Wow. The boss fights were the worst. Sam tripping over rocks and his own feet. I've never been so stressed in a game. If you could call this masterpiece a game.
It showed you were never the only one to choose the path of most resistance thinking it would be a short cut. Like driving up a mountain in gta . so many abandoned cicada trucks on mountain paths.
I don't give a damn how other people feel about this game. Too me this is one of my all time favorites. I've played this game more than any other game and it is fire. Oh yeah and my zip line set up is awesome.
I love it too. I haven't finished it yet tho. I'm in the snow. For some reason I took a break from it but definitely intend to finish it and make a system of zip lines across that silly mountain.
When I set up a whole formation of zip lines through the mountain tops and then later saw how many people were using them and giving them approval I felt something I never felt in any other game. Masterpiece.
Agreed! I found the balancing system rather intutitive and intertwined most in stealth gameplay in BT fields and stealthing around uneven terrain, occasionally losing balance and stumbling tor reveal myself
It’s like kojima intuitively knew society as a whole was going to realize the value of connections through this pandemic and it influenced and inspired his creativity. Grabbing a piece of the collective consciousness and seeing where it was headed before it happened in the physical
@@MrNuthaShot we all are time traveler. It's that we all forgot how to consciously time travel. Dreaming is time traveling. The more your pineal gland opens the more you remember your dreams. We all can access the make believe/LYRA world or 5d world where you can freely create anything in an instant and time travel 24/7
I finished this game probably at the end of 2019, beginning 2020. I wasn't one of those people who stuck around and built roads etc. A year later and this is probably the only game where every few months my brain hits me with ''we need to go back''. I don't think i've ever finished a game and kept getting an itch to return to it months later
Played Death Stranding through the pandemic and I thought it was the most unique and touching gaming experience I have ever had in my 30+ years of gaming, that was until I played it again last year after the birth of my daughter. I was an absolute emotional wreck for a lot of this game but also the happiest I have ever been, my daughter put perspective on everything in my life, my job, my 'status', my worries, my wants, my needs, none of it matters in the end, the only thing that matters are the connections you make. I thank Kojima to this day for creating such an emotional masterpiece and I can not wait to experience DS2.
Death stranding is art in motion. A critique on our individuality and yet our need for connection. It's both passive and yet can be direct and forcefully make you act. You are connected to players but cannot truly interact with them. As if connected by a "strand". Which gives you feelings of both being accompanied in the game and yet still alone. An odd duality. Even the connections to others seems needed but yet so distant. It's definitely interesting to listen to anyone try to interpret this game absolutely in kojima fashion has so many layers and meanings. I do feel this isn't a game for most but absolutely appreciated by some
@@augmentedlivesmatter3301 thats doable, albeit kinda slow Start with the first quarter and move one line up, drop it and snag the other three fourths. Rinse and repeat.
you cant make large deliveries via zipline. Also some of the timed deliveries require new ziplines or other methods of getting there, as the already existing set up won't get you there fast enough. Would love to see you try 540LLL with all ziplines though! That would be amazing lol
Death stranding is the best experience I have ever had with a game. True master piece. I completed the main campaign in approx 100hrs, that was building most roads. Was the one thing in my day I always looked forward to. The story arc and characters were so compelling. Visually stunning to watch, and the game play offers so much variety. Its brilliant.
It's nice to see people finally getting around to realizing the brilliance of this game. And I'm glad I ignored the naysayers, going into the game aid instantly becoming immersed in the world. It's one of my more memorable gaming experiences.
@@OrgaNik_Music so many aspects of game design work that way. the less people notice it the better it's functioning haha. There are probably a lot of industries where the different aspects of it function that way, right? My first thought was UI
@@balloonfiesta15 If MGS2 was any indication...then sadly yes...we will have to wait for generations for the masses to wake up and get over themselves...
@@user-vf3cb7vk8z I played DOOM only once Same with Mortal Kombat, CoD games after Ghost(except Modern Warfare), Battlefield, Hotline Miami, Shadow of War, Dying Light, FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, and Warhammer 40k games
But those games aren't bad now aren't they? But also still not alot of replay value because once played, you mostly got what you wanted from them unless you're some hardcore completionist
There's just not much to the game beyond it's surface, and nill with any extras. It overlooked detail and for whatever reason they didn't bother to add layer to it.
This ended up being one of my favorite games of the last few years. The story is amazing. There is obvious progression in your abilities as you play. It starts out as a walking simulator, and then you get the exoskeleton, and then vehicles, and then zip lines. I love building zip lines around Mountain Knot City. I didn't really comprehend much of the story until my second playthrough. Then I started noticing things I missed in my first run, and it all came together for me. Just bought it again on PC, and have been playing it almost every day.
I come from the Atari 2600 generation, and played most of the famous consoles back in the day, including Sega Genesis and NES. Stopped playing to go to college. I would have give EVERYTHING for a gem of a game like this when I had time to play. Now I´m a single dad, and trying to survive in the post pandemical world with my kid, hardly have time and/or money to play my beloved videogames. Millenials will criticize no matter what. "A glorified walking simulator"? I´d LOVE to play this if I could.
@Rudi1893 It's definitely a different way of doing things, instead of everyone fighting etc. Makes a change. Also, the fact that the structures deteriorate/disappear over time is like the passing of time, where you're left with the memories of it. I've got a backlog of games at the moment but I'll have to dedicate a chunk of time to this one when I eventually get it. Almost like clearing my whole mindset to experience it without prejudice or preconceived ideas about it. Thanks!
@Rudi1893 That's some real praise. Much of the time, we're swayed by reviews and other comments. One of the other games I have is the Witcher 3 goty edition. I know it's a big one and I'm waiting for a good chunk of time for it. This game is on my list of future purchases because it seems unlike other games. I can't get my head around it from the little that I've read, so I'm curious. It's good to go into a game some time after release, once the dust has cleared, to really see how you feel about something. I'm looking forward to this one, especially now with comments like yours.
@@HiCZoK That's a nice touch. I saw that you can deliver packages left by other players which is also pretty unique. I made sure not to read into the story so it'll be brand new to me. Thanks!
I've only picked up Death Stranding recently and have been really enjoying it. I like how the mechanics blend with the thematics, as you "re-connect" America, you individually start to connect with other players. The feedback of likes when other players used my structures motivated me in turn to like other peoples structures when I used them. And that "Bridge Connection" with a few players has saved me multiple times - and now I'm always happy to see a structure of that player. Some random player that I'll never meet will never know how much they've helped me and how much I appreciate it. There's a lot of heart in the game.
For sure, especially in the beginning when you dont have roads, a random time fall shelter or generaator felt like a good bottle of water in the middle of nowhere haha
@@imnotoyougrounder3404 Spot on. Trying to get a haul through and the vehicle battery is dying and suddenly there it is, a random linked lvl2 generator in the middle of fucking nowhere exactly where you are. Ass saved. 👍👍👍
To be honest, Death Stranding was the only game in 2019 that took risks, something that other game devs couldn't do. I still laugh at the fact that many people couldn't finish the game just because of the walking aspect, not knowing many more would come. This game is just a masterpiece that's underappreciated, hated for the wrong reasons.
That's standard for Kojima Productions. Just think about how people are talking about MGS2 today, calling it an absolute masterpiece, meanwhile when it came out all people can talk about is how Kojima fell off 🙄. This is happening to DS, The part that I think is positive is I feel game makers understood how special this game is, as well as some Kojima profans. We appreciate what we got.
@@YoungMachette Its funny that you mention the past critiques of MGS2. Nolan dropped Tenet this year and people have similar feelings. "I don't get it so it sucks." Nolan made it this way intentionally for replay value, and Kojima seems to operate similarly. These guys do their work for the people who appreciate it in the future. Which was seems to be the common theme between the two.
@@thephilosopher7173 fuck I just watched tenet recently. What an amazing film. Nolan is so far ahead of his competition they're all still scratching their heads. Kojima and Noland seem to be doing victory laps around their competition. Next level media for sure. These 2 have a 4th dimensional voice in their writing.
@@thephilosopher7173 and check this out MGSV, happened to be a discovered masterpiece for me more recently. The game actually has a dual narrative hidden behind a cipher. The truth tapes are there cipher. Good shit for sure.
@@YoungMachette I couldn't agree more with all that you've said man! Can you elaborate on the Cipher part? I'm gonna start over soon so its great that you mentioned it lol
When I heard what the game was about, I thought it sounded extremely trivial. After playing it, I can honestly say it is one of my favorite games of all time, if not my most favorite.
