The definitive edition of Hideo Kojima's first triple-A blockbuster sans Konami is as arresting and captivating as it was when it was released back in 2019. Nearly two years on, and the story of reconnecting America through love, acceptance, and countless delivery and service workers has taken on a whole new place of importance in Kojima's body of work, a title that presciently codified fears many of us would have going in to "the new normal" while simultaneously weaving an existential epic about the fears of fatherhood.

Death Stranding combines the slick, highly-produced animations and cinematics of Kojima Productions' past with genre-bending gameplay and a dash of cooperative multiplayer to create a game unlike any in the industry. Full of Kojima's campy dialogue and verbose exposition dumps, it may be an acquired taste for newcomers, but for longtime fans of gaming's biggest auteur, it feels like coming home.

4 out of 5.

My biggest takeaway is that Amazon's employees should throw piss bombs at Jeff Bezos.