Welcome to the Bakery!

I may be a few years late to the party, but am here nonetheless. Death Stranding had been sitting in Steam Library Purgatory for sometime now. In fact, I don’t recall when I actually bought it. Or why, for that matter. But it wasn’t until several years later and the Director’s Cut upgrade was on sale on Steam, that I finally jumped in. I’d made a myriad of jokes about how I worked at FedEx and didn’t need to then go home and escape into FedEx 2.0. I no longer work at FedEx, but the reality is, this game is nothing like that anyways.

Yes, the beginning two hours feels more like a movie. For every 10-15 minutes you play, expect an equally as long (if not longer) cut scene. It’s slow going and a little bit frustrating despite how beautiful the scenery and how star-studded the cast. However, if you stop there you are doing yourself a massive disservice as Death Stranding is easily one of my more favorite games I’ve played.

For one thing, the game is stunning visually. I am playing on a PC, one I bought in 2022 with a 3070TI graphics card. The vistas and vantages can’t be beat in this game and combining that with the incredible music, it is a truly incredible experience. Most of the time you as Sam (yes, played by Norman Reedus) are solitary, alone in this vast world haunted by BTs – beached things. If not these entities that oddly remind me of ink, than M.U.L.E.S., your fellow man that are far from friendly. Large expanses of land rolling in front of you while Low Roar’s “Don’t Be So Serious” plays in the background truly gives you this eerie, post-apocalyptic feeling like no other game I’ve ever experienced. It’s solitudinal. Its meditative. Very few games I’ve played have reached this level of atmospheric mood building in the way that Death Stranding does.

The narrative is another thing entirely. Very little is given to you in the beginning of the game. It felt very much like I was drop-kicked out of a door and told “you got this!” However, I love that because it makes me insatiably curious as to WHY I was kicked out of that door and WHAT was that door to begin with? You’re not just delivering packages simply to be a post-apocalyptic parcel service. Each package, each recipient, each trip builds the world and tells the story of who you are and more importantly why you are who you are as Sam Porter.

A more personal reason why I enjoy Death Stranding to the extent that I do is how it makes me feel creatively. I’ve always felt that a truly brilliant piece of art should inspire art if it is truly great. Art can take many forms: drawings, paintings, writings, and I even think such things as streams and content creation as art in its own way. Death Stranding inspires me to write, both my own personal creations as well as to self-insert in the world. There are many times I’m running around delivering that I am not Sam Porter but instead myself (in my mind, anyways). I have played for hours at a time doing side-quests simply because of the story I am telling myself in my head as I play. I’ve always said video games are like playing books, those with strong narratives anyways, and Death Stranding is a shining example of this.

It is not a game for everyone. No game should be. But I think it is a truly special game and worth your time if you like:

• post apocalyptic worlds
• minor horror elements
• profound worldbuilding
• incredible visuals and soundtrack
• strong narratives and cleverly written characters

I very much look forward to jumping into Death Stranding 2…once I complete the first game as I am currently knee-deep in rebuilding a highway.