Few people in this industry (or any industry, mind you), are so commited to constructing so complicated narrative paths and rythms, in order to tell the most naive and sincere emotions about human connection.

Won't ever understand those who insist on labelling Kojima as a frustrated filmmaker who turned to videogames and doesn't care about the gameplay. He has proven himself time and time again on both fronts, and Death Stranding's gameplay is inseparable to his aspirations with the game as a whole. Incisive, complex and reaching for new grounds.

The final credits come to an end, with the names of the other porters that have aided you on your journey. There's so much stuff you've built together without realizing.

Death Stranding: Director's Cut marks my second full playthrough of Death Stranding, a game that I invested an unhealthy amount of time into on the PS4 original. My review comes from a perspective of someone who has a mostly clear mental image of the game's map, and is familiar with most of the game's quirks and mechanics.

For people who are new to this, Death Stranding is an uphill climb (both literally and figuratively). The gameplay is a more deliberate "walking simulator", with an emphasis on maintaining your balance, choosing routes with less difficult terrain, or forging onward on rough territory by using tools and structures to your advantage. The other defining trait of Death Stranding is being a "package delivery simulator". You take what people need to them, and bring everyone onto the "chiral network", in an attempt to bring America back together in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event known as the "Death Stranding".

There's a lot of micromanagement involved in controlling Sam. For the record, due to story reasons, Sam doesn't actually die. He can revive an infinite amount of times as a "repatriate". What can die is your cargo. You need to always be using the left/right triggers to shift Sam's weight in real-time. By using your Odradek to scan the terrain ahead, you can plan out the safest route ahead of you, so as to not trip on a bunch of rocks like a dumbass. Sam has a stamina meter that drains as he exerts himself, whether it be due to carrying excessive amounts of cargo, walking on rough terrain, climbing up cliffs, the list goes on. The fetus in a pod attached to your chest isn't just there to be "trademark Kojima weirdness", it's what enables you to see BTs, ghost-like creatures that roam where timefall occurs (think "rain that accelerates aging"). Sneaking around ghosts is probably one of my favorite parts of the whole game. The flitting of your Odradek accelerating as you approach these invisible threats, Sam holding his breath so as to not be heard, the atmosphere in these areas is as haunting as it is daunting. Getting your delivery from point A to B completely intact and hearing the praise of the preppers is a surprisingly gratifying feeling, and your efforts are repaid in turn with access to more tools with the potential to make your life easier. After a certain point (probably ziplines), the game transforms into something completely different. No longer content to walk everywhere, you'll create your own vehicle routes, build structures exactly where you need them, and take on upwards of 10 orders at once, aiming for top marks on all of them. Or maybe that's just me.

The new content in Death Stranding: Director's Cut is mostly extra, in my opinion. The game would be fine without it (like it was originally), but I'm glad it's here. You have a literal racetrack that you can rebuild, new structures to try out that can make your life much easier, and even a firing range to test weapons in, with trials akin to those of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance's VR Missions. The game also hosts a variety of ranked challenges for races, delivery challenges, boss rematches, and the firing range trials. None of this needs to be here, but I find that it helps further build the game's sense of community. There's also a fair amount of quality-of-life changes, such as introducing a few new tools early in the game, to make people's gameplay experience a bit more pleasant as they make their way through the "tutorial area".

Death Stranding is the most fascinating example of asynchronous multiplayer I've ever experienced. Once you bring a facility onto the chiral network, that portion of the map is filled with the online structures of other players. Any structures that you create have a chance of popping up in other players' games as well. Despite the fact that in-game, you're the only one out there trekking across America, you never feel truly alone. There are others doing the exact same thing as you, whether you get to see them or not. You can share copious amounts of "likes" to structures that you really want to praise. I genuinely believe that the joy of feeling like you're helping others is the biggest draw for me in this game, the satisfaction of a virtual job well done. Watching likes go up isn't satisfying because "big number get bigger", it's because it shows "hey, people are using the things you made. it makes your life easier, and theirs". I couldn't care less about the counter itself; sharing likes is simply your method of sharing gratitude with these other Sams that you'll never actually meet. That, and helping out in more explicit ways: delivering cargo that others ended up losing/entrusting, sharing excess tools/materials in the share locker, etc. You can even call out if you're in a boss encounter with a giant BT, and mannequin-esque Sams will rise up from the goop and toss extra supplies at you.

I'm conflicted on Death Stranding's plot. I was originally going to say that "I only began to get truly invested in the latter third of the game's story", but that's not entirely true. I love the individual development that each member of Bridges gets. Most of all, I love the mystery surrounding Sam, BB, and the man he keeps seeing visions of every time he plugs himself in. I think my lack of interest in the overarching plot comes from the disconnect that occurs when I fuck off to deliver an extra 28 packages in between the intended story beats. The other thing that may make or break the story for people is well, Hideo Kojima's role as director. Anyone who follows Hideo Kojima in any capacity knows that he is obsessed with film, and the cast of actors definitely reflects that. Pretty much all of the actors are famous people that Kojima knows and/or loves, and he wanted them to be in his game. Anyone who keeps an ear to the ground in terms of pop culture is bound to recognize several of the faces in this game, to the point of it being actively distracting. Kojima's idea of "symbolism" can also be so blunt that you'd swear it borders on parody at points. But on the other hand, the man knows his cinematography damn well. His primary choice of non-game soundtrack, Low Roar, fits Sam and the atmosphere of the world immaculately. The art direction of Yoji Shinkawa never misses; I love the design of the technology, the BTs, the characters, the world. For everything that you could point and laugh at in this game, I see it as a fully realized vision, flaws and all.

Death Stranding is not a game for everyone, but there's nothing quite like it out there. When it was first announced and Sony gave a big fat blank check to Kojima, saying "make one of your critically acclaimed masterpieces for us", I'm sure they were completely horrified when they were shown gameplay, and Kojima was like "you walk and deliver packages". It sounds boring on paper, but in practice, apparently it's all I've ever wanted, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Quite shocked I never was able to get around to these games back when I was still undergoing my Batman phase as a child, but the best thing that Batman: Arkham Asylum did for me was remind me of how great it felt to have underwent that phase back then.

The great attention to detail put into the world of Arkham Asylum, turning it into a labyrinth makes the exploration of the enclosed setting feel like its own world, but it also creates a perfect atmosphere for the game too. It would be easy enough to take a character like Batman and make him the star of just about any other superhero video game, but instead what's been brought out here is a straight-up horror game - never afraid to go even more twisted as it goes on.

But above all, it's also very briskly paced, while feeling very free enough to that point it actually feels bigger than it actually is. Impressive stuff.