Me 2 I've played computer games since 1977 when you had to program your own games. :) Stay away from "Downtown" hahaha Happy New Year I sort of know what you mean. It's great to see so many advances in technology over the years. Did you used to get called things like your a Egghead Science Nerd like I did? Few friends totally avoided computers and electronics would tell me "Why do you always play with these computer things you know they won't ever be good for anything in the future." ;-)
@Darth Vader same here. Got a 10 year account ban, the reason: "i made someone feel bad" 🤔🤦♂️ As nothing to do with Video games btw. You can have you're opinions and feelings but people don't have to agree
This game will be remembered as a milestone in gaming. The problem is that game journalist have to play a million games each week, and to properly experience death stranding, you need to take your time and it unravels itself in its miriads of strategies, desicions and themes. Great essay!
Game journalism is largely garbage specifically because of that. Games are reviewed like products and Kojima's games as well as many others are meant to be viewed as art on the whole. You can't look at the Mona Lisa for 20 minutes and understand it beyond "it's a painting all right"
@@doctorbrown5957 If you look at the mona lisa for longer than 20 minutes, there is something wrong with you. its just a painting and a pretty unremarkable one. Just because its famous doesnt make it interesting.
@@doctorbrown5957 also, critics liked death stranding. it is audiences that were mixed. the game is insanely boring so you cant really blame people for responding to that.
It’s the Minecraft of walking simulators, and the Eurotruck Simulator of fetch quests - digital games aren’t much more than a combination of this; Death Stranding stripped down to mechanical brass tacks and manages to make every item/combat addition substantively shift the meta of navigation and combat. Prescient, as _Foxdie,_ S3 Colonel Cambell, and word viruses (recent linguistic study on English morphology being more conducive to spreading droplets) - it delivered novelty and ingenuity without overpromising. The take or leave occult and political presences verge on the sinister, but the core confrontation with death is poignant and sincere; what other game could get away with what is in essence, an anti-abortion/suicide metaphor? A post-modern gaming experience without the yolk of ironic distance. Forgivably ham/melodramatic where lines fall flat, and carried by the sheer weight of A-list film world talent.
Can't thank you enough for doing this. I'd been blinded for so long by other reviewers after initially highly anticipating this game that I got put off it. but now faith had been restored, in the game and in kojima No one before has showed the game the way you have here and it must have been a great deal of work, and for that I am eternally grateful. Cheers pal 👍
Such an incredible game. For a lot of it, I felt like I was just satisfied with it's busywork, but at/by the end it all just felt incredibly meaningful. And that was in 2019. It's crazy how relevant the game was in 2020. I'm hoping it gets the PS5 update it deserves, to provide me with a new excuse to play it again.
I don't think I ever cried in a video game. But I did in death stranding for like the final hours and credits. I think whoever did die-Hardman, is one of the greatest actors I've ever seen
software programmer here, as for myself, I care about the product and my code readability, not because that help me in promotion or boost the sales, but because I care, I don't want others to use a flaw product (besides some minor bugs), and certainly don't want others get a headache when reading my code... maybe that's why it was easy for me to fall in love with death stranding
Thank you so much for making this video. I beat death stranding about a month ago and absolutely loved the game, so much so that im already on my second playthru. Your analysis is so good, and it has me learning new things. I never thought about the nazi stuff. But you've opened my.mind to different aspects. Death Stranding, imo, is so much more than a game. And this video fully shows it. Thanks again
Excellent defense of this game. Loved everything about the game other than the beach sequence towards the end where I had to walk aimlessly until scripted scenes kicked in - also the princess beach line kind of hurt to watch lol. The ending cutscenes are an incredible achievement of storytelling and performance capture. Beat it over quarantine and unlike a lot of modern AAA games, I won't forget this unique story any time soon. I wish more people would give this game a chance. Been watching your videos for a while now, awesome work. Keep on keeping on!
Honestly, anyone who hadn’t seen the trailers probably expected the game to cut to black with Sam and Amelie running on the beach, and that would’ve made for an absolutely terrible ending... which I believe was kind of the point. I think the “Princess Beach” sequence was used to poke fun at the way a lot of AAA games tend to end; with unresolved plot points or cliffhangers that setup sequels or DLC. It was Kojima both acknowledging and giving the middle finger to games that don’t know how to properly wrap things up.
I'm confused as to what modern AAA games are forgetful tho? Is it God of War, The last of us, or Spiderman,smash,Alien isolation? Cuz I actually remember those incredibly well
The story was the weakest elements of Death Stranding; terrible dialogue with twists that come as no big surprise if your even a little observant. The world building is awesome though.
I love it when games takes mechanics and expand them to it's more logical conclusion Despite the mediocrity of Mad Max the driving in the game feels perfect and each upgrade will have a noticeable difference in the driving Like adding more armor to your car will slow you down and waste more gas, or adding wider wheels will make traversing sand easier but doing turns will be harder
Great video essay and you indirectly helped me realize that my attention span got worse and i don't enjoy games how I used to and my creativity in games got low. Thanks the UA-cam algorithms that i watched your video and made me full aware about life in general.
Future is in our hands, in hands of every individual but we as a society are failing to deliver this message. Right now we are being told that individual matters, his achievement matters, his contributions matters but to what end? I've been taught in school to be self-sufficient machine and i am and i'm completely lost when work needs to be collective. Thankfully, Death Stranding and MGS games showed me the power of cooperation, and in better ways than society itself. I think individual centered society is good and we are simply in need of realization that every action and word IRL or on the net is our legacy, our contribution to the future. Just my thoughts, thank you for reading and happy holidays
@Feyad Sahid bro the story the action puzzles boss fights super mario jump higgs fight was just like being lil mac it was awesome acting top notch it beeen out 2 year i still trying platinum it i love story drivven games tho my last favorite game was bioshock 2 was nasty
It really is remarkable how Kojima made a game whose point is that the survival of humanity will rely on individuals' willingness to do difficult things that have no tangible benefit to them personally, whose positive effects they'll likely never survive to see, and will only help other people they'll almost certainly never know or meet
This game didn‘t make much sense to me until I heard Kojima was dealing with the death of his mother. DS is a game about grief and finding the strength to live on. It will not resonate with those who have not experienced death up close. Geat vid, Jorin. Wishing you a happy and inspiring Christmas.
One of the greatest experiences I’ve had in a long time, building the roads and utilizing the tools and gear left/setup by other players. I really just wish there were more things to do after the main story and when you max out everything :/
It was a bittersweet experience, finishing this game. But I play through dozens of games that leave me feeling *nothing* just for the hope of the once-a-decade sort of experience that gives me *this* feeling.
@@LiT_Moose89 Yeah; DS 1, 2, and 3, and Bloodborne. I really enjoyed them all. DS1 is very memorable. Didn’t make me cry though. The lore is intentionally deep within layers of gameplay in a way that’s more of an intellectual reward, rather than an emotional reward to uncover.
@@Superabound2 I’ll assume you’ve played Shadow of The Colossus? That’s about the only thing that’s given me this feeling apart from Snake Eater and MGS4 I think
An interesting thing to note on the topic of the connection between America and Nazi Germany and roads and bridges: During the Battle of the Bulge, Dwight Eisenhower and the other Army generals noticed something particular about the autobahn. One mile out of every five was completely straight, enabling the Luftwaffe to land its planes nearly anywhere in the country that the autobahn went. This had made it difficult to fight against the German air fighters, but obviously didn't stop us. The autobahn had impressed Eisenhower, however. [EDIT: SEE BELOW FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS ON ACCURACY, COMMENT PRESERVED HERE FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES] Years later, once Eisenhower had been elected president, he went on to found the US's Interstate Highway System, which itself also requires a straight mile out of every five for emergency aircraft landings. But anyway it's ironic that one of the most "populist" things about the US, its federal road system, came directly from Nazi Germany, from an American who was there himself.
I heard this before, but it's not true. What is true, is that many TX roads and highways were built by German POWs. Parts of the highway in my hometown were built by Afrika Korps.
@@jlack1985 it's not. It's not true for German or American highways. It's a myth that's been around for decades. (edit) It is true that Eisenhower was inspired by the German autobahn - the 1 every 5 is not true.
@@chell272 You're right, I just heard this from my family who are actually in the road building business, but looking it up it isn't true about the 1 mile in 5 thing. Looking this up it reminded me, though, that another thing that inspired Eisenhower was that after he graduated from West Point, he was put in charge of a military convoy whose only task was to deploy from the White House to San Fransisco. They encountered many troubles back then, 1919, trying to make it coast to coast using our nation's own infrastructure, and the whole journey took them over 60 days. This mission also led Eisenhower to be inspired to make our federal roads much better than they had been before that point. That whole Army Expedition thing really reminds me of BRIDGES 1, as well.
@@RossOfRoni bro, my pops is absolutely filled with mythical facts about military and war, trust me, I understand. I spent most of my high school years retelling everyone the _truck_ on top of flag poles on military bases contained a razor, matches, a cig and bullet...
I got my platinum trophy and kept playing just because SO many people helped me along the journey, I felt as if I owed it to others to keep improving the pathways. To help their journey as Sam with roads built and zip lines. I’m still stressing out that the timefall is deteriorating the structures for them. Altruistic in the fullest!
