An incredibly perculiar AAA game. Really appreciated my time with it. The real highlights of this game are the movement mechanics and the setting.
The basis of the gameplay in Death Stranding is movement. For the majority of the first part of the game, the game centres purely around walking and how to tackle the terrain. I applaud the idea of a large game trying to add a challenge and a full feature set towards something as simple as how you walk across a distance, it's kinda like an opposite Mario in that you have all this focus on movement mechanics but instead of making them feel smooth and tight it's all about making it feel challenging and slow. For someone who went into the game expecting a lot of tedium with the gameplay, I was surprised at how zen and rewarding they made it. Like, I'm not going to lie to you and say I didn't fully utilise a full zipline network by the end of the game because I didn't want to walk anywhere anymore but for the moments where the game makes you tackle the idea of traversal OUTSIDE of ziplines...it's actually really neat. Part of me kinda wishes ziplines weren't in the game, despite their great convenience for grinding the game out. Maybe I'd say the same for vehicles. Imagine a game that was maybe a bit more focused on smaller, more interesting environments where you could only tackle them on foot. Hmmmm....
The other thing I really wanna point out is the world of Death Stranding. It's by far the most unique and interesting part of the game and I have to give Kojima credit for making a very unique apocalypse, since it would have been so easy to just go for something a bit more generic and drab. Instead he decided to give us baby technology, upside down rainbows, rain that makes time go faster and lore on how drugs are used by people who are addicted to likes. Thanks Kojima.
The thing that ultimately brings the entire thing down though is the story. Everything with Amelie sucks. There was something kinda interesting in the idea of a grim reaper with a heart but it doesn't explore it enough and honestly I can't remember enough to tell you even what Amelie's whole thing was. I just remember being pretty unenfused about her and her whole story...which sucks because she's pretty much the main focus of the entire game and the payoff with her just isn't great. Actually, that Princess Beach scene was amazing. Nevermind, she was worth it after all. Also Higgs sucks. Troy Baker needs to stay away from cool rival characters because whenever he plays one they suck.
Saying that I didn't mind the other characters. The stuff with Cliff and Die Hardman was kinda cool, just a shame they don't get more stuff. BB is precious. I guess I have a problem overall with the writing of the characters. The more I think about it, the more there really isn't a stand out winner for me. They're just kinda around.
But oh man honestly, genuinely, the one thing that kepts the characters completely back for me was the use of real actors. Why? What did doing any of this add? I don't know if it's just me but I found them to be INCREDIBLY distracting. Like, why not just use a character design...y'know? Like, why not just have a unique face for the character that matches them and let the character design be as expressive as they wanted without having to worry about fitting a real person onto it. Why is Amelie based on Lindsey Wagner out of the six million dollar man? How is that not just a terrible thing for your character who is also the main point of the game and a death god? God it annoys me.
Overall though, I'd say Death Stranding is a pretty good game based on how unique of a project it is. Shortcomings with the main plot and characters aside, I enjoyed my time with it and I hope Kojima continues sticking to making games like this, now that he's freed from the chains of Metal Gear. Maybe get another dude in to help write next time though.
The basis of the gameplay in Death Stranding is movement. For the majority of the first part of the game, the game centres purely around walking and how to tackle the terrain. I applaud the idea of a large game trying to add a challenge and a full feature set towards something as simple as how you walk across a distance, it's kinda like an opposite Mario in that you have all this focus on movement mechanics but instead of making them feel smooth and tight it's all about making it feel challenging and slow. For someone who went into the game expecting a lot of tedium with the gameplay, I was surprised at how zen and rewarding they made it. Like, I'm not going to lie to you and say I didn't fully utilise a full zipline network by the end of the game because I didn't want to walk anywhere anymore but for the moments where the game makes you tackle the idea of traversal OUTSIDE of ziplines...it's actually really neat. Part of me kinda wishes ziplines weren't in the game, despite their great convenience for grinding the game out. Maybe I'd say the same for vehicles. Imagine a game that was maybe a bit more focused on smaller, more interesting environments where you could only tackle them on foot. Hmmmm....
The other thing I really wanna point out is the world of Death Stranding. It's by far the most unique and interesting part of the game and I have to give Kojima credit for making a very unique apocalypse, since it would have been so easy to just go for something a bit more generic and drab. Instead he decided to give us baby technology, upside down rainbows, rain that makes time go faster and lore on how drugs are used by people who are addicted to likes. Thanks Kojima.
The thing that ultimately brings the entire thing down though is the story. Everything with Amelie sucks. There was something kinda interesting in the idea of a grim reaper with a heart but it doesn't explore it enough and honestly I can't remember enough to tell you even what Amelie's whole thing was. I just remember being pretty unenfused about her and her whole story...which sucks because she's pretty much the main focus of the entire game and the payoff with her just isn't great. Actually, that Princess Beach scene was amazing. Nevermind, she was worth it after all. Also Higgs sucks. Troy Baker needs to stay away from cool rival characters because whenever he plays one they suck.
Saying that I didn't mind the other characters. The stuff with Cliff and Die Hardman was kinda cool, just a shame they don't get more stuff. BB is precious. I guess I have a problem overall with the writing of the characters. The more I think about it, the more there really isn't a stand out winner for me. They're just kinda around.
But oh man honestly, genuinely, the one thing that kepts the characters completely back for me was the use of real actors. Why? What did doing any of this add? I don't know if it's just me but I found them to be INCREDIBLY distracting. Like, why not just use a character design...y'know? Like, why not just have a unique face for the character that matches them and let the character design be as expressive as they wanted without having to worry about fitting a real person onto it. Why is Amelie based on Lindsey Wagner out of the six million dollar man? How is that not just a terrible thing for your character who is also the main point of the game and a death god? God it annoys me.
Overall though, I'd say Death Stranding is a pretty good game based on how unique of a project it is. Shortcomings with the main plot and characters aside, I enjoyed my time with it and I hope Kojima continues sticking to making games like this, now that he's freed from the chains of Metal Gear. Maybe get another dude in to help write next time though.