I
’m often in two minds
about the games of
Hideo Kojima. He’s
great at delivering
novel ideas with a
pretty frequent hit rate. The sniper
battle with the End from Metal
Gear Solid 3 or the scene where
Psycho Mantis reads your memory
card? Great stuff. But hour long
cutscenes filled with dreadful
dialogue? A habit of objectifying
women of his games? The worst.
Death Stranding represents the
highest peaks and deepest depths in
terms of quality. The same overblown
story and overlong cutscenes intrude
in a game which otherwise excels at
communicating such a strong sense
of place. Ropey combat and stealth
feel like a hangover from Metal Gear
Solid V, mechanics that Kojima just
hadn’t worked out of his system
despite how out of place they feel.
But damn, that hiking! ‘Walking
simulator’ is usually a mocking
moniker for narrative focused titles,
but if it’s taken, and Kojima can put
to rest the whole ‘Strand Game’
nonsense, then Death Stranding
should be called a hiking simulator.
As delivery boy Sam Porter Bridges
you have to carry packages across
Iceland-pretending-to-be-an-
American-wasteland, placing cargo
on Sam’s body, stacking it on his
backpack and shoulders to get the
balance just right. Then you have to
march across rocky terrain and hills,
wade through rivers, and rappel into
canyons, while making sure not to be
knocked off balance by snags or
harsh currents.“The old ‘see that mountain? You can
go there’ adage has new meaning”
BRIDGE TOO FAR
When the game is just this, it is bliss.
A melancholy journey where the
very act of walking is made
engrossing and challenging. The old
‘see that mountain? You can go
there’ adage has new meaning in a
context where travel is itself the
obstacle. Coming to a chasm and
having to go step by step,
dismantling my sled, piling extra
packages onto Sam’s back, and
lowering myself down is every bit as
compelling as any boss fight. Couple
that with a great soundtrack and
spooky encounters, and traversing
Death Stranding’s world is one of my
favourite gaming experiences.
The game is at its best when it’s
all about the journey, and everything
Kojima adds in the new Director’s
Cut release seems centred around
minimising that down to feeling like
a quick taxi ride. A bizarre
misunderstanding of the beautiful
thing they’ve built.
It’s the videogame equivalent of
the Star Wars remasters, adding
noise to something until the original
is hidden under bloat and excess.DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUTis a great journey, but Kojima only wants the destination
AS DELIVERYBOYSAM
PORTER BRIDGES YOU HAVE
TO CARRYPACKAGES
SAMANTHA GREER
THIS MONTH
Fell down a mountain, but
stylishly.ALSO PLAYED
Elden Ring,
more Elden RingEXTRA LIFE
109
NOW PLAYING (^) IUPDATE (^) IMOD SPOTLIGHT (^) IHOW TO (^) I DIARY (^) I WHY I LOVE (^) IREINSTALL (^) IMUST PLAY
See that mountain? You
can struggle up that.