it cant be overstated how important kojima is to the game industry. like him or not, he's revolutionized the way we see game design more than once. with his newest game he may not change the way we look at games, but he still proves he knows how to make a new idea work perfectly well.
i went into this game expecting it to suck hard. i thought it would just be walking from point a to b with some face-level story on top. i was severely wrong.
the amount of nuance from just getting package x to point a is insane, with everything down to the terrain keeping your attention. hell will rise from the ground to keep you from delivering some packages. but deliver them you will god damn it, because youre Sam Porter Bridges.
there's so many things that keep gameplay from getting stale, down to the end of the game youre constantly unlocking new weapons and gadgets and modes of transport. on top of that youve got MULE camps which never stop being satisfying and the BT sections which never stop being tense. everything feeds into everything else and its impossible to look away from the screen once it starts, and i have never played anything like it.
but what truly elevates this game is the balls to the wall story. the horrifying symbolism of strands and hands and uterine glands makes for a visual experience unlike anything before it. it's a weird thing to say, but this might be the most well-shot game i've ever played. not to mention that every character is extremely well written and even more interesting than the last, the obvious highlight being Mads Mikkelsen.
death stranding's america is a world i wont forget and the tense package delivery along with it. theres truly nothing like this game and i applaud everyone involved for making such an interesting, dare i say bold game work so god damn well. just one more feather in kojima's cap.
i went into this game expecting it to suck hard. i thought it would just be walking from point a to b with some face-level story on top. i was severely wrong.
the amount of nuance from just getting package x to point a is insane, with everything down to the terrain keeping your attention. hell will rise from the ground to keep you from delivering some packages. but deliver them you will god damn it, because youre Sam Porter Bridges.
there's so many things that keep gameplay from getting stale, down to the end of the game youre constantly unlocking new weapons and gadgets and modes of transport. on top of that youve got MULE camps which never stop being satisfying and the BT sections which never stop being tense. everything feeds into everything else and its impossible to look away from the screen once it starts, and i have never played anything like it.
but what truly elevates this game is the balls to the wall story. the horrifying symbolism of strands and hands and uterine glands makes for a visual experience unlike anything before it. it's a weird thing to say, but this might be the most well-shot game i've ever played. not to mention that every character is extremely well written and even more interesting than the last, the obvious highlight being Mads Mikkelsen.
death stranding's america is a world i wont forget and the tense package delivery along with it. theres truly nothing like this game and i applaud everyone involved for making such an interesting, dare i say bold game work so god damn well. just one more feather in kojima's cap.
Cant drive my car straight up a cliff. Thanks a fucking ton Kojima.
I decided to not watch anything past the first reveal trailer, and that was probably the best decision I could have made.
I didn’t expect to love this game, I thought I’d play for like 3 hours and quit. but I was surprised with how solid the gameplay was. It’s fairly simple, but that’s the beauty of it.
You trek across America trying to rebuild the country by reconnecting the “chiral network”. You’ll have to traverse through BT zones, timefall, strong winds, harsh mountains covered in snow, etc. The movement system is pretty bare bones but also solid, you’ll have to manage your cargo depending on the environment and weather, and if you carry too much you’ll have to actively rebalance yourself to make sure it doesn’t topple over. The management is satisfying, like say you have to travel through strong winds coming from your left, you’ll have to constantly lean your character to the left to fight the wind, orrrr you could rearrange your cargo to allocate more weight to your left which will make it easier to traverse. The inventory management feels great and just gets better as you progress and unlock more blueprints (like which skeleton to use to help you get to your destination, or which guns to keep on you to deal with MULEs, etc.) every once in a while you’ll have to deal with MULEs who want to take your cargo, but they’re quite easy to take out. You can raid their camp to get a shit ton of materials to put into fabrications or to build structures to help yourself and other players traverse the terrain.
Throughout the game you’ll encounter big BTs that you have to actually kill to progress, which is where the game starts having some problems. The gunplay feels very stiff, it’s not very satisfying.
