• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Death Stranding - Review Thread (see staff post for discussion guidelines)

Final predictions for Death Stranding?

  • 95-99 (Same as MGS2)

    Votes: 101 6.4%

  • 90-94 (Same as MGS, MGS3, MGS4, MGSV)

    Votes: 487 30.7%

  • 85-89 (Same as MGS: PW)

    Votes: 512 32.3%

  • 80-84

    Votes: 279 17.6%

  • 75-79

    Votes: 135 8.5%

  • <75

    Votes: 73 4.6%
  • Total voters
    1,587
  • Poll closed .
Personablue

Personablue

Member
Feb 10, 2019
1,227
This was never going to be a 90+ game, I don't know how so many people thought it is. The gameplay gives it all
 
Shark

Shark

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,126
Raleigh, NC
Duxxy3 said:
"While Death Stranding will surely be the most divisive game of this generation, there is no arguing that it offers new ideas on pushing the medium forward and shows that games don't always typically have to be "fun". The story is beautifully presented and is surprisingly restrained and focused for a Kojima title. All of the actors put on amazing performances and while its gameplay will be too slow for many, those willing to peel back the layers will discover a thoughtfully designed experience that will leave you ruminating for weeks after finishing."

That's from a reviewer that gave the game a 100.

That's a lot of negative for a game that got a perfect score. I know some people are more into the artistic side of games, but normally I play games because they're fun.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Acknowledging that a game might not have a broad, universal audience to a reader that might be using it as a purchasing decision isn't negative.

Liking something for reasons that might be unique to the writer's specific tastes needs to be expressed in the review.
 
Mathieran

Mathieran

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,864
I'm thinking I'm going to pick up a physical copy of this, even though I typically go digital. That way I can trade it in if it's not for me.
 
metalgear89

metalgear89

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,018
I think every publisher should have a clause asking reviewers to finish the game before putting a full scale review out. Doesn't need to be a platinum finish, if it takes longer tough shit do your job properly.
 
Dust

Dust

C H A O S
Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,297
I know someone who played this and he said to me the game feels like one giant troll you either play along with or are not going to bother.
 
Sedated

Sedated

Member
Apr 13, 2018
2,598
Jarmel said:
Ok. What do you want me to say? A game that looks to have a lot of boring elements probably won't play well with the general public? That a number of reviews seem inflated when you look at the score in comparison to what they're actually writing down in terms of their experiences? The Game Informer one stands out to me in that the reviewer sounded miserable playing the game but gave it a 7 anyway. That's not a good thing.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
If you the full gameinformer review it reads like a 7/10 game. Instead of the just the closing lines. Thats the problem here in this thread. People reading a few cherry picked lines and basing it all on it.
 
Joeku

Joeku

Member
Oct 26, 2017
23,478
Hey, random question: Has anyone suggested you need PS+ for all the pseudo-online interactions? As it's passive I assume you wouldn't but I'm not subscribed so I would love to not be subscribed to see piss mushrooms or bridges or whatever.
 
Cyborg

Cyborg

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
1,955
Damn 2h (bit longer) cutscene! I find it insane to do this in a game.
MGS4 all over again. I hope you can save the cutscene and watch it later.
 
Andri

Andri

Member
Mar 20, 2018
6,017
Switzerland
Kabukimurder said:
Demanding that people finish your game before reviewing might not be the best thing for reviewscores if the actual gameplay is a dread.. 🤔
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

its a pretty good way to prevent bad scores from people that dislikey the game enough to not even finish it though.

i personally always weight reviews higher if they completed the game, but the dev/pub forcing it makes me suspicious at best.
 

Deleted member 10737

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
49,774
was this posted?

PowerUp! (3/10):
Death Stranding is clearly a labour of love for Kojima and his team but I hate it. Games don't need to be fun, exciting, happy or cool but they should at least be entertaining.

