4/5 ★ – nalbis's review of Death Stranding.

it took me five years to finish this game. starting in november of 2019, i finally rolled credits on this thing in march of 2025. it's kind of impossible to capture what this game experience is across that span of time, i changed and so did my life – but this game was something i'd be able to sink my time into on those once-in-blue-moon days. sometimes months, even years between deliveries. every time feeling the difference in the weight of the cargo i was carrying, the roughness of the terrain at my feet – always enough in me for at least one more delivery. as a game it's not without fault. combat and stealth sequences in general aren't particularly strong oddly enough coming out of kojima's previous output, the traversal is where it's at, there's a satisfaction in the process of organising your delivery, what equipment you might need, setting up a path, scouting the area for shortcuts and obstacles, finally arriving and dropping it all off. it's a feedback loop of pure oxytocin, and a universal sharing of support and good doings in such a desplate, lonely world. this being a pre-COVID game is a phenomenon. it's like kojima sensed something in the air, and the more-and-more digital connection causes further division, and anonymity creates insentive for negativity. it's always such a relief to return to this and see a more positive outlook to the strands that bind us and keep us keeping on for another tomorrow. i'm all here for DS2 and what kojima has to say next for the last 5 years in human history. why shouldn't we have connected?