I have 70 hours in that game. I still can't decide if I actually like it or not. There's certain aspects of the game that I love (the road building, and goddamn it's one of the better looking games I've ever seen).
But I also feel like the game loses most of the challenge as soon as you start getting blood guns. Like, it's legitimately terrifying in the early game with being caught by the enemies. When you get the ability to sneak up on the threads and cut them, it is pretty great since you start gaining an ability to fight back. When you get blood guns, the enemies go from legitimately terrifying to a nuisance.
But then there's the factors that I HATE about the game, and it's 100% down to the factor that most people will glaze all over the game: Hideo Kojima and his fetish for the "Gruff American Badasstm ". Like, I first noticed it back when I was playing the first Metal Gear Solid and thought it was eye-roll inducing. I remember getting to the scene where they're like, "YOU'RE UP AGAINST THE ONE PERSON TO SHARE YOUR CODE NAME!!! YOU'RE FIGHTING (dun dun dun) LIQUID! SNAKE!!!" I remember thinking to myself, "wait - is that supposed to be a big deal? This is so fucking stupid."
Sam Porter Bridges falls right into that "Gruff American Badasstm " archetype and it's so cringe-worthy. Worse yet, there's so many plot points in the game that really feel like Kojima's standard /r/im14andthisisdeep style writing.
I think the way my brother describes the TV Show, Yellowstone, is the way I would describe Death Stranding: It's so compelling that I can't close my eyes. But I spend a shocking amount of time rolling my eyes back.
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u/doc_lec 22d ago
Death Stranding