I can't see how those two are meant to be the same. If they were modelling the character on the person, I'd hope they'd get it far closer.
So you say it's mediocre because a little under 700 people have given it a 0 on metacritic. Many of them seemingly without playing it, many of them have never reviewed a game there before. But you also think the vocal minority's opinion is irrelevant?
Personally, I'm interested enough in it to want to give Death Stranding a go, I like Kojima's track record and willingness to not make a generic game that appeals to as many as possible, because many of those AAA games turn out bland & boring to me. I'll probably buy both this & Outer Worlds once they're on sale in 6 months, especially as I've got 3 highly anticipated games (Phoenix Point, Bloodlines, Cyberpunk) to start playing soon, and I've still got plenty of hours of Disco Elysium to go. Another game that could probably cater to more of the majority in an attempt to get less negative user reviews and more profit. But a game that would be made worse by doing so.
If a game isn't for you because of its genre, its design choices, fair enough. I don't see the point of calling it crap because of that though. CoD isn't for me, and the last one I played & kept might only have been because it was part of the bundle that came with a 360. I've never played Fortnite, I know I'll hate it. Doesn't mean I'm going to give either one a 0. Doesn't mean I think they're bad games, just because I don't like generic first person shooters.
Seems like Kojima did it again, made a fantastic looking game with crazy story elements and mind blowing twists, something that indulges me to take a look into because of how intricate and developed it looks. But I never really end up liking it. Don't get me wrong MGSV was good in the same ways and I played a bit, but stuff like this is always a little complicated and it really comes down to if a person likes it enough to get over the quirks and details. This looked pretty good and a good soundtrack never makes a game go boring, but I can't bring myself to get over thinking this game is kinda just an Amazon Delivery Sim in the Twilight Zone. It's seems cool and I was looking forward to seeing what the game was about for a long time. Not going to put money down on it but I'm sure everyone else that enjoys it will say it's worth it, just not me personally.
Where did you get 700 people giving it 0 score I don’t know. What I was referring to was that 36% of the reviews (3677 to be precise out of 10035) are negative ranging from 0 to 4.
36% is hardly a vocal minority. Compared to 60% it looks like a minority but still more than 1/3 of the reviews is not exactly 5-10%.
Hell even Fallout 3 has a 7,8 rating based on 4143 reviews. The Outer Worlds has 7,6. Neither of them are exactly groundbreaking or gripping yet that rated higher than DS.
Hey, man, cut yourself some slack - MSG5 is not complicated, it’s just failing to pick a tone while claiming to be something only the enlightened few will appreciate. Shoving a flying fiery whale in a story about a combat veteran suffering from PTSD and stealth based on hiding in a big ass carton box is not hard to understand. Pretentious for pretentious sake is not some art that only those in the know will get.
Last edited:
You can sort the reviews by score. Easy to see where it changes from 1 to 0, and therefore how many 0s there are. Which was roughly 700.
And yet compared to the number of people who have played the game, the number of negative reviews clearly is a vocal minority.
So what? Neither of them appear to have personally offended people like yourself with their very existence, so neither of them have been review-bombed with 1s & 0s by people who've never submitted a review before and haven't actually played the game.
Again, for someone who says the vocal minority shouldn't be listened to, you sure are giving a lot of weight to what those vocal enough to leave a score on metacritic say. In some cases, the public comments about games can help me make a decision, but even then it's the articulate descriptions and not the average score that makes the difference. In a case like this, I'll stick to well written reviews that I can trust. Which in my case have told me it's not a game to rush out & buy today, but one I will get after the first or second price drop. Maybe I do hate it and regret buying it. Maybe I love it and regret not buying it earlier. Both have happened before.
Why are you so invested about convincing other people to dislike a game you're dismissing out of hand, anyway?
I couldn’t care less either way, after all who am I to tell people how to spend their money. I personally don’t see anything worth in this particular game that would make me want to buy it. But I guess you could say don’t “understand” Kojima’s so called genius.
I would probably like to watch all the cut-scenes made in one movie. But playing the game? Nah.
