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Gameplay

Death Stranding is such an awesome game and I enjoy it so much, yet it is safe to say it is not for everyone because there is no exciting gunplay or swordplay - it is a slow-paced walking simulator. Normally for walking simulator, walking is merely a mean to move the story forward, in here walking is the game, as all you do is to walk from point to point delivering cargos. But it is not just simple walking - you will have to manage stamina, balance, battery, weight, delivery time, cargo stability and integrity as well as challenges from different terrains and weather while facing threats from bandits, terrorists and ghosts (BT). It can actually go pretty in-depth, involving some real-life logistics questions such as how to arrange delivery order (as in a particular sequence) from point to point to make the most out of each run, or how to position each transfer point (zipline station) to maximize the coverage with minimal numbers of stations. There is no other game like Death Stranding and as such a unique game, the gameplay and mechanics are surprisingly refined and polished. It manages to be reasonably realistic to be challenging, but does not overdo it to avoid being too much of a grind.
I find the gameplay strangely addictive. There were a few times that I fired up the game at night, the next thing I know is the sun came out. There is always stuff to do and cargo to deliver and I feel oddly satisfied doing them, but it greatly varies from person to person. I read online comments saying this game is stupid, tedious, or meaningless, and from what I have read and seen, it seems Asian people tend to more appreciate the game than people in the west (particularly North America). I don’t know if it is the culture or the game simply appeals more to certain demographics or something, it is hard to tell whether you will like it or not. But I like it anyway, as I find the game not only offers a good sense of exploration as an open-world game, but also offers a great sense of expedition because each delivery is not easy. After going through all the steep terrains and hardship, the sense of completion and achievement is immense, sweet and satisfying.
It is not always hardship though. As you progress through the game, you are rewarded with gears like vehicle and zipline which not only make your life so much easier but also offer a good sense of progression. However, you will have to earn it by doing quests or other things, per se, finding a good zipline spot, which is not simple as I spent tens of hours doing it (and maintenance). But it is the thing you have to earn that is precious, and it is the hardship and challenges that make you appreciate other people, as the game implements this Social Strand System allowing players’ constructions to be shared and used across the community. It is a very creative and genius design that aligns with the main idea of the game – connection - as a profound reminder that we humans as a society are not to conflict but to help each other with shared efforts.

Flaws

Some imperfections are hard to avoid, and combat is arguably the weakest part of the game. I don’t mind that it doesn’t have many combats since it is primarily a delivery game, but I don’t like the combat not having much momentum. By design, you need to switch weapons a lot in combat and might even have to go into the inventory, which kills the momentum. To make matters worse, all weapons are clustered with other non-combat tools in one scroll wheel, so you have to pick the desired weapons among other items during hectic combats. Since the game leaves D-Pad down button unused (unless in sub-menu), it is simple to use down button as dedicated weapon button, and when it is pressed, use other D-Pad buttons for lethal, non-lethal arms and grenades (controller control is uncustomizable). It is such an easy fix and could make combat so much better, and I really don’t understand why it uses a bad design instead.
As for others, because the game doesn’t have a good enough mechanic for measuring and planning, picking proper zipline spots is cumbersome; there are an excessive amount of cutscenes in regular actions and have to be manually skipped each time and after hours in, they are going to be a hassle; the menu design is not good enough for the amount inventory management you need to do in this game, and it has a weird control logic you need to get used to. Additionally, community construction is not shared between the original and Director’s Cut, so returned players may have to rebuild a lot of things.

Story

I reviewed Phantom Pain a few years ago and stated Hideo Kojima is not a very good storyteller, it still stands in this game. This game has a fascinating and unique post-apocalypse setting, and the main ideas of the story are “connection” and “life and death”. The former is well demonstrated through gameplay yet doesn’t translate into the story because all side characters just talk about connection but don’t do anything to make players feel relatable or “connect” with them. For the latter, each episode is centered around one character and their view of “life and death”, packed with metaphors, symbolism, philosophical thoughts and an uncomfortable amount of male nudity (just kidding). I don’t have an opinion about this one. I enjoy the narrative tone and pacing and how Kojima packed in some wacky stuff, however, most of the story is just explaining things and there are some cringe dialogues like “I am Fragile, but not that fragile”. In terms of the plot, it kind of falls apart from episode 9 with an unnatural and convoluted twist with seemingly inconsistent characters, but the epilogue (ep14) is so good and touching that I am willing to cut it a slack.

Presentation

In previous review, I also stated Hideo Kojima is a director like Michael Bay (who is not a good storyteller) that can put out some stunning visual and presentation, and Death Stranding proves my point once again. Despite some low-res textures on the edge of the map, this game is photo-realistically beautiful overall. Cutscenes are meticulously crafted with shadows, lighting, contrast, object layout and proportion, along with beautiful, beautiful music and the amazing acting that can be viewed as the pinnacle of video game acting by the actors. And a few parts of the game are very emotionally contagious. On the flip side, primarily as a console game, it doesn’t offer enough graphical options despite it coming with excellent optimization, and music is usually so brief that it ends before going past the chorus. I wish I could turn on the music manually when delivering.

Verdict

In conclusion, Death Stranding is a well-crafted, one of its kind experiences like no others. Fans said it is not just a game, but an art piece, and I can totally get behind this opinion. With that said, it is not a mainstream game and is not for everyone. But if it clicks with you, it clicks hard.