I'm not the same person I was when I started this game.

I consider myself agnostic to Hideo Kojima's reputation in the industry; I think he's a singular voice among his peers and in video game history but I also am not overly enamored with the choices he makes in his games. There was a time where the cult of personality around him annoyed me, and because of that, it took me years before deciding to give Death Stranding a fair shake. The game's facile elements struck me as deeply silly and unserious when I encountered them and I dismissed it as masturbatory Kojima shit.

I never could have guessed that it'd be one of my favorite gaming experiences of the 2020s, and probably my life.

What I discovered about myself in playing through this is that I adore games that allow you to do work that we consider menial and laborious in real life. Through games, I can bypass the limits of my body and my patience, allowing me to have inhuman levels of stamina and perseverance. The experience of delivery in Death Stranding was intoxicating, both as an idea and in practice with the game's systems. Yes, there were so many frustrating and dismaying journeys throughout, but it made the successful runs and innovations in expediency sing out all the sweeter. I'm not sure I've had more fun in a game than throwing on a podcast or YouTube video and saddling up for a delivery run or, in what I will remember as the most singularly satisfying experience in the game, building a highway across America.

I will also say that, although Kojima's ideas are often laughable when you hear them the first time, there is enough of a grounding in tangible ideas that allow them to have some kind of a rooting in logic or understanding, if you're willing to go along with it. I'm not sure I could accurately summarize everything that happens in the game or why, not to mention the various concepts in play, but I think I could if I really wanted to completely understand it. There are compelling and imaginative ideas at work and a lot of it feels like it was appropriately realized, which I really appreciate.

Although the experience of it was thoroughly a positive one for me, I still got caught on all the ways in which Hideo Kojima games usually snag me. There are the expected lengthy cutscenes with little warning as to when they are coming in your experience, which become especially egregious by the end. As a storyteller, Kojima has always had difficulty in structuring his games in a way that makes cohesive sense when experiencing them. Although his reputation is as someone whose themes and imagery are inscrutable or weird-for-weird-sake, he also cannot resist laying out for you exactly what everything means, whether through crushingly long monologues or extensive written material. Combined with the considerable length of the overall game and the seemingly-intentional muted acting from the main characters, it made it hard for me to buy into a lot of the interpersonal relationships on an emotional level. The theme of connection really hit with me through the game's systems but the narrative lacked the ability to tie it all together into one big hit.

I also felt that the game's systems of combat seemed to be at odds with that theming. Oftentimes, the "worst" parts of the game were the ones that made gunplay and outright aggression the only course of action, both because I found those parts largely tedious and because they seemed to be counter to the rest of the systems of play the game encouraged you to take (ie. non-violence, stealth, logistics).

Death Stranding is deeply imperfect but its successes hit far too hard for me to feel all that negatively against it. Quite the contrary, actually, because I think that this may be my personal favorite of Kojima's games that I've played. I still adore Metal Gear Solid 3 but it is a very old game at this point, and Death Stranding's story definitely felt more fully realized than that of Metal Gear Solid V, which featured terrific gameplay. This game is proof of why I feel it's important to always interrogate your own reactions to things and never take your first impression for granted. If I had continued to dismiss this as I had initially in 2019, I would have missed out on an incredibly enjoyable time spent delivering packages and bringing the world a little closer together.

I booked a 8 month long Cody Rhodes vs Bowser feud for the title all for a 77 rated match when every other match on the card was in the 80's.

Daniel Garcia is the only one on the roster who has memories of a previous save I did and immediately got into a feud with his former tag partner; Max Verstappen before starting a cult.

No other game can do that.

Virtually identical to last year's release, right down to the in-game menus and graphical interface. There's nothing wrong with that - hell, there's everything right with that! - but it did contribute to the overall "been there, done that" feeling I had while playing this game every night for the month of April. I think I dumped more hours into The Show 22 than I did The Show 21 last year, but felt like I accomplished even less this time around. As long as I have Game Pass and as long as these are part of it, I bet I come back every April for more. But thirty or forty hours into this particular title, it's just time for me to move on, not out of boredom but self-preservation. There are only so many hours and so many days, and such.

as a gt megafan i had fun with gt1, but there's really not much reason to go back to this one over gt2 unless youre like me and you just really want to complete every game in the series. gt2 has way more cars, way more tracks, way more events with more variety in the entry lists and far less track repetition (no reverse tracks!), WAY better soundtrack imo (both in the menus and in-race), etc. i have tremendous respect for this game and what it accomplished in 1997, it's a true technological wonder. but that pioneering status can only carry it so far in 2022. 5 stars, but unlike gt2 i dont see myself ever playing through this one again.

Standing here, I realize you were
Just like me trying to make history.
But who's to judge the right from wrong.
When our guard is down I think we'll both agree.
That violence breeds violence.
But in the end it has to be this way.