Death Stranding (DC) [XBSX|S, PS4, PS5, PC]

[PSman1700]

Expectations have gone way down for DS lately, it seems.

 

[chris1515]

The game will be divisive some will like it a lot, some will hate it, probably low 80 Metacritic.

For the moment two early review they like the game

Pelaaja 9/10 finnish publication

The most striking thing about Death Stranding is the sophistication of the narrative's deep-reaching tones, the central core of game mechanics, and the sophisticated nuances of social remote gaming into a whole that obeys the same cloudy themed idea: chasing resources over dangerous miles, putting down ladders over streams, setting up gear-loading generators and communicating with players across the gaming world as you all pursue the same goal - connecting.

The heart and soul of the slow-paced Death Stranding strive is to harness the player's central motivator - spending time wandering - from afar to near, from threat to safety, from suspicion to confidence. from loneliness to connection. It is a long, dangerous and diligent journey. At the same time, Death Stranding grows into a larger savanna that can only be called one thing, unique.

Voxel Brazil 91/100

https://www.voxel.com.br/jogo/death-stranding/analise.htm

Kojima did it: Make delivers is fun. He played for 50 hours and is very 'comfy' to deliver packages.
- Combat started after 5-6 hours in the game, but it's not the focus.
- Stealth is really good.
- Memorable boss fights, but he wanted more.
- He thinks that the multiplayer is creating a new genre. A step ahead from souls multiplayer.
- He spent 10 hours just creating "a better world" (roads, etc). It's fun to mold this world.
- Original story and well made.
- Graphics are a sneak peek at next-gen.
- He didn't like the pacing.
- Empty open-world.


Main quote:
"Death Stranding is not a revolutionary game, but it sets up an unpublished picture with old pieces and brings a freshness of creativity to the market."

 

[DieH@rd]

Lots of high scores, few very low ones.

Its a big game, and end is full-on-Kojima [once cinematic lasts an hour! ], but what is troubling some reviewers is the logistics of the main gameplay loop. There is no big reward for making the delivery, instead the game tries to make the process of delivering challenging and eventful, throwing innovative roadblocks [or players having to deal with their own mistakes such as loosing a vehicle] that make a memorable journey. Some players will not find fun in that.

I can't wait to experience it!

 

[Picao84]

Lots of high scores, few very low ones.

Its a big game, and end is full-on-Kojima [once cinematic lasts an hour! ], but what is troubling some reviewers is the logistics of the main gameplay loop. There is no big reward for making the delivery, instead the game tries to make the process of delivering challenging and eventful, throwing innovative roadblocks [or players having to deal with their own mistakes such as loosing a vehicle] that make a memorable journey. Some players will not find fun in that.

I can't wait to experience it!

Hmm, I wonder if it's like FFXV, where ultimately the journey with the Bros was more important than the destination (although the ending was packed full of emotion).

 

[London Geezer]

One cinematic lasts one hour? Kojima’s almost insulting indulgence strikes again.

Mixed-to-positive reviews I see. And I have very mixed feelings about it. Buy or not buy? I really want to see it in action but even the positive reviews make a point about the pacing and tediousness of it all and I’m a bit apprehensive about buying it.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Mixed-to-positive reviews I see. And I have very mixed feelings about it. Buy or not buy? I really want to see it in action but even the positive reviews make a point about the pacing and tediousness of it all and I’m a bit apprehensive about buying it.

You know you want to buy it.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

One cinematic lasts one hour?

Are you told this when it starts? I would be enormously pissed if I came home to play some game for a bit, and then had to sit watching an hour long cinematic, especially if I didn't know how long it was and kept checking the time. When you watch an hour long TV programme, you know how long it will be able timetable accordingly.

 

[Picao84]

Are you told this when it starts? I would be enormously pissed if I came home to play some game for a bit, and then had to sit watching an hour long cinematic, especially if I didn't know how long it was and kept checking the time. When you watch an hour long TV programme, you know how long it will be able timetable accordingly.

True. FFXIV is the only game I know that alerts you when a long cinematic is going to play and you are allowed to postpone it.