Redbox rentalled it this weekend just to confirm my thoughts from videos. I can't even say it's a mediocre game because that would imply I at least had some fun. That's all I play games for, fun. It isn't here. The story is weird, just to be weird. Nothing particularly thought provoking here. If this is the direction Kojima thinks the gaming industry should be going, someone needs to have him committed. It's fine for an offshoot niche game but I can see why it won't pick up in the mainstream. Returned it before even the day was up
Ratings like that are suspicious to say the least, especially the ones with zeroes. A lot can be said about Steam reviews, but you have to actually own the game to be able to vote and you have a bunch of options to browse reviews that have some thought (and play time) put into them (and with most people having the binary scale of "0 or 10", the thumb up and thumb down seem to work out better in terms of clarity).
There wasn't any "hype" about DS really. People wonder what it meant, that's all. "Hype" is what you get when you already know what type of game experience you'll have, and it gets your blood pumping. Reactions were mixed and mostly mildly amused since the first cryptic trailer.
Been playing it for 100+ hours, and I really enjoyed it. I think it's probably my second GOTY after Disco Elysium and before Sekiro. I'm glad I could have experienced it blindly now and not later when everything about the game will be known.
I totally get the mixed reviews (but not the 0s, it's laughable to give this game 0); it's not a game for everyone, it has its own pace, its own mindset, its own rules, etc. And above all it's a very, very frustrating game like a Souls game but unlike a Souls game it's not always fun (while still not being a chore), it's even (purposefully) annoying. In the meantime DS can have very complex and satisfying gameplay if you allow yourself to have some fun with the provided tools.
It was a very deep experience overall: I don't think I was immersed in a world as much as I was here.
Ha, and before Death Stranding I was thinking you can judge a game by playing it for 4 hours. Usually I thought it was enough to get an idea of what to expect for the rest. I still think it's true for 99,99% of the games out there, but my opinion of Death Stranding switched from mild enthousiasm to awe after ~25 hours in, between chapters 3 and 5 (out of 14).
The one thing I didn't like at all is the writing. While I liked the overarching story and lore, you don't have to explain everything "supernatural" to me with pseudoscientific mambo-jambo. I get it, rationalistic morons want everything to "make sense" and need pseudoscientific nonsense to backup nonsensical events – it's comforting. I just think it's ugly and verbose. Kojima has everything to make great poetry and mythology, but he's stuck with the mundane "philosophical" and "scientific" gamer mindset. In a way, this game lacks confidence in its core ideas (I kinda understand though; I wonder how you properly "sell" a slow-paced "delivery game" in a depressing setting where killing someone is heavily penalized, "oh and by the way, I want famous actors in it").
tldr: Death Stranding is the opposite of Anthem.
Been playing it for 100+ hours, and I really enjoyed it. I think it's probably my second GOTY after Disco Elysium and before Sekiro. I'm glad I could have experienced it blindly now and not later when everything about the game will be known.
I totally get the mixed reviews (but not the 0s, it's laughable to give this game 0); it's not a game for everyone, it has its own pace, its own mindset, its own rules, etc. And above all it's a very, very frustrating game like a Souls game but unlike a Souls game it's not always fun (while still not being a chore), it's even (purposefully) annoying. In the meantime DS can have very complex and satisfying gameplay if you allow yourself to have some fun with the provided tools.
It was a very deep experience overall: I don't think I was immersed in a world as much as I was here.
Ha, and before Death Stranding I was thinking you can judge a game by playing it for 4 hours. Usually I thought it was enough to get an idea of what to expect for the rest. I still think it's true for 99,99% of the games out there, but my opinion of Death Stranding switched from mild enthousiasm to awe after ~25 hours in, between chapters 3 and 5 (out of 14).
The one thing I didn't like at all is the writing. While I liked the overarching story and lore, you don't have to explain everything "supernatural" to me with pseudoscientific mambo-jambo. I get it, rationalistic morons want everything to "make sense" and need pseudoscientific nonsense to backup nonsensical events – it's comforting. I just think it's ugly and verbose. Kojima has everything to make great poetry and mythology, but he's stuck with the mundane "philosophical" and "scientific" gamer mindset. In a way, this game lacks confidence in its core ideas (I kinda understand though; I wonder how you properly "sell" a slow-paced "delivery game" in a depressing setting where killing someone is heavily penalized, "oh and by the way, I want famous actors in it").
tldr: Death Stranding is the opposite of Anthem.
