Death Stranding

Say what you want about Death Stranding, it's easily one of the most adventurous and daring games of the decade.

It's not perfect, it's not straight to the point, it's a tad frustrating at times, but it's 100% Hideo Kojima.

Norman Reedus/10

Along with The Witcher 3, Zelda Ocarina of time, the first Red Dead Redemption and Final Fantasy 7 (the original) this goes directly to my top 5 list. An absolute masterpiece

Like many I was on the fence about this game, i always liked the medal gear games even though I was never a die hard fan. Nevertheless I've always respected Kojima and I wanted to try the game but I heard people calling it a "walking simulator" and seeing more gameplay I was starting to get put off by the game. I'm the type of person who likes to go out of their comfort zone so I picked it up I'm about 30 hrs In and I'm loving it so far. I understand why some people think it's boring but for me it was like a breath fresh air it's like something you've never played before. If you're the type of player who likes long thought provoking games this is for you.

There is so much to love in this game, with its mind-bending setting, deep storytelling, some of the most unique 'enemies' and technologies ever, and solid casting and acting.

Unfortunately, the gameplay is equally amongst the most boring ever. The main character being a courier sounds special at first, but you quickly discover that it's just an excuse for the worst of modern, 'open-world' gameplay: a gazillion pointless item collecting quests. Pick this up and return it, now pick that up and return it, and on and on and on.

Most disappointing are four aspects of the game that reinforce how boring the collection routine is:

1) The more you collect in one run, the wonkier the controls get and/or the slower the character moves. And if you fall, all those items get damaged. Feels unique, and realistic, at first. But after the 100th trip it's just annoying, and there a thousands of trips more still to go.

2) The very 'enemies' that make the game so unique are impossible or very difficult to defeat, depending on the stage of the game, causing you to either: (a) spend 30min inch by inch edging forward, in sneak mode, holding your breath while also monitoring your stamina, to avoid an enemy you can only occasionally see; or (b) risk dying and losing everything you're carrying while fighting them, or damaging everything even if you win.

3) If you like the idea of stealth and sneaking, too bad, because there's also a feature built into the game that increasingly damages everything you're carrying the longer you are outside. So sneaking around the enemies damages your goods as much or even more than fighting them.

4) As you build up your character you unlock tonnes of unique tools, vehicles, weapons, and more. Many of them seem to counteract points 1-3 above, greatly improving the gameplay. Yet, in many cases, there are features in the game that make those tools frustrating or annoying to use anyway. The main aspect being vehicles, which can allow you to carry up to 5 times or more than you normally can. Yet both terrain and vehicle physics are designed to make most it almost impossible to use them in most places.

A final aspect that's disappointing, but not quite so frustrating, is that you can build a certain thing (no spoilers about what) that seems like it will greatly improve your travels. But to do so, you need *hundreds of thousands* of resources that are generally found in batches of 500-1000. So it takes *ages and ages* of additional repetitive gameplay. And once you finish, you discover that by that point you've already completed everything that it would have helped you with anyway. Would've been better to ignore it!

So, for me, 10/10 for story and setting, and I'm playing right to the end for that. But 4/10 or less for gameplay. (nb. Probably a 7/10 each for music and graphics).

I'm playing video games since the 80s, grew up with sonic, played super mario 64 like crazy and was hooked with my first PlayStation and the first Tomb Raider, Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Video games, like music and movies, have always been an important part in my life. But with almost everything in life nothing lasts forever, and years ago I reached a point where nothing felt worth it anymore to play. It's not that I didn't feel the urge to play, but there was nothing satisfying out there. And then came Dark Souls and Bloodborne. It was all I've ever wanted but never could have imagined such a concept and gameplay. Well, with death stranding I'm feeling very much like when I discovered the soulsborne games. It's just one step ahead in every matter. Of course the graphics are pretty awesome, but what really flashed me was the gameplay. In all those years I've never got anything even close to that experience. It's only my opinion, but this game has next level mechanics, incredibly precise, you just feel every step and move. That's why it's so entertaining to just get with your cargo through an area and you piss yourself when the BTs or Mules are coming. Because it's not just running away like in every other game. It's like running away irl, where you have to consider every obstacle. It's goosebumps when the enemy is literally flying above you and you have to press R1 to hold your breath, move slowly forwards but consider the balance of your cargo, take care of your BB and think where is a good point to inhale again. And please quick, because the TimeFall is ruining your equipment. There is no other game like this.