A couple hours in, and I’m definitely struggling with the volume of cut scenes. So far it’s also not been as challenging as I was led to expect. I’d still probably say I’m enjoying it so far, but I’m not completely won over yet.
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Well, I finished Death Stranding. I guess I'll give some thoughts.
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The game is extremely uneven. There's good, there's bad, and there's so-bad-it's-kinda-good. The gameplay is very solid, as expected- if it hadn't been I wouldn't have stuck with it so long.
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The core fetch quests have a soothingly repetitive quality, w/ variety and difficulty to keep them interesting (mostly- a few later runs became too easy). There are also pure shooter sections and BT escapes/fights, which are ok. (If you like shooters you'll probably like those.)
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Now, to the story. I'm probably going to spoil some stuff, because I don't care. If you're wondering "Is Death Stranding pro-life?" The answer is yes. Politically that's probably the most consistent element, tbh.
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Your "BB" (the weird fetus in a jar from the trailer) is needed equipment, and also represents the original sin of your whole operation. Sam coming to care for BB as a baby is fundamental to his character arc, freeing BB from the jar so it can grow up is the last thing you do.
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I'd probably have found the extreme pro-life message more annoying, though, if I'd cared for the characters at all. Sam is a boring cardboard hero, I never got over the weirdo-freakout aspect of BB and saw it as more than a messed up, kinda cool game element.
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The other characters are not much better- wooden, cardboard, stereotypical, with occasional aspects of weirdness that's kinda cool but doesn't really cohere. It would have really benefited from better dialogue writing. Just laughable. Sometimes terrible in a fun way, but still.
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The one exception was Deadman, who I kinda liked. That's the character modeled on Guilermo del Tormo, voiced by Jesse Corti. Deadman has some very funny scenes, and is a lot more lively and fun to interact with than the rest.
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Everyone's name is a word that's telling you how to feel about them, in a very cringey way. There are plot twists, but they're extremely easy to guess by paying attention to the names. The politics- even ignoring the pro-life stuff- are similarly heavy handed and crude.
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All that said, I found I really came to like and even sort of care about the world as a whole.
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After the apocalypse, humanity's few survivors are left in a world of death magic which is both their best means of survival and their greatest threat. Sounds like it'd be as corny as the rest, but I came to really feel I was there through the settings and game play.
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So that's Death Stranding: A terrible story with bad, cardboard characters you won't care about at all, heavy-handed pro-life politics, and way too many cutscenes (do yourself a favor, just skip them!), but still a really excellent game I'd recommend to anyone interested.
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End of conversation
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