Death Stranding (PS4)

Death Stranding review

How do you summarise a game like Death Stranding? It’s at once the most boring and bizarrely absorbing adventure you can have on the PS4, an unrelenting slog of a game that has very little respect for your time, but in its quieter, meditative moments, it’s like nothing else. It’s easy to foresee a lot of people giving up before the narrative really starts to unfold, and honestly, there’s little in the story itself that makes persevering worthwhile. Instead, it’ll be a combination of wanting to see every inch of this strange dystopian wilderness, a growing bond with the needy tank baby, and sheer determination to finish the job that’ll see willing players through. Death Stranding isn’t a memorable action game. It’s definitely not a stealth game either. It’s laughably self-serious, hard to call fun, and it will deservedly be the most divisive big-budget title of this console generation. But somehow, this endlessly weird game about walking mercilessly long distances with too much weight on your back is kind of brilliant too, and it’s something we should all be glad exists.

Death Stranding review review

Death Stranding

‘Death Stranding' is the long-awaited adventure game from Hideo Kojima.

Death Stranding review: Baffling yet bizarrely beautiful

The whole world knew to expect something odd from Kojima's first game post Metal Gear Solid, and Death Stranding is just that: odd. But if you're in the right mood, you could click with it deeply thanks to its bizarrely beautiful landscapes and play mechanics.

Death Stranding Review – The Wanderer

The game bears the unmistakable mark of its creator, but doesn't leave enough for players to enjoy.

PlayStation 4 Death Stranding 9951308 review

Kojima’s mysterious would be epic has its moments but can’t carry the weight of expectation.

Death Stranding review – delivering the goods

A work of unbridled ambition and imagination but also a pretentious, contrived, and frequently quite dull gameplay experience – Death Stranding is peak Hideo Kojima.

PlayStation 4 Death Stranding 9951308 review

Death Stranding delivers a fascinating world of supernatural sci-fi, but its gameplay struggles to support its weight.

PlayStation 4 Death Stranding 9951308 review

Death Stranding delivers a fascinating world of supernatural sci-fi, but its gameplay struggles to support its weight.

Death Stranding Review

Sadly, the gameplay experience takes just as big a tumble in Act 3 as well. All of a sudden, hellaciously long backtracking starts to be folded in, most likely as a means to arbitrarily lengthen the proceedings.