Death Stranding Review

DEATH STRANDING REVIEW

Kojima is back

Kojima productions have teamed up with Sony to give us a this bizarre yet strangely beautiful open world game.

I remember all the teasers that were shown when we first got a glimpse of Kojima's new game, and how excited everyone was to see what we would get after the whole Konami saga.

 

Death Stranding is set in a post apocalyptic world that has been all but wiped out by an unexplained phenomenon called the Death Stranding. Most cities and pretty much all life have been wiped out whilst also opening a gateway between the living and the dead. 

There are certain humans called repatriates who are able to return to life from an underwater space known as the Seam. It all sounds very complicated (and very Kojima) and anyone that has played Metal Gear Solid will be familiar with the quirky characters and bizarre storyline.

Main character Sam Porter Bridges (Norman Reedus) is a repatriate, and his main job is to deliver lost cargo to small settlements which are located just outside the danger areas overun by BT's. He must also reconnect the ciral network, which is sort of like the modern internet. BT's are scary looking, almost dementor type creatures who overlook you in a sort of shadow affect. BT stands for 'Beached Things' and they are basically trapped in the space between the living and the dead, where they have failed to cross over to the world of the dead, and their soul is trapped with them, making them 'stranded'.

Most of the early stages of the game will have you hiking up and down huge mountains and treading through little streams and waterfalls, it all looks amazing, and you'll spend a lot of time admiring the scenery. Your early missions might seem slow and tedious at first, but stick with it, the game doesn't really get going until a couple of hours in. You'll need dedication and perseverance to get your reward as more of the story opens up as you play through, and it sort of comes together and makes sense.  You really get a sense of what this game is capable of if you stick with it. 

Fans of Kojima's MGS Phantom Pain will be familiar with the gameplay, as it is pretty much like for like. Everything from the movement to the camera placement, to small things such as sound effects are all very similar to Metal Gear. This isnt to say that's a bad thing, far from it.