Death Stranding Director’s Cut Review
Two years have passed since the release of Death Stranding; In that time, the PS4 and PC versions of Kojima’s grueling delivery man simulator have sold more than five million copies combined, making it a hit by any measure. However, anecdotally I have come across as many people who have played Death Stranding and totally loved it as people who have bounced within its intentionally exhausting opening hours. It’s the last group of people who maybe wanted to like it but couldn’t, along with other viewers, which this PlayStation 5 Director’s Cut seems to have in mind; its series of quality-of-life improvements and player-friendly features specifically added to make the mountains of its many formidable mountains more manageable. It’s strange that so many of these concessions seem to directly contradict the deliberate and hardworking spirit that many appreciated about the original version, making the Director’s Cut feel somewhat … compromised.
The new firing range is definitely a welcome addition. Accessing through the terminal at any distribution center, it allows you to become familiar with each weapon, and each one now feels more distinct thanks to the subtle feedback provided by DualSense’s adaptive triggers. In addition to shooting paper targets, there are around 30 different virtual reality drills where you race against the clock, from stealthily cutting umbilical cords through a series of BTs to fooling around MULEs using just grenades. These are nice little challenges in their own right, but more importantly, they allow you to get a feel for Death Stranding combat without the risk of losing any precious cargo that comes with trying to learn to fight while at work.
The shooting range may provide a safe space to dominate the Death Stranding fight, but it’s not quite as game-changing as the friendly robot and cargo catapult. Previously only seen in scenes or used unseen for automated deliveries, the robot friend can now be used in a number of different ways: it can strut behind you carrying boxes, leaving Sam unfettered and less prone to losing his balance; Or you can load it up with a shipment, slap it on its sassy robot ass, and watch it race in the distance to the cargo’s intended destination. If that still sounds like too much hard work, you can even get your Norman Reedus-shaped bag of bones to the nearest distribution center on autopilot, which is great news for anyone who has ever wondered what it must feel like to be. a bored cat riding a Roomba.
“
Meanwhile, Charge Catapults, which you can start building around the midpoint of the story, allow you to load up your boxes and shoot them hundreds of meters across the map, a bit like using one of the Angry Birds as a carrier pigeon. There is a limitation to how far you can launch your flying charge before a parachute needs to be activated to manually guide you safely to the ground, but at least it’s far enough to clear some of the nastiest crevasses or rivers. wide on the stunning Hideo Kojima. (though strangely Icelandic) vision of post-apocalyptic America.
If, during my darkest hours with the original game, such as prolonged work through the mountains for roughly 20 hours throughout history, you would have offered me a cannon to fire boxes of medical supplies even halfway to their destination. at the top, I would have loaded it. that cannon with hundred dollar bills and shot it straight at your beautiful face. However, while the cargo catapult and robot friend certainly make completing orders less painful in Death Stranding, they don’t necessarily make them really fun. At the end of the day, you’re still moving stacks of indistinguishable boxes from A to B, over and over again. The fact that a menial task is easier does not make it any less boring or repetitive; The calculator app on my phone may well save me from having to count on my fingers, but it certainly doesn’t mean I gain more excitement from doing my taxes.
“
In fact, while I certainly had my frustrations with Death Stranding’s original “cut”, not once did I think its demanding delivery gameplay was somehow arduous by accident. Kojima is without a doubt one of the boldest game designers of all time, and he seems to be surrounded by an extremely talented team at Kojima Productions. Death Stranding is not a great game idea that was executed poorly; in my opinion, it’s a fundamentally unappealing idea for an extremely well executed game.
That makes it especially odd that some of these Director’s Cut additions seem to actively undermine what I take to be the full meaning behind the game. Unless I’m wrong, the rewards in Death Stranding are meant to be earned by carefully managing cargo and plotting smart routes to its destination in order to make a successful delivery. The robot friend accepts that tough challenge, loads it onto his cargo tray, and literally carries it back, taking every possible sense of satisfaction with it. Sure, there’s a small penalty for trusting your cuddly droid to do it all for you – buddy bot deliveries are capped at A-ratings, which means you get slightly less likes than you would on completing one. They deliver unaided and hit S-rank. And they’re not entirely foolproof either, as they can occasionally get stuck on the steepest sections of terrain. But these are two minor inconveniences that must be suffered in exchange for such a considerable reduction in manpower.
“
Retracing his steps
In the meantime, there are a handful of features presumably intended to appeal to fans of Death Stranding, or Die-Hardfans, as Kojima prefers to call them (probably), but like the contents of Sam’s backpack after he’s taken his umpteenth drop. down a modest slope. , these are a bit mixed. At the very least, you can get quick access to most of the new features without having to start your campaign over; As long as you still have access to your full PS4 save, you can import it into the PS5 version with all your progress and various shared structures intact.
I headed straight for the new race track, which can be built by delivering the necessary materials to a dedicated site south of the Timefall farm. Sadly, it turned out that it was hardly worth the effort – the race track features just two hassle-free circuits that can only be run in simple solo time trials (with the added option of running both in reverse). Ironically, for a game concerned with weight control and inertia, all three vehicles offered here exhibit a notable lack of weight. The truck and trike are slow and too easy to drive full turns without braking. Meanwhile, the sleek new roadster is at least fast enough to be thrown sideways into a tight corner, but the way an invisible force field instantly stops you should you hit the noise strip on the side. track is kind of shit. outside the. It’s no wonder Monster Energy has seemingly pulled its products out of the Director’s Cut, as Death Stranding’s mellow circuit racing brand is as far removed from extreme sports as possible.
“
On the bright side, completing the racetrack time trials gives you the ability to build the roadster for general use around the world. It’s only really practical to pull it out on one of the player-paved stretches of road though, as trying to drive the sports car’s low suspension over Death Stranding’s uneven terrain feels as smooth as trying to iron the folds of a made shirt. of rhinestones.
As for the content of the new story, I can’t say that the over-explained nature of the ending left me begging for more details, but this Director’s Cut gave them to me anyway, albeit only in a very modest portion. The new dilapidated factory is located northeast of the distribution center west of Capital Knot City. (Giving directions in Death Stranding is confusing, it’s no wonder these people never leave their bunkers.) It is a dilapidated facility recessed into a mountainside that provides an interesting space to explore, but there is not enough to actually leave a mark. It is effectively made up of two main areas that each house a small group of guards to take out, a symbolic reference to Metal Gear Solid, and then a short sequence that provides a fresh take on the backstory of one of Sam’s closest allies. . If you’re fascinated by the doomsday lore that Kojima Productions has created, chances are you’ll get over it, but don’t expect a huge amount of new information to be discovered.
Elsewhere there are ramps to build if you fancy going from Postman Pat to Evil Knieval. There’s a new maser gun that shoots electricity, allowing you to make MULE submit like a Ghostbusters proton pack. There is the option to replay the boss fights and compare your scores with those of other players. You can even customize the BB capsule with a number of cosmetic options including ‘wood grain’ and ‘leather’, although none of the options are ‘soundproof’ unfortunately. There are plenty of other little additions that make up a fairly long list of new features, but none of them make as much of a difference in the game as the buddy bot.
www.ign.com
