Death Stranding

Death Stranding is a signature game by Hideo Kojima: a realistic walking and logistics simulator with action, survival, and stealth elements, viewed from a third-person perspective. The player travels through a post-apocalyptic world, finds survivors, rebuilds a fragmented society, and creates a unified network between cities.

The story unfolds through numerous expertly directed scenes in the style of an intimate thriller. All cutscenes feature famous Hollywood actors and were made using advanced motion-capture technology. The game’s philosophy is about understanding the true value of building relationships between people.

In the not-too-distant future, a catastrophic event called the “Death Stranding” occurred, causing the dimension of the living to become entangled with the dimension of the dead and demons.

A massive apocalypse took place, the United States ceased to exist, and people were scattered across its entire territory. What happened in the rest of the world is unknown. The few survivors took refuge in cities deep underground.

Chiral creatures broke into our world—unrested souls of the dead, as well as various demons (which serve as bosses). When a chiral creature consumes a person, living or dead, a vortex appears, pulling all matter into another dimension and leaving a huge crater in our world.

Chiral rain poses a great danger. Its drops act like a time machine, speeding up biological aging—anyone caught in such rain will quickly grow old. It also causes metals to corrode and plastic to degrade, gradually eating away at everything it touches.

The story of Death Stranding is told in an unusual way. The first two chapters quickly immerse the player in the events. After that, until the entire map is unlocked, the plot gradually introduces new characters and tells their backstories.

One of the story’s strengths is its missions set on the battlefields of the First and Second World Wars, as well as the Vietnam War—but it’s best to experience them for yourself.

And it’s only after the halfway point that the story really picks up : the picture of what happened starts filling in with new details, characters develop their own story arcs, intrigues are revealed, several exciting plot twists take place, and the number and length of dialogues and cutscenes increase.

The main character, Sam Bridges (Norman Reedus), gets the hang of being a courier, while his sensitivity to the world of the dead and his ability to return to our world after dying help him get out of the most hopeless situations.

That’s why the president of the United States asks Sam to carry cargo between survivors, earn their trust, and connect them to the Chiral Network, the “spiritual successor to the internet.” The network will unite all the cities and settlements in the United States, allowing people to share data and experience, and solve the problem of worlds becoming intertwined.

There are many characters, and they’re interesting to talk to. The star-studded cast and excellent direction keep the player engaged right through to the finale. At the same time, the game is linear, and your actions won’t affect the ending—Death Stranding is not a role-playing game.

Chiral rain has literally wiped out human civilization—in the cities, there are only piles of rubble and trash, while the surrounding landscape is made up of barren rocks, mountains, rivers, and snowy peaks. As a result, Death Stranding has a dead game world: there’s no simulation of life, dangerous and safe areas are fixed in place, and there are no side quests or NPCs.

The locations are small on paper, but consist entirely of rugged terrain of varying difficulty, making the game world feel enormous. There are no direct routes or sprinting; you have to look for trails to climb up and down, find detours and fords, descend using a rope, or climb a ladder.

The ground itself is the playing field in Death Stranding, and its main gameplay mechanic is walking and controlling how you walk. As Sam moves from one point to another, the player constantly controls his direction, speed, and balance. He might catch his foot on a rock, lose his balance after a shove, and fall, damaging the cargo and failing the delivery.

An excellent physics engine changes the character’s balance depending on the slope of the surface, whether it’s smooth or uneven, what’s lying on it, whether it’s grass or snow, whether the hero is going uphill or downhill, and the water’s current and depth. A strong current will simply sweep Sam away, and the cargo will sink or get lost.

The player has to balance mobility against the weight they’re carrying. Carrying more is more rewarding, but a character with a tower of cargo on his back moves slower and has a harder time keeping his balance. He also needs to sleep, eat, use the toilet, wash, and keep an eye on his footwear.

Moving boxes from point A to point B makes up most of the 100-hour playthrough. Threats add variety to the process. The first are deranged couriers called MULEs, who will try to take the main character’s cargo if they spot him. You can run away, knock them out in a fistfight, or stun them with a taser.

The second danger is the chiral creatures, which can sense the player and drag them into their dimension. The player will then end up in the afterlife, from which they’ll have to find a way out. You can either hide from the creatures or fight them using special weapons, such as grenades or firearms.

Sam earns likes for delivering cargo and completing story missions, which add up to levels and points. The points can be spent on minor character upgrades. As you progress, more and more content becomes available: delivery bots, platforms that hover above the ground, motorcycles, and even cars. You’ll also be able to build structures in the open world.

The main progression comes from advancing the story and connecting cities to the network. In return, you’re rewarded with resources, gameplay options , and equipment such as a leg exoskeleton.

Connecting an area to the network activates asynchronous multiplayer, where players help one another while each remains in their own world. This expands your gameplay options; for example, if you lose your cargo, another courier can deliver it. And you can build a path through the mountain pass that other players will use in their worlds.

In return, you get likes that encourage your character—they boost stamina, increase cargo capacity, and improve movement-related stats.

In this kind of asynchronous game, it’s much easier to build structures—bridges, roads, vehicle charging stations, rest stops—and generally improve the game world. The more of these there are, the easier it is to get through the game : you can enter a world with wide roads, scattered vehicles, and charging stations. Chiral rain also damages these structures, but not very quickly.