My Impressions of Death Stranding (PC/Epic).
Written on 6/18/2021.
INTRO.
So, I bought this game (Death Stranding) yesterday. I'm around 5 hours into the PC version (from the Epic Store) of this game. I definitely have some thoughts, but I'm not sure how this is going to go here & what to entirely make of this all. This might be the most different & bizarre AAA game that I've played in a long time. I'm not even entirely sure what to make of it yet, as it's not your typical game by many means.
I don't know and don't feel I've entirely scratched the surface of this game, its mechanics & narrative here. It feels, since it just opened-up its world not too long ago, like this is an open-world walking simulator & hiking game that is often esoterically narrative-based. It doesn't try to tell you or explain everything to you, which also can be part of its intrigue and the reason - well, at least so far, anyways - that I can't put this down (yet). It gives you really enough, when it does, to keep you wanting to travel the world and see...well, whatever's going to come next. It's often weird, odd, different, and who knows what-else that I can think of here. Its world, its narrative, its world-building - it's just all so fascinating and odd, that I just keep wanting to see more. It's still feeling like in its first 5 hours, a huge tutorials, still often teaching me its mechanics and/or new things; especially since this doesn't act like a normal game.
TRAIL-BLAZING.
I haven't even really got into combat much here either. Most of the time, you are walking, running & moving around the game-world and its gorgeous landscapes. The game both looks & runs amazing on this iteration of Decima Engine (which also powers Horizon: Zero Dawn), often in the 120fps-160fps range on my desktop PC (i7 10700KF; 16 GB RAM; RTX 3070 with 8GB VRAM; W10 x 64). Simply put: the game looks & runs great with lots of detail in its game-world, terrain, and character models - and this is even without Ray-Tracing. This game's stunning.
BALANCE & CONTROL.
Often, you have to balance what you're carrying on your back and/or in your hands, trying to deliver stuff like a Fetch-quest and Fed-Ex, UPS, or Post-Office Man, delivering stuff from place-to-place. You have to try to not fall and keep balance, not moving too slow or too fast, as you might be timed to get certain items and packages to a certain location in X amount of time. Also, you can't get packages too wrecked or anything, from tripping, falling over and whatnot with the terrain and whatnot, as that will effect your score in-game, as you do get scored from F to A (with also S being above A), as you are getting in-game "Likes" and "Grades" for what you do & how well you do it (or not).
Playing with a controller (over the keyboard/mouse) is probably the best option for moving around the world here, as your controller is constantly giving your rumbling & feedback, as you are really being challenged by what you are carrying - whether it's a corpse, some drugs, lots of packages, or whatever cargo you can think of. You have to constantly balance this stuff on you, move properly on terrain, and not fall or hurt yourself. With a keyboard/mouse, this walking simulation stuff, hiking, and world-traversal might be lacking the rumble and feedback aspects of the control, losing one of what feels like instrumental elements to going through the game-world, feeling like you're actually traversing it. This also gives the player the man v. nature feeling, as most of the time, you're going around the game-world and traversing it, pretty much all by your lonesome self, for the most part.
You'll also run into enemies called "BT's" (Beached Things), which also feel & seem like dead bodies trying to pull you into becoming one of the dead or into their world. I have not run into fights with them or combat with them yet, but from my encounters with them, you need to keep using your sensor and try to avoid them...or else a black pool of them arrive and it looks like (probably dead) shadowy figures/souls, trying to below the ground and possibly into Hell (or their realm/world), to stop you from your task. You can crouch, move slow, and hold your breath...hoping they don't try to take you down. If they do, well...you'll have to try and get away and shake this pool and mess of them off of you. These feel like this game's version of oddball stealth sequences of sorts here.
INVERSION OF THE MULTIPLAYER.
In some ways, though - this also has some interesting takes on inverted multiplayer of sorts, similar to that of Dark Souls. You won't run into other players - or well, I don't think I will, just yet - but you can run into remnants of other players have been around in this game-world. You can leave signs, messages, and whatnot for other players, if you're online - and when they are in their own game in the same area, you can send them "Likes" to boost them. The vice versa's true, as when they're online and you are, they can help you out in ways, too. When online, other players might lose cargo in the world or might drop it (b/c their cargo might get too heavy to take around) - and once you set-up mailboxes and construct those - then you can deliver lost cargo for other players to pick-up at areas besides main ones, so they can deliver it.
Once you can get items to make navigating the terrain easier, such as having ladders that you can use to cross lacks as bridges or use a rope to climb up rocks and/or mountains, for example - then other players, when online, can also use these items you placed in specific spots in their world. It really feels like you are out there, trying to help not just the game-world - but also other players in this game-world, when you're online and when they're online.
STORY.
Given all of that, here's the story: you play Sam Porter Bridges (played by Norman Reedus), who is a delivery-man (or a porter, as they are called here) that is trying to deliver packages & cargo to people through-out the world. The world seems to be in dire straits, as it feels like a post-apocalyptic world of sorts, lacking true government & whatnot. Most people don't traverse the world, as there's too many dangers out there in the world. Porters (i.e. delivery-men) are here, trying to connect with the world & also reconnect the world and rebuild it, to some kind of former glory of sorts, rebuilding America & civilization itself.
OUTRO.
So far, with everything here so and with so much to take in & digest here - so far, I can't seem to put this down. There's something unique, different, weird, and interesting about this game - and I can't put it down; at least not yet, anyways. It hasn't gotten repetitive or boring for me yet - though for some, I could see otherwise. This is a different and divisive type of game. Though, I could see - namely with its lack of shooting and action elements, when compared to other games - for some, how this could be boring to them. This game has a lot going on w/ its themes, points, story, weirdness, world-building, and whatnot - and that also might not be for everyone.
If you are looking for an odd, weird, not-that-action-packed game and you just want to traverse a game as a hiking simulation & walking simulation in an odd post-apocalyptic world & interesting sci-fi world, loaded also really good voice-acting here and great graphics & performance - this unique game & experience could be some terrain worth exploring and traversing.
Whether I will feel like this still, after way more hours behind me - yeah, like say having 20 hours or 40 hours behind me - than just say the 5 hours or so I already have behind me here and if the game can keep me going with its story, characters, and who knows what else here - well, I'll just have to wait & see.
I will just have to explore this game more & spend more time connecting with it too; all seeing where I, Sam, and this all will go to too.
