Death Stranding is a game I've been very hesitant to play. While the reviews has mostly been good there's also been a few negative ones that has labeled the game as a walking simulator. After reading most of these reviews the game just didn't sound like a game I would enjoy. However, since it's currently free to download and play with the PlayStation+ subscription I decided to give it a go and I do not regret that at all.
What is Death Stranding?
Death Stranding is a dystopic action game created and directed by Hideo Kojima that has been out for a few years now. In the game we play as Sam Bridges, who again is played by Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), who is a porter tasked with delivering cargo and shipments between settlements in this post-apocalyptic version of America. We are in fact almost single-handedly tasked with the tremendous job of rebuilding America with our deliveries.
I remember Hideo Kojima was in the media relatively early after Death Stranding being announced saying that this would be a very different game than anything he had made before. In fact it would be quite different than anything the world had ever seen before in a game. Players had to prepare for a lot of walking and that's also what the reviews were all saying once the game released. It functions mostly as a walking simulator with us walking miles and miles between settlements to deliver packages.
It's not only walking though as the game had a ton of other features as well. There is a high focus on social interaction between players. We never see other players in the world but we see traces of them like ladders and shelters that we can use as well as signs to warn of dangers or safe hiding spaces from the several kinds of enemies in the game. The social interaction mostly comes from handing off likes to these players which basically function as experience points. It's a weird hodge-podge that functions surprisingly well, brings in a lot of fun and with a decent amount of charm tied to it as well.
My thoughts
I was personally very surprised at how much I ended up liking this game. I haven't finished yet but have spent around 35 hours progressing the main story and doing quite a bit of side content. That is just fantastic seeing as I was prepared to maybe play this for a few hours and then dropping it which was just pure bias from reading all of those reviews that labeled Death Stranding as a walking simulator.
The first thing that gripped me was the world design. Even though the world mostly consists of a barren landscape it looks fantastic. I catch myself stopping every few hundred meters of walking to open up photo mode to snap pictures. I wouldn't be surprised if a full 2-3 hours of the 35+ hours I've spent playing so far has been spent in photo mode. This is a curse of mine though as I always end up doing this in games that look as good as this.
The second thing that gripped me was the story. This game has a really deep story and a lot of lore for those who take the extra time to read through all the journal entries that you get access to. I don't always take the time to do that myself but when the story is as interesting as it is in Death Stranding you know I'm going to be reading every single line of text there is in the game.
The story is... difficult to explain but I will try. The world as we know it has basically ended. One day a big explosion happened that connected our world to that of the afterlife which made the outside world a very dangerous place. When rain happens to fall it accelerates time for anyone that it comes in contact with. Plants sprout, grow, wither and die in seconds. It should speak for itself what happens when it comes in contact with human skin.
On top of this ghastly entities known as BTs started appearing in the world. Often in the vicinity of heavy timefall as the aforementioned rain is called. They are of course not friendly and will kill anyone they come in contact with resulting in a voidout of the nearby area. A voidout is basically a nuclear explosion that will decimate a very large area. I haven't really grasped what's causing this through the story yet but there's some mention of antimatter coming in contact with regular matter which triggers some sort of cosmic energy to expand and explode. There's a lot to digest when it comes to this story and lore and I'm not even going to try and go any deeper into it than this. There's a lot of philosophy about life and death that just can't be retold that easily.
Our place as Sam Bridges in this world however is a delivery man. We work for Bridges which is basically an organisation run by the POTUS with one goal; rebuilding America to its former glory. To do this we make crucial deliveries to settlements around America, connect them via the so called chiral network which is a mega-advanced version of the internet while battling our way through BTs and terrorists dead set on even more destruction of the world. I am not giving the story any justice by writing this but I did my best.
TL;DR
I am thoroughly enjoying Death Stranding even though I didn't expect to. My current goal is to complete this game 100% and collect the platinum trophy for it. That requires a lot of deliveries and grinding to be done but I will strive towards it for as long as I am enjoying this game. I would recommend everyone to give this game a go even if you're hesitant about it. The games design, mechanics story and lore really took me by surprise and I am loving every moment of it so far. It is most likely on a big discount on most platforms that are holding summer sales right now and if you have a PlayStation+ subscription you can even play it for free. Don't hesitate!
All images in this post are screenshots taken by me.