojima is known for his postmodernist style of handling themes in his games (which is something I adore about the man). And here, that style can work really well.

Imagine you’re struggling to deliver a package. All looks lost, until you find that some kind stranger left behind a motorcycle. Another stranger who you’ve never met is actively trying to help you, and in a way say “I understand your struggles.” It’s honestly enough to make a man cry tears of happiness. To regain a sense of hope for mankind.

But then you realize you’re playing yet another fetch quest and it dissipates somewhat. This is the core issue of Death Stranding.

Oh but those fetch quests are fucking heaven compared to the third person shooter sections. For real, fuck these sections. They play like total fucking dogshit, and I could not wait to get past them every time they show up. I would groan every time I saw Mads Mikkelsen (which has never happened in any other context by the way) because there was a good chance that it meant I would have to go trekking through a shitty ass war zone with the worst inventory mechanics ever applied to a shooter. I could excuse the mechanics for the walking simulator sections, but it’s genuinely some of the most unbearable shit I’ve ever had to go through when I have to pick up ammo.

Overall I’m not huge into the GAME part of this game. Again, when it works it works; but I found it lacking in that regard for the most part. But who knows? Maybe it’ll grow on me? I just hope that in the sequel, those moments that work in tandem with the story are more strong and centerplace in the game overall. Speaking of which…

EPISODE II: STORY

God, I’m so conflicted about this story. It’s like a pretentious art house film that had me rolling my eyes constantly, but at the same, I was kind of into the base story. The acting is really great, which is in part due to the animators and actors giving it 100%; especially from Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen and Tommie Earl Jenkins. But c’mon. Do you expect me to take a story seriously with characters named Heartman, who lives by a lake shaped like a heart and has constant heart attacks (get it because he’s HEARTman (DO YOU GET IT))? Or other characters like Die-Hardman (who has no connection to the film “Die Hard” by the way)?

Yes, this game has a lot of stupid bullshit in it. But in fairness, Kojima games have always had stupid bullshit in them. Johnny from Metal Gear Solid 4 is an example of this. There’s a game tying up the Solid Snake story, and then this guy who’s main characteristic is that he has explosive diarrhea just comes waltzing in. Yes, there’s always been stupid shit present. But in those games, it’s treated as stupid shit. Here, it’s indiscernible from the serious stuff. All of this leads to a sort of tonal clash in the story.

I feel as though the story is at war with itself. It can’t decide if characters are campy, or serious. It can’t decide if the story should be simple and grounded, or sprawling and epic. It’s one thing to balance tones, but it’s something else entirely to not be sure of what you’re trying to achieve. And I felt that this conflict within the story itself was frustrating, but on some strange level also sort of fascinating.

The world might be the most fascinating part. Yes, it is kind of dumb that Monster Energy and “Ride With Norman Reedus” made it past the literal apocalypse (especially since Norman Reedus plays the main character (who I guess just coincidentally looks like the Norman Reedus from the poster)), who’s name is Sam Porter Bridges. But when you push past all the dumb shit, there’s really interesting ideas at play here. One idea I love in particular is timefall. Rain that ages what it touches works on multiple levels. It reinforces a death-filled world, it introduces the gameplay mechanic of your equipment aging, and it helps build upon the theme of social isolation as everybody avoids the precipitation. When this game’s writing works, it’s really great!

The themes can be especially powerful. This is actually where the prologue of this review comes into play, because I feel as though this game works on a metatextual level. Letting go of a project you’ve lovingly created is a horrible, gut wrenching thing to do. It feels like you’ve lost a part of yourself, and it can leave you in a place of utter darkness. That darkness can consume you as it does to many, or you can rely on the help of others to push back against that darkness. And, to me, THAT is what this game is about. Death Stranding is a game about a once-prosperous America being torn apart by not only the apocalyptic setting outside but the animosity and cynicism felt by individuals across America. It’s about slowly rejecting cynicism and building your life back together, starting from scratch, and moving forward

Not only did Sam do this over the course of the game, and not only did Kojima, but you did as well by playing it. Unless you’re some masochistic bastard, you most likely used people’s supplies to aid your journey. And unless you’re some kind of psychopath, you probably left something yourself to pay it back to them. This system of helping those around you and in turn being helped is what I feel is the core message of Death Stranding. And it mirrors Kojima’s own path to the very game itself. He could have just wallowed in his own suffering after being fired, but no. He made this instead, enlisting the help of those around him, and in turn helping out their careers as well. It’s a cycle of positivity and improvement, and Kojima was kind enough to put that experience itself into a video game format, so that people around the world could feel that same sense of empathy. It’s a beautiful thing, and it can only work in this medium.