Another con is the vehicle handling. Driving the truck is so frustratingly difficult, its not even worth trying, and the motorcycle is little better but the turning on it feels a tad stiff and tanky.
The story is confusing at the start but it comes together in the last 6 hours. Characters like Deadman are very likeable. Though there are some iffy lines like “I'm princess beach” which just makes you cringe, but those aren’t very common. Very easy to follow the story, unlike Metal Gear (dear god)
Overall: While the game will definitely be divisive, I enjoyed my time with it, and feel like Kojima delivered exactly what I wanted from this game.
I personally recommend this game to anyone who is on the fence about it.
I didn’t expect to love this game, I thought I’d play for like 3 hours and quit. but I was surprised with how solid the gameplay was. It’s fairly simple, but that’s the beauty of it.
You trek across America trying to rebuild the country by reconnecting the “chiral network”. You’ll have to traverse through BT zones, timefall, strong winds, harsh mountains covered in snow, etc. The movement system is pretty bare bones but also solid, you’ll have to manage your cargo depending on the environment and weather, and if you carry too much you’ll have to actively rebalance yourself to make sure it doesn’t topple over. The management is satisfying, like say you have to travel through strong winds coming from your left, you’ll have to constantly lean your character to the left to fight the wind, orrrr you could rearrange your cargo to allocate more weight to your left which will make it easier to traverse. The inventory management feels great and just gets better as you progress and unlock more blueprints (like which skeleton to use to help you get to your destination, or which guns to keep on you to deal with MULEs, etc.) every once in a while you’ll have to deal with MULEs who want to take your cargo, but they’re quite easy to take out. You can raid their camp to get a shit ton of materials to put into fabrications or to build structures to help yourself and other players traverse the terrain.
Throughout the game you’ll encounter big BTs that you have to actually kill to progress, which is where the game starts having some problems. The gunplay feels very stiff, it’s not very satisfying.
Another con is the vehicle handling. Driving the truck is so frustratingly difficult, its not even worth trying, and the motorcycle is little better but the turning on it feels a tad stiff and tanky.
The story is confusing at the start but it comes together in the last 6 hours. Characters like Deadman are very likeable. Though there are some iffy lines like “I'm princess beach” which just makes you cringe, but those aren’t very common. Very easy to follow the story, unlike Metal Gear (dear god)
Overall: While the game will definitely be divisive, I enjoyed my time with it, and feel like Kojima delivered exactly what I wanted from this game.
I personally recommend this game to anyone who is on the fence about it.
“Can an absolute masterpiece really be so flawed?” This question has been shouted from the mountain-top in reviews at the world’s largest gaming sites, and whispered among friends on forum boards and over lunches. It has also persisted in my mind for the last 6 or so hours of “Death Stranding,” as the absolutely engrossing world I’d spent 34 hours in slipped away into self-indulgent and predictably unpredictable cut scenes.
When the dust settled, no amount of unnecessary, standing-around-and-talking exposition could rob me of the unforgettable adventure that was connecting America with the chiral network. “Death Stranding” is a master-class of VIDEO GAME design... Unlike writers in other storied franchises (like “The Last of Us”), Hideo Kojima never loses sight of his medium and he gives players an experience befitting of a master craftsmen.
The game stands out above any other in its meticulously planned world. Its most compelling elements are not the fantastical, but the mundane; in the game’s moment-to-moment gameplay, the primary antagonists are the terrain and weather systems. Experiencing my first white-out in the mountainous terrain, I could not help but set the controller down in awe at the power on display. In a counter-intuitive way, the digital world I inhabited gave me a far greater love and appreciation for the real world that lies hidden beneath our paved roads and wind-resistant architecture.
