Death Stranding: First Impressions

Paperboy 3: Death Stranding is the long awaited sequel to the classic series. The titular paperboy – Sam – is now a man living in a post-apocalyptic America doing what he does best – delivering packages. Death Stranding is pretty sketchy on the details at first, but as you progress you’ll soon learn more about what happened in the past and why the world is the way it is.

Although the history may not be initially clear, your objective is – to reconnect the isolated cities and outposts across America and rebuild the country. Oh, and to rescue Sam’s sister (?) At least, I think she’s his sister. That’s one of the things I’m still not totally clear on at the moment.

Death Stranding is the name of the event that nearly destroyed the world. Although there’s still a lot I don’t yet know about it, it’s an event that saw the worlds of the living and the dead collide. America, as we know it, collapsed. Previous attempts to reunite the country failed as terrorists and fanatics sought to sow disorder and chaos. But now, as Sam, you’re attempting to pick up and pieces and finish what your sister (?) started.

You do this by traversing the land with a baby strapped to your chest, delivering packages, evading bandits and throwing your poo at ghosts. No, I’m serious – you throw your poo at ghosts. When Death Stranding introduces the wonderfully named character of Die-Hardman you might begin to wonder if the game is just being weird for the sake of being weird.

But I’m pleased to say, that doesn’t appear to be the case – silly names aside. The more you learn, the more of Death Stranding begins to make sense. It’s a pretty cool setting, at least from what I’ve experienced so far. It’s certainly different – the clash of science and the supernatural. I’m intrigued and I’m engaged and I’m curious to see where this story goes.

Visually, Death Stranding is impressive and the performance is great. What’s really striking though is the attention to detail – the way Sam moves through the environment, the way he carries his cargo, the visual degradation of your gear or vehicle over time . . . these details all build a world that feels alive and real.

The core gameplay loop – delivering a package from A to B – may not sound like the most exciting way of spending your time, but the game does a great job of continually mixing things up by regularly introducing new items and mechanics, enabling you to take on larger and heavier deliveries across longer distances and more varied terrain types.

You begin on foot with a simple backpack, but just when this slow slog across the desolate landscape starts to annoy, you get access to your first vehicle. Suddenly, you go can further and faster than before. And then you unlock a power skeleton, a floating cargo rig and another vehicle type. You unlock new weapons, but in turn, your enemies get new toys, too. Every step of the way, it feels like you’re getting new toys to play with and new ways to approach and complete your objectives.

You can also build structures and, like everything else, you’ll begin with a limited selection that soon expands. These structures can be upgraded and provide various benefits to you and the world in general – such as a charging station for vehicles. You’re not just reconnecting America – you’re rebuilding it. The first time you reconnect two outposts by investing resources in a road network is a pretty cool moment.

But if there’s one thing I didn’t enjoy it’s the online ‘sharing’ feature of Death Stranding. The concept is neat and plays nicely into the theme of connecting others and working together to rebuild. The idea is that the structures and signs other players construct can appear in your game world. You can ‘like’ them if you think they’re useful and, at least initially, they really are.

Got a deep river to cross but no ladder? It’s okay, another player has already placed one for you to use. It seems neat, at first, but it wasn’t long before I turned the feature off entirely. Why? Well, the game doesn’t do a great job of picking what to incorporate into your world and what not to. When I started having to run through about 10 signs in a row every time I left a settlement, I started getting annoyed.

And when I saw 3 bridges appear in a row across the same stretch of river which not only looked stupid but also killed the immersive nature of the world, I’d had enough and switched the sharing off. I still like the concept, but the execution is poor, particularly if, like me, you want to build your world the way you want to – and not have a landscape littered by the odd and random constructions of others.

Death Stranding is certainly one of the most unique and interesting games I’ve played in a long time. Based on what I’ve played so far I certainly don’t think it’s a game that everyone will enjoy, but I’m pretty hooked by it and I’m eager to see where it goes.