Mostly ignored at release, though generating enough of a buzz as it was Kojima's first game after breaking away from Konami, "Death Stranding" boasted a stellar acting cast, and a truly unique idea.
Sam "Bridges" is a super tough delivery guy. No, not your random Amazon guy in a white van, Sam makes deliveries in the ruined post-apocalyptic landscape that was once North America. Shattered by a series of weird supernatural events, the world is now reduced to a few outposts and even fewer human beings left to pick up the pieces of civilisation.
Sam is tasked with joining these remote outposts back together as part of a Chiral Network, restoring transport and infrastructure and getting vital (and not so vital) supplies to each outpost in turn to progress the surreal story. What is Death Stranding? What's the deal with The Beach and what on earth are these weird sub-human and oceanic tar creatures that keep attacking him? And will Sam ever complete the mission his mother, the president, began, in order to reunite with his long lost sister.
All the Kojima trademarks are front and present, and if you've ever played any of the more recent Metal Gear Solid games (PS1 onwards) you'll know exactly what you're in for from the get-go.
Firstly, the game annoyed the living hell out of me, with Kojima's usual over-reliance on non-intuitive UI choices, horrible menu systems, slightly clunky gameplay elements and godawful character names. Then about half way through the second 'strand' something clicked. I began to realise what the game was actually asking of the player, how all the menu mechanics worked (they really are so badly designed that it's not surprising the game got such a mixed response at launch), and how I could load the equivalent of an entire UPS van onto my back to make my way across the shattered terrain.
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| Having a lovely time here in Dartmoor. Wish you were here. |
The game is based on a game engine partly developed by Guerilla, so it really does look the part. It's like taking a stroll in a windswept Exmoor, complete with ever-present rain and ankle-breaking cairns and rocks ready to put you in a hurt locker. Character art and development is of the usual Kojima high standards, with Norman Reedus, Lea Seydoux and scenery-chewing master Mads Mikkelsen all looking really amazingly rendered, plus a super-hot Lyndsay (Bionic Woman) Wagner cropping up in both old and younger forms (maaan did I ever have a massive crush on her in the 1970s!)
As you progress through the game you begin to unlock more of Sam's hidden past, and the secrecy surrounding the BBs, the Beach and of course the weird and insane main protagonist Higgs (again more scenery chewing from Troy Baker as the main baddie).
It's definitely not like any open-world game you'll have ever played before, and though it was always on my radar as a title of interest, it took a severe price drop before I leaped. Now though it's actually got me more hooked than recent disappointment Cyberpunk 2077 (more on that in a future review if I can get the damned thing to stop crashing every 5 minutes).
Well worth your time. Pick it up while it's cheap (as it is, pretty much everywhere at the moment even for a boxed copy) and once again marvel at the bonkersness that Kojima brings to the game world.
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