Death Stranding Review: 9 Ups & 3 Downs
2019's Game of the Year(?)
How to even put the phenomenon that is Death Stranding into words?
You've got the first game from legendary creative mind Hideo Kojima since departing Konami; someone who brought us Metal Gear Solid, Zone of the Enders and P.T. - all financed by PlayStation.
Centred on delivering items from A to B while fighting ghosts and being rammed full of A-list celebrities, it was a barmy idea from the get-go, introduced off the back of CG trailers where a photo-realistic Norman Reedus clutched a tiny foetus and cried in the rain.
Come launch, despite reviews, thousands of players are still asking the question of just what this game "is", and which titles it's comparable to.
To be honest, it's here where Sony have dropped the ball. Death Stranding is not some indescribable mess of pretentious ideas only wine-drinking chin-strokers and philosophical thinkers are going to "get". Instead, it's easily one of the best games of 2019, and a bold, risky attempt to breathe new life into an industry forever falling back on the same bankable formulas.
There's nothing even close to Death Stranding, and it might be the most important release of the generation because of that.
Not everything works, but the vast majority is outstanding.
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Note: There are zero story spoilers within.