Death Stranding - Review Thread (see staff post for discussion guidelines)

[Ωλ7XL9]

Also not to compare one game with another, but didn't RDR 2 suffer from bad pacing and repetitive missions too? I remember being equally excited for RDR2, got the game on launch. The first hour was great, then a few hours in I thought it was equally good and then it became somewhat of a snoozefest due to bad pacing. But I don't remember critics complaining much about it. With Death Stranding the story, characters, and themes explored in the game feels enough reason to be excited and engaged while playing despite whatever repetitiveness it might make a player go through in it's journey no? It's like Death Stranding has the word 'unique' written all over it. Hurry up Nov 8th!

 

[Shark]

I find the term walking simulator to be disrespectful when a game is striving for something way more than just that. I think Death Stranding would be one of those games where people would change their negative perception of the game when they actually play it.

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I do too but your first mistake is to assume everyone comes in here with honest intentions instead of citing cherry picking reviews to back their positive or negative preconceptions.

 

[MattyG]

Very interesting reception. Seems like some people love the pace and loop for being slow and weird, and like others hate it for the exact same reasons. Personally, I know what I usually like so I'm hoping I fall into the former camp. Story being meh is kinda what I expected after MGSV, but I'm curious to see it anyway

Some of these review sites shouldn't exist

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Jesus Christ. Let's not do this, people.

 

[oni-link]

It's funny, the fact that reviews are so "divisive" has actually made me more hyped for the game. I'll either end up hating it or loving it and that's a risk I'm willing to take.

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It's not that strange when you think about it

A game that gets a dozen 8/10 reviews is probably competent, but homogenised, fun, but predictable, polished, but formulaic

A game with an average rating out 8/10 but with a lot of 5/10, 6/10, 9/10 and 10/10 reviews is more likely to try things that go against the grain or push new ideas, and naturally that will entice as many people as it puts off

 

[Gedi]

The wildly divisive reviews haven't dampened my enthusiasm for the game at all. On the contrary, I think they've had the opposite effect. Whether or not I like the game myself, let alone get to the end of it, remains to be seen though.

 

[Gans]

F**k just wasted 180£ on a collector of a pile of steaming s**t 85 meta game, sad days ahead :(

 

[MillionIII]

A "boring movie" is also maybe only 2 hours? Sometimes 3?

This sounds like it's ranging from 40 to upwards of 80.

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This is an interactive game, you're not sitting there for 40 hours. One could say that games like WoW are boring, you just click stuff.

 

[RumbleHumble]

Honestly, I think it reviewed better overall than I thought it would. Think I'm going to give it a go!

 

[Wink784]

I'm 100% down for this. I read very little to avoid spoilers, or even avoid too much non-spoiler foreknowledge, but it sounds really interesting. I love "boredom" in games - long quiet periods, simple goals with complicated solutions, stuff like that. Plus I also love sort of weird feeling character controls, like Red Dead Redemption 2, where it's possible to slip and fall down a hill. Sounds like a game I'm going to love.

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It's also said that when things go wrong there are opportunities for emergent gameplay. I'll never understand the Kojima open world haters, it's so fun to have things happen unscripted, dynamically and with multiple possible ways to fix.

 

[iamandy]

That's not nearly as divisive as I thought it would be.

The game is really unique and I feel like some low scores are actually positive. It's the price of being unique and different.

 

[DealWithIt]

Now that I've seen how divisive it is, I'm probably playing it. Was not that intrested before a.

 

[Mediking]

To all those who tagged me in my GOTY speculation post earlier... hahaha I can't wait for GOTY discussion in a few months.

 

[Fredrik]

Well that explains why it's on PC. Not a must have and reviews will kill sales.

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It'll sell like crazy, I'm seeing lots of high scores, it will win GOTY here and the Game Awards GOTY. If you think I'm wrong, tell me why.

 

[solis74]

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interesting

 

[Eiko]

i think it is going to be 84.

 

[John Dunbar]

Also not to compare one game with another, but didn't RDR 2 suffer from bad pacing and repetitive missions too? I remember being equally excited for RDR2, got the game on launch. The first hour was great, then a few hours in I thought it was equally good and then it became somewhat of a snoozefest due to bad pacing. But I don't remember critics complaining much about it. With Death Stranding, the story, characters, and themes explored in the game feels enough reason to be excited and engaged while playing despite whatever repetitiveness it might make a player go through in it's journey. It's like Death Stranding has the word 'unique' written all over it. Hurry up Nov 8th!

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my reaction to the ign quote on the first page that praises rdr 2 and then describes death stranding negatively was pretty much "that sounds exactly like rdr2".

 

[Moz La Punk]

Is it just me or does this damning excerpt from IGN instead sound...awesome? Like I get that it might sound beyond tedious to some, but to someone like me who loves this kind of stuff it sounds cozy af. My favorite hours of breath of the wild was spent ignoring fast travel shortcuts and carving my own path through the world, making decisions about how to climb a certain mountain or how to reach a distant location and dealing with the weather along the way. Of course in BOTW that exploration was supplemental to the actual game, where in DS it seems like it IS the actual game so it probably weighs thin much much quicker.

