Death Stranding is a game where you figure out how to deliver cargo from one point to another without destroying it. That's the game. I shuffled cargo around in my backpack. I optimized my delivery routes. I built structures that would make deliveries easier, like bridges and ladders. I managed my balance while climbing mountains and crossing streams. I fell on my ass and my cargo flew everywhere. I slipped in a river and watched my cargo drift away. I built roads and loaded a truck full of cargo to make deliveries. That's the game. You pick a delivery order, and then you carry a package to the destination.
But there's also ghosts. You're carrying a baby that can see the ghosts, but ghosts can really ruin your delivery. There's a faction of people so obsessed with delivery that they'll attack you and steal your cargo so they can deliver it. And there's terrorists.
The first 10 hours of this game are "WTF I don't know what's going on" anime nonsense. The last 10 hours of this game are "WTF I don't know what's going on" anime nonsense. Everything in between is delivering packages, which is what I got the most enjoyment out of. All the narrative bits are just interesting enough to keep going but everything is a metaphor and the metaphors get explained three times each. At some points I just wanted to go back to delivering packages.
Death Stranding is a fascinating game. It's the type of fun tedium that playing a game like Euro Truck Simulator 2 provides. It's not going to be everyone's thing, and maybe some might enjoy the anime nonsense more than the delivery, but I genuinely enjoyed hauling cargo. Death Stranding made a fun walking simulator.