You are amazing man, with all the work you put in your videos, you deserve a lot more subscribers. Have found you recently and really enjoyed your analysis of MGSV, helped me actually understand a lot of points I missed in the story. Looking forward to enjoying your "dissection" of DS now
Funny that they call it walking simulator. If you use your brain a little, the game gives you a thousand different ways of moving without having to walk much. In fact, you actually walk a lot more in almost every other game you can think of. But then again, the game asks for you to be creative and use your head...
@Narkomancers every game is a simulator by that logic. Walking simulator, shooting simulator, exploring simulator, puzzle simulator, sports simulator, history simulator, combat simulator, driving simulator, war simulator, flying simulator, and so on with every game in existence. And yes, you travel a lot, like with every open world game. If you only took the traveling part, then you missed a lot of amazing stuff with Death Stranding.
@Narkomancers because you "don't" push forward in other games? There are "no" danger zones in them too like Death Stranding? Have you even played it? 🤣 You're really grasping at straws but stating it's just push forward and do "nothing." Might as well say a FPS is just shoot things while pushing forward and doing nothing else.
People describing as walking simulator, clearly haven't reached their first proper cutscene to make them want more and to find out more. Hence , their patience levels are minimal to say the least. Your point on society and trust , you're on point there. I feel personally that humanity as a whole , especially those in countries in which have the technology such as the Internet, tvs etc . When you look at countries that don't have these things , technologically yes they are not as advanced but , creatively and skillfully in other ways , they are superior and that also can be said for their social nature. They do not rely on the Internet to speak , they can openly talk randomly anywhere at any time without feeling , insecure or uncomfortable.
I'm playing it right now and I'm having a blast once you get past episode 2 that were the game kick off , I have been playing video games since 1998 and death stranding is the only game that tried to change gaming since mgs 1 , and the way hideo kojima use the massage of transportation it's was awesome , my only criticism is cliff world war section should've been longer .
I thoroughly enjoyed this game in every way. The story hit me emotionally (in particular the end vision that puts the other visions into context) and the gameplay was so zen and gave me the same vibes I got when I first played Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Just me and a huge world to explore that’s atmospheric as all hell. I love videos like this that shows appreciation for bold games like DS that dare to challenge the industry to be different vs giving us the same ol cash grab power fantasy.
Replaying this game now for the 2nd time and I think it’s even better the 2ns time thru. I have a handle on the story now and picking up the little bits I missed the 1st time is really rewarding. Mesmerized all over again.
Death Stranding is about your character becoming the best postal delivery man in the USA, your character delivers toilet paper during the covid pandemic & ends up becoming the hero we all need!
This game was more like Trials Rising than a walking simulator. I rode the trike everywhere. It was so much fun navigating the terrain on the motorbike. I only wish the terrain degradation could be turned off, so it would be challenging every repeat trip. Building the highway was enough ease of getting around. Death Stranding is an A+
I've just started playing the game. And I've been aware of Death Stranding's Theme since year before the game's release. By the way, did you know that Death Stranding now has a PC rerelease?
Kojima is probably the most patriotic American non-American I have ever seen. On one hand showing us how imperfect we sometimes are but on the other how great we are and can be. Often his heroes are American and his villains are also American. The positive aspects vs the negative aspects.
Wholesome... I'm only sub 10 minutes in, but I'm thoroughly agreeing with most of your points so far. I loved DS.. the story was gripping once you figure out the pacing (coming from a cinematic player)
Came into this video with the mindset that Death Stranding was "A Delivery Man simulator" and that I wouldn't get the game or even bother because that wasn't "my style" but left wanting to see more and experience the game for myself so I went and bought it. Thank you for this very informational piece you helped change my mind and I'm happy you did I can't wait to play.
Is it better then Metal Gear Solid V ? I was so letdown with that game. Started off really good but after about ten hours i just got bored with it, some old thing again again. Boring map areas too. The world in this looks so much more interesting.
Have to say dude your content is on another level. Personally I have not found many UA-cam channels of this calibre so I say well done and solid work. I appreciate the effort you put into these videos and wish you happy holidays in return Boss.
Really brilliant breakdown and the first of your vids that yt has recommended me. Had me tearing up a little towards the end. Thank you so much for this one.
Thank you! You've done such a great job of explaining exactly what makes DS so compelling while tying that to the initial misconceptions that people have.
From 27:45 on everything you said really added something. It’s not easy to interpret much less express alot of this. This game speaks without words what many people over the history of time couldn’t say by any means and may not be able to when they should. That itself is a proactive duty someone can take up. This story will ask you what side of the coin you’re on. It will encourage you take your time to think, to connect and understand what you can then act on that if you can or if you want to. You are free to choose, but most of us know what our choices are. If you let it or if you need it to, this game will speak to you and you will probably be better for it. At the very least it will give you something beautiful and entertaining to do. The messages and meanings behind this game are the most important in life to me personally and I think alot of people who feel strongly about the story here may feel the same way. The difficulty in saying what’s important here is about how profoundly difficult it is to say something profound. If something is meaningful to you, it’s worth trying to start expressing why. I wish more people would do that about what they believed in or what spoke to them. The difference between all life and all death is in what we are trying to say, what the truth is and how we act on it. Which part means life and which part means death and what do you believe?
I remember play death stranding for the first time and love it, i feel curiosity for whats going to happend in the story and doing all the tasks and cargos but in some point i started to caring for every job mission and start to realized how not only game but myself was changing how it was teaching me to reconnect to world to myself and how the future its always in our hands, i love it the very first time and i love it like the first day now, at least to me this game its a master piece and a life changing experience. As always awesome video.
@@rustyshell2 that’s good to know, and I’m glad you got the most out of it. I’ve been given a PS4 giftcard a while back, and since I didn’t have the money at the time to preorder it, I think I’ll buy it now
to each their own, but the people I saw complaining the most weren't even attempting to play correctly.. it would be like someone claiming a first person shooter has bad gunplay, yet they never aim down sights
Great video - As an old S.T.A.L.K.E.R fan and Spintires player, i did find a lots of familiar vibes in DS. And what bothered "reviewers" was an old shoe to me. Journey is indeed sometimes the destination. What did take me by surprise and earned my respect to Kojima and Kojima production. after love/hate relationship with MGSV, is how polished, mechanically deep, graphically stunning and hearth felt that game is. It swallowed me whole like a sea of tar. And yes, as fresh father my self I did have to wipe tears of my face, several times. Holy Shit. DS is amazing. Playable Art!
how can one describe death stranding, and what are the key lessons the game is trying to convey. never in the history of gaming we found a game discussing these two key elements of human behavior. we live in a world where individualism is the norm, these two behaviors are dying out. but, what are these two two key elements of human behavior? did we ever use them in our through out our human civilization? the game revolves around these two main deep forgotten necessities to human existence, No 1- Altruism and No 2- Reciprocal Altruism. that's the true meaning of the game.
Just finished it for the first time a week ago, truly a great game, took me a long time to finish it but the story is great, probably Kojima's greatest game ending so far. I'll definitely give it more time to play around with game mechanic a bit like MGSV. Great video man
Death Stranding was a hauntingly beautiful and wonderfully unique experience that will always stick with me. Sure it has flaws. Sometimes it's pretentious, or it's silly, or awkward, etc... but these are all mere pieces of a whole that is much much greater than the sum of its parts. Ultimately, this is what I want from a game I love (or a film, tv show, book for that matter)-- an experience that leaves a lasting impression on me. Something I will think back on years down the road, and feel that twinge of wistfulness deep inside me. (Plus it introduced me to the gorgeous music of Low Roar!) Thank you for your thoughtful videos, Jorin. I appreciate all your work. I hope 2021 is better for all of us.
I wasn't going to give DS a shot until watching this, and it just so happens to be on sale right now. Thanks man, always glad to see you post new stuff!
if you're planning on playing it, here's a tip don't kill "Mules" to be safe, you can just beat them unconscious also try throwing Hematic grenades on a BT boss and then shoot it for extra damage
I absolutely love this game. It gives me a sense of wonder. There's something so serene about it, that it lessens my stress when I sit down to play. Every single time. Thank you for this video.
One of the best reviews of this magnificent, mentally heavy game that talks - both the game, and in a more narrow sense, the review - of things no one else does. Well done and worth watching.
