Death Stranding (I might be Fragile, but I’m not that fragile.)
What could possibly be sitting in the back of Kojima’s untethered and unleashed mind? What could he have in store for his first game after getting the boot from Konami?
A non-Metal Gear game? Blasphemy!
Well after I put in the hours I can report back that it was only the best god damn walking simulator this world has ever known.
In the beginning…(in a nutshell)
As much as we get to know from the start is that the world has come under a Death Stranding; a time when you become a human nuke if you don’t get incinerated after you die. At this point, a bunch of them have happened leaving the United States in a fragmented shadow of itself. Most survivors have taken refuge in underground cities and small bunkers. They are not fond of being outside and being caught by these creatures called BTs and because of the rain that makes you age rapidly called Timefall. (What a cool name and such a terrible thing!)
So besides Timefall and BTs there is also a terrorist group who wants the world to end, so they are wandering about the U.S. killing as many people as they can. They have also kidnapped Sam’s (Reedus) sister Amelie.
Enter Sam
Sam is a loner. His mom is the current president of what’s left of the U.S. and he and his sister are not much for exchanging Christmas cards. Though blood is thicker than water it seems and Sam is convinced to save his sister from those terrorists, but the catch is that she is in California and Sam is in the D.C. area and so he’ll be walking…a lot.
The Journey
Along the way Sam is going to also connect the remaining survivor shelters called Knots in order to create a single network that allows people to access a giant archive of past knowledge. It all sounds very profound and heroic, but just like the Tiger King it only gets weirder from here.
Sam is a porter for the company Bridges, so he delivers packages thus YOU will be delivering packages. The gameplay is basically inventory management, route strategy, and some combat. There isn’t too much to it, you simply have to enjoy the walk. He is also a repatriate, which means he cannot truly die in this world. When he dies he goes to his Beach, there he can repatriate back to the world of the living instead of going to the world of the dead. Beaches play an important role in the story.
At this point, you can feel Kojima’s storytelling and it goes far beyond anything the Metal Gear series had to offer.
The addition of a side story with Mads Mikkelsen is told through the memories of that baby strapped to Sam’s chest. It’s all bonkers.
Get Going
For the most part Sam will meet a host of survivors, main characters, villains and monsters. Each level will introduce a deeper understanding of a main character and, more importantly, give you access to another weapon or construction piece. Therefore it is important to progress in the story so you can access new stuff.
The environments vary slightly, but it is mostly hilly; up and down, around or over. It’s not until about the second act of the game that vehicles, roads, and zip lines become available to speed up delivery routes. As Sam connects new Knots, all structures placed by other players will show up in your game. Since I am playing months after the games’ release. Every connected Knot has quite a few helpful structures which saves me a ton of time. It was probably a different game when it was first released, which is such a Kojima thing to do.
In the end...
Death Stranding is an interesting beast that’s for sure. But if you are a Metal Gear fan then the presentation should feel very familiar as well as the main characters. There is even a delivery score after each job. Got to get those S ranks!
The game is not difficult. You could blow through it pretty quickly, but if you wanted to make it tougher it will be by placing limits on your own style of play. There are a few boss battles, but they are not too dynamic outside of their visuals. I never found the combat to be interesting just mostly annoying.
I believe the main characters will drive you further and further to reaching the end of the game. After the first meeting with Same and Fragile I was hooked and wanted to know more. The story unveils as you go, but you can wait until the end because the game has a 40 minute plus cut-scene and about 5 endings to make sure you really understand what you just played for 50 hours. I watch the top billed credits three times, no joke.
In this quarantine state, we might not be able to venture out too far, but Sam he has no problem. Strap in and enjoy the ride...I mean walk. [Death Stranding - Worth a Try]
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