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Sum-Up

In-depth analysis further down.
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🟩 Pros
🟥 Cons



- Excellently-designed, varied, interesting gameplay formula unlike anything else on the market.
- Masterful art direction paired with top tier graphical fidelity; well-optimized, too.
- Enormous amount of content for the proposed price, especially for completionists.
- For the most part a clever, deep storyline full of pathos, turnarounds and quirky characters.
- Innovative asynchronous multiplayer that gives gameplay a whole other dimension.
- Astounding soundtrack, cleverly used to seamlessly emphasize key events or moments.


- Later on the story becomes too pretentious, unnecessarily convoluted, filled to the brim with over-exposition.
- Even on the hardest setting, the challenge level is rarely high - especially with multiplayer functions enabled, which make the game way too easy.
- A couple boss fights aren’t exactly the best in terms of design; at times, they feel cheap.





🟨 Bugs & Issues
🔧 Specs



- In rare cases, deliveries may not credit any reputation upon completion.
- DLSS leaves weird ‘shadow’ artifacts behind moving objects.


- 3900X
- 2080Ti
- 32GB RAM
- SSD
- 1440p





Content & Replay Value:
It took me more than 100 hours to exhaust the content of Death Stranding, reach maximum connection level with all locations, and finish the story - all on ‘Very Hard’ difficulty. Replay value is rather low: I see no reason to replay once finished, since the content is mostly linear.


Is it worth buying?
Absolutely. The price of 40€ is a steal for this quality and amount of content, while if you’re upgrading from Standard to DC Edition, the new content amount is still acceptable for 10€. It’s an experience unlike any other in the video game market - another strong selling point on top of that.


Verdict: Excellent
Rating Chart Here
Truly innovative and overflowing with style, Death Stranding is at its best in this Director’s Cut edition. A unique, superbly-designed experience whose limited flaws become eclipsed by so many more positive sides.


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2790830902

In-Depth

Premise, Setting & Writing
An event called ‘Death Stranding’ made the worlds of the dead and living merge onto the same plane of existence - guess what, that went stupendously. Matter-antimatter reactions turned entire continents into Swiss cheese - because now that’s what happens when someone dies. Humanity nearly got screwed for good, whatever's left of it now lives in bunkers and fortress-cities, using matter-energy conversion to build most things they need. Not everything can get done this way though, that’s where Porters, as in you - Sam Porter Bridges - come in, delivering merchandise left and right the old fashioned way, to keep civilization going a bit longer and try to reconnect people with each other, with the aim of rebuilding the United Cities of America - it’s either survive together, or die alone.
Inspired by Icelandic aesthetics, DS portrays a bleak, yet surprisingly vibrant post-apocalyptic world where most of humanity’s works have been wiped out of the map by explosions, and a series of paranormal events. Some sparse ruins are all you’ll find in a land that went back to a wild state, save for the occasional outpost or city, engineered to last.. I can’t emphasize enough how beautiful this game looks, how masterfully it manages to convey the concepts of distance, longing, loss and newfound hope - with other people as a cornerstone of it all.
From Kojima, you could only expect a convoluted, deep plot rich in hidden meanings, symbolisms and allegories one more obscure than the next. While the premise may be relatively simple, it eventually reaches absurd levels of complexity as more events and discoveries unfold. Its characters are excellently-written and superbly interpreted, however this doesn’t save the narrative from way too much exposition. The story is great, but it may result too pretentious for most people.
General Gameplay
The prime activity as a Porter will be - you guessed it - delivering postage from one place to the other. If that sounds boring, you couldn’t be more wrong.
While the concept of a delivery is carrying packages from Point A to B, what happens in-between is the real deal. Each mission will see you go through widely different terrains and circumstances: timed deliveries, specific requirements, enemies of many types, extremely difficult terrain, bad weather - these are just some of the obstacles Sam will encounter. Preserving your cargo and health are the prime directives; that’s why an array of utilities ranging from exoskeletons, to vehicles, weapons and structures will progressively unlock, as the dangers and hindrances become consequently more complex.
Planning, organization and taking things with the proper time and respect are the key components - rush, be unprepared, and you’ll likely meet an untimely end at the hands of deranged humans, dimensional abominations, or just a pitfall breaking your back. It’s satisfying to build your own logistics network using bridges, ziplines, ladders, roads and many more traversal tools, as DS gives players total freedom as to how to approach each of its deliveries.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2793963256
Combat System
While far from combat-focused, DS has surprisingly complex mechanics in this department. Mainly you’ll face BTs - as in, the dead - and various kinds of bandits that, understandably, went dead-ass crazy with the current state of things. Killing humans is a no-go, and while you can do so, it will be a pain in the butt to deal with it. Luckily, a plethora of non-lethal solutions from bare fists to high-tech launchers and guns, will solve this problem. Full-blown firefights interspersed with bone-chilling journeys through dimensionally-bent fields, where every step could be your last. Get caught by a BT, and a permanent crater will stay on the map as a result.
Usually, bosses are particularly terrifying abominations from the other side, ready to whoop Sam’s posterior and make a crater out of him. Multi-phased and challenging enough, they have weak spots, a good array of attacks, but also some unfair instant kill moves and some of them just aren’t up to par quality-wise, either spongy or just dull.
Multiplayer Component
A big focus of DS, MP works in such a way that you may see other people’s structures in your own world, and they may do the same with yours. This ‘sharing’ concept, supported by a ‘Like’ system to reward especially helpful structures, and a shared ‘Signs’ system, make an interesting take on asynchronous multiplayer. Resource sharing, players’ lost cargo to deliver and help requests are available too, furthering the options for those in need.I found this system way too powerful, detracting from the overall challenge: it’s already not that hard as it is, if you have any sense of logistics and do things properly - but you can opt out of this, so all good!.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2806735411
Director’s Cut Content
While the new delivery types are challenging and fun, same goes for the weapon challenges and racing circuit, giving more variety to an already good baseline, the new gadgets and weapons of DC edition are a disappointment. I found myself using them seldom if ever.