I'm just glad that we're at a point where such an expensive specifically wild oddball game like this can exist, one that doesn't really give much of a shit about pleasing everyone.

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Yeah, I find it awesome as well. Its like Im there on that mountain, trying to survive. After an hour of trekking I feel like I've accomplished something. I dunno, I just love that.

 

[iFirez]

jesus christ, already 77 pages and I just got up!

edit: 78!

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It was at 48 when I woke up a few hours ago - such a fast moving thread.

 

[Kiro]

How long is the game expected to be? I could do fifteen hours of this style of gameplay but probably not more.

 

[Crossing Eden]

I certainly did not expect it to end up at 84.

 

[rashbeep]

Doesn't seem very compelling

 

[jviggy43]

I have to say, it's amusing that you have to deliver the pizza in 30 minutes or less.

It's just like one of my Japanese animes real-life menial jobs that nobody ever wishes they were doing with their free time.

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/dead

 

[Radec]

F**k just wasted 180£ on a collector of a pile of steaming s**t 85 meta game, sad days ahead :(

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Not sure if this is serious.

I can't tell anymore lol

 

[Raonak]

Oh, I definitely agree, it making it to the safe space of AAA is cool thing I welcome with open arms, and that's pretty dope and I hope is the start of more weird and risky games making it to the mainstream. But I'll still side-eye anyone trying to pretend Kojima is being a genius for making a weird artsy conceptual unique game and that he's the first one to do so, while, technically, he really really isn't. What he has over those other indie game devs is the money, funds, hype and popularity. But genius conceptual creativity? No, that's absolutely not brand new in the video game industry, for sure.

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I agree that his creativity isn't necessarily unique, plenty of developers could easily come up with this stuff.
And he's definitely not the first.

but the creativity combined with (as you said) the money, funds, hype and popularity... is what makes him oddly unique.
almost like he's got the mindset of an indie developer but the resources of a AAA one.

 

[BassForever]

Schindler's list is entertaining, not in the fun way tho.

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A schindler's list made by Kojima would he a 20 hour movie where you'd watch the jews work a full 12 hour day in the factory, one by one making hinges, with no dialogue and nothing but the sound of the machines. Every few hours a nazi officer would walk in, take someone who wasn't working fast enough outside, and shoot them off screen. A nazi officer insider would yell at people to get back to work. Additionally the 3-4 minute scene at Schindler's grave would be 3-4 hours long, as we watch the jews walk across a large, empty field to get to the grave they can see in the distance.

Would the emotional scenes still be there? Absolutely, but the boring padding would not make the film better and would likely undermine most of the beats of the story.

 

[Tibarn]

How long is the game expected to be? I could do fifteen hours of this style of gameplay but probably not more.

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30+ hours is what I get from most reviews. Even 50-60.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

To all those who tagged me in my GOTY speculation post earlier... hahaha I can't wait for GOTY discussion in a few months.

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Look like it might get a bunch of GOTY's from various people as well as simultaneously making a few "worst" lists.

 

[Gans]

Not sure if this is serious.

I can't tell anymore lol

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100% /s, thought I tried hard enough to make it obvious but I see where you are coming from hahaha

 

[Wallace Wells]

How long is the game expected to be? I could do fifteen hours of this style of gameplay but probably not more.

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Kotaku said 85 for them

 

[Doggg]

I don't buy these comparisons to "boring"-yet-great films. How many of these films are over 40 hours long?

 

[Moz La Punk]

How long is the game expected to be? I could do fifteen hours of this style of gameplay but probably not more.

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Took me about 34-40 hours for the main campaign and a fair chunk of the side stuff.

 

[Detective Pidgey]

What (video) review must I check to get a good indication what I'm dealing with here? I just want want to know more details about what the gameplay and the objectives/missions are like.

 

[LDNStateOfMind]

The first 10 or so hours being a slog is really putting me off. Seem like a few people that have played it couldn't make it past the initial slog and not sure if i can.

 

[GreenEarth]

Does the game need plus for it's "multiplayer" stuff?

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No, PS+ not required.

 

[Deleted member 12833]

A schindler's list made by Kojima would he a 20 hour movie where you'd watch the jews work a full 12 hour day in the factory, one by one making hinges, with no dialogue and nothing but the sound of the machines. Every few hours a nazi officer would walk in, take someone who wasn't working fast enough outside, and shoot them off screen. A nazi officer insider would yell at people to get back to work. Additionally the 3-4 minute scene at Schindler's grave would be 3-4 hours long, as we watch the jews walk across a large, empty field to get to the grave they can see in the distance.

Would the emotional scenes still be there? Absolutely, but the boring padding would not make the film better and would likely undermine most of the beats of the story.

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This post made no sense.

 

[Lightjolly]

Looks like 85 gang got it right

 

[Deleted member 3017]

Also not to compare one game with another, but didn't RDR 2 suffer from bad pacing and repetitive missions too? I remember being equally excited for RDR2, got the game on launch. The first hour was great, then a few hours in I thought it was equally good and then it became somewhat of a snoozefest due to bad pacing. But I don't remember critics complaining much about it. With Death Stranding the story, characters, and themes explored in the game feels enough reason to be excited and engaged while playing despite whatever repetitiveness it might make a player go through in it's journey no? It's like Death Stranding has the word 'unique' written all over it. Hurry up Nov 8th!