Once I stopped marveling at the world around me, I found myself marveling at the simple humanity on display in every character. Norman Reedus’ Sam Bridges communicates powerfully through physicality; Lea Seydoux’s Fragile is instantly engaging as a mysterious, omnipresent figure; Mikkelsen’s Cliff chews up every scene he is in; and Troy Baker’s Higgs is haunting. I could honestly highlight a scene for almost every major character that deserves full recognition for outstanding voice acting and motion capture.
To take the acting further, the game gives its characters some of the most human dialogue to work with among games I’ve played! This is a game unashamed to ask the big questions of human existence, and the answers it attempts to provide are delivered with tone and vocabulary I would use with friends in late night conversations—a welcome scripting decision in our 21st century world where waxing eloquent is valued over clear communication. Sure, I cannot accept every answer Kojima offers through his characters, but the boldness to wade into such human topics as death, despair, division, and divinity was refreshing.
The game falters most when it feels like other video games—when combat takes center stage. The gunplay competes with the best third-person shooters, but “Death Stranding” is special and unforgettable because it finds a way beyond the trappings so prevalent in the medium of video game to rely on guns and bullets for a cheaply earned “conflict.”
The game’s other major failing was its bigger story—the story revealed only in the final 5 chapters—that seems disconnected from the bulk of gameplay. During these final hours of the game, I could not follow several leaps due to unclear emotional cues.
I don’t think you need a long, clever conclusion to this review—just know this game is truly special!
When the dust settled, no amount of unnecessary, standing-around-and-talking exposition could rob me of the unforgettable adventure that was connecting America with the chiral network. “Death Stranding” is a master-class of VIDEO GAME design... Unlike writers in other storied franchises (like “The Last of Us”), Hideo Kojima never loses sight of his medium and he gives players an experience befitting of a master craftsmen.
The game stands out above any other in its meticulously planned world. Its most compelling elements are not the fantastical, but the mundane; in the game’s moment-to-moment gameplay, the primary antagonists are the terrain and weather systems. Experiencing my first white-out in the mountainous terrain, I could not help but set the controller down in awe at the power on display. In a counter-intuitive way, the digital world I inhabited gave me a far greater love and appreciation for the real world that lies hidden beneath our paved roads and wind-resistant architecture.
Once I stopped marveling at the world around me, I found myself marveling at the simple humanity on display in every character. Norman Reedus’ Sam Bridges communicates powerfully through physicality; Lea Seydoux’s Fragile is instantly engaging as a mysterious, omnipresent figure; Mikkelsen’s Cliff chews up every scene he is in; and Troy Baker’s Higgs is haunting. I could honestly highlight a scene for almost every major character that deserves full recognition for outstanding voice acting and motion capture.
To take the acting further, the game gives its characters some of the most human dialogue to work with among games I’ve played! This is a game unashamed to ask the big questions of human existence, and the answers it attempts to provide are delivered with tone and vocabulary I would use with friends in late night conversations—a welcome scripting decision in our 21st century world where waxing eloquent is valued over clear communication. Sure, I cannot accept every answer Kojima offers through his characters, but the boldness to wade into such human topics as death, despair, division, and divinity was refreshing.
The game falters most when it feels like other video games—when combat takes center stage. The gunplay competes with the best third-person shooters, but “Death Stranding” is special and unforgettable because it finds a way beyond the trappings so prevalent in the medium of video game to rely on guns and bullets for a cheaply earned “conflict.”
The game’s other major failing was its bigger story—the story revealed only in the final 5 chapters—that seems disconnected from the bulk of gameplay. During these final hours of the game, I could not follow several leaps due to unclear emotional cues.
I don’t think you need a long, clever conclusion to this review—just know this game is truly special!
I have over one hundred hours in this Death Stranding, I like it a great bunch. That said, I'm very critical of it's flaws.
For one, the plot is a over-expositive convoluted mass of themes. Wide as the ocean and deep as a puddle, playing this game can feel like a philosophy undergraduate trying to explain the meaning of SOCIETY in one long and badly estructured essay. Kojima really needs to dial it back a tone or two on that.