Death Stranding is not entertaining. As such, it fails as a video game, it fails as a narrative and it fails overall.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


efyu_lemonardo said:
I want to see some reviews in the 7s just for the meltdowns.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
there's already 12 reviews on meta with a score of 7 or lower,
 
Roytheone

Roytheone

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,159
I think edge has a very high weight on metacritic so if they end up reviewing it and giving it like a 3 (which from those posts sounds possible) it could tank the metacritic a bit.
 
sleepr

sleepr

Banned for misusing pronouns feature
Banned
Oct 30, 2017
2,965
Cyborg said:
Damn 2h (bit longer) cutscene! I find it insane to do this in a game.
MGS4 all over again. I hope you can save the cutscene and watch it later.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

One of the reviewers in this thread said that there is no 2 hours cutscene? Someone is mistaken.
 
Pariah

Pariah

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,945
Joeku said:
Hey, random question: Has anyone suggested you need PS+ for all the pseudo-online interactions? As it's passive I assume you wouldn't but I'm not subscribed so I would love to not be subscribed to see piss mushrooms or bridges or whatever.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
You don't need a subscription for this game.
 
Ausroachman

Ausroachman

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,395
Even after I've read a ton of reviews I am so undecided . Generally the ones giving it high praise are unashamed kojima fanboys and they even admit it (yong / skillup), however there are some things that I find really appealing and some that I know will be a massive grind to get through.

Love the world , traversal ideas (ladders/ropes) , insane story

Hate the idea of managing weight, constantly managing balance, long fetch quests being the only gameplay mechanic.

Given that fetch quests is such a core part of the game (40 hrs) I'm not sure I can push my way through it.

I was kind of hoping the horror parts would be more interspersed into the main world but it sounds like it is pretty easy to avoid.
 

Deleted member 28386

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
2,304
EZA are my favorite group, hands down. I've watched their DS review twice now and it ends in an 8.0 but almost every sentence in the review suggests something much lower. Bizarre.
 
Butch

Butch

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,438
Duxxy3 said:
"While Death Stranding will surely be the most divisive game of this generation, there is no arguing that it offers new ideas on pushing the medium forward and shows that games don't always typically have to be "fun". The story is beautifully presented and is surprisingly restrained and focused for a Kojima title. All of the actors put on amazing performances and while its gameplay will be too slow for many, those willing to peel back the layers will discover a thoughtfully designed experience that will leave you ruminating for weeks after finishing."

That's from a reviewer that gave the game a 100.

That's a lot of negative for a game that got a perfect score. I know some people are more into the artistic side of games, but normally I play games because they're fun.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I'm sorry, what would be the negatives in that quote you posted? He seems to really have loved the game a lot.
 
teague

teague

Member
Dec 17, 2018
1,509
I'm psyched, I would rather have an out-there genre-pushing something that some people hate than another safe good guy with a gun game. If it had scored too high I probably would have been worried about it being too regular, lol
 
SuperBanana

SuperBanana

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,743
Jeff at GB saying that Alex is reviewing the game then says that "Alex over the years has always ended up with a particular type of game...awful games". Fucking ouch.
 
Nightengale

Nightengale

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,708
Malaysia
There's plenty of review scores/opinions I don't agree with, and I think if you ask the person who gave any game a score one year later, they might have a different view coming out of the euphoria of a isolated experience of a game/without broader community context.

I think it's lame to backseat shame scores as inflated, especially if you're saying that they do it consciously.
 
Arion

Arion

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,807
Dark1x said:
You say that, but in my experience, it's usually the opposite.

I did genuinely enjoy Crackdown 3 and Gears 5 this year (for very different reasons). I mostly praised them. This resulted in a huge backlash and even people making videos about my videos trying to tear me down. This then results in floods of people sending nasty messages and generally being awful. It was a horrible experience - all because I enjoyed something which some others did not.

I'm slightly concerned that, by enjoying Death Stranding, I'll have to face the same shit.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Would you say the negativity you received will make you less genuine with your opinions in the future? As in changing your impressions on a game just to avoid a backlash?
 

Dark1x

Digital Foundry
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
3,530
sleepr said:
What do you mean? Like metal gear? It's the same?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
OK, so, they have a thing called 'codec' and you use it to communicate with others - those conversations may as well be lifted from Metal Gear. It's exactly like you think it is.

That said, it's not quite like MGS where you can ring up people at any time.