Kojima: I want to make a game for lonely people and to connect them with other lonely people. Especially to hikikomoris. Everyone: Haha okay boomer. Fuckin weirdo 2020: /Delivery services boomed in response to the corona pandemic since every one is forced to stay at home Everyone: /pikachu face It's amazing how Death Stranding became even more relevant a year later it's release. As someone who experienced the game through let's players, the paradigm shift of anticipating package deliveries and making orders online felt very familiar than jarring. /laugh Death Stranding helped me ease into the stay-at-home life. Thanks Kojima! /laugh
I'm surprised Kojima did not address Pathological Altruism. Where helping others can hurt them long term. Giving people the answer as opposed to teaching them how to find the answer and they go seek it on their own. Sometimes helping others is not giving them an immediate answer to their problems ,but how to solve problems and that person makes a decision based on that thinking process. Short term help vs long term help . It would have been interesting if Kojima put that into his game. Where if you help certain people immediately then they suffer later in the story. Because you chose to solve problems for them instead of giving them information to solve problems. Information vs Hard Goods.
First, the game mechanics aren't about what you are talking about and second that isn't necessarily true to life. If you end up being cruel to a person who has no ill intention then you might create a person that uses cruel methods to get what they want because you now made those rules real in this reality. That isn't to say there aren't people who use other people for power but most likely it's because the environment those people came from only saw help as helping one's self to other people's stuff. "A child unloved by his village..." and all that. We live in a modern time and enough stolen land to understand how not to repeat history. To advance a human culture. We no longer have to steal to survive and should be more mindful on how we deal death. It's just human nature and why we are capable of thinking. It's just tough for some people if not all to think on an empty stomach.
@@ivanidlehand9651 That's not what pathological altruism is at all . It's where helping people actually harms them. Where altruism is the bad guy . Because people who are not willing to learn exploited others Niceness and kindness. Like a weapon..
Altruism is overrated actually and often blinds people. Ayn Rand dissected it a long time ago and found the whole premise of it faulty. The worst atrocities in the world have been commited by those who believed they were doing so for the sake of others.
Death Stranding is wonderfully original while woefully mistuned. So many of the game's mechanics never have a chance to shine because they're too easy to circumvent with less compelling play options. Doing well in the game will often mean working towards a less fun version of the game (like a mediocre driving sim). The game also betrays its own "no dying" premise by having game over screens for some failed deliveries. Speaking of failed deliveries... the writing here is something else. And what's up with having difficulty settings? Why?
"So many of the game's mechanics never have a chance to shine because they're too easy to circumvent with less compelling play options" I agree ... Same thing could be said about metal gear as well. That's a really good point. "Working towards a less fun version of the game" This I don't agree with necessarily, because of the sense of achievement you get after Doing the fun gameplay and then reaching.... Well ... A goal of making things easier. Not to mention the effect of timefall on structures which need constant repair and that allows... I guess a little bit more fun gameplay 👍. "The game betrays it's own "no dying" premise by having game over screens for some failed deliveries" I mean ... Those are fail states. Sam has repatriation so he is invincible... Is that the premise you're referring to? The next point I'm going to skip cause it's kinda subjective and I respect your opinion. I'm only interested in fact checking. "what's up with having difficulty settings?" Well ... So u can have difficulty settings 🙂
I played offline on hard mode and made very little use of overpowered items, like ziplines. I wanted to enjoy the game, and I was able to make it fun for myself. It’s not meant to be fun forever, I eventually tire of it and take long breaks before picking it up again. That’s why I like it: Death stranding wants the same thing as I do, for me to have fun on my own terms. They did good with the parameters they set themselves, I think (“they” being the devs). Games can’t be everything.
@@decimatormdt5453 the difficulty settings seem to only affect the few boss fights, and not to any benefit to the game. Making those harder doesn't add anything to the experience and the rest of the game is exactly the same. Having Sam be repatriated is a neat gameplay mechanic to avoid fail states, so it's odd to have them shoved back in for less compelling reasons. Just my opinion though. And I'm all for struggling for accomplishment. The ziplines were good, imo. But building roads in the early mid game seems to divert the game away from its strengths towards far less compelling driving back and forth. It's a minor complaint, overall.
@@BigDaddyWes It's a bit of a cop out though, isn't it? You could say that about any game, with the implication that it's up to players to make the game enjoyable and not the developers. But I did enjoy Death Stranding quite a bit in the mid game, just that a lot of its compelling systems went largely unused. You could blame that on me for not going out of my way to use every system, but that's exactly what I mean by a lack of tuning or focus in the game.
Why is no one talking about the soundtrack? That really helped me through traversing that terrain
Actually I think that’s my biggest critique with the game, the songs do not last so I always have Spotify with the playlist on
dont be so serious
@@olinto4206 Sam needs his own mp3
Exactly! Most of the reviews don't touch on how great the music was placed in thsi game.
It would´ve been cool if once you get the sunglasses they played music
In death stranding the terrain is the main antagonist and final boss.
Those gotdang rocks lol.
Wow. The boss fights were the worst. Sam tripping over rocks and his own feet. I've never been so stressed in a game. If you could call this masterpiece a game.
Yet collision physics are awful in this game.
It showed you were never the only one to choose the path of most resistance thinking it would be a short cut. Like driving up a mountain in gta . so many abandoned cicada trucks on mountain paths.
Kind of like when u are walking. except this is simulated
if you play the game right now, some preppers will have santa hats on ;)
Yup I notice too
pretty cooool
I don't know if you have to do a specific order but you can get a Santa hat as a gift as well!
@@Invader_Mannabis I got that like a month ago, from the First Prepper
lol
i remember that from last year
when i first got the game
I don't give a damn how other people feel about this game. Too me this is one of my all time favorites. I've played this game more than any other game and it is fire. Oh yeah and my zip line set up is awesome.
I love it too. I haven't finished it yet tho. I'm in the snow. For some reason I took a break from it but definitely intend to finish it and make a system of zip lines across that silly mountain.
Sadly, you are not the only one with such dismally low standards for games.
I'm so glad to see there are others that love this game as much as I do.
When I set up a whole formation of zip lines through the mountain tops and then later saw how many people were using them and giving them approval I felt something I never felt in any other game. Masterpiece.
@@thecopercoper5533 go back to call of duty bro
Maybe its just a me thing but i find the walking extremely intuitive like if you walked on rough terrain or hiked before you just get it
Agreed! I found the balancing system rather intutitive and intertwined most in stealth gameplay in BT fields and stealthing around uneven terrain, occasionally losing balance and stumbling tor reveal myself
Yes sir, walking is one of the best parts of the game
It’s a “healing society simulator”.
It's a movie, 3 cutscenes for taking a shower lmao
I wish the president in this game was Sleepy Joe.
But not from the point of view of the morality and principles
@@DelinquentDemon it’s like joe said” I got a aaaa... I got strands on my legs that turn that turn blonde in the sun”
@@mariooiram7546 at least it's not as long as MGS4 cutscenes. Those were movie quantity cutscenes
It’s like kojima intuitively knew society as a whole was going to realize the value of connections through this pandemic and it influenced and inspired his creativity. Grabbing a piece of the collective consciousness and seeing where it was headed before it happened in the physical
Convinced since MGS2 that Kojima is a time traveller
@@MrNuthaShot he does show up in 2077 without ageing
@@MrNuthaShot we all are time traveler. It's that we all forgot how to consciously time travel. Dreaming is time traveling. The more your pineal gland opens the more you remember your dreams. We all can access the make believe/LYRA world or 5d world where you can freely create anything in an instant and time travel 24/7
Man y'all really just lost your shit when you couldn't go to work and buy DVDs
@@realitynowassigned Buy DVD's? That's oddly... specific.
I finished this game probably at the end of 2019, beginning 2020. I wasn't one of those people who stuck around and built roads etc. A year later and this is probably the only game where every few months my brain hits me with ''we need to go back''. I don't think i've ever finished a game and kept getting an itch to return to it months later
I gave up on the roads and the extra orders. Kind of want to just do the main story but iv gotten over travelling and BT’s. Needs more music filler
I put 250 hours into and my brain is still lonely and misses it. I need more
@Ghost Troupe I didn’t buy the game so I’m playing in offline mode. Karma right
Same - I keep coming back.
It's speaking to us
Everytime i feel alone in the world not even gonna front i throw this game on and it helps me with that feeling and depression
I go for a walk/hike
I mean, maybe take a page from the game then and connect with a few people in person after this covid business blows over.
As you get older, that feeling wont go away... remember this...
@@Xarkom89 you right especially since i just moved to a new place shits kind of difficult you know
@@Xarkom89 No reason to wait... connect with people now - thats what im doing.
Played Death Stranding through the pandemic and I thought it was the most unique and touching gaming experience I have ever had in my 30+ years of gaming, that was until I played it again last year after the birth of my daughter. I was an absolute emotional wreck for a lot of this game but also the happiest I have ever been, my daughter put perspective on everything in my life, my job, my 'status', my worries, my wants, my needs, none of it matters in the end, the only thing that matters are the connections you make. I thank Kojima to this day for creating such an emotional masterpiece and I can not wait to experience DS2.