On the other hand, this game is a superbly unique aesthetical experience. There is nothing in the world like trecking through the inhospitable wilds of post-apocalyptic USA. This is a game for hours of deep, relaxed introspection.
I also need to applaud the audacity of picking the most hated design trends of gaming and turning them over their head to make them enjoyable.
Take, by example, the idea of the 'walking simulator'. It is a poor choice of words to call Gone Home, Dear Esther or Protheus walking simulators, even though that's what they're mostly referred to. I say that because, even though you walk a whole fucking bunch in those games, what you're doing is mostly mindlessly pressing 'W' while paying attention to other stuff. Walking is just the invisible means through which you interact in these worlds.
Death Stranding, on the other hand, is a literal walking simulator. It's a near perfect, gamified simulation of walking through the interaction of various systems. And it's fucking good.
For one, the plot is a over-expositive convoluted mass of themes. Wide as the ocean and deep as a puddle, playing this game can feel like a philosophy undergraduate trying to explain the meaning of SOCIETY in one long and badly estructured essay. Kojima really needs to dial it back a tone or two on that.
On the other hand, this game is a superbly unique aesthetical experience. There is nothing in the world like trecking through the inhospitable wilds of post-apocalyptic USA. This is a game for hours of deep, relaxed introspection.
I also need to applaud the audacity of picking the most hated design trends of gaming and turning them over their head to make them enjoyable.
Take, by example, the idea of the 'walking simulator'. It is a poor choice of words to call Gone Home, Dear Esther or Protheus walking simulators, even though that's what they're mostly referred to. I say that because, even though you walk a whole fucking bunch in those games, what you're doing is mostly mindlessly pressing 'W' while paying attention to other stuff. Walking is just the invisible means through which you interact in these worlds.
Death Stranding, on the other hand, is a literal walking simulator. It's a near perfect, gamified simulation of walking through the interaction of various systems. And it's fucking good.
The moment to moment game play is really enjoyable. Whether you're just calmly taking a couple of packages to the next bunker over or trying to make a long haul through hostile terrain it's surprisingly engaging. The story is the exact opposite and the nonsense final stretch takes hours. Despite all that though I still occasionally wanna go back and hike some packages through the mountains for fun.
Good gameplay loop, plot takes about 55 hours to get going give or take, but when it starts rolling, it don't stop. The asynchronous online component worked really well and I think the game's themes, as in your face as they are, were really bolstered by it.
If you remove the story and simply let players interact with the world and do deliveries this might be one of my favorite games ever made.
Unfortunately it was written by Hideo Kojima.
Unfortunately it was written by Hideo Kojima.
thanks for putting your boner back in your pants a little bit kojima love u
A poorly advertised game that plays more like something similar to Elite Dangerous, with thoughtful, contemplative gameplay for the most part, interjected with action and, in this case, story.
A truly great game that was dealt a bad hand.
A truly great game that was dealt a bad hand.
I peaced out pretty early on once the realization set in that the gameplay aspect of this game was going to primarily consist of walking from point A to point B with the occasional shitty (but cool looking) boss fight sprinkled in.
Ojalá este juego no tuviera combate y fuera solo andar
Writing: 4/5
Gameplay: 3/5
Art Design & Visuals: 4/5
Voices & Sounds: 5/5
Atmosphere & Immersion: 4/5
Gameplay: 3/5
Art Design & Visuals: 4/5
Voices & Sounds: 5/5
Atmosphere & Immersion: 4/5
I know this game isn't for everyone, and has its faults. But the reason I consider this game to be near perfect comes down to the story and relevant themes. Ironically, we are currently living in a reality which this game predicted: a world suffering, isolated and disconnected due to the selfish actions of a few in power. Ultimately, this game serves as an odd sort of template on how to reconnect with one another, and how things need to change moving forward. While Hideo Kojima couldn't have known about the virus, the reason this game feels relevant is because (regardless of the catalyst, whether a virus, war, etc) it explores relevant, real-world themes and serves as a warning (obsession with individuality, yearning for idols/heroes to save us, corporate greed, an era of digital connection/social media, etc.) While the story itself was a bit backended (if you finished the game you know how long the last few cutscenes are), it serves as a "reward" for all the hard work you put in throughout the game. To understand the gameplay itself, one ought to view it the same way one would view a journey: it may have its bumps and rough patches, and is never about the destination, but in retrospect is valuable and rewarding. If you have the patience to unravel the mysteries in this game, I highly recommend it. Also has the most realistic graphics/character models/environments I've seen in a video game ever. If GTA 5 is incentive to go see LA, and Persona 5 is to see Tokyo, this game shows off the beauty of Iceland (template for the world) in a way where it makes you want to book a ticket immediately.
