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A lot of people shit on Death Stranding but how many games have actually caused you to have to map out a proper route against varying levels of hazardous terrain? How many games have actually caused you to prioritize inventory based upon such?
Many critics with sour views harp on “slow progression” but how do you progress through every power fantasy riddled game in existence? Kojima took the act of traversal and centered our experience around such. Timefall, BT’s, seemingly insurmountable mountains or rivers. MULEs.
All of these things call for a moment of assessment and evaluation. He made us think. And on top of all that, he made us think about working together with other players amidst an asynchronous multiplayer system. How important was it to complete that bridge or road?
It might not have meant much to you but you’d have helped countless others who felt completely crushed under the weight of ruined cargo. It’s like stumbling under an overhung cliffs edge or a timefall shelter just as the acidic rain has begun to destroy your work.
Or making your way through the snow covered mountains only to find that others have set up a huge network of zip lines. This game is so much bigger than most people can put into words. Reducing it to a mere walking simulator is mind-numbing.
Take all of this and add in a completely batshit story about inter-dimensional travel and the obsessive need to hold on to the people we lost. To hold on to anything. This will go down as one of the greatest games of all time and you’ll never see anything like it ever again.
