DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT Reviews

Some people are definitely correct on the forefront that this game is basically "a walking simulator," it does grow very tedious without the story. I've only died once due to Sam not grabbing a rope, not once to an enemy. Despite playing on normal, it feels like enemies are on easy mode. So why do I recommend the game despite these minor flaws? Well that's it - their MINOR flaws. The game implemented an amazing concept in which players could construct infrastructure, leave helpful/encouraging signs and donate materials for one another without seeing other players. Its intentionally creating this singleplayer perspective in a multiplayer world. 14 hours or more into the game (mostly doing side quests for 5 star bases), I've still yet to see more of the story and how it comes together. Update 1: The vehicles can be very finnicky and they drive over certain rocks but not other rocks (of similar size) which is getting annoying, so I've resulted to completing the roads to ease everyone's game experience.

I went in ready to hate Death Stranding. Instead, it became one of my all-time favorites. Death Stranding at its core is… walking. You’re a delivery guy in a post-apocalyptic world, strapping packages to your back and trying not to trip over rocks. Sounds boring, right? But here’s the weird part: it’s not boring at all. It’s oddly satisfying. There’s something about navigating rivers, cliffs, and mud while balancing your cargo that feels almost meditative - like a fidget spinner for your brain after a long day. At the same time, I totally get why people bounce off this game. It’s slow at first. It’s repetitive. And some of the dialogue is borderline cringe. Honestly, describing the story to someone makes me sound like I’m losing it: ghosts, rain that ages you, babies in jars, Mads Mikkelsen smoking in the rain. But man, it works. Every actor gives their absolute best, and the performances kept me hooked even when the plot itself went off the rails. Then there’s the progression. This game doesn’t just hand you everything right away. Slowly but surely, it starts throwing you new toys: vehicles, weapons, gadgets, giant roads, even zip line networks. And oh my god, building out those systems is ridiculously rewarding. I remember when I finally connected my zip line web across the mountains, turning what used to be a nightmare trek into a quick, smooth glide. It felt like beating the game on my own terms. And don’t get me started on the resource management. This game scratches the same itch as a good optimization puzzle: how much cargo can I carry, which route saves the most time, what equipment do I need to bring? That planning phase is half the fun, and it kept even the simplest delivery missions interesting. The world itself is gorgeous: massive landscapes, eerie silence, and then suddenly a perfectly timed Low Roar song kicks in as you crest a hill. Those moments were breathtaking. Combat is surprisingly decent, especially when it mixes things up in Chapter 3. But some of the war flashback chapters are brutal bullet-sponge slogs. I had to drop the difficulty just to get through them without tearing my hair out. Thankfully, those are just bumps in the road compared to the rest of the journey. What kept me going, though, was the immersion. The cinematics, the acting, the bizarre yet fascinating lore. Mads Mikkelsen’s performance in particular is easily one of the best I’ve seen in a game. By the end, I wasn’t just playing, I felt like I had lived in that world. So yeah. Death Stranding is weird, slow, frustrating, and sometimes even laughable. But it’s also beautiful, soothing, clever, and one-of-a-kind. It’s art disguised as a game. And honestly, no one but Kojima could’ve pulled it off. TL;DR: Death Stranding is not for everyone. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend it to most people. But if you’re willing to embrace its slow pace, strange storytelling, and experimental design, it becomes something truly special. A unique mix of zen walking, tense planning, and emotional storytelling that I’ll never forget. 10/10

Damn good game. Don't listen to the it's just delivering packages haters.

beautiful game, beautiful soundtrack, amazing gameplay, and extremely addictive :) can't wait for the sequel!