amazing story, gameplay is definitely an acquired taste
An uniquely bizarre, technically and visually stunning, tense and fun, and ultimately rewarding experience.
This is Hideo Kojima unchained, for better or worse.
While there were some minor, mildly annoying things -like some UI animations taking too long and otherwise requiring too many inputs to skip, and some heavy handed and a bit shallow dialogues and exposition- the excellency and depth of the gameplay, the rewarding asynchronous social networking mechanics, and a engaging group of characters makes the whole thing so brilliant it outshines any of those minor issues.
One of my favourite games of this generation. I'm so glad such a different and experimental game exists on the high-calibre, Triple-A level.
This is Hideo Kojima unchained, for better or worse.
While there were some minor, mildly annoying things -like some UI animations taking too long and otherwise requiring too many inputs to skip, and some heavy handed and a bit shallow dialogues and exposition- the excellency and depth of the gameplay, the rewarding asynchronous social networking mechanics, and a engaging group of characters makes the whole thing so brilliant it outshines any of those minor issues.
One of my favourite games of this generation. I'm so glad such a different and experimental game exists on the high-calibre, Triple-A level.
11/24/19: Definitely a Kojima game; where he thought of a premise that makes very little sense in a practical world. It could just as easily be a game about being a postal worker in 2019 who encounters ghosts on his route, but it has to be the most overly complicated nonsensical plot ever. I've played every single Kojima game (MGS and MGS4 being my all time favorite) and there is usually a sense of accomplishments between the gameplay and the overly long cinematic and dialog trees... but this game feels way more tedious in the ladder. He nailed the presentation aspect though; that opening gameplay segment with the music (low Roar "Don't be so serious") playing as you're running through the green open fields. That was beautiful. I just fixed up the bike, so my route's between bases will be quicker. But god damn it's still a game about delivering packages.
I found my Vita yesterday and eventually hooked it up to remote play to my PS4... so I think I'll be able to play this a lot more than I originally thought.
11/25/19: I just reached episode 3, right after you are thrown into the most convoluted, obscene boss battle ever convinced by man, and my game is hung on the loading scene. Time for a break I suppose.
Oh and protip, don't try and ride your bike through a BT area. Doesn't work.
11/26/19: This game is a metaphor to everyone in cinema saying we need more original ideas and less super hero films. In 2019, this game is equivalent to Under the Silver Lake.
The annoyances start to shine through- I still find it fucking hilarous that after I travel what is equivalent to 1/10th the distance across the United States (it's only refereed to as "America" in the game, which is also hilarous), plop my delivery down on the conveyor belt as it gets processed through a bunch of elevators and hooks, a nifty little hologram boots up and tells me how valuable I am to rebuilding "America"... I look around these giant delivery facilities and realize there isn't another soul in these buildings. Everyone is communicating to me remote via hologram or codec (gee Kojima, still can't get past the codec from MGS eh?) . Like, we have the technology for holograms, for these BB devices, giant beautiful structures, weird ass vehicles, but can't figure out how to deliver supplies across the country unmanned? They do reference drones at one point but I forget the reason why they stopped using them.
