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

[Thorrgal]

Going to be a great game in a few years to show that review score numbers are pure bullshit.Take that as you will.

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Come on, that's totally unfair...how you played the game?

How can the score numbers be "pure bullshit" if you don't even know if you like the game or not?

Or is it that you wish those numbers were lower because "reasons", and you lash out against Metacritic, and hence the reviewers, in retaliation?

 

[Odeko]

There are. Theres even an extremely easy mode for people who mostly want to enjoy the story. You'll still have to work for it though :P

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Thanks for answering questions in the thread!

Kojima mentioned something about the easy mode being for people who've never touched a video game before, have you tried it enough to know if that's true? Reading impressions, I was having a hard time envisioning what that would even mean for a system heavy game like this.

 

[TheHunter]

How in the world is this thread 69 pages long?

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A mix of console warz, hype, Kojima and much like Box Office threads salt/vindication/crow.

 

[Moz La Punk]

which are the rest of the options ?

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You mean which difficulty options? Im not with my PS4 right now but out of my head very easy, easy, normal, hard, expert. Probably named differently though.

Thanks for answering questions in the thread!

Kojima mentioned something about the easy mode being for people who've never touched a video game before, have you tried it enough to know if that's true? Reading impressions, I was having a hard time envisioning what that would even mean for a system heavy game like this.

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Its easier alright, but each mode still makes you work for it. I mean, you have to deliver packages in this game, traverse long distances, so that remains in each difficulty setting. I played normal and easy and to be honest I found the easy mode (so not super easy mode) perfect for people like me who want to enjoy the story and the world and still want to be challenged.

Edit; and no worries. I love to talk about this game. Ill be here all week, lol.

 

[Annoying Old Party Man]

Yea, I'm expecting LTTP for many years with either "masterpiece" Or "what did I just play" in the subject

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I really want to play it now. I prefer that it's divisive - it means it's strange and daring.

 

[Pryme]

this shit is incredibly hype. No other AAA game dev can do this besides Kojima.

Talking about the game at this point feels like it's already a much bigger deal than just GOTY at this point in time. It's going to be in conversation for a while

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this really doesn't say much about quality, to be honest.

The third Matrix Movie was talked about for years. Doesn't change the fact that it was a critical flop and audiences found it underwhelming.

from the review aggregate, you'd be hard pressed to say DS presents more fun and engaging gameplay than say, Sekiro.

 

[Betty]

How in the world is this thread 69 pages long?

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Hype.

People hoping to see Kojima fail.

Fans hoping to see him succeed.

Both burning with passion.

Who has come out on top though? WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!?

 

[Neoraxis]

Most enjoyable video to watch

 

[.exe]

Also I think the Giant Bomb folks are into different types of games, it's just Jeff and Brad like CoD.

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Mostly just Jeff (and the other Jeff), really. I genuinely don't remember the last time Brad talked a lot about a COD game. In any case, I also find that the views of most of the people on staff don't tend to line up with my own. That's alright. It's annoying sometimes when it's based on something that they don't seem to "get" or something that they missed, but other than that it's just interesting to get a different take. I know what I like and I don't need confirmation from someone else to validate it. Simple as that. Absorbing as many impressions as possible instead of only listening to a single source is a good idea anyway. Even people as experienced as the ones on GB's staff won't be able to give you a diverse enough set of opinions to get the whole picture of a game.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Haha, this Beastcast talk. I'm getting the game, but this is hilarious and great.

 

[Irrotational]

Found it odd, and concerning that once he picked it up and the pizza went vertical he couldn't place it down horizontally again. He literally had to go through his inventory to find something that allowed him to snap it into place so it was flat. Surely he just missed how to place it down flat again, surely? Seems like a massive oversight if not.

Fucking discussing stacking pizza now

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Lol! Kojima has you now! :-) he WILL keep coming

 

[Decarb]

13 perfect scores on Metacritic, is this the most for any game released this year besides RE2?

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

How can the score numbers be "pure bullshit" if you don't even know if you like the game or not?

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Well, scores have been pure bullshit since forever ago, but that's just IMO.

