Kojima's Death Stranding: Global Popularity and Widespread Discontent

About the most talked-about game of late.

On November 8, Death Stranding by legendary game designer Hideo Kojima was released on the PlayStation 4 console. Players and critics gave the long-awaited release a mixed reception, accusing the game of being a “walking simulator” and lacking a plot.

Let's take a look, at what makes Death Stranding noteworthy, who Hideo Kojima is, and why the game keeps appearing in your news feeds.

What the Game Is About

The protagonist, Sam (Norman Reedus), is a post-apocalyptic courier. The world has been devastated by the Death Stranding catastrophe, with explosions and monsters threatening humanity, while the otherworldly rain Timefall disrupts the flow of time  — under it, plants grow and wither in moments, and people age before our eyes.

People live in isolation, so Sam, on the orders of the terminally ill President Bridget, sets out from east to west to unite the settlements (connecting them to a shared network) and find her missing daughter Amelie.

That is only the basic part of the story. In fact, Death Stranding is a vast, convoluted and chaotic narrative that not everyone will be able to make sense of.

Who Is Hideo Kojima 

The Japanese game designer and former vice president of the popular game studio Konami is known as the creator of the legendary series Metal Gear and other Japanese projects, mostly for PlayStation.

He gained popularity with Russian-speaking audiences after the meme “Kojima is a genius” emerged. The jokes stemmed from the author being constantly mentioned in every chapter of MGS 5: The Phantom Pain. Hideo himself has spoken about Russian comments on his Instagram that he does not understand.

The game designer was jokingly compared to musician Viktor Tsoi and to Buryats, and on television he was called “the Steve Jobs of the video game world”. 

On BBC Radio, Kojima tried to explain the fundamental essence of his new game: we are connected by the internet as never before, but this connection pushes us toward arguments, disagreements and attacks, so “Death Stranding” should help us think about the connections in our lives.

Hideo Kojima
game designer

President Trump with his wall-building. And after him, Brexit. We ourselves build walls and fence ourselves off from alliances, so people start thinking only about themselves. Even when they do something fun in real life, together with others, they don't feel they fit into society or community through games. When such people play Death Stranding, they will realize that others like them exist all over the world. The realization that even if you are alone, it is not so hard when you see that there are others like you somewhere. I want them to feel this.

Why Players and Critics Are Criticizing the Project

Most specialized publications gave the game low scores even before its release, and after it came out, players unleashed a storm of discontent on the studio.

Destructoid:

“Death Stranding is not what it was advertised as. It is not a too-strange, inaccessible walled garden whose secrets you want to uncover. Anyone with a superficial understanding of surrealism in art should be able to acclimatize to what is essentially a Hollywood movie-game.”

IGN:

“Some landmark games of recent years, such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Red Dead Redemption 2, have successfully found the right balance between the brutality of realism and escapism. But, like its stumbling protagonist, Death Stranding simply cannot find the right balance, despite having equally high ambitions and countless inventive ideas. The gameplay simply cannot bear the weight of the game's stunning science-fiction world on its shoulders.”

EuroGamer:

“As soon as the Death Stranding credits roll, the impression the game leaves is that of a self-satisfied monument to its creator, who is besotted with himself. Was Kojima always like this? Maybe. But then you return to the game itself, pick a modest delivery order, lace up your boots and plan another journey. And you realize that this game has captured you, as few do.”

Stevivor:

“Death Stranding is an incorrigible piece of trash that should serve as a warning to publishers who give developers carte blanche to create ‘art’.”

Game Informer:

“The real problem is that Death Stranding's gameplay really is as simple as it seems, and the elements around it — the story, combat and sluggish missions — are not satisfying enough to strengthen the game's position and attract players.”

Among the main reasons for such negativity toward the game are a high level of anticipation and the delayed PC release (November 8 on PS4 versus summer 2020 on PC). It is no wonder the gaming community expected something great from the genius Kojima. Moreover, he himself promoted the game in this way.

But the game designer himself had a different explanation.

Hideo Kojima
game designer

In Europe and Japan the game received rapturous reviews. In the US, criticism was quite harsh. Perhaps for Americans Death Stranding is a much harder game to understand. They are fans of first-person shooters, while Death Stranding soars higher. I always try to create new things, and disputes and discussions are a good thing. Everyone has different opinions and artistic sensibilities; look at the Italians and the French. They try to evaluate this product not only from the point of view of a game, but also of a film.

Some players were so dissatisfied with the story and inspired by the social component of the game that they decided to focus not on completing it, but on interacting with other players, creating various conveniences for them.

Help and cooperation are among the key ideas and features of the game. Therefore, enthusiasts decided to build roads, place ladders and climbing ropes, restoring the game world and making it easier for other players to progress.

According to the creator, such features and interaction should unite people around the world. So perhaps players and critics simply have not yet fully understood the game's genius?