Few games were as hyped and as anticipated for 2019 as Death Stranding was (especially for a new IP), and for a good reason; the game everyone was waiting for from the mastermind behind one of the most influential video games franchise; Hideo Kojima.
Does it deliver? (no pun intended)
Yes and no and yes and no. There’s really no easy answer for this. During my first 70 hours of playing I went from liking Death Stranding to hating it to loving it to getting bored of it. A rollercoaster of opinions that confused me. I felt so many things while playing the game but sadly not the feelings I was hoping for.
Death Stranding has some serious issues, chief among them is pacing. The game throws you in action from the beginning and does excellent job at slowly introducing new mechanics, weapons and equipment as you progress through the story however half way through the game pacing start to drag and the reality of having an entire game made out of fetch quests become very clear.
So the game sucks?
No, absolutely not. Death Stranding was my most played game for 2019 and one of the most addicting games I played this gen. Hideo Kojima’s attention to details (as usual) is mind blowing and you can’t help but marvel at the technical achievement that is Death Stranding.
The World of Death Stranding (Story, Characters and Open-World Design):
The game takes place in future America (or what’s left of it); a phenomena known as Death Stranding has brought the dead back as BTs; an invisible ghost-like creatures that have plagued the country. BTs come to life during Timefall; another phenomena that causes time to accelerate quickly over whatever the rain touches (living and non-living alike).
UCA (United Cities of America); the current governing authority is trying to rebuild the country by reconnecting what’s left through a chiral network that allows people across different cities to exchange info and other valuable data including schematics of equipment through this network. The network however requires a physical plug to connect and the UCA’s only hope for doing so is you “Sam Port Bridges”.
Your mission is simply to walk from one connected place to another and connect that one before moving to the next target. Connection isn’t just limited to the network but to personal one as well since you gain more personal connections the more deliveries you make to these cities which in return will earn you helpful rewards and access to better gears.
The game is told through Episodes “Chapters” which focus on the main casts, allowing you to understand the characters more and get better idea of their motivations and back stories. Sam himself “played by Norman Reedus” is interesting enough although sadly have very little to say or interact with outside the cinematic cutscenes at the beginning and end of each episode. During the rest of the game Sam is simply receiving orders and radio calls without saying anything. From time to time Sam will mutter the same pre-recorded lines which become obvious due to the limited number of lines. The other main character in the game is BB, the cute little baby you’re carrying throughout the game. Surprisingly I never felt lonely exploring the game world with BB strapped to my suite and I found myself eventually growing fond of this little brave guy as we came across BTs infested areas and safely avoided them thanks to BB’s ability of detecting them.
However the main star of this game is the World of Death Stranding. The beautifully crafted openworld using Decima’s engine provides with one of the most detailed open-world I’ve ever explored. The mossy stones and rivers, valleys and hills, ruined cities and snowy mountains, this is a world like never been done before. While other open world games design a world to fit their gameplay and characters, Death Stranding’s world is pure, I’d call it raw. This is a real world to explore, not heavily chained with design decisions but rather a realistic projection of beautiful landscapes. I’d urge those of you who haven’t played the game yet to avoid long videos of Death Stranding since exploring the big open world is an experience that’s better be done in person.
Gameplay:
Death Stranding’s gameplay resembles MGSV in terms of movement and physics. The best parts of MGSV gameplay however are reduced to few missions here and there. It’s easier to breakdown the gameplay into four main categories:
First is traversing; exploring the rugged openworld, the dangerous cliffs and tricky waters, cold mountains and traitorous little rocks. You have to do it while balancing the materials on your backpack which are pretty simple once you get the hang of it (if you’ve seen countless videos of players dropping their packages all the time then don’t worry, you just have to follow the game mechanic rather than your average openworld game mechanic). Vehicles are introduced gradually as you progress throughout the story, other equipment as well which will help you carry more, run faster and/or balance yourself easier.
Overall I was impressed and satisfied with walking in Death Stranding….till I made my first connection and the beautiful world around me turned into a theme park occupied by holographic signs, tallnecks, piss marks and online structures planted everywhere. I tried going offline but sadly the structures were already stored in and I had to delete them one by one (ladders and ropes can be only deleted if you stand right next to them while big structures like bridges and posts can be deleted from your map as well). I could’ve continued playing the game offline however I wanted to experience Kojima’s vision since many elements of the game were online such as building roads, delivering lost cargos of other players and exchanging likes which boosted Sam level (not the only way but can be very helpful). The beauty of the world became quickly obscured by the amount of online integration and a simple scan of the area filled the screen with way too much info.
Second is Building; I love building stuff in both real life and games. Building in Death Stranding is pretty decent; you can use ladders and ropes to get up and down some high edges as well as to create paths across land and rivers. Big bridges can be used to either cross on foot or in vehicles. A highway across the entire map for easier, faster and safer transportation became my personal obsession as I found myself collecting and moving thousands of materials to build. Overall I enjoyed building the most in Death Stranding for reasons I myself don’t even know, something simply clicks as you add your personal touches into this stunning world.
Third is Stealth; There are two main groups of foes to avoid in this game and strike in the back should you decide so; one is the human group and the other is BT’s.
Surprisingly the difficulty of Death Stranding’s stealth is a far cry from Kojima’s MGS games. Playing the game even on Hard mode will not make these levels as intense as any previous MGS game. Some would argue that Death Stranding wasn’t supposed to be a difficult or challenging but it was a disappointment none the less.
BTs can’t see you, nor can you see them unless you use your terrain scanner while sitting still, they move a little but you can easily slip right in front of them and across their entire territories without being noticed. Furthermore the game will introduce special weapons that can be used to kill BTs both ranged and close-combat weapons make stealth further easy. Should you trigger an alarm and run right into a BT you’ll still be bale yo outrun the BTs and get out of their limited territories easily.
Human camps provide the much more needed challenge since they can spot you and your big ridiculous backpack should you decide to stack a dozen packages on top of each other. Both Lethal and non-lethal weapons are available although the game encourages non-lethal weapons use similar to previous MGS games as well as to fit the game main plot. However while dealing with human foes it’s easy for stealth missions to go wrong and the thrill of making your way alive is a welcome break from continuous traversing.
Fourth and finally is Boss Battles; Yes there are boss battles in Death Stranding but sadly you can run from most of them. Yes, you can run from boss battles (some you can’t tho). Bosses in Death Stranding are visually striking and interesting but again provide little to no challenge. There’s not much to talk about without spoiling the very shallow segment of the gameplay that is bosses in Death Stranding.
Value:
Death Stranding is a valuable game; the quality and amount of polish is clear here however when it comes to value per play time and enjoyment then the answer gets much more complicated. It can last you for a hundred hour or more or it cane bore you within the first few chapters.
Death Stranding isn’t an easy game to recommend but it sure is a welcome experience in an over-saturated market with generic and “safe” games.
Overall Score: 8/10
Death Stranding is available on PS4 and soon on PC. The review was made completely on a PS4 Pro.
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