Death Stranding

[Enrico_sw]

 

Death Stranding is an action game developed by Kojima Productions. It is the first game from director Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions after their disbandment from Konami in 2015. It was released for the PlayStation 4 by Sony Interactive Entertainment in November 2019, and is scheduled for release on Microsoft Windows by 505 Games in 2020.

 

The game is set in the United States during the aftermath of a cataclysmic event, which caused destructive creatures from a realm between life and death to begin roaming the Earth. The story follows Sam Bridges (played by Norman Reedus), a courier tasked with delivering supplies to the fractured and isolated colonies that remain, and reconnecting them via a wireless communications network.

[Enrico_sw]

 

[Cult Icon]

 

[Enrico_sw]

The soundtrack is awesome. Half of the atmosphere is brought by the music.

 

[Cult Icon]

This game shares a similar engine and technology to Kojima's Phantom Pain.  It's really weird and interesting but as a longtime fan of MGS and its lore I find the DS underwhelming in a few aspects:  

 

-It starts out extremely strong and with a powerful sense of mystery but this is the furthest expression of it- The "Beach" leaking into the real world occurs mainly through getting caught by BT's or in the numerous boss battles.   The actual gameplay is pretty mundane and the novelty wears off.  It is mostly nonviolent outside of the boss battles 

 

-Worldbuilding issues - the same as those in PP- they could have taken a note from Fallout and have a sense of community rather than a bunch of warehouses.  The game is mostly nonviolent and would have benefited from a lot of characters and living spaces- rather than long-winded hologram communication.  This may have been a way to skim on development.

 

-The typical problems of Kojima's writing (which started in Metal Gear Solid 4 with manageable traces in 2 and 3) appears again:  An excessive reliance on long exposition to the point where characters act in unnatural ways.  Like the other games, a strange depiction of white people (from the Japanese POV). The celebrity cast is oddly used as well.

 

[VS19]

Picked this one up along with a PS4 Pro today.  Haven't gotten particularly far into it, but it's definitely a strange trip so far.  

[Cult Icon]

It seems like Death Stranding came and left, and didn't have the impact of Metal Gear Solid.  I hope to see Kojima find his muse again and make something as good as MGS.

[Michael*]

This was one of only a very small handful of games that I've ever felt motivated enough to platinum. Some of the gameplay, from the aesthetics, the mechanics and online elements, boasted the kind of subtleties that you simply can't find anywhere else.

 

I suppose you'd have to say the story was always going to be the sort of thing that people either went all in on and really loved, or looked at from a distance and thought "that's weird and dumb" but I was affected by some of it in a way that I find is quite rare these days. Surprisingly forthright though in its structure and pacing, particularly by Kojima's usual standards.

 

Respect to Kojima as well, obviously, for apparently engineering a global pandemic to tie in with it. 

[Cult Icon]

It was probably better that Death Stranding not taking the peacemaking and moral message route.  I don't think that gamers responded unanimously well to that.   The world building and lore was too one-off IMHO, it doesn't seem like this is the beginning of a franchise.

[Michael*]

On 7/17/2020 at 5:13 PM, Cult Icon said:

It was probably better that Death Stranding not taking the peacemaking and moral message route.  I don't think that gamers responded unanimously well to that.   The world building and lore was too one-off IMHO, it doesn't seem like this is the beginning of a franchise.

 

In fairness, if it were to just begin and end in one go instead of establishing tons of narrative threads that go on across multiple sequels, I think I'd be fine with that. I could perhaps picture Kojima liking the idea of furthering the "strand" game genre with another title set in the same world, but the climax to the story, somewhat surprisingly, didn't leave that many loose ends and seemed to stand pretty well on its own.

 

Generally speaking though, I’m down to play whatever Kojima comes up with next, be it a sequel, a prequel or some other weird title.

[Cult Icon]

A rumor that Kojima is doing a horror game with the game horror-manga artist Junji Ito.  Frankly Junji Ito's stuff is a must-see, and terrifically written and drawn.  Genuinely scary body horror and I'm one of those people with a thick skin about these things.

 

https://www.relyonhorror.com/latest-news/junji-ito-and-hideo-kojima-working-on-new-horror-game/

 

[Cult Icon]

On 7/13/2020 at 9:12 PM, Michael* said:

This was one of only a very small handful of games that I've ever felt motivated enough to platinum. Some of the gameplay, from the aesthetics, the mechanics and online elements, boasted the kind of subtleties that you simply can't find anywhere else.