Death stranding is art in motion. A critique on our individuality and yet our need for connection. It's both passive and yet can be direct and forcefully make you act. You are connected to players but cannot truly interact with them. As if connected by a "strand". Which gives you feelings of both being accompanied in the game and yet still alone. An odd duality. Even the connections to others seems needed but yet so distant. It's definitely interesting to listen to anyone try to interpret this game absolutely in kojima fashion has so many layers and meanings. I do feel this isn't a game for most but absolutely appreciated by some
8:00 "You can't complete every delivery the same way"
I've got a continent covered in zip-lines that is ready to contest that claim.
Try delivering 1000kg by zipline lol
@@augmentedlivesmatter3301 thats doable, albeit kinda slow
Start with the first quarter and move one line up, drop it and snag the other three fourths. Rinse and repeat.
you cant make large deliveries via zipline. Also some of the timed deliveries require new ziplines or other methods of getting there, as the already existing set up won't get you there fast enough. Would love to see you try 540LLL with all ziplines though! That would be amazing lol
Death stranding is the best experience I have ever had with a game. True master piece. I completed the main campaign in approx 100hrs, that was building most roads. Was the one thing in my day I always looked forward to. The story arc and characters were so compelling. Visually stunning to watch, and the game play offers so much variety. Its brilliant.
Same with me, completed it 101hrs. Got the platinum trophy 107hrs.
Thank you for saying this. I feel the exact same way. My God, this game is such a serene experice.
Barf. You couldn’t pay me to play that many hours of this garbage. 😂
I have just finished the main story, 312 hrs that I thoroughly enjoyed taking my sweet time with! Kojima is a genius!
@@bradcallahan3546 different strokes
It's nice to see people finally getting around to realizing the brilliance of this game. And I'm glad I ignored the naysayers, going into the game aid instantly becoming immersed in the world. It's one of my more memorable gaming experiences.
the game is so overwhelmingly boring. can you really blame people for not liking this insanely boring game?
@@djangofett4879 Yes i blame them for being really shallow and don't understand the gameplay
@@djangofett4879 You probably have the attention span of a 5 year old, I'm sorry.
@@djangofett4879 He never said he blamed them for anything, just glad that he didnt listen to them.
@@djangofett4879 Everyone's gonna have their own tastes and if they dub it boring than thats all they got from it. Its not for everyone
Death stranding has some of my favorite sound design. I was really in awe the first time Sam woke up in one of those war zones
Sound design in general is one thing that gets overlooked a lot. Very often you don't even notice it unless it's bad.
@@OrgaNik_Music so many aspects of game design work that way. the less people notice it the better it's functioning haha. There are probably a lot of industries where the different aspects of it function that way, right? My first thought was UI
plus the ps4 is so quiet
One of the best sound designs of games
It’s surprising the looks you’ll get when you say Death Stranding is your favorite game of all time.
And so satisfying!
I'll tell these people to go back to their glorified point and click games called "shooters".
People have laughed in my face from saying that, and I’m just like “Have you played it?”
I'm 52 and have been playing since the days of PONG. This is my favorite game so far 😎
@@balloonfiesta15 If MGS2 was any indication...then sadly yes...we will have to wait for generations for the masses to wake up and get over themselves...
It has Christmas hats, that’s all I need to know to like it
I have beginning play some days ago.
:D
Finally Death Stranding, I wonder how much I missed during my playthrough.
The fact that you only played it once shows how bad it is
@@user-vf3cb7vk8z I played DOOM only once
Same with Mortal Kombat, CoD games after Ghost(except Modern Warfare), Battlefield, Hotline Miami, Shadow of War, Dying Light, FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, and Warhammer 40k games
But those games aren't bad now aren't they? But also still not alot of replay value because once played, you mostly got what you wanted from them unless you're some hardcore completionist
@@CrystallizedBlackSkull Most of those are just decent, some are less than that. Idk how you only played New Vegas once.
There's just not much to the game beyond it's surface, and nill with any extras. It overlooked detail and for whatever reason they didn't bother to add layer to it.
This ended up being one of my favorite games of the last few years. The story is amazing. There is obvious progression in your abilities as you play. It starts out as a walking simulator, and then you get the exoskeleton, and then vehicles, and then zip lines. I love building zip lines around Mountain Knot City.
I didn't really comprehend much of the story until my second playthrough. Then I started noticing things I missed in my first run, and it all came together for me. Just bought it again on PC, and have been playing it almost every day.
I come from the Atari 2600 generation, and played most of the famous consoles back in the day, including Sega Genesis and NES. Stopped playing to go to college.
I would have give EVERYTHING for a gem of a game like this when I had time to play. Now I´m a single dad, and trying to survive in the post pandemical world with my kid, hardly have time and/or money to play my beloved videogames.
Millenials will criticize no matter what. "A glorified walking simulator"? I´d LOVE to play this if I could.
"Atari 2600 Generation" you can just say boomer.
@Pancho Sancho Was what I said "so bad?"
@Pancho Sancho ...yes, that's literally the exact phrase you used. It's still written right there? You can just read it again if you want. :\
@Pancho Sancho it does seem that bad
All those bridges, time fall shelters, safe houses, etc. I built over a year ago must be gone by now. That damn rain
Haven't played the game yet but it must feel satisfying to know you've helped others on their journey.
@Rudi1893 It's definitely a different way of doing things, instead of everyone fighting etc. Makes a change. Also, the fact that the structures deteriorate/disappear over time is like the passing of time, where you're left with the memories of it. I've got a backlog of games at the moment but I'll have to dedicate a chunk of time to this one when I eventually get it. Almost like clearing my whole mindset to experience it without prejudice or preconceived ideas about it. Thanks!
@Rudi1893 That's some real praise. Much of the time, we're swayed by reviews and other comments. One of the other games I have is the Witcher 3 goty edition. I know it's a big one and I'm waiting for a good chunk of time for it. This game is on my list of future purchases because it seems unlike other games. I can't get my head around it from the little that I've read, so I'm curious. It's good to go into a game some time after release, once the dust has cleared, to really see how you feel about something. I'm looking forward to this one, especially now with comments like yours.
@@johnnymorell4974 it does you log in and see that 4344 likes collected on your buildings since last login. Great stuff
@@HiCZoK That's a nice touch. I saw that you can deliver packages left by other players which is also pretty unique. I made sure not to read into the story so it'll be brand new to me. Thanks!
I've only picked up Death Stranding recently and have been really enjoying it. I like how the mechanics blend with the thematics, as you "re-connect" America, you individually start to connect with other players. The feedback of likes when other players used my structures motivated me in turn to like other peoples structures when I used them. And that "Bridge Connection" with a few players has saved me multiple times - and now I'm always happy to see a structure of that player. Some random player that I'll never meet will never know how much they've helped me and how much I appreciate it. There's a lot of heart in the game.
For sure, especially in the beginning when you dont have roads, a random time fall shelter or generaator felt like a good bottle of water in the middle of nowhere haha
Totally agree. It made me appreciate other players so much, couldn’t help but give them tons of likes ✨
@@imnotoyougrounder3404 Spot on. Trying to get a haul through and the vehicle battery is dying and suddenly there it is, a random linked lvl2 generator in the middle of fucking nowhere exactly where you are. Ass saved. 👍👍👍
I feel like 90% of the people who call the game just a walking simulator never got past the eastern region.
To be honest, Death Stranding was the only game in 2019 that took risks, something that other game devs couldn't do.
I still laugh at the fact that many people couldn't finish the game just because of the walking aspect, not knowing many more would come. This game is just a masterpiece that's underappreciated, hated for the wrong reasons.
That's standard for Kojima Productions. Just think about how people are talking about MGS2 today, calling it an absolute masterpiece, meanwhile when it came out all people can talk about is how Kojima fell off 🙄.
This is happening to DS, The part that I think is positive is I feel game makers understood how special this game is, as well as some Kojima profans. We appreciate what we got.
@@YoungMachette Its funny that you mention the past critiques of MGS2. Nolan dropped Tenet this year and people have similar feelings. "I don't get it so it sucks." Nolan made it this way intentionally for replay value, and Kojima seems to operate similarly. These guys do their work for the people who appreciate it in the future. Which was seems to be the common theme between the two.
@@thephilosopher7173 fuck I just watched tenet recently. What an amazing film. Nolan is so far ahead of his competition they're all still scratching their heads.
Kojima and Noland seem to be doing victory laps around their competition. Next level media for sure. These 2 have a 4th dimensional voice in their writing.
@@thephilosopher7173 and check this out MGSV, happened to be a discovered masterpiece for me more recently. The game actually has a dual narrative hidden behind a cipher. The truth tapes are there cipher. Good shit for sure.
@@YoungMachette I couldn't agree more with all that you've said man! Can you elaborate on the Cipher part? I'm gonna start over soon so its great that you mentioned it lol
When I heard what the game was about, I thought it sounded extremely trivial. After playing it, I can honestly say it is one of my favorite games of all time, if not my most favorite.