Just finished this game, it was pretty good. People call it a "walking simulator" or an "amazon delivery simulator" and for the most part, that is true but that really isn't a bad thing. The game does have stealth combat similar to Hideo Kojima's MGS series and also has cool monsters that you fight with nice guns and grenades made from your own piss and poop, all so you can deliver some packages to Conan O'brien and the girl from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (pretty good film). Even so, I would probably still play this game even if it had no combat whatsoever. The story is crazy, the characters are cool and the long walks/drives through the shared world are very relaxing and enjoyable (apart from when you get jumped by MULES or BTs). The fact that other players can see what you build, contribute materials to your builds and reward you with likes for helping them makes being a good porter more gratifying as you form bonds with other players through your deliveries, which is essentially the essence of this game. The only downside, for me, was the cutscenes towards the end. There were quite a few long cutscenes throughout this game which I enjoyed (I actually have an attention span and Kojima's cinematography is actually very good) but at the end of the game, there were a few long ones which really took the piss. Also, the whole thing where you run around on the beach whilst the credits roll genuinely made me want to die. Other than that, this game is great! I will probably continue to play this game even though I have already finished it and although I can understand why someone might not want to play this game (it does seem boring), I highly recommend playing it.

Death Stranding is a unique, genre-defying game by Hideo Kojima that blends open-world exploration, narrative depth, and social connectivity. You play as Sam Porter Bridges, a courier in a post-apocalyptic America, tasked with reconnecting isolated cities while navigating supernatural threats and challenging terrain. 🔹 Pros: Stunning visuals and hauntingly beautiful world. Deep, emotional story with strong performances (Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen). Innovative asynchronous multiplayer ("Strand" system). Memorable soundtrack and atmosphere. 🔹 Cons: Slow-paced and repetitive gameplay ("walking simulator" to some). Complex, abstract narrative might confuse some players. Not for everyone—requires patience and emotional investment. Looking forward to Death Stranding 2. GG.

"A game where I'm the USPS? Seems kind of boring." was the original thought I had when Death Stranding came out. Cut to years later, when I finally decided to give it a go, and I gotta be honest: I f**ked up. One of the most unique games I have ever played. I expected the story to go one way, and it managed to subvert my expectations every time. Truly one of those stories you haven't seen before but will stick with you and get you hoping the next games you play will be able to match it. Let's talk about the gameplay. Some moments get slow, yeah. That's the point, though. It felt like therapy to the soul. In a world where everything's a rush - it felt nice to do something that wasn't. You can breeze through this game if that's your style too. This isn't a "slow" game; there's vehicles and other fun ways to traverse the world once you get into it. There isn't a grind; I never found myself sighing because I had to do x amount of 'this task' to progress the game. You can beat the game in roughly 40 hours if you want (although it took me 100+ because I enjoyed it that much) And, sure; 40 hours may seem like a long game. But it's a game where it doesn't feel like they filled it in with 40 hours of filler. It felt like the story of Sam Porter Bridges every step of the way. One step at a time. If you're on the edge and saying to yourself "this is just a walking simulator" then don't be like me and skip on it for years. This isn't just a game. It's a masterpiece.

Made a huge mistake writing this game off as a walking simulator years ago. If you end up bored by the first couple hours of this game and quit you are really missing out on a real masterpiece of fiction. Give it a chance.

Death Stranding — 220+ hours later, still my favorite game of all time. I’ve spent more than 220 hours in this masterpiece, and I’m just one achievement away from 100%. The story hooked me from start to finish, the characters are insanely well-written, and the visuals… absolutely stunning. Deliveries never got boring for me. Different types of cargo, weapons, vehicles — there’s always something new to try. The only weak point is the vehicle physics (a bit clunky), but thank god for the road system — once you build highways, vehicles handle much better and traveling becomes smoother. Still, walking on foot with a heavy load while listening to the amazing soundtrack and watching the breathtaking landscapes feels even more rewarding. Speaking of the soundtrack — the music by Low Roar is pure magic. It makes every long walk feel emotional and meaningful. The online system is also brilliant. Getting likes on your structures, seeing other players use your bridges and roads, and sometimes even finding your own vehicles taken by someone else — it all makes the world feel alive and connected. In the end, Death Stranding isn’t just a game, it’s an experience I’ll never forget. For me, it’s the best “walking simulator” ever made — and I say that with love. Can’t wait for DS2 on PC, I’ll be there day one. 10/10, well… keep on keeping on.