Last edited:
I didn't want to comment further, but a promise is a promise, you've been very kind translating all those polish websites in the past, and the game deserves to be defended by people who haven't played it (and maybe never will) and keep saying it's shit. I mean on the internet in general, not on this forum, I don't want to start "a feud". So here's an objective schematic (but not brief) spoiler-free "review" from someone who has finished it. Minor spoilers are under "spoiler". Underlined statements are my subjective opinion.As I said previously, it's a game I'm interested in buying when it comes out on PC, but I still have my share of doubts about it and I'm not sure what it supposed to even be. Well, at least now I will have you to do some betatesting on my behalf, which should make everything clear.
- First thing, there was no beta testing needed: the game is fluid and perfectly otpimized. Graphics are great and it runs gloriously on both PS4 and PS4 pro, with the only difference being resolution. Pop-in occur only in certain areas and when going at full speed on vehicles or ziplines. This is possible also because it's not a real open-world (think TW3), which is explained by narrative, and because there's no day/night cycle (which has no explaination that I've found so far). Dynamic weather is great and affects gameplay (won't spoil further). How will it run on PC when it's based on game engine born strictly for PS4? Who knows?
- Gameplay: the game is a mixture of different genres with a twist. It's a story-driven action game, open-world with main and side quests and with some "city builder" elements. A little "hiking and climbing simulator", if you will. Side quests are totally optional and help defining the setting. As 99% of AAA games, the gameplay loop is: cutscene/dialogue-> go to the objective (with possible fights during the path or at the end of it) -> cutscene/dialogue, rinse and repeat. Stealth, driving, running, shooting, fist-fighting and some platforming. But here comes the twist. Think TW3 (just to cite a game we're all familiar with): you go from point A to point B is just following the dotted line. It's boring and the challenge/reward is at the end of it. DS does the opposite: you just know the location you need to get to, but how you get there is up to you. You need to study the topography before leaving, prepare your luggage and choose the right tools, micromanaging weights, balance and calculating risks/rewards. This is the best part of the game by far (together with progression system and level design) and definetely the most innovative one. Thanks to some tools, you can change the world itself to some extent, like a city builder (I mean conceptually, you can't change it completely). It can easily become addictive if you're into those type of games.
- Due to the importance of going from point A to point B, the world is like a single huge level. Level design is hand-crafted, with many different paths each with its challenges and risks/rewards. If a path is easier it means it's much longer, if it's short it requires more tools (= more weight = harder to walk) or it has more enemies (humans or BTs ="monsters"). Not only for main quest, the whoule world. It's just surprisingly great. I hope this concept will be used in more games in the future.
- Progression system is not the usual boring "level up, find better loot" and that's it. Some of those elements are there but totally optional. The real progression is unlocking new tools that give you new gameplay options and can drastically change your playstyle and how you travel through the world: you realise it when doing some backtracking for side-quests and walk the same paths in a complete different way. In particular ziplines and some active skeletons.
- Story is good, with plot twists and very mysterious but gives all the answers by the end. No plot hole, no cliffhanger. Being japanese stuff, at some point you want to ask the villain
"was all this shit really necessary?"
The main part of the story occurs in the first and last chapters, in particular the last 6 hours, with the central part being mainly gameplay
all the most impressive scenes and the story of the most important NPCs. I understood 2 main plot twists due to the spoiling trailers.
- Lenght: I finished it in 84 hours with a good amount of optional stuff (75% of trophies), but the main quest can be completed in 35-40 hours, they say. I'm in end-game now and I imagine it will become boring at some point since I want to get the platinum trophy and have already "built almost all the shortcuts". Haven't felt bored one single time so far after the looooooong prologue.
- Menus are a mess. Too many different menus to load/unload stuff from your back/vehicles. They should've made only one menu with many options instead of the opposite (many menus with 1 single option each). Every time they need you to confirm your choices holding X, which is annoying. And you spend A LOT of time in menus. Main map works just fine, but for some reason you have 4 different versions of it and only one is good, the other 3 or can't you mark pointers or have icons faded so you can't see them. Don't know why kojima decided this madness. Menus in general are the main flaw of the game.
