DEATH STRANDING Reviews Are In. RIP Switch

[ChristmasFnatic]

Gamespot - 9

THE GOOD
Your efforts are rewarded in practical ways as well as emotional ones, driving home the positive impact of what you do for others
Connecting with other players through acts of kindness is a powerful experience that further underscores the game's hopeful message
Each main character's individual story contributes to the whole with a distinct perspective
Fighting BTs is a visually and aurally arresting experience
You're actively discouraged from killing human enemies, which serves the game's themes well

THE BAD
Higgs is a disappointing villain that serves as a means to an end
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IGN - 6.8

Certain landmark games in recent years, like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Red Dead Redemption 2, have managed to successfully tread the line between the rigidity of realism and the exhilaration of pure escapism. But much like its stumbling protagonist, Death Stranding just can’t consistently get the balance right despite possessing equally lofty ambitions and countless inventive ideas. There is a fascinating, fleshed-out world of supernatural science fiction to enjoy across its sprawling and spectacular map, so it’s a real shame that it’s all been saddled on a gameplay backbone that struggles to adequately support its weight over the full course of the journey. It’s fitting that Kojima Productions’ latest is so preoccupied with social media inspired praise, because in some ways I did ‘Like’ Death Stranding. I just didn’t ever love it.

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Feel free to add more.

[mgftp]

I watched that new 8 minute trailer and still have no idea what playing this game even involves. Guess I'll have to watch a review and have someone explain it too me.

[BearyManilowe]

I watched that new 8 minute trailer and still have no idea what playing this game even involves. Guess I'll have to watch a review and have someone explain it too me.

This is the biggest problem with the game. I have no intention of buying it because I have no fukking clue what kind of game it's going to be or what the hell the story line even is.

Honestly I think the guy went too deep into MGS and he came out a little too crazy. The MGS series was already crazy enough.

[jeshelton]

I watched that new 8 minute trailer and still have no idea what playing this game even involves. Guess I'll have to watch a review and have someone explain it too me.

What part of stillborn baby bridges that you carry around as a man with a colostomy bag but must recharge or they die (stillborn but die, yes) was confusing to you?

[Sgt T-Man]

It looks like a boring lame game, will not ever play / 10

Not sure how he can make a game worse then the MGS games but he did.

[mgftp]

It looks like a boring lame game, will not ever play / 10

Not sure how he can make a game worse then the MGS games but he did.

I agree what I have seen of DS it looks like a snooze but MGS games are bad? UWoT?

[Dontknomyass2]

I can't imagine paying for a game like this....The gameplay looks to be severely lacking...If this didn't have Kojima's name attached to it the game would bomb.

This game is nothing but a hypefest

[fahdalsheheata]

I haven't played it yet but from what i have seen so far ,it looks boring. Kojima bigges enemy is his fans. He needs a wake up call.

[Sgt T-Man]

I agree what I have seen of DS it looks like a snooze but MGS games are bad? UWoT?

Yep all the MGS games are total crap. Some of the worst games I have ever played.

[mgftp]

Yep all the MGS games are total crap. Some of the worst games I have ever played.

Strong taste. What are your favorite games?

[2RDEYE]

i think where kojima excels in is story, but gameplay... he's still really new to gameplay. he has like an insane creative mind but when it comes to gameplay he's not really got it. though phantom pain's combat was pretty much 10/10 i thought, everything else was crap.

[Sgt T-Man]

Strong taste. What are your favorite games?

COD but it's a little slow paced for me and I like fort nite because of the big colors.

[bartosh]

there's a limit to how "out there" you can make a game and this went past it, so it seems.

[mgftp]

COD but it's a little slow paced for me and I like fort nite because of the big colors.

Teen misc ----->

[MikeLowrrrey]

IGN play video games like retards and also said COD was too realistic. LOL at taking their opinions serious.

[Voidgaze]

Can't trust IGN, but honestly my hype for this game has died. Might buy it on a sale.

[AD117]

It looks really divisive. Scores range from 10s to 6s (and one 3, but lol @ that guy). Of my trusted reviewers, Skillup gave it a glowing review and Easy Allies gave it an 8. I'm still waiting for ACGs review.

IGN US gave it a 6.8. Most of the other IGN division gave it a 9 or 10. Gamespot is a 9. Game Informer is a 7.

This guy does a good job of reviewing the game without spoiling anything:


I'm in.

[bongowongo]

Not a day one for me, unless hype really sets in ... But honestly, everything about the game seems pretty boring, I wasnt even this hyped during the reveal or upto its release ...


But I'm happy AAA games and Kojima are trying out completely different things. Sick of the typical AAA open world that has ubisoft plastered all over it.

[TBO1313]

What part of stillborn baby bridges that you carry around as a man with a colostomy bag but must recharge or they die (stillborn but die, yes) was confusing to you?

[Sgt T-Man]

Teen misc ----->

I am 32.

[2010JW]

I am 32.

