We’ve been waiting for Death Stranding since 2016, Hideo Kojima’s first game since his messy divorce from Konami. The long wait has been down to the fact that Sony has given Kojima and his team of developers at Kojima Productions all the time that they need so that Death Stranding can be the game...

Death Stranding is a Kojima game through and through and all of the idiosyncrasies, intricacies, and eccentricities that defined his work through the years are well intact. For a large part of the game, the story is pretty straightforward as you navigate the country, reconnecting the network...

Hideo Kojima is the only game designer in the world who can sell a title with his name alone. After his tumultuous tenure at Konami came to a close, he was free of the Metal Gear Solid franchise and sought to open his own game studio.

Kojima’s mysterious would be epic has its moments but can’t carry the weight of expectation.

An incredible visual achievement; An atmospheric world

Tedious core mechanic; Little threat or risk

Death Stranding is a game that demands to be argued over and analyzed for years. It starts rough, and then gets better and better as it goes along, culminating in an ending that is both hugely important to its universe, and also very small and personal to Sam.

Hideo Kojima has fully weaponized the walking simulator, writing a love letter to the delivery service workers of our shipping and handling world. Death Stranding is about ending isolation, and does it so gracefully that I can't imagine it being done better than it's done here.

How do you summarise a game like Death Stranding? It’s at once the most boring and bizarrely absorbing adventure you can have on the PS4, an unrelenting slog of a game that has very little respect for your time, but in its quieter, meditative moments, it’s like nothing else. It’s easy to foresee a lot of people giving up before the narrative really starts to unfold, and honestly, there’s little in the story itself that makes persevering worthwhile. Instead, it’ll be a combination of wanting to see every inch of this strange dystopian wilderness, a growing bond with the needy tank baby, and sheer determination to finish the job that’ll see willing players through. Death Stranding isn’t a memorable action game. It’s definitely not a stealth game either. It’s laughably self-serious, hard to call fun, and it will deservedly be the most divisive big-budget title of this console generation. But somehow, this endlessly weird game about walking mercilessly long distances with too much weight on your back is kind of brilliant too, and it’s something we should all be glad exists.

Amazing world; Looks stunning ; Planning a route and getting there in one piece feels rewarding; Online features are superbly implemented;

Messy storytelling ; Very uneven pacing ; Inventory management should have been much better ; Clunky combat;

Death Stranding is unlike anything else out there right now. It's huge, innovative and utterly unashamed in what it wants to be. Kojima Productions is heavy-handed in its implementation of modern political themes, but they tie into the narrative and involve the player in ways that feel compelling.

One of the most original games of this generation; A scary, melancholic and inviting world to explore; The characters are strange, layered and interesting; Mechanics all compliment each other brilliantly; Social interaction system is genuinely innovative;

Boss battles can be somewhat frustrating; A few plot threads remain unanswered;

The whole world knew to expect something odd from Kojima's first game post Metal Gear Solid, and Death Stranding is just that: odd. But if you're in the right mood, you could click with it deeply thanks to its bizarrely beautiful landscapes and play mechanics.

Beautiful vistas; Intriguing story at times; Entertaining mechanics;

Occasional tonal oddities; Mechanical repetition;

Great one and the most intense one for sure. One weekend in, I can definitely say I like the game. The core game mechanics does feel like a mini-game, but online features and a great story behind it make it a pretty deep experience. Hideo Kojima once again delivered, pardon me for the pun. If you have a PS4, this game is a must-buy.