-Animations are great, a fair compromise between simulation and arcade, the problem comes when they have a short cutscene (same as getting on vehicles in MGS V). It's always the same animation and you just skip it after the first 5 times. This slows the pace down. It's also annoying when in the private room and you see the same cutscene millions of times, which are usually divided in 3 cutscenes, so you skip 3 times in a row (don't now if it's clear). Those cutscenes are not really needed, action should have just been seamless like any GTA. Not a big flaw, but a flaw indeed.
-Third and last real flaw, the game is too easy even at hard.
Which ruins the atmosphere of fear you live when facing BTs once you understand it and start "seeing the matrix". The best way to play it is being stealth when you're supposed to do that, even if you quickly understand that not doing it makes you're life easier. The game can be broken too easily.
-Combat (both shooting and melee) and driving are anything more than just good, but they're not a main component of the game. Can't really consider it a real flaw.
-Songs choice is excellent and are used at the right moment to give the right feeling
of relief at the end of a difficult journey
I think the actual metascore 80-90 is fair: 80 if you "see the matrix" of gameplay, 90 if you want to reward setting and the innovative way to deal with going from point A to point B (I'd say similar to Zelda BotW, but I haven't played it). I cited city builder at the beginning not only for some gameplay elements, but also because like them, DS is very boring to watch on youtube/twitch, but very fun to play if you like to use brain and wit to get to the objective (and building paths, shortcuts). And there's a lot of micromanaging.
I think I can fade away again.
It is taking immense willpower for me to hold off on buying Death Stranding til it releases for PC this summer.
Thanks for a very extensive preview! I will definitely try the game on my own when it finally comes out on PC. As for my part as a translator, it's possible I might provide you with some more extensive stuff regarding Cyberpunk 2077 next week (no guarantee, but for now I will say it's very likely), so stay tuned.
I'd say that more or less sums up most of what I've heard about it. It does seem to be a really unique concept, very interesting world. (This is another one I've not played -- just watched about 3 hours of gameplay [including the first hour of gameplay.])
It does seem that Kojima was a bit too focused on cinematics and scenework, imo. I really dig the story and the world; I really appreciate the quality of the acting. However, I'd call it more of an interactive experience than a "game". It seems to be one of those things people need to enjoy for what it is -- not walk into it with any expectations.
What I appreciate most is the focus on non-combat gameplay. I looove the concept of having to map out a long journey, then just try to get to the destination not knowing for sure what sort of hell you're in for. I find a lot of tension in that. It creates a sense of bleakness that I wish games like Shadow of Mordor and Mad Max had more of.
Well, you either go with "that's magic" (read: we have no idea how it works, only that it works) or you set up some sort of rules that work like physics, which means that they can be proven or, at least, explained. I find the latter to be better personally, because it allows the community for creating their own hypotheses, with must be logically reasoned.
Also, I tip my imaginary hat to @Mybrokenenglish . This is a really good, in-depth review. It convinced me to pick up the game. Perhaps not right out of the gate, but I will certainly buy it when the price drops to more acceptable level.
This review sums up my feelings about the game perfectly. It’s certainly much more entertaining than the game itself (if you can call it a game at all).
Last edited:
What made you think it's not a "game" though? because it's not entertaining enough? I can understand the first two hours are full of cutscenes and exposition but after that... I really don't get it; for instance I thought Naughty Dog games (The Last of Us, Uncharted) were pretty poor "game"-wise (I think the gameplay in Death Stranding is more interesting and fit to a 40+ hours game, unlike The Last of Us), but the thought of not calling thoses games, well, "games", never crossed my mind.
Is it the dunkey clone who made a Witcher 3 review that he called "the best Witcher 3 review on the internet" because he dismissed it as a RPG?
This is not a proper review, but I thought this video was fair, enjoyable, a bit more literate and... well, mature (beware of spoilers):
Is it the dunkey clone who made a Witcher 3 review that he called "the best Witcher 3 review on the internet" because he dismissed it as a RPG?
This is not a proper review, but I thought this video was fair, enjoyable, a bit more literate and... well, mature (beware of spoilers):
Last edited: