Death Stranding is pretty awful

So I rented the game last Thursday evening and I’m over 12 hours in. Just got my first gun. A non-lethal gun. Yeah that’s how long it took.

This game is NOT fun and you should NOT trust the mainstream reviews. I don’t care what any of you Kojima or Playstation fanboys have to say. This game is hot garbage.

The movement is clunky, sluggish and slow on purpose because of the packages you carry. There was one instance where Sam would not stop moving and ran himself into a wall inside a distribution center and destroyed the cargo. I had to respawn and walk 5 minutes all the way back to the center again.

The BB is annoying. You fall at all it starts crying. You gotta stop what you’re doing, take BB out, rock him to sleep and then be on your way. Yes this only takes 10-15 seconds but if you’re playing for an hour or two straight and do this 5 or 6 times trust me it gets annoying. Also I don’t even understand how they thought this mechanic was fun. If you have kids you’re gonna hate it, if you don’t have kids it’s gonna make you never want to have kids.

The menu is way too large and confusing and is typical Kojima nonsense. The grenades are hard to get out and use in battle they’re not seamlessly like other modern games. Way too many steps to get items out and it just breaks the immersion.

There is a thousand different tips and things to learn and understand in this game. There is a lot going on here. I advise reading through them all as they come because the game likes to randomly throw new things at you all the time and remembering how to do them all can be hard and time consuming.

The bike makes the game a little more bearable but if you’ve played Days Gone and hated the bike mechanics in that game you’re gonna really hate them in this game. The controls are even more clunky and awkward and the battery has to be powered by generators. Also so far the bike battery dies really quickly. There are a generous amount of generators around the world, and you can build your own in an empty spot with a PCC, but it’s just one more thing that adds to the game taking 60 or so hours to complete. It’s nonsensical padding to the game length to make you forget there’s not much beat on this bare bones game to begin with.

The worst part? The gameplay. Having to struggle across the terrain to get to a delivery outpost only to deliver a package then be given another and be told to go right back where you just came from is tedious and boring. If you have no job or life in general I guess you might find the time needed to invest into this travesty worth it. But for those of us who have to get up and make a living every day there are far better options out there to choose to spend your time on especially this time of year.

What’s the point of this thread? That people who like the game are wrong?

@Archangel3371: do you have anything to combat with the valid criticisms of the game or just “well I like it”?

Get ready for 10+ pages of frustrated fanboys patting themselves on the back over the triumph of convincing themselves that Death Stranding is, indeed, a bad game.

You guys try so hard.

@jcrame10: First off I haven’t played the game although from what I’ve seen and heard about the game it looks like something that I will enjoy.

Secondly you come at this like you’re opinion is the correct one by saying don’t trust mainstream reviews and unless you’re a Kojima or PlayStation fanboy that this game is hot garbage. Hate to burst your bubble but you’re opinion isn’t some definitive one.

Thirdly there’s other Death Stranding threads for you to post your opinions in, no need for yet another one.

Personal preferences vary wildly from person to person and what you may or may not find enjoyment from doesn’t equate to valid criticism.

@jcrame10: After all of that rant and you couldn't tell us this in the other Death Stranding thread? Never mind, Death Stranding is one of those games if you like heavy Sci-Fi and story driven experience. Death Stranding isn't for everyone and no surprise it's not for you.

I think Death Stranding is cool but not radical amazing. Never have I played an open-world that was so calm and tense at the same time. I guess it really depends on what you were (are) looking for out of this title and also what appeals to your personal style. I rolled the dice when it came out and the dice rolled in my favor.

God, I'm sorry to hear that.

Thank you for your candid opinion though.

Disagree, Im digging it so far. Only negatives.are menu and cutscene length

It looks pretty awful for my tastes. But I kind of take issue with the view that people who like a certain development style are "fanboys". You've framed it as "this game is objectively awful, therefore if you like it you must be a fanboy" - when the alternative framing is simply "this game is not at all the type of game I like, but some people do like it and rightfully get excited when games like this come out". Maybe Kojima's got an odd approach to games, but I think the people who like his approach have as much right to do so as you do to hate it.

I love puzzle games like Myst and Riven. I'm well aware that, especially this day in age, that's kryptonite to a lot of people. They can call me "wrong" because there are more of them than me, I suppose, but I prefer to think of it as a matter of taste. I don't see why this shouldn't apply to others

@Archangel3371: To inform other gamers. I like Jcame10's input on games.

@jcrame10 the good news is that you just rented the game. No one can argue that you didn't at least try it. :)

@xantufrog Have you played Obduction?

Someone got filtered.

@Pedro: That’s fine but he could have informed you and others in one of the other Death Stranding threads.

@Pedro: not yet - I bought it! It's waiting for me to finish some other ongoing game up first. Did you like it?

@xantufrog: the difference between those puzzle games and DS is that puzzle games can still be fun. Objectively, the game mechanics of DS are designed purposely to be frustrating and not fun for the sake of difficulty.

Reviews are literally saying the game is not fun while still giving it good scores.

So far I have not had a chance to get too far into it but I have enjoyed some of the unique elements. I'm also not expecting an action game or a gun game, so the game doesn't take much of an L for that when it does not even strive to be such a thing.

@Archangel3371: the reviews praise the game and give it good scores while at the same time say it’s not a fun game. Doesn’t that defeat the entire purpose of a video game? Don’t you play them to have fun?

@Pedro: The issue people are having is not with his opinion.

@jcrame10: Fun is subjective though. Review scores also have elements of subjectivity to them as well. Just because they said that they didn’t necessarily have “fun” playing the game doesn’t mean that the overall experience that they had with the game wasn’t overwhelmingly positive enough for them to feel the way they did with the game. People can also have a variety of different reasons for wanting to play any particular game, it doesn’t necessarily always have to be just about having “fun”. There’s really no right or wrong way to enjoy a game.

I did. It was a return to old school puzzle games. The game only suffers from one main progression problem with its puzzle but it was a very solid game.

He is special, he creates his own thread. :P

@Pedro: I don’t even see another DS post

I hear people talk about wanting more realism in games all the time, and how they wished open worlds would actually let you go anywhere you see.

Well Death Stranding does that, it makes you traverse the terrain with tools or with just your body. And guess what, that traversal can be boring. But hey Gamer's ask for it.

I actually dislike Breath of the Wild because I found the climbing to be boring and not fun

@Archangel3371: that’s like leaving a review for a restaurant saying “The food was awful and overpriced, the server was rude and slow, but the trinkets hanging on the walls were really cool to look at. 9/10”

Realism is good when it adds to the gaming experience. I and many people don't play games to re-enact reality. We do that by default. Why pay to do it virtually? So, games with many babysitting systems are more of a burden than an enjoyment, at least to me. So, I agree.

@jcrame10: Can’t say that I really agree with that analogy. The components that make up a video game are much more integral to the overall experience then eating food at a restaurant. Having said that though I wouldn’t say that you’re example would be necessarily wrong though. If that’s what they thought of their experience at that restaurant was like then so be it. It just necessarily wouldn’t be something that I would want to go to. I’ve enjoyed games with low review scores just as I haven’t enjoyed games with high review scores. That doesn’t necessarily make those reviews or my thoughts on the games any more right or wrong for anyone else, they just valued the components of the games differently then I did.

I think the issue he is referring to is the review conflicting with the score. It would be like me criticizing everything about a game with little to no positives and still rating it highly.

22 hours into the game.

It's frustrating but rewarding. A very unique experience if you like being challenged.

And like MGSV, you can be creative in the ways you traverse the landscape. The game is as boring as you are in a sense.

@Pedro: I don’t see the review conflicting with the score myself. To me it just says that for them the positives greatly outweigh the negatives. If someone can’t get over the negatives that were mentioned in the review then fine, that game simply isn’t something that they would enjoy. That doesn’t mean that that review is necessarily “wrong” though. If that were the case then there would only be one review score that is “right” for any game and for every gamer and that just isn’t so.

@Pedro: yes exactly the review score makes no sense when reading the content of the review

Stop attacking reviewers and just give your thoughts on the game.

Give it a rest.

There's always a game for everyone. I guess you're type of game should be simple that a 10yr old can easily understand. May I suggest Super Mario Odyssey. That game has simple Menus, Easy to understand mechanics, simple story, just simple everything in general.

I know gamers want to think there's some magic formula to reviews and scores but there's not. Not sure why people get so bent out of shape about it. The world is not a logical place, little of it makes sense, and reviews and scores are not bound to any rules.

The way you feel that the end of a game can entirely change how you viewed the entire experience. And listed negatives aren't taking strikes away from the score unless it had a bigger impact on their experience playing it.

Can we stop talking about the reviewers and instead focus on the game and peoples experience with it?

@Bread_or_Decide: Dunkey did a really good video on this on his channel. This is not the first game where mainstream sites like IGN give a good score that conflicts with things they actually said in their review.

https://youtu.be/sBqk7I5-0I0

Or maybe scores and the review are two different things.

Despite having flaws, can still be a 9 or 10.

The logic police need to go away, so sick of it.

@Bread_or_Decide: the score and review is given by the same person so there’s no logic in what you’re saying.

Nope. At gamespot.com scores are decided by the editor and his team after they read the submitted review.

And what I really meant was, that despite listing flaws, I can still give a game a 10 if it left a great enough impression. And having flaws doesn't mean the score can't be a ten.

So this asinine and arbitrary rule you made up, that a score must be THIS if the review content says THAT is your own issue, not the reviewers.

I didn't understand the point in the early videos, and I still don't get the point now that it's out. I might grab this one when it hits $20 value bins, but for now I just don't think it's for me. I usually hate games with crying babies anyway.. lol... I'm looking at you Yoshi's Island...

I have about 60 hours in the game so ar (still a ways to go)

• The game isn't your typical shooty bang/kill em all type of game. But you will get some of that the further you get into the game. Killing isn't the focus. You should have known this before playing imo.
• The game controls well to me. Movement makes sense based on your weight , stacking , terrain/slopes , gripping/balancing , movement speed , crouching/non-crounching , and your other actions and countermeasures of said actions. Just grip both shoulders straps wnen things can throw you off balance. Easy peasy.
• You are taking things for granted and falling too much. Sounds like you might have fallen more times in your 12 hours than I have in my 60 hours so far.
• The BB stops crying pretty quickly and you can turn down the speaker volume on the controller if it annoys you too much. After 60 hours , it's not a big deal at all.
• It's quite easy to switch between grenades or other weapons. Just bring up the weapon wheel and pont to what you want. The game stops during this. It's not an issue for me. It's easy to adapt to.
• The bike physics could be a bit better , but I don't have a problem with the charging stations. It's part of he strategy and building/strand system. Overall , I like using the bike , and really liked the bike in Days Gone a lot.
• It's game about delivery , connecting the networks , and trying to help a loved one in this f-upped and harsh world. Yes , it's not a glamorous endeavor. That's the point.

Delivery. Traversal. Management. Strategy. Survival. Stranding. These are some of the elements of the game. This was pretty clear beforehand. Being patient , mindful , learning and improving in a game like this are the keys. It is the game in a nutshell.

This really bothers me as well. I am not paying anywhere close to $60 for a game that reviewers agree is not fun, even if they are mostly scoring the game with 9s and 10s. I would actually be more interested if the game were scoring 6s and 7s, because at least then I could take the review at face value and have a better idea of what to expect.

It is a logical place. People being ignorant or in denial doesn't make the world illogical. People don't read reviews because review make little sense. They read it to get logical conclusions. It is true that reviews are a wild west but don't confuse the looseness of most written reviews as "the world is not a logical place".

Kojima games ain't for everyone;

Case and Point.

Saying something doesn't make sense is not attacking. He can comment about reviews if he feels like in the same manner you see this need to defend the reviews that maybe in question.

Have you been outside, dude? There is no logic or reason to be found.

And yet we demand so much of it from a game critic review of all things.

I think we need to spend more time talking about the product and less time talking about the critics.

And just because it doesn't make sense to HIM doesn't mean it doesn't make sense.

I'm not defending reviews. People are allowed to think or say anything they want about a work. I never bashed the IGN for his thoughts on DS.

I'm more concerned with my own experience with the game.,

Never thought I wouldn't be interested in a game that could be defined as a management sim.

...but here it is.

There's a reason stardew valley, no mans sky, and farming simulator are so popular.

Sounds like REAL "fun". I'm still gonna play it on PC to decide for myself what degree Kojima has lost his damn mind. Maybe I might even find something to enjoy there along the way. If not, it can help with my insomnia.

Fun is a funny thing. We all decide what we think is fun or not. A three hour black and white movie with subtitles for me, is fun. Some others, not fun.

If you like quiet games that are about atmosphere with moments of tension and stealth and item management, then DS is fun.

Bro, we've always been cool but is this a serious question? In a forum named "System Wars"? I mean couldn't anyone just say when a person likes the game does that mean anyone that doesn't like the game is wrong?

Did you not read the OP?