Likes cod and thinks MGS games are bad. you must be trolling us

[mgftp]

Likes cod and thinks MGS games are bad. you must be trolling us

You forgot how he likes Fortnite too, Inb4 also Minecraft. Autistic adult confirmed.

[R3L3NTL3SS]

COD but it's a little slow paced for me and I like fort nite because of the big colors.

2/10 troll post.

Just lol @ anyone not having you on ignore now.

[Kcrack]

Watching him struggle through the mountains carrying a tower of packages on his back reminds me of myself struggling with my huge backlog. Probably pick it up around Christmas when there’s a sale.

[Sgt T-Man]

You forgot how he likes Fortnite too, Inb4 also Minecraft. Autistic adult confirmed.

I only play mobile.

[rectifryer]

Noone gives a chit about IGN

[BigBallsMcgee]

Honestly it doesn't sound fun. Probably passing on it

[2010JW]

You forgot how he likes Fortnite too, Inb4 also Minecraft. Autistic adult confirmed.

Dude is a weak troll LOL

At some point growing up you know which games are playable and which ones are for the younger audience.. which you can't get into

[nkiritsis13]

For convenience, Review Roundup from PCgamer. People aren't going to like to hear this, buuuuut...

I actually have to recommend reading through the IGN review because they do a rather thorough job of answering the gameplay specific questions that loomed on everyone's minds after being blown away (or totally confused) by all of the trailers released.

After reading through the reviews a little the actual, nitty gritty gameplay reads like Rock Climbing/Infrastructure Builder/Delivery Boy Sim. You plod along treacherous paths throughout nature with the intent of delivering supplies or packages of some sort, and eventually can build roads and bridges that make the pain-in-the-dick journey you had to make before less tedious the next time around.

When laid out like that, it's almost like a deconstruction of pay-to-skip timesavers in games, where you're struggling through such mundane, insipid gameplay that you would pay extra to "play" less of that bullsh*t.

Except that is not to acredit Death Stranding with making some kind of brilliant, meta commentary on how game design has fallen prey to greed, it really is just flat out the hemorrhoids of gameplay design that will have you aching to get that Preparation H so that you don't have to go through quite as much trouble again.

Controls are going to be your primary test of... hell if I know, but they're going to be the foremost blister in your fingers:

Movement in Death Stranding is effectively the antithesis of the empoweringly fluid parkour of Assassin’s Creed or Marvel’s Spider-Man. Whereas in those games you hold a button to watch your athletic and nimble character effortlessly glide over objects and up and down vertical surfaces, in Death Stranding you alternate between holding the two triggers to maintain balance and wrestling with the thumbstick to keep Sam’s sensitive momentum shifts in check. The result of all of this effort is purely to walk a few metres up a gradual incline without him toppling over and scattering his painstakingly packed luggage rack like a boozed-up bellhop.

A positive review from The Verge flowers it up, but it's the same result:

The trigger buttons on the PS4 controller handle each side, so if Sam starts tipping to the left, you hit the left trigger and he tightens up his backpack to keep steady. Essentially, this means that while all you’re really doing is walking, you need to stay intently focused. One small slip, and your cargo can be ruined. At times, Death Stranding can feel like a big-budget remake of QWOP. Other times, it’s achingly beautiful as you stumble through a ruined landscape while ******t rock plays in the background.

In other words: How much do you enjoy holding a button to climb up some rocks in a game? Throw in a balancing component, and that is going to be the bulk of your playtime.

More details on the traversal from vg247

Depending on how you stack it, your weight shifts, though there’s an option to auto-optimise all cargo so you’ll just use that every time because why wouldn’t you? Sometimes you just need to get it from A to B. Sometimes you need to do it in a time limit. Sometimes there are further restrictions, such as carrying it by hand (manually keeping a trigger squeezed to keep hold), or keeping it flat. One side mission sees you literally delivering a pizza while it’s still hot and flat.

...

You can actually plot your route by bringing up your map and drawing it out. (image example pulled from google):

Spoiler!

Later, you can predict weather patterns such as wind and timefall – also known as rain, except this ages things and f-cks up your cargo with prolonged exposure… a bit like a Hermes driver. You also have to decide whether you want to try to pass over obstacles – mountains, enemy camps, and more – or take an indirect, safer route. Often, this depends on the tools you have. If you have enough climbing anchors and extendable ladders, a mountain can be tamed.

Alright, Timefall: That weird, time-fukkery component? It sounds like it functions as a durability system at the end of the day, giving you impetus to not take your sweet time delivering.

Finally, how this comes together for your missions:

Once you make it to the end of a mission, you get rated for the route you took, the time it took you to complete, and the state of the cargo. You also accrue a currency called ‘likes’ through your endeavours, both from NPCs and other players who use your structures and vehicles. Similarly to social media ‘likes’, these don’t actually seem to serve any worth whatsoever, but they do make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. The rating system is similarly pointless, though occasionally it doles out some incremental upgrades to things such as balance and likes received.