Again, it feels like there’s stuff that’s either convoluted, unfocused, or just plain stupid a whole lot of this game. But when it works, it reminds me of why I love not only Kojima, but the medium of videogames overall. On a technical level I should despise how all over the place this story is, but I find that there’s a humanistic element to the story that’s just so strangely charming and impactful. And on the topic of technical levels…

EPISODE III: TECHNICAL ASPECTS

The technical aspects of this game are fucking superb. Like god DAMN have you seen how good this game looks?! Sorry, but I have to gush about this. If I had to pick between my firstborn child and Death Stranding by appearances alone, somebody is going to the orphanage. Facial animations are a big thing for me, and I think that nuances in the face are really what carry the emotional weight of acting in a video game a lot of the time for me. And here, they’re fantastic. The characters in this game don’t look like characters in a game, they look like actual human beings, which probably made going through the aforementioned story a lot easier.

The environments are just as impressive. There’s so much variety in what you’re looking at that it really helped me get through the repetitive nature of the game design. One minute you’re looking at these lush green hills, the next you’re on these rocky red mountains. Every pond, river, rock and blade of grass feels intentional in its placement; and your footsteps following your character connect you to the place you inhabit. There’s a sense of space, and unlike other open worlds where the emptiness feels lazy, here it feels intentional and eerie. The only game I can really compare it to is “Shadow of the Colossus” which ironically has many of the same pros and cons of this game in my opinion. It’s just a beautiful, terrifying world that Kojima and his team have designed, and I loved experiencing every minute of it.

And the SOUND DESIGN DUDE. Oh my god. When you’re going over these mountains and you hear the crunching of rocks, I’m so happy with how it sounds. This also goes for the splashing of water, the revving of engines, or any other sound in this world. It just sounds great. As an audiovisual experience, I might go as far as to say that this game is one of the best of the last decade. And for that reason, part of me almost feels as though this would be much more fun to watch than to play. But at the same time, playing the game is integral to the themes, since they reach the player through their actions. Do you see why I’m so conflicted?

I also feel like I should talk about the music. I think that Kojima has to be some kind of DJ on the side, because I have no clue how he’s able to find such great music from underground artists. And they always manage to fit the moment they appear in the game flawlessly. There’s something indescribable about walking around, struggling for so long, and getting down to your last supplies, only for one of the songs to play as you find a clear valley or the terminal in the distance. It feels like this beautiful sigh of relief, and it does so much more than any words could do. It’s for this reason that I actually like the music in this game more than any other Kojima title. It’s not just that the music itself is great (which it is), but it’s that it’s so well utilized. It’s visual storytelling at its best, which is something I’m always a sucker for.

So yes. Technically speaking, this game is an easy 10/10. I dare say that in this respect, it’s the best Kojima game to date. It honestly leaves me a bit in awe, and while I don’t love every part of this game, I honestly think that the technical aspects of the game are so great that you kind of HAVE to experience it.

EPISODE IV: CONCLUSIONS

We made it to the end! This review took an insanely long time to write. Hiatuses, writer’s block, and just life in general were big road bumps; so much so that the sequel to the game got announced during the writing process.

So now we get to the big question, the one you were all waiting for:

Do I like the game? And the answer is (dramatic drumroll)...

…yeah. It’s good.

I know. Thousands and thousands of words only add up to passive enjoyment.

But hey, I hope that getting here has been a reward for you in some sense. I would love to leave you with that feeling that Death Stranding attempts to provide; it's the feeling of a long trek, through bumpy passages. There are sections that come off as confounded, cryptic or straight up frustrating. But when it all comes into focus, you start to see a picture of what it means to be human. Of what it means to have empathy. And hope that you’re both able to give that empathy and receive it in large doses on a daily basis.

Unless you just skipped to the bottom. In that case, fuck you.

Wait, we gotta find Ciri? Like the iPhone Siri?!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/507/495/82c

Good god Im so conflicted about this game. I’m going to break this review off into sections because I do have a lot to say about it.


GAMEPLAY:
It’s bad. I personally don’t really care about quick-time events and am pretty indifferent towards them. However, I am pretty negative towards what Girlfriend Reviews dubbed “stop-time” events, where the game just decides to pause the entire events of what’s happening like it’s pausing time. It breaks immersion, it’s not fun, it’s not creative, it takes no effort, and the game is filled with them. The gameplay in general is similar to a TellTale game in that it’s a ton of fun to watch, but not so fun to play. I suppose the time-based decision-making was pretty engaging (which I will dive more into in the “Level Design” section of the review). But man, I wish I had more fun overall with this.


VISUALS:
Absolutely gorgeous. Even five years later, this remains one of the best-looking games I’ve ever seen. Something as simple as rain racing down a window is so beautiful, and people’s faces are actually animated in a way where you can register emotion from them, which adds a ton of weight to the really solid performances throughout. Automated cutscenes are a big turn-off for me when it comes to video game cutscenes, especially if the game is narrative-driven. So when the visuals complement the drama, it helps get me more invested in the story. And I have to give all of the animators, visual effect artists, and engineers massive props for what they were able to accomplish here; it’s simply stunning.