Loved the gameplay loop - delivering, connecting and building stuff. Story is quirky and enjoyable, wish the map was bigger. [b] Overall - 9/10 Gameplay- 9/10 [/b] Delivering and grind - 9/10 Combat - 7/10 [b] Story - 8.5/10 Graphics/Optimisation- 9/10 [/b] [h3] Gameplay-[/h3] A fresh take on games as it takes away any typical formula we are used to and introduces this new kind of gameplay. It is not just about the walking but planning the routes, managing amount of cargo by deciding which things you may need. And then when finally the journey is often relaxing as you walk the long stretches and music just kicks in. And it is not just that but rather it is just that first time around you get anywhere. Once places are connected to chiral network, other people's structures appear. Your own structures make traversing easy, especially with vehicles and ziplines. That makes it into a satisfying loop. My complaint is that map felt small to me in the end. [b] Combat gameplay-[/b] This is where the gameplay aspect lacks a bit according to me. Usual BT fights seem good as you have freedom to escape them or avoid them but there are some world war sections where it is straight up gunfight. Considering it becomes third person shooter at that point, annoying thing for me was shooting from cover is not considered!! You take cover and may start shooting looking at the crosshair only to realize the object was blocking bullet path as well. Also, in many instances when combat happens the objective is not stated clearly and there is a lack of healthbar for the enemy. Playing on higher difficulties, in such instances I ended up wondering whether I am doing the wrong thing and whether I should somehow restrain them instead. Some of these battles ended up too difficult for me and I ended up lowering the difficulty. (I played on Hard but lowered to very easy for these) Otherwise combat is good enough, it is satisfying to deal with mules as well. [h3] Story-[/h3] I would be lying if I say I understood most of it. Death Stranding, Extinction Entity, Last Stranding etc. etc. And I don't care too much about it. What I care about was the characters and the fact that game made me cry thrice. I absolutely loved Clifford's storyline. Liked all the character backstories and warmth of connecting. Liked the story through mails as well. And loved the quirkiness where something random (often goody) happens which always caught me off guard and was a pleasant surprise. To me Amelie storyline felt okay. [h3] Graphics-[/h3] Quite good! Looks stunning and well optimized, was able to play stable 60 fps on 2560 x 1080 ultrawide with RTX 2060 at high settings (Quality DLSS). [h3] Random thoughts-[/h3] --I wish the ending came with a warning. I thought it would be just one mission and got dragged into some 3-5 hours of ending with no going back. I really wanted to complete all the remaining tasks first. The game does give option to keep playing by putting you back a bit in time, but it just doesn't feel the same. --Many fights would come without a warning or sometimes you would be taken somewhere without any gears or there will be huge limitation on fabricating anything you want. This just felt very counter-intuitive to me. On higher difficulty often you having extra resources should give you an edge but sadly that is not true here. One can load the earlier save -breaking rhythm but even that may not work sometime as you are past some traversing and loads of cutscenes already. ++Loved grinding, clearing mule camps from time to time, working on ordinary orders, hoarding the resources and then building/repairing loads. Even building zipline network is fun and really satisfying once in use. --Slightly lacks in making you use all the tools. Zipline + roads/bridges take over nearly everything. I think many of the other structures end up being not in use. For this I just think there needed to be more orders or a bigger map where each tool would have gotten chance to shine. --I noticed the path I had to get to Elder disappeared (!!) when I was busy delivering in different places. That feels like a huge negative to me. I was able to take vehicle up there so easily because of that. It would be bad if paths developed by going back and fro return to rocks randomly. ++All in all I have complaints because I loved rest of it so much. There are only handful of games which I have been able to play for 100+ hours and glad I got to play this. [b]Final Note[/b]- so 135 hours in finally my first playthrough is done. Emotionally I am done with it because the story is done but I do enjoy it quite a bit still to complete remaining achievements and places I had missed. Wish the game had new game plus mode. I can definitely see myself playing it again with challenges like no network/just my paths/structures. [b]Post achievement completion [/b]- It took 153 hours to complete the game + achievements. All in all I could have played it even slower. - One achivement requires unlocking a vehicle by winning races. I found the racing part to be neutral, it wasn't necessary needed, can be frustrating, the learning curve is not too tough, so good enough. - Really wish there was new game plus mode still. -Memory chip achievement is okay, did not require too much of time and one chip was at cool high place. ++I love the BB and the story, how cinematic cutscenes are. +Love that in depth you can get a lot more out of it with texts and stories- like reading Higg's journal. Would probably come back some day for a proper very hard difficulty run, might not if 2nd one turns out way better.