As for the infrastructure bit:

Things do pick up, though it takes a lot longer than I’d have liked. Roughly 10 hours in, during the lengthy third chapter, Death Stranding settles into its most consistently enjoyable rhythm. In relatively quick succession you’re given access to auto-pavers that can be fed resources to flatten out predetermined stretches of the landscape into smooth roads, along with the means to craft vehicles like a nimble reverse trike, a slow yet high-capacity truck, and a floating cargo carrier that also doubles as a nifty hoverboard. All of these help to minimise the hassle of getting from point A to point B, which of course is still what you’re doing almost the entire time.

Later on in the game...

Justas Death Stranding is threatening to become a consistently enjoyable video game, though, the setting shifts and the story progress stalls once again, this time in intensely mountainous terrain where vehicles and road construction become impractical, human enemies are scarce, and BTs begin to lurk in snowstorms instead of scattered showers.

By this stage I had unlocked the means to confidently tackle BTs in their monstrous form head-on, and there’s no question that each face-off against Death Stranding’s most imposing threats are a slick slice of pure, full-fat, Kojima-style spectacle. Allow Sam to be discovered and dragged down by the BT’s clambering shadow hordes which emerge from swelling pools of tar that form beneath his feet, and he’s suddenly sluiced on his back through the ooze and resurfaced in a landscape that has been completely transformed and inhabited by a muscular, physical manifestation of the BTs in a rising pool of bubbling blackness. It’s one of Death Stranding’s most stylish tricks and honestly an incredible sight to behold.

Don't expect these encounters to culminate into some sort of plot-revealing conquest or build-up, though:

Yet even when you do manage to scramble and take down one of these nightmarish beasts your victory is often insultingly hollow; your reward is typically a handful of crystals for crafting equipment, and the onerous task of manually fetching each of the dozen or so canisters you were carrying that were scattered when Sam was swept off his feet, one after the other.

The most glowing reviews appear to be weighted as 90-100% caring about character and story, whereas everything below that begins to take the rest of the package into consideration, hence some of the division. Then of course there is also the matter of reviewers fearing fanboy backlash (which is common across pretty much any known franchise or game with plenty of hype), with some reviewers not submitting scores because Sony's requirement was for them to complete the games in full for early reviews.

Personally, I would watch the hell out of a Death Stranding TV series for a fleshed out season of 1 hour episodes, but I have no interest in monitoring Norman Reedus' bladder, rocking a fake baby to sleep, or throwing poop bombs at ghosts (not an exaggeration) for tens of hours. Funny enough, a substantial portion of those hours are still going to be cut scenes with characters expositing information and dumping their purses onto your lap; The opening segment alone surpasses most feature length films, but only ~30 minutes of that is actual gameplay.

That's fine if it's your preference and that is totally Kojima, but it's best to know exactly what you're getting into with Death Stranding and have realistic expectations instead of praying that the hype will carry you through.

I think plenty of people, myself included, were intrigued with the talk of Kojima's "new genre," but frankly, this really doesn't sound like much of a new genre, but an amalgamation of preexisting game concepts in a lovely, new narrative package. We have SIMs, an open world, Euro Truck simulator, and delivery quests, only with a prestigious cast and greater emphasis on passively consuming the main story rather than impart much impact upon the world you're thrust into like many story driven RPGs.

I'm still going to wait for more concrete footage, primarily out of curiosity for that whole time travel, World War trenches bit from one of the videos.

Not a day one for me, unless hype really sets in ... But honestly, everything about the game seems pretty boring, I wasnt even this hyped during the reveal or upto its release ...


But I'm happy AAA games and Kojima are trying out completely different things. Sick of the typical AAA open world that has ubisoft plastered all over it.

I hate to say it, but it sounds like even Death Stranding falls victim to the AAA open world syndrome:

The vast majority of its 70 main story missions are structured in the same way as the optional side missions we’ve all run in countless other open-world games. With the exception of certain tutorial missions which introduce the basics of the combat system, boss fights, and a handful of other combat-oriented diversions, advancing the plot in Death Stranding amounts to taking item X from location A to location B, over and over again. Sounds pretty repetitive, right? Well, the good news is that there are also side missions in Death Stranding. The bad news is that these side missions are also fetch quests, undertaken mainly to unlock additional items or customisation options.

- IGN

There are big, splashy main-story quests. There are quests that reveal the dark backstory of one of your compatriots. There are the obnoxious follow-that-stranger-without-being-seen quests. And then, at the very bottom of the unspoken quest hierarchy, there are ... fetch quests.

After years of wondering what Death Stranding actually is, I can finally report that it’s a game composed entirely of fetch quests. Forty-plus hours of that may sound like torture, but shockingly, it’s actually pretty damn fun once it gets out of its own way.

- Polygon

I hate cite them, but if Polygon is calling out a game for being a bunch of fetch quests... holy hell.

[DannStark]

Trailer looked like a cheap netflix sci-fi drama that i'd have 0 interest in watching/playing