The divisive nature of certain media often sparks a personal interest in the product. With Hideo Kojima severing with Konami and eventually organizing a team of his own, a bizarre and polarizing experience was bound to be born from it all. This is Hideo Kojima after all, the man that has been known to write mind-boggling stories that oftentimes would directly incorporate the player themselves into the ever-growing narrative. Such expectations that he's built up within his fan base conjured the expanding hype for his latest Sci-Fi epic 'Death Stranding'. A game that would incorporate the cinematic language of film to convey its narrative grandeur and gameplay to communicate its themes and world-building. Surely this was to be at the very least an interesting escape into a world unlike any other. From the promotional material, a desolate America in dire need of reconnecting after a mysterious cataclysmic event cemented that intrigue many, including myself, had. And, after opening itself up to the world to dive-into, I found myself holy curious to unravel the game thread by thread. But eventually, those knots binding the game's pieces together began to tangle and grow thin by the hour.

Every step, every prairie crossed and mountain scaled, all of it was integral to build the intended atmosphere and themes of the game. The core gameplay loop consisted of simply traveling and delivering packages shelter to shelter. However, this was only the fundamental outline of what would be tasked throughout the playthrough. Plenty of mechanical components fused within that foundation would produce a frustrating, tedious trek juxtaposed with breathtaking, relaxing scenic moments. Beginning each mission required a visit to the shelter in need of orders being mailed out. And since the controlled protagonist, Sam Bridges, is a delivery man there's seemingly no one else more qualified for the job. Not only was delivering packages in tip-top shape a priority but responsibility for reconnecting each shelter to the ever-expanding "chiral" network to "make America whole again" was the main task. This everlasting loop gave way for a variety of emotional responses, positive, and negative.

The atmosphere, as specified before, was heavily integrated into the journey being partaken. A photo-realistic environment was the route taken to bring this world to life and without a doubt succeeded in drawing me in, at first. Never through my hikes would I be treated to a world of artificiality. Those prairies and intimidating mountains were not only painstakingly textured and modeled but contained weather appropriate to their placement. Heavy snowstorms and pounding rain continuously built upon the desolate atmosphere already present. As I battled my way through these intense storms periods of calmness shined through and allowed for me to fully soak in the scenery as I delivered my packages. During these moments the soundtrack crescendoed its way into the frame with each of the soothing melodies produced by Low Roar being a welcoming backdrop. With each of these atmospheric details piecing together through the first few hours, enthusiasm and curiosity began to develop. Art, however, no matter how visually pleasing it may be, must have a stable foundation to stand on. In this case, both the previously stated gameplay and narrative had to stand tall. Unfortunately, that's where this beautiful technical showcase began to fade into a mear two-dimensional background.

As my trips across the vast world progressed the aforementioned mechanical components weaved their way into my playtime one ingredient at a time. Since packages were the primary objects to preserve and carry throughout every mission it was important to layout hazards to project a sort of challenge. The terrain itself was one such hazard as cliffs and rapid rivers appeared around every corner. This was where factors such as holding the triggers to maintain balance and climbing gear came into play. See, the goal of 'Death Stranding' from a gameplay perspective was to utilize these mechanics to offer a difficulty curve. Instead, the game's offerings derailed into a half-baked, tiresome mess in almost every department. Tripping showcased plenty of clunky animations leaving Sam awkwardly hustling over uneven terrain. Feeding into the same idea was climbing large cliffs and crossing rivers as I anticipated it would allow me to deliver packages more promptly. With ropes to nail down to climb down steep mountainsides and ladders to cross rivers that proved quite aidful. But when I was out of those particular items I had to climb or cross with simply my legs. The discovery that accompanied this form of toolless traversal was janky animations mixed with inconsistent climbable surfaces. Trying to best the rapids of a roaring river would lead to falling over and losing packages to the waves. Instead of being a grave threat it only proved more of an irritation gathering the crates back. Grievously, on the climbing side, some exteriors appeared unfit to surmount but turned out otherwise. Others told a different story with me climbing onto a surface only to slide off or animation-wise clunk out and fall. This inconsistency upheld the tedious notions of the game design. Sure no aspect of the world felt unnatural, but at the expense of a fun experience. However, my main issue was despite these unpolished climbing mechanics the gameplay loop never truly posed a challenge. I may have tumbled leaving my packages slightly damaged but by the time I would deliver said packages I'd always receive a positive preservation grade.

Making things even easier was the, admittedly neat, indirect multiplayer. Players in their own game contain the ability to build structures such as roads, bridges, and generators to charge vehicles. These structures would appear in other players' games offering as a helping hand. Integrated quite well into the themes of connection this component was fascinating to explore. Yet, it made the already pitifully simplistic gameplay even more bare-bones leading to virtually zero complexities. The recently mentioned vehicles didn't exactly deter from the naive game design either. It further added to the clunky essence of the animations. The only two trials that posed as mildly more difficult were the weather and combat encounters. The weather would gradually degrade crates leaving them a bit more damaged but still usable unless you purposefully rest in the storm. And combat encounters made me groan almost every
time.