Arion said:
Would you say the negativity you received will make you less genuine with your opinions in the future? As in changing your impressions on a game just to avoid a backlash?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Nope. Take a look at the video I posted today and you'll see what I mean!

It just made me more likely to avoid discussion in places where things go bad. I won't read YouTube comments any longer - ever again, for one.
 
Hybrid Rainbow

Hybrid Rainbow

Banned
Jun 23, 2019
6,446
Soneji said:
From the Easy Allies reviews it's more pretentious, bloated, trying to be mature/edgy dialogue that Kojima is known for and even what he is usually good at in combat/boss encounters falls flat. So combat and story are both bad, leaving only exploration as a seeming high point.

Yeah I'll pass. Kojima tried to pull a Ueda but he doesn't have that level of artistic talent, especially as he can't get out of his way enough to be minimalistic. The only thing that makes this somewhat "brave" is that it has a AAA budget but in the end, it's still Kojima and his cult will buy and praise it no matter the actual quality.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

And this is how you get people to ignore your post.
 
.exe

.exe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,257
Dark1x said:
The difference is that they're all random side things, usually unrelated to the main objective. It's all usually just optional stuff, right?

The journey in Death Stranding, however, isn't optional - it's stuff that happens to you while trying to reach your objective. It's about being dealt a bad hand and dealing with it. That's what is interesting. It's not about "Oh, I see something to the side that I want to investigate" - it's about "How the heck can I get through this area?!". Everything that happens along the road is part of that mission rather than optional things.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

This helped crystallize the appeal of the game a lot. I had a similar relationship with Breath of the Wild, where the traveling was often the most rewarding part of the game. What I find somewhat disappointing or worrying from what I've seen and read is that the environments in DS are very samey supposedly. So unlike BotW, there isn't that "payoff" of a majestic view that makes an otherwise mundane or difficult trek worthwhile. So I was wondering if you felt that lacking in the game, or was the mechanical challenge of traversing the world rewarding enough in and of itself? And, just out of curiosity, how does this aspect of DS compare to BotW? The latter is obviously simpler mechanically, but it seemed complex enough to be challenging without feeling like a nuisance as in many resource-heavy survival style games.
 
EarlGreyHot

EarlGreyHot

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,377
This game wasn't on my radar at all, but after watching some reviews I'm intrigued. Might give it a shot. I love how the world looks and the mystery behind it.
 
Bansai

Bansai

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 28, 2017
11,310
I can see 1 negative review has disappeared from Metacritic, anybody know the reason? :O
 
ValeYard

ValeYard

Member
Oct 25, 2017
445
I dig the review spread. I was bracing for it being terrible which wouldn't be great as I've preordered the special edition console. However, these reviews make me more curious to play on my BB-colored DS4.
 
Jarmel

Jarmel

The Jackrabbit Always Wins
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,387
New York
Sedated said:
If you the full gameinformer review it reads like a 7/10 game. Instead of the just the closing lines. Thats the problem here in this thread. People reading a few cherry picked lines and basing it all on it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I did and it still sounds like a miserable experience for huge chunks of it.
The real issue is that Death Stranding's gameplay really is as simple as it appears to be, and the elements around it – the story, combat, and lackluster mission objectives – aren't satisfying enough to anchor the title and get players invested.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's all about the journey, as they say, but when the journey feels dull, that's not a good thing. Combat is also part of Sam's travels, but it's not demanding or engaging.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
Mediking

Mediking

Final Fantasy Best Boy (Grip)
Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,913
St. Louis City, Missouri aka Persona 3's Dorm
Ausroachman said:
Even after I've read a ton of reviews I am so undecided . Generally the ones giving it high praise are unashamed kojima fanboys and they even admit it (yong / skillup), however there are some things that I find really appealing and some that I know will be a massive grind to get through.

Love the world , traversal ideas (ladders/ropes) , insane story

Hate the idea of managing weight, constantly managing balance, long fetch quests being the only gameplay mechanic.

Given that fetch quests is such a core part of the game (40 hrs) I'm not sure I can push my way through it.

I was kind of hoping the horror parts would be more interspersed into the main world but it sounds like it is pretty easy to avoid.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

If you feel undecided... just don't buy it for 60. Buy it for cheaper. Just wait.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.