 

[shem]

Been listening less and less to Gb over the years (there guys just love COD, which is not my thing) and they really don't seem to like a certain story game template I like

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"They just love COD"

Last three GOTYS:
1. Tetris effect
2. Hitman
3. Pubg

Meanwhile the only staff member that consistently plays COD is Jeff and even he tempers that excitement each year.

 

[Armadilo]

PlayStation should put that money saved for Kojima's next game and give it different studios to create a bunch of games instead..

 

[SolidChamp]

Hey so has anyone been able to ascertain whether or not enemies/bosses require a tremendous amount of grinding or some such thing?

 

[Nightengale]

I don't know who that is, what was his score?

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My point of sharing that is showcasing the perspective of a reviewer - where even though the product is admittedly flawed in many ways, it equally has components of it amazing enough that depending on one's personal take/experience of the whole experience, a 10/10 would be valid given the sum of the whole product, just as a 0/10 might be.

If one goes into any review/criticism and say "this review text highlights so many flaws, that means the score of 8/9/10 is misguided" - that only informs your own personal sensing of how products should be scored. Media criticism is subjective in that manner, and the way one person decides to quantify the value of a number to put on the review of the product varies.

Many reviewers for many games are people/personalities that I've followed for a decade or more now. Everyone is different in how they judge things. Bloodworth giving TLG a 10 in spite of its flaws is him being him, for example. Not many other Allies will agree.

 

[N.47H.4N]

I'm still extremely exited.
Yes the MC score sounds disappointing, but then I looked through each single review score and saw that there are way more extremely high review scores from sites where I actually expected disastrous ratings (Gamespot, 4Players) than sites where I expected high scores but got lows.

So I'm almost even more surprised by the good ones and really enjoy the fantastic written reviews.

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95 is the highest I ever saw by 4Players,the only other game I remember scoring this high is Shadow of the Colossus

 

[Vlodril]

Other Sony review embargoes prior to DS don't enforce completion of the game to publish a review. Only Death Stranding did.

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They are not at all subtle in hinting they think the game was just not interesting enough to finish

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I am just saying how is it NOT a given that you finished a game before reviewing it?

 

[Theorry]

 

[Ghost Slayer]

You mean which difficulty options? Im not with my PS4 right now but out of my head very easy, easy, normal, hard, expert. Probably named differently though.

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Do normal mode offer some challenges? Most games I play in hard mode nowadays since developers intend to make normal mode easier for causal players.

 

[Damn Silly]

I'm guessing this is Kojima's lowest rated game since the Boktai games?

The Kotaku review from Heather Alexandra is terrific and has ultimately made sure I'll still play it at some point.

Oh, and its absolutely fine for a reviewer not to finish a game. Something being so bad, boring, offensive etc that somebody could not finish it is notable in its own right.

 

[Crimsonskies]

Interesting reviews it looks however that it might be very polarizing and just got done listening to the Giant Bomb guys and they were not happy with it.

 

[Moz La Punk]

Hey so has anyone been able to ascertain whether or not enemies/bosses require a tremendous amount of grinding or some such thing?

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Depends on what you mean with grinding. I mean, with the right weapons they can go down pretty fast. But it depends on if you have the right weapons.

Fleeing the scene is an option.

Do normal mode offer some challenges? Most games I play in hard mode nowadays since developers intend to make normal mode easier for causal players.

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Easy mode had me challenged as well, so yes.

 

[texhnolyze]

Cross-posting from the other thread.

Is there endgame activity, or the game just ends after the credit rolls?

I'm pretty sure the game should have them, especially with all the building mechanics.

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[Admiral Woofington]

I was on the fence over it and an 84 metacritic is frankly good. But not good enough to make me stop playing the other 20+ titles I have to play right now and opt to not wait for the pc version.

 

[Tibarn]

Didnt play the game, but its funny that a lot of reviews with low score talk about "bad gameplay", when we just had rdr 2 with glowing reviews that isnt exactly the best in that department.

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Which is exactly what I fear the most about DS. Lots of reviewers were optimistic about the gameplay of RDR II (the cute boys here in Eurogamer Spain compared it to Max Payne 3, that was a good laugh) and when everyone played it the opinions were all over the place. It will be far worse with DS, as even most of the reviewers that really wanted to score the game really high admited that the gameplay is not any good.

