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dkirschner's Death Stranding (PC)
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| [December 27, 2024 08:29:15 AM]
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I should have been writing entries for this as I was playing (same with Disco Elysium…) so that I could chronicle the weird journey. I got this for free on Epic a couple years ago, but was waiting to play it until after I’d played Metal Gear V, which preceded Death Stranding in Hideo Kojima’s gameography. I wondered if there would be some noticeable evolution in game design or anything, but although similar in some respects, they are very different games. In fact, I’ve never played anything quite like Death Stranding.
I will not even attempt to explain the story. There is a good synopsis here: https://www.reddit.com/r/DeathStranding/comments/vdj26q/the_story_of_death_stranding_explained_in_a/. If you’ve played Metal Gear games, then you’ll know what to expect in terms of “wtf is going on.” Suffice it to say that you are a courier. You deliver packages. The setting is a post-apocalyptic North America. As you move westward across the continent, you connect cities to a network. You’re essentially rebuilding the United States of America by putting cities online. Your work is, of course, complicated! Mostly, it’s complicated by the fact that there is another “reality” of sorts that is bleeding into ours. This reality is related to something called a “beach,” which is something like a bridge between the real world and death. Other beings come from the death-reality and from the beach and wreak havoc, there is something called “timefall,” which is precipitation that accelerates time for whatever it touches, there are terrorists, there’s World War II, there are couriers who are obsessed with getting “likes,” and so on. And, of course, you’re carrying a fetus (a “BB”) for reasons. There are twists and turns, and a good portion of the plot that will help everything make more sense is delivered after the credits, as the game keeps rolling for like two more hours.
So, there’s a lot going on…but you’re delivering packages. Mostly on foot. Gameplay largely consists of piling up packages on your back, then running from Point A to Point B, pressing “RT” and “LT” to steady yourself as you traverse fields, slopes, rocks, rivers, mountains, snow, and so on. It sounds boring, but it’s oddly engaging. If you aren’t careful delivering packages, they will get damaged, which can ruin the item and negatively affect your rating (positive ratings = more gameplay bonuses). Sometimes you have to stealth through sections where BTs are (hostile things from the beach) or avoid the rogue couriers. There is combat, especially later on, with a host of grenades and guns, and there are plenty of items to craft (a la Metal Gear). I actually barely touched crafting and minimally engaged in combat, only really enjoying it during the spectacular boss fights (which were easy, but visually stunning). The hardest parts of the game are dealing with delivering packages through BT-infested areas, and it’s less hard than annoying, because you have to slow down, and if they catch you, then tar bubbles up from the ground, BTs try to drag you under, packages fall from your pack and get damaged, and you’ll lose a vehicle if you’re traveling with one. Going around BT areas is more trouble than it’s worth, though.
There are so, so, so many mechanics that I didn’t touch. Death Stranding has this online feature whereby other players affect your game. And you’re encouraged to do things that will help other players. You can put ladders down to help people cross a river, put signposts that encourage players and refill some of their stamina, put signposts that alert players to BTs, leave equipment, build roads, and so on. I do not pretend to understand how all of this works. But it was neat whenever I was able to use something that someone else left, or when I was notified that someone gave me “likes” for something that I did that benefited them. This gels with the theme of the game of connecting people.
Trying to write one coherent summary of my experience after beating the game is challenging because there was so much going on. This hodgepodge of elements mostly works well together. You can (as I did) safely ignore what feels like the majority of stuff. For example, I rarely delivered “extra” packages, didn’t bother about my rating, rarely fought, didn’t craft hardly anything, didn’t engage in any of the extra social layers of the game, and so on. I went straight through the main mission. And it was quite the journey. If Death Stranding 2 is much like this one, I’ll probably skip it. Sasha asked me if I liked Death Stranding, and I said “most of the time.” I liked the “dull” moments traversing the landscape with packages the best (especially the ambiance when the soft music starts playing). And the boss fights were cool. The story is confusing, the combat is fine, and a lot of the game is avoidable. It’s wildly creative and something different for sure, though, which is why even though I only liked it “most of the time,” I’m glad I played it.
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dkirschner's Death Stranding (PC)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Saturday 19 October, 2024
GameLog closed on: Thursday 26 December, 2024 |
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