11/27/19: The more I play Death Stranding, the more I feel like the game was designed so Kojima could see what he could get away with in a game.
There's a lot to be annoyed with...
Like the self-congratulations after delivering a tiny package is comical; there's like 37 different lines of measure you see every single time, that you eventually just skip through it all. From the dialog of the guy accepting the package to whatever you are being graded on; Quality of the package, time it took you to deliver, which THEN translate to your rewards and ranking system- which feels never ending. Normal ranking systems have what? 1-30, 1-60? With Recruit, Captain, Colonel, General etc etc? Not a Kojima game. It's ranking system goes from 1- infinity+... from all kinds of different names like Veteran Porter, Expert Hiker, Expert Transporter... etc etc. I can't remember most of them because you can breeze through them with one large delivery.
If that wasn't complicated enough, lets make every city have a similar name so you can never remember which is which or where you are or where you need to go without looking at the Arial map, which btw is completely useless. You can't tell the different between a huge canyon or a giant mountain so good luck traversing until you come across an obstacle you wish you were aware of before you started on your journey. The names of places are: Capital Knot City, Mountain Knot City, Waystation Knot, Edge Knot City... wtf is this shit?
But hey... I'm still playing it I guess.
I found my Vita yesterday and eventually hooked it up to remote play to my PS4... so I think I'll be able to play this a lot more than I originally thought.
11/25/19: I just reached episode 3, right after you are thrown into the most convoluted, obscene boss battle ever convinced by man, and my game is hung on the loading scene. Time for a break I suppose.
Oh and protip, don't try and ride your bike through a BT area. Doesn't work.
11/26/19: This game is a metaphor to everyone in cinema saying we need more original ideas and less super hero films. In 2019, this game is equivalent to Under the Silver Lake.
The annoyances start to shine through- I still find it fucking hilarous that after I travel what is equivalent to 1/10th the distance across the United States (it's only refereed to as "America" in the game, which is also hilarous), plop my delivery down on the conveyor belt as it gets processed through a bunch of elevators and hooks, a nifty little hologram boots up and tells me how valuable I am to rebuilding "America"... I look around these giant delivery facilities and realize there isn't another soul in these buildings. Everyone is communicating to me remote via hologram or codec (gee Kojima, still can't get past the codec from MGS eh?) . Like, we have the technology for holograms, for these BB devices, giant beautiful structures, weird ass vehicles, but can't figure out how to deliver supplies across the country unmanned? They do reference drones at one point but I forget the reason why they stopped using them.
11/27/19: The more I play Death Stranding, the more I feel like the game was designed so Kojima could see what he could get away with in a game.
There's a lot to be annoyed with...
Like the self-congratulations after delivering a tiny package is comical; there's like 37 different lines of measure you see every single time, that you eventually just skip through it all. From the dialog of the guy accepting the package to whatever you are being graded on; Quality of the package, time it took you to deliver, which THEN translate to your rewards and ranking system- which feels never ending. Normal ranking systems have what? 1-30, 1-60? With Recruit, Captain, Colonel, General etc etc? Not a Kojima game. It's ranking system goes from 1- infinity+... from all kinds of different names like Veteran Porter, Expert Hiker, Expert Transporter... etc etc. I can't remember most of them because you can breeze through them with one large delivery.
If that wasn't complicated enough, lets make every city have a similar name so you can never remember which is which or where you are or where you need to go without looking at the Arial map, which btw is completely useless. You can't tell the different between a huge canyon or a giant mountain so good luck traversing until you come across an obstacle you wish you were aware of before you started on your journey. The names of places are: Capital Knot City, Mountain Knot City, Waystation Knot, Edge Knot City... wtf is this shit?
But hey... I'm still playing it I guess.