 

[Legacy]

My point of sharing that is showcasing the perspective of a reviewer - where even though the product is admittedly flawed in many ways, it equally has components of it amazing enough that depending on one's personal take/experience of the whole experience, a 10/10 would be valid given the sum of the whole product, just as a 0/10 might be.

If one goes into any review/criticism and say "this review text highlights so many flaws, that means the score of 8/9/10 is misguided" - that only informs your own personal sensing of how products should be scored. Media criticism is subjective in that manner, and the way one person decides to quantify the value of a number to put on the review of the product varies.

Many reviewers for many games are people/personalities that I've followed for a decade or more now. Everyone is different in how they judge things. Bloodworth giving TLG a 10 in spite of its flaws is him being him, for example. Not many other Allies will agree.

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That's true, good point.

 

[Kaffeemann]

I haven't paid attention to Death Stranding before at all. But for some reason the focus on traversal and all the depth added to it resonates with me.
May actually give it a try once it's out on PC.

 

[nelsonroyale]

This is meaningless

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Hardly meaningless to suggest there should be standards for what people do and one of the trade offs might be reviewing less, than sending out a review where you actually haven't given the product a fair shake. Granted I think it is different if someone is just reviewing things casually off their own skin. What I am saying is I personally feel there is a difference in responsibility. I mean I have got issues with regards to press standards in general, and increasingly in relation to journalists viewing themselves as influences and mediators of public opinion [which a lot have been terrible at] but won't go down that rabbit hole.

 

[Ghost Slayer]

Easy mode had me challenged as well, so yes.

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Thanks, that's nice to hear :D

 

[Moz La Punk]

Cross-posting from the other thread.

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You asked if theres endgame content, if you can do anything after the credits? You sure you want to know?

Spoiler

yes

I haven't paid attention to Death Stranding before at all. But for some reason the focus on traversal and all the depth added to it resonates with me.
May actually give it a try once it's out on PC.

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If that resonates with you, this game is certainly for you!

 

[idonteven]

is there a trophy for beating the game on hardest ?

 

[ZeroNr]

Come on now, RDR2's gameplay might not have been enjoyed by everyone (I really liked) but from what it sounds like, it's nowhere near as bad as DS.

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For me rdr 2 gameplay is arguibly bad. Animation over control and bad shooting. Mission design is archaic.

And related do DS, we have some people here in the thread that played the game and said they liked the gameplay.

Of course opinions and all, but its interesting to see the how different are the reviews parameters for this two games.

 

[Phantom88]

to be fair,a 10 doesn't mean flawless game. It just means it's a must buy for the person reviewing. Imo,if a game makes you think about it at night and wanna call in sick at work just to play it,it has all it needs to be a 10. Not saying Death Stranding will be a 10 for you,but it might be for some people

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this type of thinking takes any meaning away from a perfect score. Basically the rationale in gaming is that the score that signifies perfection does not mean its perfect. Its just means the reviewer really liked it. The score lost all its meaning at this point. 10's are handed like candy for years. If anything, it now means some dude got over excited and handed another candy when you see a 10.

Back in the 90's, the biggest german magazine had a 100 scale score. It went almost a decade until it handed the first 92 score to Baldurs Gate 2. All its readers knew this was a momentous ocasion. A landmark game. Because no other got such a high score in almost ten years. That 92 had meaning. And when the first 93 game got scored you knew you had to drop everything in your hands and go play that game. It wasnt a question, it was a fact.

These perfect scores of today that dont actually mean perfect games have absolutely no meaning. They're in fact so reduced in impact that a 10/10 game merely means the guy just really liked it. I stand opposed to this line of thinking

 

[Odeko]

You mean which difficulty options? Im not with my PS4 right now but out of my head very easy, easy, normal, hard, expert. Probably named differently though.



Its easier alright, but each mode still makes you work for it. I mean, you have to deliver packages in this game, traverse long distances, so that remains in each difficulty setting. I played normal and easy and to be honest I found the easy mode (so not super easy mode) perfect for people like me who want to enjoy the story and the world and still want to be challenged.

Edit; and no worries. I love to talk about this game. Ill be here all week, lol.

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Thanks, I'm interested to see how it shakes out

 

[Ulbrick]

Well, scores have been pure bullshit since forever ago, but that's just IMO.

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I agree, hence why I said "Find a reviewer that shares the same taste in games" as I feel that is -way- more important than a silly number/meta critic when it comes to what you should think about playing next.

 

[Pariah]

PlayStation should put that money saved for Kojima's next game and give it different studios to create a bunch of games instead..

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It all depends on sales and what Kojima wants to do in the future. If succesful, I suppose that PlayStation will like to have a talk with him.

 

[shaneo632]

Surprised to hear people saying the game is too easy. Interesting.

 

[Surface of Me]

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Reading through reviews, as someone who works manual labor the general gameplay also doesn't seem appealing to me haha.

 

[NovumVeritas]

"Fun" isn't a word that's coming up too often in these reviews. If that's not important to you then you may be good keeping your pre-order. We all have different reasons for gaming. However, as a big EZA fan, listening to everything they said, even with an 8.0 at the end of that review, I'm not interested in touching it when it comes to PC. Kinda hope I change my tune by then though! Never thought a review with that score would talk me out of a game, though. For laughs I'm finishing up the Giant Bomb podcast and the stuff they're saying is scathing.

Thing is? That's just one group's opinion. The other thing? They sound like all my console-playing buddies, the "average joe". So I'm very curious how user reviews play out.

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I agree, after I've watched the EZA review, I was pretty underwhelmed by it. Well it is still one week away, maybe I will watch some more reviews, it is 50 / 50 for me. Or maybe I will just watch the story bits via YouTube. The last Kojima game I liked was MGS 2.

 

[Minilla]

That's why you find sites/reviews that agree with your opinions on games you already like, and then you'll be able to figure out easier if you'll "like" a newer game.

TotalBiscuit did that for me, if he liked a game I would probably like it too as we had similar tastes.

Also I think the Giant Bomb folks are into different types of games, it's just Jeff and Brad like CoD.

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For sure, they have loads of people on, so you get a good variety of games, but the lead personalitys tend to take over discussions, from the podcasts I listened too anyway

 

[BassForever]

Not really surprised that reviews seems to be all over the place. Kojima's last few games have been pretty divisive among players for a variety of reasons. The average is still pretty good so I imagine most people who are hyped to the moon for this will enjoy it.

 

[Winstano]

I am just saying how is it NOT a given that you finished a game before reviewing it?

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Are we seriously jumping back on board this train again? Story-heavy games, I get the need for completion before a review. But not every game has to be played to absolute completion to form an opinion on it.

(I try and finish most of the games I'm reviewing, FWIW)

 

[janusff]

I am so thrilled to see this game being called brilliant art and garbage art.

I'm here for this kind of unique experience that is unabashedly doing something I might not like, or maybe I'll love.

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Yep. Good post. Glad something unique is releasing out there

 

[Moz La Punk]

ABout the first few hours; I found them anything but boring. It felt like a trip, like I was high (while I was sober, lol). Its like arriving in Kojima's version of a David Lynch movie. When you are getting used to this strange universe, the game adds new stuff and opens up. So for me there was never a boring moment.

Are we seriously jumping back on board this train again? Story-heavy games, I get the need for completion before a review. But not every game has to be played to absolute completion to form an opinion on it.

(I try and finish most of the games I'm reviewing, FWIW)

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Exactly.

 

[Shark]

PlayStation should put that money saved for Kojima's next game and give it different studios to create a bunch of games instead..

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They should do this if they dislike making money.

 

[Dmax3901]

As someone who has always thought Metal Gear has mind numbingly dull cutscenes and needlessly overwrought dialogue, the story being bad and gameplay being tedious are not great things to hear.

And yet... I remain curious.

 

[Fat4all]

finally finished the Tim Rogers video

really can't wait to play this

 

[Crimsonskies]

Reading through reviews, as someone who works manual labor the general gameplay also doesn't seem appealing to me haha.

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I can't remember who but some guy joked after seeing the gameplay from a year ago with Norman Reeduses character carrying stuff, that it would be FedEx man the game and that's what it sounds like after reading the reviews.