Summary
Death Strandingwas a unique game, maybe too unique for it to fully land when it first released, judging by its mixed reception. However, since then, the game has only grown to critical acclaim, and it’s now commonly regarded as one ofthe best open-world gamesreleased in recent memory, even if it’s not for everyone.
That’s becauseDeath Strandingdoesn’t even attempt to compete with how other open-world games do things, meaning that it excels at its specific focuses better than countless other games in its field. There’s plenty to celebrate in Kojima’s desolate but beautiful future apocalypse, but a few particular aspects manage to stand out from the crowd when compared to other titles in the genre.
8A Truly Desolate World
Timefall’s Not Good For Real Estate
Many open-world games are jam-packed with things to do, map icons, side-objectives, collectibles, story beats, and a hundred other pieces of busy-work. Even empty worlds don’t feel truly empty.
Though some might consider it a weakness,Death Stranding’s open world is truly desolate in places. Players shouldn’t expect to find hidden secrets in those mountains; they’re just tough mountains. It’s a breath of fresh air to feel like the player is traversing genuinely realistic terrain that doesn’t constantly aim to distract with a shiny new objective, letting them enjoysome truly beautiful locations.
7Focus On Traversal Mechanics
Belt And Road
Very few open-world games have a mechanical focus onhow players traverse through the world, often being a means to an end to get to the exciting stuff. Walking should just require pushing forward on the analogue stick, right?
Well,Death Strandingtries to do things a little differently, where every step is meaningful. If Sam is trying to scale a rocky cliff-face with a backpack full of cargo, players need to choose their route carefully, holding onto straps for balance, deploying ladders, and climbing anchors to proceed. Every route is a little puzzle, and the pros will soon develop some wild techniques to traverseDeath Stranding’s world.
6Sense Of Scale
Dwarfing Mankind
Often, when games want a player to be able to go anywhere in the open world, scale can be a problem. Making something too big or vast can make it impossible for players to interact entirely with the world.
Death Strandingmanages to straddle the line between scale and playability beautifully. Theoretically, players can scale the truly massive mountains and plains, but it’s going to be really difficult. Most players will feel small in the vast scale of the primordial landscape, walking through it rather than dominating it.
5Being About The Journey, Not The Destination
Helps Players Stay Present In The Moment
Generally, in open-world games, the point of doing a quest is to get a reward of some sort at the end, whether that’s gear, narrative, or XP. The problem is that this can disincentivise players from enjoying the journey and myopically focus them on the end point.
InDeath Stranding, the journey is the entire point. There are still rewards for successful deliveries, but the meaningful interaction with traversal and courier work comes in the journey. Feeling every step of the journey andmeeting all the weird preppersis why the destination feels so sweet inDeath Stranding.
4Big Ambitious Narrative Swings
It’s A Truly Unique Tale
It’s no secret that Kojima loves taking a big narrative swing in his games, andDeath Strandingis no exception. In fact, this may be Kojima at his absolute strangest, telling a complex sci-fi apocalypse story that’s so idiosyncratic that it’s impossible to imagine any other studio making it.
That’s to the game’s benefit. Open-world narratives can sometimes feel a little stale or written by committee, designed to maximize engagement without delivering a lot of story. Kojima clearly couldn’t care less, but the uniqueness makes it all the more refreshing to play, even ifit’s easy to miss plot details or whole cutscenes.
3Focus On Non-Violence
Rope, Not Sticks
It’s an undeniable fact that the vast majority of video games, particularly popular video games, involve being violent in some way. Whether that’s a good thing or not is up for debate, but there’s undoubtedly room for gamers to explore different kinds of violent interactions in the realm of gaming.
Death Stranding’s entire world is built from the ground up to disapprove of violence. If the player kills another human, they have to immediately bring that body to an incinerator or risk causing a massive explosion. Pacifism or non-violent confrontation is key to success inDeath Stranding, setting it apart from its peers.
2Innovative Co-Op Play
Helping Other Players Can Be Incredibly Beneficial
ThoughDeath Strandingis essentially a single-player game, the player is never truly alone. That’s because there are technically millions of Sams out there delivering their own packages, andDeath Stranding’s trulyingenious co-op systemwants players to help them out.
Players can contribute materials together in order to build communal roads, drop handy tools for others to use, or even provide shelters for each other. There’s no expectation of reward; the player is encouraged to help out just for the sake of helping out. It’s a wonderful system that reinforces the game’s themes of community and togetherness, which is genuinely sweet and unforgettable.
1Encouraging Players To Take Their Time
There’s No Rush
It’s a hard truth, but people’s attention spans are not what they once were. Immediate gratification is almost always preferred over meditative experiences, and action is what sells copies of video games. There’s little incentive to slow down, so few do.
Yet, for a AAA game,Death Strandingis unique in just how much it wants the players to slow down, adopt a meditative state, and just relax into the world. There’s no rush, no point in hurrying along, and it helps players appreciate the craft of the world and the meaningfulness of the delivery. It’s wholly unique and in a class of its own in getting a player to truly appreciate the open world they’re traversing through.