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I don't feel RDR2 has poor pacing at all. It's a slow burn, yes, but I was always engaged.

 

[Kyora90]

The pizza is aggressive.

 

[Radec]

What (video) review must I check to get a good indication what I'm dealing with here? I just want want to know more details about what the gameplay and the objectives/missions are like.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPTs4uW-zO0

This seems pretty in-depth without spoiling the story.

 

[xeroborn55]

What a fascinating game. From reading a few reviews it doesn't seem like a game I would like, yet I'm still oddly compelled to pick it up anyway.

 

[Apathy]

The 3's seem to be written out of spite considering literally broken games don't even get 3's

 

[Fizzgig]

I've always thought it looked boring AF and these reviews aren't doing anything to change my mind, so giving this a miss.

 

[Bish_Bosch]

A schindler's list made by Kojima would he a 20 hour movie where you'd watch the jews work a full 12 hour day in the factory, one by one making hinges, with no dialogue and nothing but the sound of the machines. Every few hours a nazi officer would walk in, take someone who wasn't working fast enough outside, and shoot them off screen. A nazi officer insider would yell at people to get back to work. Additionally the 3-4 minute scene at Schindler's grave would be 3-4 hours long, as we watch the jews walk across a large, empty field to get to the grave they can see in the distance.

Would the emotional scenes still be there? Absolutely, but the boring padding would not make the film better and would likely undermine most of the beats of the story.

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Honestly this sounds like a Holocaust version of Rivette's Out 1 which sounds pretty cool to be honest.

 

[Shark]

The first 10 or so hours being a slog is really putting me off. Seem like a few people that have played it couldn't make it past the initial slog and not sure if i can.

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The length of the supposed 'slog' to start the game seems to be growing by the page.

I remember the talk of Red Dead 2's 'slow' start and then I played the game and couldn't begin to relate.

 

[Razgriz417]

Wow I don't think I've seen this spectrum of reviews for a game before from 3/10 to 10/10 lol. Listening to the beadtcast and being a person who hates encumbrance and durability, I think I'd hate the gameplay

 

[The Unsent]

"Death Stranding's helix of cinema and game contains about as much Tarkovsky and slowness as one could possibly cram into a game before making it a certifiably bad game" - Tim Rogers
Tarkovsky being the director I am most often mindblown by in his deliberateness and commitment to his style and frankly, absolute, undeniable genius, one could not praise the cinematic quality of a videogame any higher than with these words. And I'm sure it would have a lot of players scrambling for the hills, far far away from DS if they had any idea about the type of movies he made.

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I hope you have a great time! Although I'm a bit corcerned we're going to see some character assassinations, a fallacy like some critics "just want games to not move the medium forward" IMO if if someone wants games to push the medium forward and be more artistic, appreciate art is going to have critics who have their own views of it.

 

[Majiebeast]

Sekiro was pretty divisive after the honeymoon period. Resident Evil 2 remake will have issues getting votes because it's a remake.

The Outer Worlds is a wholly original game and well received by everybody. If I had to put money on it, I'd say that The Outer Worlds will take most GOTY votes.

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I thought it might be Outer Worlds or Resident Evil 2. They seem to be universally liked.

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Outer Worlds nah its bootleg fallout with the same glaring issues.

 

[Secretofmateria]

Why do these guys look so cynical and jaded?

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they just don't trip over themselves with hype and childish extreme reactions. Personally i prefer their subdued take on games and value their opinion way more than the personality whose jumping up and down in reaction videos. Also i like that it sounds like they arent trying to conflate bad design with some auteur bs that us simpletons couldn't possibly understand the brilliance of.

 

[BlueManifest]

Took me about 34-40 hours for the main campaign and a fair chunk of the side stuff.

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How did some people take 80 hrs? What could they have possibly done to get double the playtime as you?

 

[Adryuu]

This party of my review maybe helps to answer it?



For what its worth, it fits with the story/lore/world. But in such a strange place, that's the least weird thing you'll find ;)

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Well, not really but I guess it's a mechanic intended to support the connection theme rather than just a help. Paved roads sound huge actually. Anyway I read your whole review after posting btw, thanks a lot for the translation!
It didn't sound like a 9,5 to me though, with the talk of confusing storyline down the road and all that but I guess it's a highly subjective score based on the impact it left on you personally :)

Do you think the traversal/delivery/gameplay enjoyment depends much on taking it competitively with yourself and new items depend much on landing good delivery scores or even farming deliveries (if that's even possible)?

Also, did you at least try on a base ps4 or have the possibility, to comment on that version iq/performance or even showcase some screens?

Thank you very much again for doing this :)

PS: I'm really torn on keeping my 49,90€ preorder or wait some months. I just purchased an xbox one x and I'm not rich but some of the things I've seen in the game really appeal to me, while others put me way off...