Being playing games for 40years over many consoles and this was the best experience I even had emotionally as a gamer.
Stay safe people ✌ 💚
Me 2 I've played computer games since 1977 when you had to program your own games. :)
Stay away from "Downtown" hahaha Happy New Year
I sort of know what you mean. It's great to see so many advances in technology over the years.
Did you used to get called things like your a Egghead Science Nerd like I did? Few friends totally avoided computers and electronics would tell me "Why do you always play with these computer things you know they won't ever be good for anything in the future." ;-)
I’d rather try to jam a burning copy of diablo immortal up my urethra than ever play through this joke of a game.
@deadlyfeet O.o?
@Darth Vader same here. Got a 10 year account ban, the reason:
"i made someone feel bad" 🤔🤦♂️
As nothing to do with Video games btw. You can have you're opinions and feelings but people don't have to agree
This game will be remembered as a milestone in gaming. The problem is that game journalist have to play a million games each week, and to properly experience death stranding, you need to take your time and it unravels itself in its miriads of strategies, desicions and themes. Great essay!
Game journalism is largely garbage specifically because of that. Games are reviewed like products and Kojima's games as well as many others are meant to be viewed as art on the whole. You can't look at the Mona Lisa for 20 minutes and understand it beyond "it's a painting all right"
@@doctorbrown5957 If you look at the mona lisa for longer than 20 minutes, there is something wrong with you. its just a painting and a pretty unremarkable one. Just because its famous doesnt make it interesting.
@@doctorbrown5957 also, critics liked death stranding. it is audiences that were mixed. the game is insanely boring so you cant really blame people for responding to that.
@@djangofett4879 ye sure bubba sure
It’s the Minecraft of walking simulators, and the Eurotruck Simulator of fetch quests - digital games aren’t much more than a combination of this; Death Stranding stripped down to mechanical brass tacks and manages to make every item/combat addition substantively shift the meta of navigation and combat. Prescient, as _Foxdie,_ S3 Colonel Cambell, and word viruses (recent linguistic study on English morphology being more conducive to spreading droplets) - it delivered novelty and ingenuity without overpromising. The take or leave occult and political presences verge on the sinister, but the core confrontation with death is poignant and sincere; what other game could get away with what is in essence, an anti-abortion/suicide metaphor? A post-modern gaming experience without the yolk of ironic distance. Forgivably ham/melodramatic where lines fall flat, and carried by the sheer weight of A-list film world talent.
the pro-life message is one of my fav parts of the game, personally
Can't thank you enough for doing this. I'd been blinded for so long by other reviewers after initially highly anticipating this game that I got put off it. but now faith had been restored, in the game and in kojima No one before has showed the game the way you have here and it must have been a great deal of work, and for that I am eternally grateful. Cheers pal 👍
Such an incredible game. For a lot of it, I felt like I was just satisfied with it's busywork, but at/by the end it all just felt incredibly meaningful. And that was in 2019. It's crazy how relevant the game was in 2020.
I'm hoping it gets the PS5 update it deserves, to provide me with a new excuse to play it again.
I don't think I ever cried in a video game. But I did in death stranding for like the final hours and credits. I think whoever did die-Hardman, is one of the greatest actors I've ever seen
He was SO great, you didn't bother learning his name.
Snark aside, look him up.
software programmer here, as for myself, I care about the product and my code readability, not because that help me in promotion or boost the sales, but because I care, I don't want others to use a flaw product (besides some minor bugs), and certainly don't want others get a headache when reading my code...
maybe that's why it was easy for me to fall in love with death stranding
Thank you so much for making this video. I beat death stranding about a month ago and absolutely loved the game, so much so that im already on my second playthru.
Your analysis is so good, and it has me learning new things. I never thought about the nazi stuff. But you've opened my.mind to different aspects.
Death Stranding, imo, is so much more than a game. And this video fully shows it.
Thanks again
Excellent defense of this game. Loved everything about the game other than the beach sequence towards the end where I had to walk aimlessly until scripted scenes kicked in - also the princess beach line kind of hurt to watch lol. The ending cutscenes are an incredible achievement of storytelling and performance capture. Beat it over quarantine and unlike a lot of modern AAA games, I won't forget this unique story any time soon. I wish more people would give this game a chance. Been watching your videos for a while now, awesome work. Keep on keeping on!
The Princess Peach line was the best line in the game, I laughed out loud.
Honestly, anyone who hadn’t seen the trailers probably expected the game to cut to black with Sam and Amelie running on the beach, and that would’ve made for an absolutely terrible ending... which I believe was kind of the point.
I think the “Princess Beach” sequence was used to poke fun at the way a lot of AAA games tend to end; with unresolved plot points or cliffhangers that setup sequels or DLC. It was Kojima both acknowledging and giving the middle finger to games that don’t know how to properly wrap things up.
I'm confused as to what modern AAA games are forgetful tho? Is it God of War, The last of us, or Spiderman,smash,Alien isolation? Cuz I actually remember those incredibly well
The story was the weakest elements of Death Stranding; terrible dialogue with twists that come as no big surprise if your even a little observant. The world building is awesome though.
@@drooke2773 trash can be remembered regardless of being shit tier. Alien isolation, gow, and spodermin are all okay but tlou is literal garbage
I love it when games takes mechanics and expand them to it's more logical conclusion
Despite the mediocrity of Mad Max the driving in the game feels perfect and each upgrade will have a noticeable difference in the driving
Like adding more armor to your car will slow you down and waste more gas, or adding wider wheels will make traversing sand easier but doing turns will be harder
Great video essay and you indirectly helped me realize that my attention span got worse and i don't enjoy games how I used to and my creativity in games got low. Thanks the UA-cam algorithms that i watched your video and made me full aware about life in general.
Future is in our hands, in hands of every individual but we as a society are failing to deliver this message. Right now we are being told that individual matters, his achievement matters, his contributions matters but to what end? I've been taught in school to be self-sufficient machine and i am and i'm completely lost when work needs to be collective. Thankfully, Death Stranding and MGS games showed me the power of cooperation, and in better ways than society itself. I think individual centered society is good and we are simply in need of realization that every action and word IRL or on the net is our legacy, our contribution to the future. Just my thoughts, thank you for reading and happy holidays
Death Stranding, for me, one of the very best games of last gen if not of all time.
Im 31 and death stranding is one of the greatest games of all time
@Feyad Sahid bro the story the action puzzles boss fights super mario jump higgs fight was just like being lil mac it was awesome acting top notch it beeen out 2 year i still trying platinum it i love story drivven games tho my last favorite game was bioshock 2 was nasty
@deadlyfeet lying like your name im real your fake you understand
It really is remarkable how Kojima made a game whose point is that the survival of humanity will rely on individuals' willingness to do difficult things that have no tangible benefit to them personally, whose positive effects they'll likely never survive to see, and will only help other people they'll almost certainly never know or meet
This game didn‘t make much sense to me until I heard Kojima was dealing with the death of his mother. DS is a game about grief and finding the strength to live on. It will not resonate with those who have not experienced death up close.
Geat vid, Jorin. Wishing you a happy and inspiring Christmas.
I Really Appreciate The Work You Do.
I didn’t see this when it dropped but jeez. This video is awesome haha.
One of the greatest experiences I’ve had in a long time, building the roads and utilizing the tools and gear left/setup by other players. I really just wish there were more things to do after the main story and when you max out everything :/
It was a bittersweet experience, finishing this game. But I play through dozens of games that leave me feeling *nothing* just for the hope of the once-a-decade sort of experience that gives me *this* feeling.
@@null140 have you played dark souls?
@@LiT_Moose89 Yeah; DS 1, 2, and 3, and Bloodborne. I really enjoyed them all. DS1 is very memorable. Didn’t make me cry though. The lore is intentionally deep within layers of gameplay in a way that’s more of an intellectual reward, rather than an emotional reward to uncover.
@@null140 god, that's EXACTLY how i feel about it
@@Superabound2 I’ll assume you’ve played Shadow of The Colossus? That’s about the only thing that’s given me this feeling apart from Snake Eater and MGS4 I think
An interesting thing to note on the topic of the connection between America and Nazi Germany and roads and bridges:
During the Battle of the Bulge, Dwight Eisenhower and the other Army generals noticed something particular about the autobahn. One mile out of every five was completely straight, enabling the Luftwaffe to land its planes nearly anywhere in the country that the autobahn went. This had made it difficult to fight against the German air fighters, but obviously didn't stop us. The autobahn had impressed Eisenhower, however. [EDIT: SEE BELOW FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS ON ACCURACY, COMMENT PRESERVED HERE FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES]
Years later, once Eisenhower had been elected president, he went on to found the US's Interstate Highway System, which itself also requires a straight mile out of every five for emergency aircraft landings. But anyway it's ironic that one of the most "populist" things about the US, its federal road system, came directly from Nazi Germany, from an American who was there himself.
