I just beat this. Death Stranding is messy and inelegant, just about every flaw you can name in any of Kojima's games is somehow worse here. Somehow, it's hyper-cerebral and hyper-melodramatic at the same time. Yet, it's beautiful, compelling and eerily powerful in ways no game really has been. Honestly, one of my favorite experiences in gaming.
I'm pretty sad it's over, but I wanted to play it while I had the time.
It just ends with Amelie/Bridget talking at Sam for what seems like hours on the Beach. And you'd think her speech would have clarified things, but it honestly made it more confusing. I'm now no closer to understanding what the fuck the Beach is exactly, or why Amelie did what she did.
Also I had this theory earlier that Sam actually was the BB in the memories, and Unger is his father and when he yells "BB" it's actually directed at Sam and not Lou, but this story kinds of ends quickly too.
The boss fight with Higgs is hilarously easy. Jesus, even creeping around BT's was harder than that.
The acting at the end is great, but like ... I do not for the life of me understanding a lick of what happened. It's also annoying that the dialogue repeats the same meaningless lines as if repeating them will make me understand.
Was really engaged with this game, and I still am to the point that I may go back and just build roads and bridges for future players, but the story kind of sucks. It had maddeningly inconsistent tone and pacing and then ends with a whimper.
Cil thought he beat the game but he didn't. FYI, the "end" of the game is like more than 2 hours of cutscenes sort of, so budget your time appropriately.
not everything in the ending works, and it is sort of a westworld-esque barrage of mythology and twists and attempts at philosophy and poetry to varying degrees of success (or, say, the final act of interstellar), but a lot of it hit me in a really raw emotional place.
we can all go into more detail when more of you have finished it.
mythology and twists and attempts at philosophy and poetry to varying degrees of success (or, say, the final act of interstellar), but a lot of it hit me in a really raw emotional place.
Yeah I got a little further and I concur.
At the risk of fanboying too hard, there does seem to be a lot of Nolan in Kojima's work here, namely Inception and Interstellar.
Mikkelsen is fantastic in this. His last scene hit me hard and the revelation about Sam is very feelsy. That whole segment is probably some of the best mocap acting I've ever seen.
Still waiting for the inauguration part though, so looks like there's more to go.
The game is still all over the place mechanically, thematically, narratively IMO. Like, I absolutely do not see myself replaying the whole thing because it would be a slog, but the free play after the story is what I'm looking forward to. It's definitely one of the most memorable gaming experiences I've had. I'm really happy about my purchase overall.
Kojima essentially just pulled an Adam McKay in Vice thing, all.but actually rolling the credits there lmao. That scene of them running had me raging this hard first time since the True Detective S2 finale but thank god that was an obvious troll
Cil thought he beat the game but he didn't. FYI, the "end" of the game is like more than 2 hours of cutscenes sort of, so budget your time appropriately.
not everything in the ending works, and it is sort of a westworld-esque barrage of mythology and twists and attempts at philosophy and poetry to varying degrees of success (or, say, the final act of interstellar), but a lot of it hit me in a really raw emotional place.
we can all go into more detail when more of you have finished it.
-Vader
Agree with a lot of this - also, as I said on Twitter, what's staggering is just how self parodic it also manages to be without letting up the earnestness, emotion or the stakes.
like, who the hell gets away with three proper endings right after one another, not to mention two full sets of end credits. But then, as Vader and others on there said
.that's Kojima haha
Overall - adored it. At first I did wonder whether it was more of a film that Kojima was forced to make into a game but ultimately it is that mishmash of both worlds that u can't believe manages to work as well as it does. And yeah, those performances...
Earl Jenkins and Mikkelsen are fantastic in the finale
Wanna dive into MGS at some point, where to start with so many of them? The very first?
but thank god that was an obvious troll 