So... this was my first Kojima game (I dropped MGSV but intend to go back someday) and probably the weirder experience I've ever had as a gamer, which I kinda expected knowing his reputation. The beginning was really rough for me, like it was so bizarre and overwhelming that it took two or three weeks for me to start enjoying the game. And the main reason for that was the gameplay. It's incredible how a concept as simple as delivering packages can be so fun, immersive and diverse. The terrain is always an obstacle and you can really feel the hard work it is to make every single step until your final destination. It becomes very addictive to use the many options between equipment, weapons and structures, which you gradually unlock until the end of the game, keeping the gameplay fresh.
The plot, however, is a mess and tries too much. I'm convinced that Kojima doesn't really know how to write well, but tricks people into thinking he is a genius (which he is, but for other reasons) over his comically convoluted plot. Most of the characters talk like robots and don't show any emotion at all (besides crying sometimes), the cutscenes are so fucking long oh my god. I didn't care about anything, and that's a shame considering the amazing cast. I appreciate how Kojima is more interested in the concept of ideas than anything else, but if you use your characters only as means to tell a metaphor, then the story becomes empty.
In conclusion, amazing gameplay, design and a bold concept developed really well, but terrible plot, story and characters. Kojima definitely has his style.
The plot, however, is a mess and tries too much. I'm convinced that Kojima doesn't really know how to write well, but tricks people into thinking he is a genius (which he is, but for other reasons) over his comically convoluted plot. Most of the characters talk like robots and don't show any emotion at all (besides crying sometimes), the cutscenes are so fucking long oh my god. I didn't care about anything, and that's a shame considering the amazing cast. I appreciate how Kojima is more interested in the concept of ideas than anything else, but if you use your characters only as means to tell a metaphor, then the story becomes empty.
In conclusion, amazing gameplay, design and a bold concept developed really well, but terrible plot, story and characters. Kojima definitely has his style.
The moment Kojima broke off and started his own studio I was excited - excited to see a Kojima game with absolutely no restrictions and interference. The guy who wanted a boss fight that would take a week of real-world time. Kojima with NO LIMITS. This didn’t disappoint.
It’s a game where you are literally walking and delivering packages and the story is absolutely ridiculously insane and I loved every second.
It’s a game where you are literally walking and delivering packages and the story is absolutely ridiculously insane and I loved every second.
this game is like if jodorowsky listened to every bjork album at the same time and then said, declaratively: "i deeply respect the US Postal Service"
I played somewhere in the ballpark of 30 hours of this game. I had a great time, doing the whole gameplay loop over and over. I then looked at what I had done, and what was left, and realized I was done. I did not finish the story. I did not even finish a story chapter. I was in the middle of a delivery, and ran out of road and needed to proceed on foot. I paused the game, got some water, and pondered whether or not I wanted to play this game ever again. I decided the answer was no. I really enjoyed my time with it.
The most interesting open world game I've played. The greatest accomplishment here is the mechanical reckoning with the actual implications of an open-world game: you're endlessly sprinting and fast-traveling across vast swaths of land in most games like this one, yet in DS, just getting there becomes meaningful when traversal is this involved. I love it.
What I didn't love was the pacing of the story. Most of the story is thrust into the last 7-10 hours of this 40+ hour game, for some reason.
What I didn't love was the pacing of the story. Most of the story is thrust into the last 7-10 hours of this 40+ hour game, for some reason.
Okay, what to say?
THIS was my back up for Silent Hills! And it got nothing to do with it. It's not even Horror. With all those mystical trailers and those creatures i kept hoping for a Horror Game, some new Silent Hill Franchise... but we got ... Sam... Damn...
Okay the game is not bad. It is a Kojima Game, and it is still great in storytelling (but still extremly slow) So many of the negative critics didn't come far enough to hype the brilliant idea of the story.
Aaaah I remember how frustrated I was after the first 20 hours because just nothing great was going to happen. A game usually should be about fun. This game is not. It seems to me it tests the willpower of its player.
I don't think that a game should be like this but in the end I looked back on it and somehow everything made sense. This happened to me before in Metal Gear. I'd like to call it the Kojima-Effect. I don't know why I do this to myself but in the end I still love his games.
