Is Death Stranding a yay?

It goes without saying that most of you have probably seen the TGS footage of Death Stranding by now. It's one of the most anticipated titles to grace the PS4 and Kojima's knack for esoteric pretension leaves people bewildered and confused, yet still excited.

I should preface this article by saying I'm not bashing Death Stranding. In fact, I'm very curious as to how the game will do come its release date. From what I've seen and heard of it, Kojima intends on creating his own new genre starting with this game. This isn't farfetched by any stretch of the imagination considering the Souls games have effectively done that in recent memory, inspiring numerous other titles to adopt its approach to combat, environmental storytelling and progression.

While the world and lore are still pretty much under lock and key (it seems Kojima's confident that no one can understand it simply from the trailers he's showed us), the gameplay has definitely been showcased a fair bit. One can even start predicting the route he'll take with this title. But is it crazy enough to warrant the hype and is it maddening enough to spawn a new genre?

Speaking of the genre, I believe that's stemming largely from the online aspects of the game in which you're able to connect the strands from other players to...eventually unite everyone? Even I'm quite lost with the whole premise of this thing but Kojima has mentioned that the genre's name would be 'strand'. Basically, the strand genre. I suppose he's confident in his ability to produce something so wholeheartedly unique that the very genre's name is based on it. From what I've seen of the online aspects, I honestly do not have enough information to comment on it. It doesn't seem unique by any stretch of the imagination but who knows, playing it might be vastly different from just observing it.

Now, how about the hype? Is the gameplay satisfying? Do we want to actually just sit there watching Norman Reedus hum to a creepy baby in an artificial womb?

I honestly like the exploration bits of the gameplay. Urinating aside, it's definitely refreshing to have a AAA game that involves you literally ferrying objects over rivers and ravines for 'Likes'. You can use all sorts of equipment that may seen rather basic now but will most likely get very complex as we continue with the game. Apparently, setting up a proper bridge just to cross a gap is very possible. I also like how weight and balance is a thing that you have to take into account. You can balance it all on Sam's back if you wish, affecting his speed, but his balance is heavily affected by how you choose to arrange them. Pile it up high? Strap some items to the side? Hand carry some of them? Use a hovering trolley? It's a pretty neat mechanic to have. It's not mindblowing content but it adds flavour to one of the core gameplay aspects.

The other big thing that everyone seems excited about is the combat. I'm not as impressed by that mostly because it looks exactly like MGS5. I know, I know, MGS5 is a great game but what with the claim of a whole new genre, I'd expect combat to either be non-existent or play a little differently from the norm. You can stealthily take down enemies, equip powered exoskeleton suits and use your baggage as projectiles to give you an opportunity to incapacitate or kill enemies. All fun times I suppose but nothing extraordinary.

Then we have the big bad. The fight with the monster that we've seen Troy Baker's character summon in a previous teaser for the game. The fight, while amusing to everyone, looked extremely boring to me. You toss blood grenades at it to do damage with further assistance obtained from online players passing you other weapons to inflict even more damage. You fight in a very swampy, black sea with objects and buildings around to provide ground for you to maneuver around the monster's attacks. And....that's it. Rinse and repeat until dead. I don't see the appeal and it's honestly quite disappointing.

One thing I do love about the overall experience though relates to the moment where Sam naps on a hill and bathes in a hotspring. He takes a breather and falls asleep pretty early on into the adventure but there's a point where you can see his feet and they appear extremely bloody and worn. This pertains to the fact that footwear is a thing you have to consider on the trek and replacing Sam's shoes when they're worn out goes a long way towards preserving his overall health. It was a nice moment where you're allowed to see the pain Sam has to go through because of the player's inaction.

Then comes the hotspring portion where Sam strips and relaxes in a public hotspring with BB by his side. It's an intoxicating scene to witness (I don't know about actually playing this part) and really nails the tone of the adventure. You can see the bruise and bloodied marks around Sam's shoulders where he straps the (up to) 120 kilogram junk of a backpack the player placed on him. He appears to be rather dirty and you can tell that's he's really tired from the fights he's been through. So he simply relaxes in place, washes his face and hums to BB for a bit. It's a great scene that captures what we've all felt before: coming home after a stupidly tiresome day to a nice warm shower/bath. I love it and it's what I expect from a game like this.

Of course, you then have the room customisation but that's not really something worth mentioning. It's a matter of just customising your home space and loadout along with some bits of progression with Sam's character? I guess. Who knows at this point. I'm still on the fence about actually playing the game but watching it was definitely quite entertaining.