Game Review: Death Stranding (2019)
Death Stranding (2019) marked my first of a playthrough of a Hideo Kojima game to the credits (the final, FINAL credits), and what a ride.
As you journey across a post-apocalyptic North America, big name actors including Norman Reedus and Lea Seydoux weave a convoluted tale of (oft-literal) deliverance and dystopic destiny manifest in a world that has crossed over with the land of the dead. Your initial questgivers at Bridges (a subsidiary corporation(?) of the United Cities of America) are extremely patriotic, and your dead mom (an early delivery parcel) was “the First and Last Female President of the United States” (is this feminism???). In contrast, the NPCs you meet along the way are “preppers” and “terrorists” - this is a game that is extremely ABOUT America. And looking back as an American in 2021, the best thing about Kojima releasing a story about the USA in 2019 was that he deftly avoided putting in a loud, Trumpy politician character when he’s shown us he’s not afraid to try writing one. This game asserts that America’s decay is primarily going to have something to do with post-scarcity, something to do with infrastructure, and maybe something to do with the rugged individualism we pride ourselves on. After living through COVID-19, these things were definitely pain points for the country in managing the crisis. Whatever, I’m glad we don’t need pee grenades to cure the coronavirus (which is where society seems to be headed by the end of Death Stranding).
The "walking simulator" gameplay hits surprisingly well, and the deceptively simple act of balancing adds a constant tension to your travel through the beautiful vistas. The story and gameplay reinforce each other every well, with Kojima's galaxy brain ideas on culture, logistics, AI, and death itself finding reflection in the delivery missions and the interactions you have with other "players" along the way. Don't worry, this is still "feels" fundamentally like a single player gameplay experience, but seeing the steam names of other users, the help they leave for you, or signs of their struggles packs an emotional punch that feels like the polar opposite of a rowdy FPS lobby.
I took the screenshots above using the Death Stranding PC version’s photo mode, which has a number of cool filters and frame options - this really is a gorgeous game, with no shortage of satisfying vistas on your way between the Waystations and Distribution Centers of the United Cities of America. I was able to consistently achieve over 30 FPS running on Ultrawide with my Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 and AMD Ryzen 5 2600. 2k ran a little choppier, and 4k is definitely a no-go for this rig, but would likely be worth the effort for a more powerful PC.
Death Stranding is not perfect - the enemy AI is pretty simple, and on Normal difficulty I didn't have any trouble with combat; the ending has multiple fake-outs and drags on for about 5 hours too long, which tested my patience and at times made me take weeks off from finishing the game. That said, the journey was worth it for the satisfying crunch of Bridges Boots and one completely unexpected moment of comic relief 45 hours in (spoiler alert). Thanks for everything, Sam Porter Bridges.
A-, would play my save file again sometime and will definitely be watching some of these cinematics again online.
