Loved the first 10 or so minutes, this game has to be a new personal record for quickest sob in any video game. The rest of the game is polarising, apparently, which I can understand. It's not very gamey, and would maybe fit harder as a film, sure, but I do appreciate the immersion and atmosphere of exploring the wilderness by yourself. It's true that there isn't actually a lot of exploring to be done, and I would never say that this game tested my abilities or engaged my brain on a strategic level, but it still left an impression with its stylised visuals and clever narrative. Definitely worth an evening of your time.

Death Stranding is a breath of fresh air in the AAA open-world genre whether it clicks with you or not. Me personally, I loved planning out how to get from point A to B, focusing on traversal and inventory management, as there were so many ways that any delivery could go wrong. Rough terrain, massive amounts of cargo, enemy placement, all the focus of the gameplay is on getting to a new place. I especially loved the asynchronous multiplayer of this world, where once you've gotten to a new place and hooked it up to the 'chiral network,' you can now see a lot of other players' structures, decreasing a lot of stress in future trips.

The story isn't as focused or sensical as it could be, but I still found myself tearing up towards the end, especially with the exceptional performances by Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen. Troy Baker's performance was the stand out for me though, he chewed the scenery as the campy yet still scary terrorist. It's also just a beautiful game, especially on PS5.

Death Stranding isn't going to work for everyone, which is fair enough, but I do think it is a game that everyone should play. Far more interesting to think about than the universally loved open-world games like Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring, Death Stranding doesn't make the open-world feel exciting and filled with content like those games, but instead turns the genre inside out by making the very act of walking the focus. Give it a try, stick it out until chapter 3 when the world really opens up, and experience a game truly unlike anything before it.