 

[London Geezer]

You know you want to buy it.

I kinda really do, but more to see the insane eye-candy, and to figure out WTF happened in this game. And from experience, when I bought games because of eye-candy, I always got it wrong. And on top of that, it would appear that I might not get my full answers by the time I finish the game, and there is literally nothing more infuriating for me than sitting through a movie/TV show/game looking forward to getting my big questions answered, and then that doesn't happen.

 

[Recop]

For a game with rather new mechanics, i think its metascore is pretty good.

 

[Globalisateur]

For a game with rather new mechanics, i think its metascore is pretty good.

Yes. This is a great score for Kojima's first game. I am kind of surprised by that score honestly. This game is on my radar now, this is really a mysterious game. But can you skip the cutscenes ?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

But can you skip the cutscenes ?

If you skip the cutscenes, you will miss out on a lot of the plot exposition. Which will make the game a lot easier to understand...

 

[orangpelupa]

From what I gather from reviews, there are some moral ambiguity in this game, clashed with "gamification" of good/bad morals.

Unfortunately many people can't wrap their heads around moral ambiguity so I think lots of people will miss a lot of intriguing stuff.

They will only get half of the story

 

[Recop]

Yes. This is a great score for Kojima's first game. I am kind of surprised by that score honestly. This game is on my radar now, this is really a mysterious game. But can you skip the cutscenes ?

Lol i don't know, but at least the game seems to be different than your standard open world such as AC.

Some people might like the novelty and some people might be disappointed.

 

[chris1515]

Lol i don't know, but at least the game seems to be different than your standard open world such as AC.

Some people might like the novelty and some people might be disappointed.

From John Linneman(Digitalfoundry), the interesting part out of the story is the open world traversal.

I couldn't disagree with that IGN quote more.

On paper, yes, but it's the mechanics that completely change things up.

Here's the thing - most open world games focus on what happens when you arrive at your destination. The space between the objective and starting point is useless, empty space - you hold forward on the stick and you go. There's not usually much there.

Death Stranding inverts that - the arrival at your way point isn't usually the payoff - it's the journey.

Here's some examples..

I need to reach my objective in a stony field with large chasms running through it. I had a lot of things to carry and could barely walk with them so I loaded everything into a truck and hit the road. Unfortunately, I tried to jump a large chasm and missed - the truck fell into the chasm. Ruined, I climbed out of it and tried to consider my options. However, this commotion triggered a nearby camp (they have these pylons which scan for cargo). You can hear them above the chasm and then they start climbing down after me. So I open up the truck inventory quickly, grab a few supplies for combat and run.

Then I spent time taking out the patrol one by one (non-lethal - since killing leads to a voidout which blows a huge crater in the map).

After dispatching them, I returned to the truck and transported things piece by piece up the side of the chasm back to the surface. Carrying everything would be too difficult so I made my way to the bandit camp where the enemies had arrived from. Managed to steal one of their trucks and get back to my pile of stuff where I could load it up. I was able to continue my delivery route to the next way point until BTs appeared and the battery on the truck ran low (and since I wasn't in the Chrial network, I couldn't build a charge station). So I grabbed the key items for the mission and continued on foot, sneaking through BTs. Eventually, I made it to the top of a mountain (looking something like Mars at this point) and used the steep terrain as an excuse to run down the hill while trying to keep balance. Then - the objective was reached.

A simple little story but it's this type of occurrence - things going wrong on the road - that makes for such a memorable time.

 

[London Geezer]

This is a great score for Kojima's first game.

Wait, what?

 

[Globalisateur]

Wait, what?

I meant his first game done by his own company: Kojima productions first game.

 

[ultragpu]

Any mentioning of Photomode? You don't ship this insanely beautiful game without a Photomode Kojima san.

 

[ultragpu]

Game looks amazing, that terrain detail, that lighting oh mine..

 

[BRiT]

Separate thread for general gameplay elements discussion: https://forum.beyond3d.com/threads/...-enjoyment-not-for-everyone-2019-spawn.61435/