Death Stranding is one of the strangest and most unique games I’ve ever played. While its story’s pacing and theming are all over the place, its characters, world, atmosphere, and fascinatingly dull gameplay make Death Stranding an experience that you will likely either love or hate. Either way, I’m glad it exists.
Death Stranding
Developer: Kojima Productions
Price: $70
Platform: Playstation 4 (reviewed), and PC in 2020
I’ll be honest, I was never particularly excited for Death Stranding. Don’t get me wrong, I love Hideo Kojima’s previous work, and I think he’s one of the most creative and influential people to be in the games industry. It’s just that Death Stranding always looked boring to me. I love Mads Mikkelsen as much as the next guy, but all the weird, out-of-context scenes we saw just made it look like the game equivalent of a perfume commercial. So when I went to play it, my expectations were pretty middle-ground. While I was right about it being boring, I couldn’t have predicted that I would actually grow to enjoy the tedium, despite the genuine flaws that Death Stranding does have.
In Death Stranding you play as Sam Porter Bridges, a gruff delivery-man who doesn’t care for much. The world he lives in is a semi-apocalyptic version of our own, where a catastrophic event titled the “Death Stranding” has made America into a disjointed nation that is plagued by rain that accelerates time, shadowy ghosts (called B.T.s), and corpses that explode. After meeting with his adoptive mother for the first time in years, Sam sets out to connect the once-great nation by bringing outposts into the “chiral network”, which is somewhat like a government and the internet. Along the way, Sam teams up with a number of odd characters, like the resilient teleporter Fragile and the perpetually dying-and-reviving Heartman. Alongside BB, the baby in a pod that lets him see B.T.s, Sam delivers packages and reconnects America, all while trying to find out the mysteries behind BB, America, and the weird skull-mask wearing terrorist who follows him around.
That’s the most streamlined and basic summary I could make for Death Stranding, because its plot is nothing short of insane. There were times where I understood how non-Kingdom Hearts fans feel when they try to understand the ridiculous terminology of that franchise. While things start to make a bit of sense as the game goes on, you’ll have to read optional interviews and information in the menus to fully grasp the world. I’m all for optional world-building literature in games, but a lot of important subtext seems to only be found in there, like the London Bridge parallels and a lot of information on the enigmatic Higgs.
“It just feels self-indulgent at times, as it throws around surreal imagery and odd metaphors as though they were earth-shattering realizations, when they’re really just kind of weird.“
I think the characters of Death Stranding are one of its greatest strengths, as their own individual backstories are more compelling and emotional than the main plot. For example, I found Fragile and Clifford’s history and backgrounds to be much more interesting than the increasingly abstract story of the chiral network and Amelie. This is partially because of the pacing, which is Death Stranding’s greatest weakness. The first two chapters are nothing but ham-fisted exposition and surreal imagery, followed by some neat plot-points, then followed by boring droughts and more exposition dumps. Until the last few chapters, the plot just jumps around at an inconsistent pace, which makes the already difficult-to-follow story feel more evasive. It’s like a series of fascinating vignettes that, separately, are thought-provoking and brilliant, but as a whole, never really come together properly to form an enthralling plot. It just feels self-indulgent at times, as it throws around surreal imagery and odd metaphors as though they were earth-shattering realizations, when they’re really just kind of weird.
Even the world around the story works incredibly well outside of the story, as the atmosphere of Death Stranding is just as intriguing as its characters. The disconnected, beautiful wasteland that was America somehow feels both lively and dead, and is filled with visual history. Every crevasse feels intentional, making every trek over a mountain or through an enemy camp into a carefully constructed journey.
Death Stranding’s gameplay is the hardest thing to talk about critically, as I’m still not entirely sure as to how I feel about it. At first, I found walking around a big world while trying not to fall to be understandably cumbersome. It can get quite boring, especially in the early chapters before the plot grabs you and before you receive the very handy skeleton-frames and free access to vehicles. Though it can be incredibly dull at times, there’s something entrancing about taking long treks to outposts with a metric ton of cargo on your back, shoulders, and legs. Once you get the hang of things, it can be wonderfully relaxing to just wander around the world, but it requires a lot of patience to get to that point. You have to be willing to put a lot of time into Death Stranding to really start enjoying it, and even then, there’s no guarantee you’ll like this very slow and straightforward gameplay. Even if you do like it, it can get pretty old if you aren’t taking breaks now and then. I grew to find delivering cargo quite relaxing, but I wouldn’t blame anybody who found Death Stranding to be incredibly dull.
There’s very little combat in Death Stranding, with a few boss fights and the odd encounter with MULEs and B.T.s standing out as the only physical confrontations in the game. For most of the game, you’ll want to avoid all potential conflicts, as you’re just a delivery guy. You get non-lethal guns and B.T. specific weapons, but the battles are often not worth the possible consequences if you’re in the middle of a delivery. Running into B.T.s actually becomes more of a hindrance than anything later in Death Stranding, as they can appear anywhere that rains and will make you either slowly sneak through them, fight all of them (which can be time-consuming), or pray to every god that you can speed through them on a bike without getting caught and trapped in goo. If the encounters were less common, it wouldn’t be as bad, but I just found myself dreading B.T. encounters throughout the last third or so of the game. The large bosses feel a bit underwhelming and repetitive as well, while the few boss fights against an actual person were much more exciting and emotional.
“This kind of connection with a video game character is rare, but I’m glad I got to feel it throughout Death Stranding’s fifty-hour runtime.“
And then there’s BB, the adorable pod-baby that you’re partnered with for the majority of the game. He plays a large role in both the story and the gameplay, as you’ll have to rock him with Dualshock to calm him down after you fall or get attacked by B.T.s. Maybe it’s partially the maternal/paternal instincts we humans have, but you grow to really care for and worry about your thermos fetus as the game goes on. Whenever he got close to autotoxemia, I felt a discomforting fatherly concern outside of the gameplay implications that come from BB’s health. This kind of connection with a video game character is rare, but I’m glad I got to feel it throughout Death Stranding’s fifty-hour runtime.
The asynchronous multiplayer of Death Stranding is incredible, as it encourages cooperation without ever making you meet with or work with another player. Every ladder or climbing anchor or safe-house that you set up can be seen and used by other players as they play through the game, just as you can find and use objects that other players leave around the world. There were quite a few times throughout Death Stranding where a job was made far easier thanks to a well-placed bridge or generator that another player had made, making me feel connected to these generous players despite never interacting with them. It brought me similar joy to see notifications that others had used my own structures, as it made me feel as though I was no longer simply playing for myself. You can even make Sam shout at random, which can prompt a response from seemingly nowhere if another player is in the same area as you on their own file, making you feel a bit less alone in the enormous wasteland.
Visually, Death Stranding is a sight to behold. The notable actors look remarkably realistic, but the environments take the cake in the visuals department. From snowy mountains to desolate dusty plains, the world of Death Stranding is breath-taking to look upon as you travel throughout every corner of it. I’ve also got to praise the cast’s performances, with Mads Mikkelsen standing out as the best. Every scene involving Cliff feels heart-breakingly genuine, which goes a long way in making his character sympathetic.
The Final Word
Death Stranding is a strange and inventive game that will not appeal to everyone. It has a messy story and some brutal pacing, but the asynchronous multiplayer and individual characters, combined with the surprisingly relaxing gameplay, make Death Stranding a fascinating title that, despite its issues, is worth looking into.
MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
