It's Strange...

After wrapping up some joyous Nazi slaying in the Wolfenstein series I decided that I should try to work on my Epic Games backlog.  I do love snagging up free games....only for them to sit unplayed, which is a shame.  One of the highlights of the Epic giveaways is the fact that they tend to save the best for holidays--last year on Christmas day they gave away Grand Theft Auto V.  You might be thinking...who hasn't played GTAV, but the giveaway was so popular that the Rockstar log-in servers were a nightmare (and, yuck to having to use third-party log-ins/launchers).  In the most recent Christmas giveaway the game up for grabs was Death Stranding and I wasn't sure if I really wanted to snag it.  I am not familiar with Hideo Kojima games and had seen some of the buzz back when the game came out.  In the end though...it's free, so why not give it a try.  And try, I have--I've been having a strangely enjoyable time.

Sam and BB pose outside an outpost in Death Stranding.

It's hard to even know exactly how to classify Death Stranding--I've seen it jokingly referred to as a "walking simulator," but it's definitely deeper than than.  The core story revolves around the character Sam "Porter" Bridges (who is modeled and voiced by the actor Norman Reedus of The Walking Dead fame) who has the relatively simple job of basically being a delivery man.  It's not that simple though...the world has been semi-destroyed by a phenomenon known as the "Death Stranding" an apocalyptic event that has shattered the connections of the world and left people isolated.  It also introduced new dangers that make it virtually impossible for regular people to venture outside of their homes and shelters--strange monster-like beings called "BT's" are a serious threat.  BT's are invisible to most people and tend to appear in areas affected by another post-apocalyptic phenomenon...timefall.  It looks like regular rain, but it causes anything it falls on to age--this includes human skin.  Most people are forced to hunker down and are completely reliant on porters to deliver the supplies vital to survival.  (**There are a lot of other strange aspects to the story around death and how it has changed, but I'm still not completely sure about quite a bit of it--I'm hoping as I progress that I learn more)

Luckily, certain individuals are effected by a condition known as DOOM's (there hasn't been much explanation in the game about what exactly it is--a genetic condition?  A viral one?  Who knows!) that allows them to detect BT's (...and, depending on how deeply they are impacted by DOOM's can also give them other abilities).  Sam is one of those lucky individuals which gives him a leg up in the porter industry--he can avoid the nasties and safely deliver his packages.  His special abilities and talent as a porter find him summoned to see none other than the former president of the United States (well, sort of...the U.S. shattered when the Death Stranding happened and there hasn't been a unified system).  Players learn a bit about Sam's background (that I won't spoil here) and find him in the position of being requested to help aid in the process of reconnecting the shattered remnants of the United States.  He's perfect for the job thanks to his unique condition.  Even though he is reluctant, he agrees to the task.

Look--the story is very strange and it has just gotten weirder.  Sam is accompanied by an unborn baby in a special pod known as a "BB."  BB's are useful tools that can help with BT detection and are viewed as equipment...not human.  Sam's BB also causes Sam to have flashbacks from the BB's memory--the actor Mads Mikkelsen models and voices BB's father--and there's some indication that BB's father might still be alive somewhere.

The gameplay manages to be relatively simple, but also more complex.  After Sam has reconnected locations, his main task is to deliver items.  Each order consists of a certain number of items and carrying them over the sometimes challenging terrain can be difficult.  Sam's cargo has to be aligned well or else he can tumble to the ground...potentially damaging the items for delivery.  He also has to contend with a variety of dangers--BT's, whose creepy invisibility is deeply unnerving and MULE's--humans who are obsessed with stealing cargo and will freely attack and steal items if Sam ventures into their territory.  Some deliveries are straightforward, while others might require you to creep through a BT infested zone to collect lost items.

At first, I was very weirded out by Death Stranding--the story is just so bizarre and very little of it has been adequately explained.  The part that kept me playing was the gameplay--it's strangely enjoyable to figure out new, more efficient paths to deliver items or to escape from a near-miss encounter with BT's.  I'm not sure that Death Stranding will be everyone's cup of tea, but I've been having quite a bit of fun guiding Sam around the beautiful, scarred landscape in Death Stranding.