DEATH STRANDING

"Sam, If we don't all come together again, Humanity will not survive."

WARNING: THIS PAGE CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Death Stranding is a video game released by Kojima Productions in 2019 for PS4, and on PC in 2020. Hideo Kojima is best known for the Metal Gear series. Kojima is a somewhat devisive figure in the games industry, with some people thinking him a genius and others a hack. I've never met the guy but he seems pretty cool, at least based on his Instagram feed.

The game itself: AKA, WALKING SIMULATOR

Amazon workers in the year 2026.

This game has been called a "walking simulator." If you're not familiar with the term, it's generally used to refer to games in a negative context, basically saying that the game is boring. The game is indeed a walking simulator — but that's a good thing because the walking is the gameplay. This is a game where you traverse a beautiful primordial Earth landscape through canyons, mountains, and everything in-between. There are human and non-human enenmies, yes, but the biggest obstracle in this game is the environment. Sam can trip and fall on slippery rocks, damaging your cargo. Or you can get caught in the Timefall and your cargo will deteriorate. If you try to cross a river and it's too deep, you can get swept away, along with your cargo. You have to pay attention and watch your step in this game, because it's so much more than just walking from point A to point B.

What's it all about?

Sam Porter is just that — a porter. He delivers packages between the cities and isolated survivors as they remain in their bunkers.

The title of the game is very literal. The dead are stranded in the world of the living. If the world of the living is the land, and the world of the dead is the sea, then what does that make the place between?

THE BEACH.

The non-human entities you deal with are called BTs, which stands for Beached Things. There's a large variety of BTs. They come in many sizes and shapes of humans and monsters. Those with high levels of DOOMs (essentially, an allergy to BTs) can see BTs, and those who suffer from lower-levels of DOOMs can sense them. But since it's an allergy, it causes them to cry.

She has a cool umbrella.

The beach is like a limbo or afterlife. Most people have a personal beach. Some have shared beaches. Some characters have beaches shaped by their traumas. One of my favorite characters, Fragile, can use her beach to teleport, thanks to her DOOMs. Like the other secondary characters the protagonist, Sam Porter (played by Norman Reedus) encounters, she has a tragic backstory. But she's well-acted (Lea Seydoux) and well-written in my opinion. She's Fragile, but not that fragile.

JOURNEY TO THE WEST

Sam Porter has a history with Bridges, an organization formed by his mother, the first female President of the United States of America. With the country decimated by voidouts and the death stranding, people became isolated from one another. Bridges I formed an expidition to travel West, building outposts, distribution centers, and Knot Cities as they went, led by Amelie, Sam's sister. Years later, Sam's mother is dying, and her last wish is for Sam to take a device called the Q-PID and reconnect America and build the Chiral Network.Sam begrudingly agrees, and undertakes the long hike across the entire length of North America, from Capital Knot City (formerly Washington D.C.) all the way to Edge Knot City (Los Angeles).

NORMAN REEDUS AND THE FUNKY FETUS

BB-28 and Igor are in trouble.

What's deal with that freaky little baby?

That's Lou, though she goes by BB for a good chunk of the game. Lou is what's called a Bridge Baby, a specialized "piece of equipment" meant to let people see BTs. Bridge Babies are born from Stillmothers, who are basically permanently hospitalized and on life support; all but dead. Using a cable similar to an umbilical cord (a theme strongly represented in the story), you can plug into the BB's tank, and the other side, to better detect BTs.

BB uses your Odradek Terrain Scanner to point at the closest BT when you're walking through a field of them. That's the pinwheel-looking desk lamp strapped to that guy's shoulder in the above GIF.

During the first mission where you lug your mother's body to an incinerator, you also have the "defective" BB unit with you. However, Sam feels bad for the kid, and wants to save it, so he hesitates and ultimately makes it out alive as the BTs move in, all thanks to BB. BB accompanies Sam on his trek to Edge Knot City, and they form a special bond, having both been Repatriated together in the opening act of the story.

Repatriation

Sam is also special because he's a Repatriate. Essentially, when he dies and is sent to the beach, he can return to the land and come back to life. This leaves him with faint outlines of handprints on his body, similar to those ancient cave paintings, which is a really cool tieback to the whole theme of extinction and how Earth feels primordial.

Voidouts

Voidouts are caused when antimatter and matter touch each other. BTs are made of antimatter, and humans are living matter. So when BTs consume living people, it causes a voidout, which is the equivalent of a nuclear explosion. Much of the country was wiped out by voidouts. Suicide is also a dangerous thing for others, because once someone dies, their body will slowly necrotize and attract BTs, making a voidout more likely to happen. That's why it's critical that dead bodies are incinerated ASAP.

Timefall

The rain in this game isn't regular rain — It's called Timefall. Timefall accelerates the aging of whatever it touches, be it organic or inorganic. So if you get caught in the rain, you don't want to idle and wait for it to pass. Thankfully you can get a cover for your backpack from an NPC, and container repair spray is a must for longer deliveries.

Characters

Amelie / Bridget Strand

Amelie is an extinction entity. Because of her supernatural nature, she existed in her physcial form as Bridget, Sam's mother, and also on the beach as her younger form, Amelie.

Mama

Mama is the lead of R&D at Bridges. She got her nickname because she gave birth to a BT child after she was stuck in a hospital as it was bombed by terrorists. She has a twin sister named Lockne.

Heartman

Heartman wears an AED permanently due to his malformed heart. He kills himself every 21 minutes, searches the beach for his familiy for three minutes, and then his AED brings him back to life.

Cliff

A mysterious figure we see in BB's memories. A war vet who's beach Sam visits several times thanks to his and BB's strong bond.

Deadman

Deadman gets his name because he has no soul — He was assembled from various body parts like Frankenstein's monster. Despite wanting to get rid of BB at the start of the game, he grows fond of the kid.

Die-Hardman

Die-Hardman takes over as the director of Bridges, and eventually as the President at the end of the game. He was the one who killed Cliff, under orders of Bridget Strand.

The completed Chiral Network.

Why I love this game so much
to the point where I've made an
entire webpage dedicated to it:

"Like!"

This game presents something I don't see a lot but that I really like — sereneity in desolation. It's peaceful to walk in the rain. Often times, when you get through a tough spot and you can your destination is in sight, the rain will let up and some beautiful music by Low Roar will start playing. It can be nerve-wracking when you're trying to get through a mile-long field of BTs and your cargo is destroyed and Sam is tired and your canteen is empty,but that makes the quiet moments, like the starts and ends of your hikes, even better appreciated.

The game is about connection, and honestly the release date feels a little prophetic to me. In a time where existing feels more isolating than ever, this game really filled a hole for me. It's been one of my favorite experiences and it never felt like it dragged on for too long.

I got the game for free on the Epic Games store, and played about 40 hours before I re-installed Windows and my save didn't carry over. I put the game down for a few months after that due to frustration. I eventually bought the game on Steam because I loved it so much. I played it with my Steam Controller (the goat, don't argue w/ me on that) and finally finished the game over a few months again. point is it's a good game. Go buy it on Steam and support Kojima and his craziness.

Amelie is waiting for you. On the beach.

Created on August 13, 2024