I heard this before, but it's not true. What is true, is that many TX roads and highways were built by German POWs. Parts of the highway in my hometown were built by Afrika Korps.
@@chell272 Actually it is true....
@@jlack1985 it's not. It's not true for German or American highways. It's a myth that's been around for decades.
(edit) It is true that Eisenhower was inspired by the German autobahn - the 1 every 5 is not true.
@@chell272 You're right, I just heard this from my family who are actually in the road building business, but looking it up it isn't true about the 1 mile in 5 thing. Looking this up it reminded me, though, that another thing that inspired Eisenhower was that after he graduated from West Point, he was put in charge of a military convoy whose only task was to deploy from the White House to San Fransisco. They encountered many troubles back then, 1919, trying to make it coast to coast using our nation's own infrastructure, and the whole journey took them over 60 days. This mission also led Eisenhower to be inspired to make our federal roads much better than they had been before that point. That whole Army Expedition thing really reminds me of BRIDGES 1, as well.
@@RossOfRoni bro, my pops is absolutely filled with mythical facts about military and war, trust me, I understand.
I spent most of my high school years retelling everyone the _truck_ on top of flag poles on military bases contained a razor, matches, a cig and bullet...
I got my platinum trophy and kept playing just because SO many people helped me along the journey, I felt as if I owed it to others to keep improving the pathways. To help their journey as Sam with roads built and zip lines. I’m still stressing out that the timefall is deteriorating the structures for them. Altruistic in the fullest!
You are amazing man, with all the work you put in your videos, you deserve a lot more subscribers. Have found you recently and really enjoyed your analysis of MGSV, helped me actually understand a lot of points I missed in the story. Looking forward to enjoying your "dissection" of DS now
Futurasound I found some of your ladders and your ziplines, They saved my but in the game a lot of times thanks
Funny that they call it walking simulator. If you use your brain a little, the game gives you a thousand different ways of moving without having to walk much. In fact, you actually walk a lot more in almost every other game you can think of. But then again, the game asks for you to be creative and use your head...
In what way? Do you ever get your motorcycle back? No?
@@Anenome5 yes
And you get a cool truck too. I love the truck soooo much
@Narkomancers every game is a simulator by that logic. Walking simulator, shooting simulator, exploring simulator, puzzle simulator, sports simulator, history simulator, combat simulator, driving simulator, war simulator, flying simulator, and so on with every game in existence. And yes, you travel a lot, like with every open world game. If you only took the traveling part, then you missed a lot of amazing stuff with Death Stranding.
@Narkomancers because you "don't" push forward in other games? There are "no" danger zones in them too like Death Stranding?
Have you even played it? 🤣
You're really grasping at straws but stating it's just push forward and do "nothing." Might as well say a FPS is just shoot things while pushing forward and doing nothing else.
People describing as walking simulator, clearly haven't reached their first proper cutscene to make them want more and to find out more. Hence , their patience levels are minimal to say the least.
Your point on society and trust , you're on point there. I feel personally that humanity as a whole , especially those in countries in which have the technology such as the Internet, tvs etc . When you look at countries that don't have these things , technologically yes they are not as advanced but , creatively and skillfully in other ways , they are superior and that also can be said for their social nature. They do not rely on the Internet to speak , they can openly talk randomly anywhere at any time without feeling , insecure or uncomfortable.
I'm playing it right now and I'm having a blast once you get past episode 2 that were the game kick off , I have been playing video games since 1998 and death stranding is the only game that tried to change gaming since mgs 1 , and the way hideo kojima use the massage of transportation it's was awesome , my only criticism is cliff world war section should've been longer .
I'm subbing because of how you eloquently explained that being the unsung hero is overwhelmingly unappreciated.
I thoroughly enjoyed this game in every way. The story hit me emotionally (in particular the end vision that puts the other visions into context) and the gameplay was so zen and gave me the same vibes I got when I first played Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Just me and a huge world to explore that’s atmospheric as all hell. I love videos like this that shows appreciation for bold games like DS that dare to challenge the industry to be different vs giving us the same ol cash grab power fantasy.
Replaying this game now for the 2nd time and I think it’s even better the 2ns time thru. I have a handle on the story now and picking up the little bits I missed the 1st time is really rewarding. Mesmerized all over again.
Haha I just love that everything fits inside a packet, which you can stack on your back. Feels so satisfying.
Death Stranding is about your character becoming the best postal delivery man in the USA, your character delivers toilet paper during the covid pandemic & ends up becoming the hero we all need!
This game was more like Trials Rising than a walking simulator. I rode the trike everywhere. It was so much fun navigating the terrain on the motorbike. I only wish the terrain degradation could be turned off, so it would be challenging every repeat trip. Building the highway was enough ease of getting around. Death Stranding is an A+
Man scanning the area was soooo satisfying
I've just started playing the game. And I've been aware of Death Stranding's Theme since year before the game's release.
By the way, did you know that Death Stranding now has a PC rerelease?
Defo gonna start playing this game. Been waiting for a price drop for this game.
It doesn't deserve one yet if you ask me.
Kojima is probably the most patriotic American non-American I have ever seen. On one hand showing us how imperfect we sometimes are but on the other how great we are and can be. Often his heroes are American and his villains are also American. The positive aspects vs the negative aspects.
Wholesome... I'm only sub 10 minutes in, but I'm thoroughly agreeing with most of your points so far.
I loved DS.. the story was gripping once you figure out the pacing (coming from a cinematic player)
Came into this video with the mindset that Death Stranding was "A Delivery Man simulator" and that I wouldn't get the game or even bother because that wasn't "my style" but left wanting to see more and experience the game for myself so I went and bought it. Thank you for this very informational piece you helped change my mind and I'm happy you did I can't wait to play.
go ahead and play it. its super boring
Man, I fucking love this game, been around 40 hours into it and it's still giving new shit to do.
Is it better then Metal Gear Solid V ? I was so letdown with that game. Started off really good but after about ten hours i just got bored with it, some old thing again again. Boring map areas too. The world in this looks so much more interesting.
I actually loved this game more after my second play through where I played offline and could only build within my own limitations.
I wanted to watch the ads, but your video kept interrupting!
the philosophies of this game, and relating it with our lives really have reached my heart
Even with its weirdness and thoughts it is just my favorite game ever
Have a heart, mate
@@jmcc4686 Your opinion?
@@jmcc4686 nah
Simp
@@jmcc4686 "I cant be creative and I didnt read the dialogue"
Fixed your comment
Currently in Episode 3. Enjoying and Loving this game!
Have to say dude your content is on another level. Personally I have not found many UA-cam channels of this calibre so I say well done and solid work. I appreciate the effort you put into these videos and wish you happy holidays in return Boss.
Check out Noah Caldwell-Gervais if you haven't already. Also very good stuff.
Really brilliant breakdown and the first of your vids that yt has recommended me. Had me tearing up a little towards the end. Thank you so much for this one.
Thank you! You've done such a great job of explaining exactly what makes DS so compelling while tying that to the initial misconceptions that people have.
I will watch this video in it's entirety at least twice. This is probably my favorite youtube channel.
Wiping out separatists without spawning a bt is as easy as switching to non lethal weapons with practically the same level of effectiveness.
"We are alone together" This quote is great and the central theme of Death Stranding
From 27:45 on everything you said really added something. It’s not easy to interpret much less express alot of this. This game speaks without words what many people over the history of time couldn’t say by any means and may not be able to when they should. That itself is a proactive duty someone can take up. This story will ask you what side of the coin you’re on. It will encourage you take your time to think, to connect and understand what you can then act on that if you can or if you want to. You are free to choose, but most of us know what our choices are. If you let it or if you need it to, this game will speak to you and you will probably be better for it. At the very least it will give you something beautiful and entertaining to do. The messages and meanings behind this game are the most important in life to me personally and I think alot of people who feel strongly about the story here may feel the same way. The difficulty in saying what’s important here is about how profoundly difficult it is to say something profound. If something is meaningful to you, it’s worth trying to start expressing why. I wish more people would do that about what they believed in or what spoke to them. The difference between all life and all death is in what we are trying to say, what the truth is and how we act on it. Which part means life and which part means death and what do you believe?
I remember play death stranding for the first time and love it, i feel curiosity for whats going to happend in the story and doing all the tasks and cargos but in some point i started to caring for every job mission and start to realized how not only game but myself was changing how it was teaching me to reconnect to world to myself and how the future its always in our hands, i love it the very first time and i love it like the first day now, at least to me this game its a master piece and a life changing experience.
As always awesome video.
Im gonna buy this now
thank you
How are you liking it so far man?
