This would have been an easy top 10 games of all time if only the story was written better. I'm flabbergasted at how KojiPro managed to gamify such mundane-ass looking tasks. It truly is a walking simulator in every sense of the word, so it blows my mind how a simple game about delivering packages can be so addictive. The writing is confusing and just flat out cringeworthy most of the time, but the cinematography is often beautiful and weird as shit in a way like no other game is.

One of the best pieces of ridiculous nonsense I've ever seen.

it didn't deliver. get it?

A fun and interesting delivery simulator, for the most part. My main gripes were: 1) The needless inclusion of boss battles, especially the pointlessly drawn out battlefield segments; they didn't seem to fit with the rest of the gameplay at all. I would have preferred to just play this as a traversal/stealth game. 2) The seemingly interminable endgame sequence full of droning monologues that almost soured my memory of the entire game.

I never thought I could be so engrossed by a game about being an Amazon delivery driver.

Gorgeous world, lovely graphics and horrible gameplay

There's plenty to like in this game but the experience is ruined by the horrible UI and awful combat. I was just trying to make deliveries but I kept running into those tedious BTs,and quit.

My score doesn’t matter. I don’t know how I feel. Delivery gameplay loop isn’t my jam, but at the same time, the BT/MULEs interactions quickly become annoying obstacles that you just have to get over, so I’d rather just do the delivery shit w/o them. Then it would just be a meditative experience with a wonderful soundtrack and beautiful usage of the songs. Stealth, combat, boss battles suck. Great visuals and story (and how it ties into the gameplay) and character/villain design.

The combat is laughable, the stealth is tedious, and the story is horrible - filled with harmful exposition. Moments of great peace and contentedness are unfortunately surrounded by grating nonsense. If you can get passed that, you'll find a beautiful, haunting world that's a joy to traverse for anybody who derives great reward from methodical and meditative challenge. The themes throughout, despite the horribly implemented narrative, are moving and well integrated into the gameplay.

Knowing the story was going to be nonsense I skipped every cut scene, and enjoyed the game tremendously for the mechanics alone. The broody atmosphere and visuals, the taxing terrain and inventory management and the entertaining combat sprinkled throughout all combine to make a really compelling package. It's not perfect; the UI can be a bit clunky, and the baby in the bottle is just annoying, but once you get the hang of the myriad systems in the game it's an excellent meditative experience.

a mixed bag, but ultimately a good one. Death Stranding is at its best when its storytelling is ludonarrative; the feeling of connectedness and self-sacrifice was strongest when I was cresting a hill to deliver a pizza rather than in any of the cutscenes where characters were stressing the importance of making connections. Kojima didn't quite complete the transition to telling stories through gameplay here, when it's a far better fit than in Metal Gear. maybe he'll get there.

(I'm counting it as a movie since I watched a whole play-through and it was cinematic-heavy)

Intriguing setting and story, great bleak atmosphere at times, and incredible graphics and acting work sandwiched between sometimes tedious and often frustrating gameplay sections. Silly moments of Kojima hubris don't always help the cause either. I think this is a game you should experience once, but won't have anyone going back for more when done.