Death Stranding

Highly polarizing artistic work with stunning visuals. Unique vision but highly subjective.

Among the most visually impressive current-gen games. Exceptional Decima engine with varied settings.

Uniquely meditative game where terrain is the challenge. Beautiful desolate world with zen-like traversal.

Easy Allies review.

A divisive, deliberately slow Kojima creation that frustrates early on with janky traversal, punishing low starting stats, and tediously redundant delivery cutscenes and menus that bury the user interface. Yet once the map opens up in Chapter 3, its asynchronous multiplayer transforms the grind into a moving meditation on connection and shared burden. Not for everyone, but a genuinely ambitious work of art whose payoff lands precisely because the opening hours are so cruel.

Discussion on infrastructure building, multiplayer, and new perspective on the sequel.

Before You Buy: unique and imaginative but has flaws; difficult to broadly recommend despite engaging mechanics.

Director's Cut is the best version with neat additions like abandoned factory missions and boss replay; improved and more feature-complete than original PS4 version.

A substantial evolution of the original that offers more playstyle freedom, better pacing, and engaging RPG systems. Despite repetitive delivery sequences and tedious cutscenes, the story, combat, visuals, and online connectivity create an immersive and rewarding experience worth the 70+ hour investment.

Death Stranding is a positive game with interesting mechanics and well-crafted systems.

A pretentious, hype-driven disappointment that would be ranked far lower if not for its famous director and Hollywood cast. The decent soundtrack and occasional quiet moments of solitude while carrying cargo are the only real positives. The combat is awful, the delivery loop plays like endless side-quests, and the story is bafflingly absurd and at times unpleasant, making the experience boring and mind-numbing overall.

Retrospectively praised as wonderfully singular and prescient — a hopeful, lonely meditation on connection that aged remarkably well after 2020's pandemic experience.

AJ Angry Review: divided between excellent world/characters and tedious 40+ hour delivery loop; memorable but exhausting.