Death Stranding: 21 WTF Moments You Need To See To Believe

15. The Terrible Junk Dealer Subplot

By far the worst mission in the main story is Order 33, where you're tasked with taking a delicate hourglass to the Chiral Artist's studio.

While the gameplay itself is absolutely fine, the mission's wildly unnecessary and head-smackingly melodramatic subplot just feels like a cringe-worthy waste of time.

The mission involves reuniting the Chiral Artist with her junk dealer boyfriend, and after a cute reunion, they agree to get married.

Except, the entire scene is a mawkish, pointlessly overwrought mess - even for Kojima's standards - unaided by the atrocious performance of the actress voicing the Chiral Artist.

Even if you can accept the uncanny thumbs up she gives you at the end of the mission, you'll receive an e-mail a short time later where the junk dealer mentions how unhappy he is being married, and the Chiral Artist's mother later mentions that her daughter has left him and moved back home.

Sadly the mission isn't shot through with the self-awareness which would suggest Kojima was offering up a parody of over-sentimental romance subplots. It's just bad and weird, but not weird enough to mitigate the badness.