Unlike anything I've ever experienced in any medium (film, TV, literature, and definitely gaming) in almost all positive ways. My biggest complaint is some of the exposition and pacing, which usually kind of feed into one another. In the latter half of the game, it just keeps pounding on you with plot, and even after the credits role, there's another hour of game left and it just made my feelings towards the wrap-up jump all over the place. Thankfully the game ends on it's strongest and most emotionally poignant note.

But other than that? This is extraordinary. A game about connection, reconnecting the world, and extinction would be done so generically by anyone other than Kojima. And for Kojima to take this simple idea and build one of the most mesmerizing, cinematic and enrapturing game worlds to convey this idea in is remarkable. The world-building, the concepts, the characters, the enemies, it's all completely unique and inventive. There are so many details that just add so much fucking personality to this thing, it's insane (the timefall, the tar and creatures that surface when BTs attack, Heartman's 21 minutes of life, the BBs, Monster Energy, the Beach). It's this wholly original science fiction experience that could easily go toe to toe with some of the best science fiction out there.

All of the technical aspects are remarkable. The textures, the world, the landscapes, the physics are all just as impressive as anything Rockstar has done. The sound design, the score, the motion capture (!!!), the visuals. All impeccable. I played a portion of this on a giant screen in a basement and it was unlike anything I'd ever played. And the multiplayer elements that are implemented feel like the next logical step off of something like Dark Souls ground messages. Death Stranding starts and from the get-go just feels completely daunting, like just you naked in a field versus a fucking army. But as the game progresses and you start connecting the UCA and structures begin to show up and vehicles, it becomes less of a task and feels quite relieving. Finding bridges and ladders and zip lines (I fucking ABUSED the zip lines lol) was just a gift in and of itself.

I loved the story, as well. Some of the most distinctive characters occupying one of the most distinctive science fiction worlds working in tandem to tell a grandiose story that feels insanely timely in a genuinely scary way. Admittedly, the game took me over a month to beat because I had to be in the right mood to enjoy my playtime, but when I was, I would settle into this for hours and would be happy doing so.