The post-apocalyptic world limps on as the few remaining high-tech pockets of civilisation attempt to survive the on-going threat posed by extra-dimensional forces. Unnecessary over-the-top ‘Americanist’ story tellingĪnalysis / In-Depth Review Gameplay Our hero.Rather extremely deliberate obstruction of vehicle usage.Near-tedium of mandatory in-game activities.The future obviously depends on global cooperation if we are to fix global issues, not on dogmatic adherence to baseless notions of exceptionalism as we have done in years past. What I will say however is that I had a hard time digesting the over-the-top ‘America is the light’ vibe that the game all too frequently centres its dialogue around. With minimal time spent on ‘public works’ (play the game to find out what I mean by that) a play-through should take around 60 hours. Were it another game I’d go into more detail, but I truly feel that reviewing this particular game requires walking a very fine line indeed so as not to spoil it. To divulge anything about the story though would truly be ‘spoiling’ it, so I hope my synopsis will entice you to try the game for yourself. The story is quite ‘out there’ as is the case with a lot of Japanese fiction, but comes together very nicely as the game progresses. While it’s easy to lose sight of all but the mission, the game subtly reminds you to proverbially ‘stop and smell the roses’. It manages to engage the player with a dynamic array of sharply contrasting feelings loneliness vs togetherness, restriction vs freedom and futility vs sense of achievement to name but a few. If anything I would say that the underlying vibe or message of the game becomes increasingly positive as the story unfolds, with the horror elements gradually becoming well understood and manageable obstacles rather than terrors. It features some genuinely scary horror-like moments for instance, but I wouldn’t call it a horror game. It really is a mixed bag of genres that form the foundation of the game’s cake with some very interesting features that make up the icing and decoration. While I wouldn’t label Death Stranding an entirely ‘new genre’ as developer Hideo Kojima would have us believe, I certainly would not insult it by labelling it a ‘walking simulator’ as many others have done either.
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