There will be no spoilers in this post.
Yesterday, right about midnight, I finished the latest creation from video game auteur Hideo Kojima, a game that really surprised me... in a lot of ways. After all those trailers showing a lot but saying absolutely anything at all that would shed some kind of light into what the game was about... I was curious and ready to take a hike in another game world by the creative 'legendary' creator.
When the first reviews where coming out the term 'Walking Simulator' was thrown around a lot. I, for one, was excited; I'm no stranger to walking sims and often find them enjoyable for one reason or another. They usually shift the creative focus into the narrative and leave all the game-play to just pushing forward on the stick... and with all that symbolisms thrown around in the trailers I was more than intrigued. I was also all in because the beautiful scenarios the world map presented, from lush green fields to snowy mountain tops, looked breathtaking and a bit alien (accompanying music from Low Roar was a stroke of genius and fit the mood brilliantly).
But, here's the thing: In Death Stranding walking is the game-play.
What do I mean by that? Well... I was lead to believe I would have Norman Reedus push forward through a lot of beautiful scenarios while my mind would have time to drift off and take the scenery in or worry about some other thing. Pathologic (Classic HD at least) is a survival game where most of all you do is walk back and forth in a town tied to a tight time schedule, if you take a wrong turn you might loose precious minutes that could very well mean the difference between life and death. So each step you take makes you worry over time and how little resources you have to survive through the day all while taking in the mood of a timeless and alien European miserable looking town... I thought Death Stranding would be something like that, just push forward. But it is not.
When I say the main game play if Death Stranding is walking i mean that everything was built around the mechanics of walking. Everything from terrain and balance to footwear and momentum where turned into a game mechanic you have to keep an eye on in order to successfully carry your task to completion. Yes, you can just push forward but you will only make yourself miserable and frustrated as all hell.
With all that going on with each step there's very little room to drift off and take the scenery in. I was slightly disappointed by this but marveled at how such an overlooked and big part of most video games was reworked into its own game and given a central stage.
Death Stranding isn't a game for everyone. It isn't an action game. It isn't an 60 hour long film. It isn't a blackbuster. And above all else... it isn't a walking simulator.
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