THIS was my back up for Silent Hills! And it got nothing to do with it. It's not even Horror. With all those mystical trailers and those creatures i kept hoping for a Horror Game, some new Silent Hill Franchise... but we got ... Sam... Damn...
Okay the game is not bad. It is a Kojima Game, and it is still great in storytelling (but still extremly slow) So many of the negative critics didn't come far enough to hype the brilliant idea of the story.
Aaaah I remember how frustrated I was after the first 20 hours because just nothing great was going to happen. A game usually should be about fun. This game is not. It seems to me it tests the willpower of its player.
I don't think that a game should be like this but in the end I looked back on it and somehow everything made sense. This happened to me before in Metal Gear. I'd like to call it the Kojima-Effect. I don't know why I do this to myself but in the end I still love his games.
Beatiful
A thought-provoking experience that constantly surprises in its gameplay and narrative. The atmosphere is both haunting and beautiful, which is often amplified by the touching and effective implementation of modern Icelandic folk music. Kojima's first new intellectual property in over a decade isn't exactly what you may expect, but it's worth the 40 hour investment.
When it comes to what I want in a game, most of the time I'm a story guy. I want interesting, challenging, and thoughtful stories. Normally the only exception to these are Warriors games, where for a bit I can mindlessly murder hundreds for an hour. Then I found Death Stranding. The gameplay loop of this game is one of the most satisfying I've played in my life. Each region brought it's own challenges, each one I overcame with my fellow players until I could go almost anywhere within minutes and easily at that. I've never played a game that continued to introduce new mechanics for so long into the game without me becoming aggravated.
All good things have downside though. This one is story. Though Kojima has created an interesting world, one that I desperately wanted to know more about at the start, fell apart due to some bad and unadvised writing. My last hour with this game was one of apathy. I just wanted the damn thing to be over.
All good things have downside though. This one is story. Though Kojima has created an interesting world, one that I desperately wanted to know more about at the start, fell apart due to some bad and unadvised writing. My last hour with this game was one of apathy. I just wanted the damn thing to be over.
Kojima has an uncanny ability to seemingly predict the future, no matter how wacky his games are at their core...
Death Stranding is a game that's not for everyone(if I had a penny every time I heard/read this...) but I found it to be spectacular, surprisingly easy to emotionally connect to, and the most unique game I've played.
Death Stranding is a game that's not for everyone(if I had a penny every time I heard/read this...) but I found it to be spectacular, surprisingly easy to emotionally connect to, and the most unique game I've played.
Death Stranding is a really intersting game to revist.
I think its an experience that truly needed some time to breathe. There are so many things you can pick apart, so many ideas that go no where but at the end of it all you're left with truly the most unique and audactious AAA game ever created. There will never be another Death Stranding.
I think its an experience that truly needed some time to breathe. There are so many things you can pick apart, so many ideas that go no where but at the end of it all you're left with truly the most unique and audactious AAA game ever created. There will never be another Death Stranding.
deliveries and story are ok but damn i loved building roads, that was my jam. taking resources from every possible prepper, looting the shared lockers and downing every mule outpost to take their ceramics and metals only to bring them to the nearest autopaver then bam a road pops up and you are saving time for every upcoming delivery. this game loves to pull out the "You bring people together, you're their bridge to the future" shit everytime for narrative just to confuse the player, the main focus in here is not building bridges but getting them highways rolling. in fact, could you even imagine current america without roads, only filled with bridges? i sure as hell could not because i have never been in america.
screw walking around tons of rocky pathways or getting your truck stuck, commit to the tar gods and build roads. oh and ziplines are also cool because apparently roads cannot be built on snowy mountains.
screw walking around tons of rocky pathways or getting your truck stuck, commit to the tar gods and build roads. oh and ziplines are also cool because apparently roads cannot be built on snowy mountains.
don't go in expecting War and Peace like his other games. in terms of gameplay, it's a very relaxing and fun game