I've never posted a long-form review on this site before, but when my controller turned off again in the final cutscene, my brain demanded I spew some thoughts.

First, if it doesn't hook you in the first 2 hours, don't bother; if you can't see the vision, don't squint. You're not more or less of a gamer for it because this game is tedious, it tests you at times, and people look down on it by saying the gameplay loop is just about walking from point A to B, and they're correct.

But A to B is an experience that, personally, no other game can really compare to. The world is beautiful; Kojima re-imagines the United States as an Icelandic-esque, untouched-by-humanity landscape. The world and landscape are the biggest challenges; a river can sweep you away, a mountain provides an hour-long potential challenge, and you'll find yourself running far too fast down a hill and watching Sam tumble and your precious cargo get smashed into little bits. Occasionally, the game throws out some concepts that aren't explored more; heavy wind and poison gas come and go, but from start to finish, you plan every run, every ladder, or climbing rope to get you to the next point.

You can build structures to assist you in these routes, but the core of the gameplay experience is the online feature where other players builds show up in your world, their bridges, ladders, and items they've left behind. You build roads together and throw items at each other in boss fights to help out, without ever actually seeing them; we're connected via the internet as the world of Death Standing is through the chiral network.

As you grasp the broader scope and construct a network of roads and ziplines, the game begins to really open itself up to you, challenging you to do these deliveries, to connect this world. The game rewards you for efficiency, using less resources, it rewards you with building these 'strands', these connections between people.

Some people say Kojima desires to be a film director instead, but I think Death Stranding proves Kojima's understanding of what interactivity can bring to a narrative. Very few games have shown the ludonarrative chops of Death Stranding, how it weaves its plot and world into the gameplay.

The story is weird, the story is bizarre, scenes taken out of context could make even the most sincere person cringe, and with context, you'll still cringe. But it's earnest; Kojima has a lot he wants to say about the isolation of the modern world, the importance of the connections we make with each other, how letting people in can save you, the dangers of focusing on the past over the future; all told through a combination of long cutscenes with 3d models of Hollywood actors; and you falling down a cliff and detonating a bomb because you ran out of stamina running from a monster.

Through the obvious, Kojima bangs you on the head; as someone who's first Kojima game (I grew up with Nintendo, sorry!). I'm told this is a recurring point in his games; names mean something. A character named Fragile will look at the screen and call themselves broken, a character named Heartman has a heart condition, a character named Deadman... well, you understand. But through all these metaphors that bang you on the head, there is an untold story under Death Stranding; one that asks if you're really paying attention, a story of a sick America, obsessed with its role to bring humanity to ruin, forcing its people into isolation and destroying our networks.

The combat sucks, it really sucks in some of these boss fights; sometimes the movement can be finicky where you really don't need it to be.

There's really nothing like Death Stranding.