I love it. Honestly helps me relax after work
@@rustyshell2 that’s good to know, and I’m glad you got the most out of it. I’ve been given a PS4 giftcard a while back, and since I didn’t have the money at the time to preorder it, I think I’ll buy it now
to each their own, but the people I saw complaining the most weren't even attempting to play correctly.. it would be like someone claiming a first person shooter has bad gunplay, yet they never aim down sights
I was gifted this game and was ready to hate it. Ended up lovin it and I'm almost a hundred hours in. Glad to see others who enjoy the game as well!
Great video - As an old S.T.A.L.K.E.R fan and Spintires player, i did find a lots of familiar vibes in DS. And what bothered "reviewers" was an old shoe to me. Journey is indeed sometimes the destination. What did take me by surprise and earned my respect to Kojima and Kojima production. after love/hate relationship with MGSV, is how polished, mechanically deep, graphically stunning and hearth felt that game is. It swallowed me whole like a sea of tar. And yes, as fresh father my self I did have to wipe tears of my face, several times. Holy Shit. DS is amazing. Playable Art!
how can one describe death stranding, and what are the key lessons the game is trying to convey. never in the history of gaming we found a game discussing these two key elements of human behavior. we live in a world where individualism is the norm, these two behaviors are dying out. but, what are these two two key elements of human behavior? did we ever use them in our through out our human civilization?
the game revolves around these two main deep forgotten necessities to human existence, No 1- Altruism and No 2- Reciprocal Altruism. that's the true meaning of the game.
Just finished it for the first time a week ago, truly a great game, took me a long time to finish it but the story is great, probably Kojima's greatest game ending so far. I'll definitely give it more time to play around with game mechanic a bit like MGSV. Great video man
What a master piece.
Thank you, chief.
Yes it is, a masterpiece 👍
Everytime someone says Death Stranding is a horrendously bad game; im like that Joker movie meme of him going "You wouldn't get it.."
Christmas's early with all those ads. I'm not complaining though xD
I'll do it for you then...
@@NapoleChan I don’t think it was his choice to have this many ads, probably a copyright strike
I count 14 for me, i just hope he's getting paid for em, he deserves it
Honestly they have great material but it's VERY hard to enjoy with so many ads breaking up points and taking out of the experience when so invested...
She needs premium dude, PREMIUM!
This video got me into DS
What a fantastic experience it's been
if you can get pass the first 8 hours, the game really opens up.
Death Stranding was a hauntingly beautiful and wonderfully unique experience that will always stick with me. Sure it has flaws. Sometimes it's pretentious, or it's silly, or awkward, etc... but these are all mere pieces of a whole that is much much greater than the sum of its parts. Ultimately, this is what I want from a game I love (or a film, tv show, book for that matter)-- an experience that leaves a lasting impression on me. Something I will think back on years down the road, and feel that twinge of wistfulness deep inside me. (Plus it introduced me to the gorgeous music of Low Roar!) Thank you for your thoughtful videos, Jorin. I appreciate all your work. I hope 2021 is better for all of us.
I wasn't going to give DS a shot until watching this, and it just so happens to be on sale right now. Thanks man, always glad to see you post new stuff!
You
Oh Tyler A.Mckoon wish you played the game sooner
It's awesome, there are shooting but not really into it you'll find out the shooting part.
Every time I watch this it gives me the urge to play DS
if you're planning on playing it, here's a tip
don't kill "Mules" to be safe, you can just beat them unconscious
also try throwing Hematic grenades on a BT boss and then shoot it for extra damage
I absolutely love this game. It gives me a sense of wonder. There's something so serene about it, that it lessens my stress when I sit down to play. Every single time. Thank you for this video.
Keep on keeping on and Merry Christmas!
One of the best reviews of this magnificent, mentally heavy game that talks - both the game, and in a more narrow sense, the review - of things no one else does. Well done and worth watching.
Kojima: I want to make a game for lonely people and to connect them with other lonely people. Especially to hikikomoris.
Everyone: Haha okay boomer. Fuckin weirdo
2020: /Delivery services boomed in response to the corona pandemic since every one is forced to stay at home
Everyone: /pikachu face
It's amazing how Death Stranding became even more relevant a year later it's release. As someone who experienced the game through let's players, the paradigm shift of anticipating package deliveries and making orders online felt very familiar than jarring. /laugh
Death Stranding helped me ease into the stay-at-home life. Thanks Kojima! /laugh
I love this game, it took a long time to get the platinum trophy... but what a feeling, so proud of it.
This game is a masterpiece. And like many classics, as time moves on, I think this game will start to truly gain the appreciation it deserves.
I'm surprised Kojima did not address Pathological Altruism.
Where helping others can hurt them long term.
Giving people the answer as opposed to teaching them how to find the answer and they go seek it on their own.
Sometimes helping others is not giving them an immediate answer to their problems ,but how to solve problems and that person makes a decision based on that thinking process. Short term help vs long term help .
It would have been interesting if Kojima put that into his game. Where if you help certain people immediately then they suffer later in the story. Because you chose to solve problems for them instead of giving them information to solve problems. Information vs Hard Goods.
First, the game mechanics aren't about what you are talking about and second that isn't necessarily true to life.
If you end up being cruel to a person who has no ill intention then you might create a person that uses cruel methods to get what they want because you now made those rules real in this reality.
That isn't to say there aren't people who use other people for power but most likely it's because the environment those people came from only saw help as helping one's self to other people's stuff.
"A child unloved by his village..." and all that.
We live in a modern time and enough stolen land to understand how not to repeat history. To advance a human culture. We no longer have to steal to survive and should be more mindful on how we deal death. It's just human nature and why we are capable of thinking. It's just tough for some people if not all to think on an empty stomach.
@@ivanidlehand9651 That's not what pathological altruism is at all .
It's where helping people actually harms them. Where altruism is the bad guy .
Because people who are not willing to learn exploited others Niceness and kindness. Like a weapon..
Altruism is overrated actually and often blinds people. Ayn Rand dissected it a long time ago and found the whole premise of it faulty. The worst atrocities in the world have been commited by those who believed they were doing so for the sake of others.
That’s great. I like the new style you’re trying in your video.
Great video! I will remember my playthrough of Death Stranding for the rest of my life.
Death Stranding is wonderfully original while woefully mistuned.
So many of the game's mechanics never have a chance to shine because they're too easy to circumvent with less compelling play options.
Doing well in the game will often mean working towards a less fun version of the game (like a mediocre driving sim).
The game also betrays its own "no dying" premise by having game over screens for some failed deliveries.
Speaking of failed deliveries... the writing here is something else. And what's up with having difficulty settings? Why?
"So many of the game's mechanics never have a chance to shine because they're too easy to circumvent with less compelling play options"
I agree ... Same thing could be said about metal gear as well. That's a really good point.
"Working towards a less fun version of the game"
This I don't agree with necessarily, because of the sense of achievement you get after Doing the fun gameplay and then reaching.... Well ... A goal of making things easier. Not to mention the effect of timefall on structures which need constant repair and that allows... I guess a little bit more fun gameplay 👍.
"The game betrays it's own "no dying" premise by having game over screens for some failed deliveries" I mean ... Those are fail states. Sam has repatriation so he is invincible... Is that the premise you're referring to?
The next point I'm going to skip cause it's kinda subjective and I respect your opinion. I'm only interested in fact checking.
"what's up with having difficulty settings?"
Well ... So u can have difficulty settings 🙂
They talked about in the video how it's clearly your own fault if you didn't find enjoyment of how YOU decided to play.
I played offline on hard mode and made very little use of overpowered items, like ziplines. I wanted to enjoy the game, and I was able to make it fun for myself. It’s not meant to be fun forever, I eventually tire of it and take long breaks before picking it up again. That’s why I like it: Death stranding wants the same thing as I do, for me to have fun on my own terms. They did good with the parameters they set themselves, I think (“they” being the devs). Games can’t be everything.
@@decimatormdt5453 the difficulty settings seem to only affect the few boss fights, and not to any benefit to the game. Making those harder doesn't add anything to the experience and the rest of the game is exactly the same.
Having Sam be repatriated is a neat gameplay mechanic to avoid fail states, so it's odd to have them shoved back in for less compelling reasons. Just my opinion though.
And I'm all for struggling for accomplishment. The ziplines were good, imo. But building roads in the early mid game seems to divert the game away from its strengths towards far less compelling driving back and forth. It's a minor complaint, overall.
@@BigDaddyWes It's a bit of a cop out though, isn't it? You could say that about any game, with the implication that it's up to players to make the game enjoyable and not the developers. But I did enjoy Death Stranding quite a bit in the mid game, just that a lot of its compelling systems went largely unused. You could blame that on me for not going out of my way to use every system, but that's exactly what I mean by a lack of tuning or focus in the game.
Can't wait to watch this entire video once I've finished the game.
Your videos are great.
Death Stranding was a pretty good game I managed to get platinum
Let's do it again