Clearly, Kojima never intended this game hinging off its shooting mechanics based on what I previously described, yet he still emphasized whole missions around them. Throughout the world camps of looters and terrorists would act as an obstacle of sorts. At your disposal were various assault weapons and pistols either lethal or none lethal. Killing enemies would lead to "void-outs"; self-combustion on a nuclear scale leaving the surrounding area in ruins. Although that was an interesting construct, with the none-lethal tools it was a joke to bypass. Albeit each way of tackling the combative situation was always a sluggish mess. The shooting was stiff leading to flat shoot-outs without an ounce of joy running through my body. Fisticuffs were also an option, though a laughable display of monotony. The AI was braindead as well, leaving me to casually dispatch of them without much issue at all. In fact, I hardly recollect dying if at all. It was almost like I minus well have been watching a let's play. With that, I'd have been able to at least avoid subjecting my precious life-force reluctantly partaking in combat. Suffice it to say avoiding these camps was a preference. Unfortunately the same could not be said about the other enemy class; the "BTs".
These invisible nuisances escalated my frustration levels to embarrassing heights. Why exactly? Well, plenty of missions required a trek through "BT" territory, so they were impossible to avoid. Crouch-walking through their dimly lit environments was slow and strenuous. And since cloaking was their strong suit, the only visual indicator came from your "BB". These little guys would be contained in a pod connected to a device that would beep the closer to a "BT" you were. Handy? Sure. Made the game even easier? Sure did. Even if caught by these creatures as they would form a tar pit around you attempting to drag you away, smashing the square button was a get out of jail free card. Doing that would grant you safe passage out of their boundaries as they despawned moving forward. Failure to escape their grasp they'd drag you to a mini-boss. Seeing the worth in these encounters must have flown over my head because escaping without being scathed was like running away from a sloth without being touched. Again, they acted more as elongation to the playtime rather than a fully fleshed out and engaging confrontation. The story did offer these dedicated large scale boss fights but designed more around the spectacle rather than an honest challenge. Defeating each behemoth only left a taste of disappointment. To have such incredible monstrosities being easily dealt with by assault rifles and grenades drained any sense of satisfaction in conquering them. Only the narrative behind them and the frustrating journey along the way could have barely tied what little present together.

Video games don't share the same narrative focus other mediums do. Therefore, a weak plot in a game rarely truly effects my experience unless blatantly at the forefront. 'Death Stranding' clearly was and is a story-driven adventure. Despite the gameplay hogging up a majority of the game length, a sizable chunk was devoted to the narrative and its characters. From the very introduction, my interest had already peaked. Sprinkled throughout were cutscenes that showcased imaginative visual spectacle that left me grinning every time. "Sprinkled" is the keyword. Roughly ninety percent of the plot consisted of indulging the player in unbearable amounts of exposition. Due to the overabundance of questions relating to the concepts at play, this was practically inevitable. Discovering where the "BBs" came from, who exactly is Mads Mikkelsen's character? What is the supposed central villain Higgs' motivation and where did he get his powers? What is the "Death Stranding"? These were just a few questions the characters set out to answer. Which, ultimately, led to an unfocused narrative with said questions being randomly pulled back up while investigating other matters. It got to the point where I was on the verge of skipping cutscenes as I neither cared for the repetitive exposition but also the characters themselves. Casting these talented stars like Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Troy Baker and many more didn't translate to well-written personalities. Structurally, the game was divided into episodes with many being dedicated to specific characters. Each of these specified episodes gave way for an attempt to develop each person with a dive into their past. But, the dialogue given to further drive the emotional turmoil embedded into their mindset did nothing but make me laugh. Lines such as "Everything you heard about me is true, except for the lies" and "I'm Fragile, but not that fragile" was only from Léa Seydoux's character Fragile. FROM ONE CHARACTER. This was the type of juvenile writing set from beginning to end, and due to that each performance was nerfed say for the eccentric impulses from Troy Baker. Mixing all the horrendous writing and exposition dedicated to the overwhelming amount of ideas we have a narrative that never fully expanded on one idea. Even more story relating to Sam's true identity bled past the credits as it had no room beforehand. With the theme of connection being accepted in the gameplay department, it fell woefully short in this discombobulated plot with no foundation to stand on. No amount of unsubtle mentionings about the importance of bondage helped bring it all to a satisfactory conclusion.

Just as I began to appreciate the atmospheric world of "Death Stranding" its true depth began to show. No matter how many subdued moments of soaking in the scenery with Low Roar's complimentary soundtrack accompanying along distracted from the agonizingly pointless gameplay. Just like how the few spectacularly short cutscenes ended up shallow with its connection to such thin concepts and bloated narrative. Anticipating a slow-burning venture gave me great hope to see a world thoroughly explored and realized. I could not have predicted that the threads tied together would wear thin and woefully tangled.