4.5/5 ★ – bryansbane's review of Death Stranding.

It’s hard to know where to begin when writing even the briefest review of Death Stranding. Kojima’s first project away from Konami was shown off and hyped for years before its eventual release. Many were not even sure what the game was going to play like until it had practically arrived. Once the game was in players hands it was massively divisive. The general sentiment seemed to be that whether you thought the game was good or bad, all you did was deliver packages for over 40 hours. Broadly speaking that statement was true, but it did little to give Death Stranding the nuance it deserved. After five years I decided it was time I gave it a fair shake for myself. Death Standing’s atmosphere, music, graphical fidelity, story, characters and authenticity are all top notch. When you’re roaming a rocky field or climbing a snowy mountain and a somber music track by the band Low Roar starts to permeate, you feel truly transported. When a quirky character played by an actor or actress you know decides to eat a floating bug or join you fully clothed in the shower to tell you secrets it’s weird, but it is done with such confidence you feel that it makes sense in this world. I lost track of the number of times I was sitting in front of my television dumbstruck at what was happening on screen. Death Stranding is contagiously engaging. As far as the most controversial aspect of the game goes, the gameplay, I find myself understanding people’s frustrations while desperately hoping it never goes away in future iterations. Death Stranding offers a truly unique gameplay experience in that you’re primarily just delivering packages, but the variations of how and where you’ll deliver them will consistently keep you engaged. It helps that the world of Death Stranding is so beautifully designed, just traveling through this space is an enjoyable time in itself. I think it’s fair to say that “all you do” in Death Stranding is deliver packages, but I’d advise against believing that’s all it is. The experience is so much more and to boil it down to that feels disingenuous and unfair. Ultimately, Death Stranding is a flawed experience in several notable ways. Its boss battles are stuck in the PS1 era, its cutscenes are extremely long and the amount of obscure things to keep up with don’t make sense for the majority of the game. It will take a special type of person to appreciate all it has to offer, but if you are that person you will be rewarded in ways few games are able to. I truly believe Death Stranding is a Sony first party quality experience that it deserving of the same praise. For me, it’s truly unforgettable.