CONNOR’S STORY:
This is my personal favorite of the three storylines. Does it borrow heavily from Blade Runner? Yes. Are there nitpicks I have with character moments? For sure. But in the end, I don’t really care. This is my favorite because of the relationship between Hank and Connor and how it evolves over time, even if it’s simply portrayed and honestly nothing you’ve never seen before. I also appreciate this storyline because it feels like it’s the only one that could be tied directly to the implications of artificial intelligence. In every other storyline, the android issues are clearly either just a stand-in for race issues or sexism issues. Back of the bus, housewife (and domestic abuse) topics and even extermination camps are major parts of this game, and none of them has anything to do with the specifics of androids. Connor’s story does. There’s a really interesting scene involving a discussion of the Turing test and the existential questions involving it, and I wish the game was full of more moments like that, instead of keeping them exclusive to Connor’s story. Honestly, if they just fleshed out Connor’s story more and made him the sole focus of the game, I would probably raise my score a lot more.


KARA’S STORY:
It’s fine. This is where the sexism issues come in, and they’re dealt with in a whatever sort of way. Alice is a whatever character. Kara is a whatever character. Luther is alright I guess. Jerry is a character I have no emotional attachment to, which is really funny because, towards the end of the game, they’re going to force you to make a decision where they clearly expect you to have some emotional attachment to him so the decision is difficult to make. But he has no personality so there wasn’t any emotion attached to my decision whatsoever. This is maybe my least favourite of the three storylines, but honestly, I don’t know if I would call it bad per se. It’s ehh at worst and passable at best.


MARKUS’ STORY:
My lord this storyline is all over the place. This is clearly the most important storyline out of the three, but it feels like they should have put more thought into it if this was the case. Markus literally finds Jericho because of some really obvious visual symbols scattered throughout the city, and the reasoning that only androids could identify them feels like the writers are stretching a lot. Markus’ relationship with Carl is nothing nuanced but it’s pretty sweet and is honestly probably the highlight of this whole storyline (at least for me). The route I took personally for the revolution was the pacifist route, but honestly, I’m really not passionate about either Josh or North, and I felt like giving them more nuance and sympathetic characteristics that feel unique to each character would have made choosing between those two paths much more interesting. North has a bit more to her character than Josh, but I feel like that’s mainly just because she’s your romantic interest. Markus’ storyline is the most explicit when it comes to the unnecessary and on-the-nose race issue parallels aforementioned in Connor’s section, and thus this is the storyline that hurts the most from those criticisms.


GAME DESIGN:
This is really great. One of my favorite parts of the design a lot of the time is these timed sections where you only have oh so much time to gather clues and evidence. You’re not going to be able to collect every bit of evidence so you need to be selective and almost play these sections like it’s a speed run. It adds some much-needed tension to the gameplay and while this only comes up a few times, it’s really fun whenever it does. The flowcharts are insanely sprawling and complex. I hear that there are something like 40 endings to the game, and honestly, it makes me intrigued enough to come back to it again at some point in the future. Seemingly minor decisions will have grand consequences on not just your character’s storyline, but all other storylines and the world. It’s insanely impressive how this game was designed in this chose-your-own-adventure fashion. I also appreciate how some areas are open for player choice in just deciding what destination to go to. There’s a part as Kara where I have to find some shelter for the night. And the game doesn’t put it as a text-based decision; rather, it builds the decision into the environment. Choosing where to go and what to do is left entirely to the player, and I find that very cool. It’s an idea I maybe wish was pushed a little further, but when it shows up it’s really cool.

OVERALL:
I think I like it. Maybe? God, I’m so conflicted this is one of the most confused and loose 6/10s I’ve ever given, but who knows? Maybe on a second playthrough, my thoughts will be more concrete.

(Oh yeah also this review was written like a year ago, but I didn’t post it until now. If you think that’s bad, wait until you see my Death Stranding review!)

2013

They have you fight goblins in this. Fuck this game. Goblins are my friends >:(

This review contains spoilers

Funny enough I thought that Oleander wasn't all that hateable until I was supposed to sympathize with him as this bitchy annoying ass motherfucking kid. "Grab the bunny, not me!" Like NO FUCKING SHIT YOU EGGHEAD LOOKING MOTHERFUCKER WHAT THE FUCK DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M TRYING TO DO HERE? OH, THANKS MAN IT'S SO MUCH MORE HELPFUL THE TWENTIETH GODDAMN TIME YOU SAID IT I'M JUMPING FOR JOY RIGHT NOW PLEASE SAY IT AGAIN OH MY GOD I'M GONNA FLIP MY TABLE OUT OF PURE JOY IF YOU SAY IT AGAIN OF FUCK YES YOU SAID IT AGAIN HOLY SHIT YES THANK YOU THANK GOD FUCK.

The rest of the game was really neat. :)

This review contains spoilers

ok. yeha