 

I suppose you'd have to say the story was always going to be the sort of thing that people either went all in on and really loved, or looked at from a distance and thought "that's weird and dumb" but I was affected by some of it in a way that I find is quite rare these days. Surprisingly forthright though in its structure and pacing, particularly by Kojima's usual standards.

 

Respect to Kojima as well, obviously, for apparently engineering a global pandemic to tie in with it. 

 

Metal Gear's loose ends were intentional from I've read of one of his co-writers for MGS.  Like Game of Thrones or other media this is intended to create a sense of world-building.  My observation is that the effect of this is to cause fandom to grow as the months and years, and piece by piece clues/hype causes people to speculate.  I think one has a good franchise when people start making fanart and fanfiction about it.  I remember that there was hype for every metal gear from MGS3 onward due to this.

 

Also a lot of love for the characters of the series.

 

I was surprised at the pacing of Death Stranding as well as Kojima split with Konami due to managerial differences.  I thought he would go berserk with DS like he did with Metal Gear Solid 4 but surprisingly he didn't.  I appreciate his chosen role as an innovator and do look forward to everything he does.  

[Michael*]

17 hours ago, Cult Icon said:

A rumor that Kojima is doing a horror game with the game horror-manga artist Junji Ito.  Frankly Junji Ito's stuff is a must-see, and terrifically written and drawn.  Genuinely scary body horror and I'm one of those people with a thick skin about these things.

 

I don't pursue horror at all really, although I have been aware of Kojima's various attempts to make a horror game over the years. I believe Ito was previously thought to be involved with Silent Hills at one point, but that particular project seemed to stall completely after Kojima's rather abrupt falling out with Konami, and of course, very little has been done with the series since.

 

It'd be interesting to see though, if Kojima and Ito do decide to collaborate on something new, if Del Toro might get involved too. After Silent Hills was pulled, he supposedly swore off games forever.

[Michael*]

9 hours ago, Cult Icon said:

I was surprised at the pacing of Death Stranding as well as Kojima split with Konami due to managerial differences.  I thought he would go berserk with DS like he did with Metal Gear Solid 4 but surprisingly he didn't.  I appreciate his chosen role as an innovator and do look forward to everything he does. 

 

I must confess, I still consider it pretty impressive that in this day and age, Kojima is able to attach his name to something, similar to how a movie director might, and have it carry some weight. I would have thought that would be a pretty unique thing in the realm of video games.

 

Mostly though, after the Konami debacle, I'm just glad he's still blazing a path in the industry.

[Cult Icon]

On 7/27/2020 at 6:04 PM, Michael* said:

 

I must confess, I still consider it pretty impressive that in this day and age, Kojima is able to attach his name to something, similar to how a movie director might, and have it carry some weight. I would have thought that would be a pretty unique thing in the realm of video games.

 

Mostly though, after the Konami debacle, I'm just glad he's still blazing a path in the industry.

 

I hope he makes another innovative series with strong world building,  based around a complicated Homeric character and a great man.  There will always be demand for this type of hero, and that's what is rare.  The Snakes, Geralt from Witcher, etc. are a rare breed in gaming.

[Cult Icon]

@Michael*

 

New director's cut:

 

 

[Michael*]

12 hours ago, Cult Icon said:

New director's cut:

 

Interesting timing as there were seemingly rumours of Kojima doing a game for Microsoft, but I'd imagine Death Stranding is a game paid for by Sony and using the engine developed by one of their studios.

 

What I wouldn't give though for a director's cut of MGS V.

[Cult Icon]

1 hour ago, Michael* said:

 

Interesting timing as there were seemingly rumours of Kojima doing a game for Microsoft, but I'd imagine Death Stranding is a game paid for by Sony and using the engine developed by one of their studios.

 

What I wouldn't give though for a director's cut of MGS V.

 

Funny and weird that the trailer is filled with Metal Gear references.

[Michael*]

1 hour ago, Cult Icon said:

Funny and weird that the trailer is filled with Metal Gear references.

 

It would seem that people online have been slightly put out by the teaser amounting to little more than a tongue-in-cheek Metal Gear reference, whereas to me it was a nice little "we'll catch you up soon" moment. Bizarre maybe, but at this point in my career as a fan of Kojima, I honestly wouldn't have it any other way.