Review of Death Stranding: Director’s Cut – still unique

If you are going on your first expedition among the craters on the Bank of Death, this review is not for you. You can read here instead original from 2019, which I stand for every single word to this day. At that time, the game also won the most awards for the game of the year, both from journalists and in player polls. In addition, she won last year thanks to an excellent PC conversion vote million players for the best PC game of 2020 in the Golden Joystick poll and recently for example by PC Gamer magazine ranked in 6th place with hundreds of the best PC games of all time. In other words, if you haven’t played Death Stranding yet, you should try it. But how does the game work in its improved and supplemented version for us, who are returning to it?

• Platform: PS5
• Date of publication: 23. 9. 2020
• Producer: Kojima Productions (Japan)
• Genre: Strand game
• Czech localization: yes, subtitles
• Multiplayer: born
• Data to download: 69 GB
• Game time: 60+ hours
• Accessibility: 18+
• Sales version: box and digital
• Price: 1,299 CZK (Xzone)

Still unsurpassed gameplay

Death Stranding is a game you just have to be in the mood for – even if you are a fan of it. It requires a certain mood, among other things, you can’t play fast. But once you give her another chance, she will reliably get you back on her knees – none of her charm has lost its power, on the contrary: two years with a coronavirus pandemic and global social distancing have made many moments and thoughts in the game even stronger now that we are they all experienced them. For example, passages where grateful people thank couriers for bringing them supplies or food despite the dangers. In addition to the story, however, I found that I definitely missed the unique gameplay – which, thanks to the DualSense driver, moved to an even higher level.

Most of you have probably experienced the adrenaline rush when, in stealth “action” games, you creep tensely among enemies and watch their every look and step to stay hidden in the shadows. Encountering undead “Floated Things” in Death Stranding is the same, but taken to a new level due to the fact that you don’t see much of the creeping through enemy monster territory and you have to orient yourself according to the sound and light of your shoulder detector. enemies and the consequences of discovering you. I really don’t understand how someone could call such an intense game a “walking simulator” when you gradually unlock a varied arsenal of weapons from grenades to rifles to rocket launchers, while enemies also have various forms, including giant bosses. Tensions are further heightened by the fact that most of the time you carry a load that you must not have damaged or stolen – in addition to monsters, there are also “pirates” and terrorists.

How could anyone call such an intense game a “walking simulator”?

And just carrying fragile or extra heavy shipments is excellent adrenaline in itself – the first few packages are still fun, but once you drag a heavily loaded cart over steep cliffs, try to carry another living person on your back through enemy territory or fight with a wild by the river, trying to trip your legs and take your load away downstream – this will put a dumbman down on a seasoned player. Then, when one of those quiet passages occurs, where you can already see the target city or bunker in front of you and in tones of brilliantly selected songs overcoming the last parts of the landscape in front of the target tape, it is a welcome relief and impressive meditation on your journey and its importance for maintaining contact between scattered communities of people. I also enjoy the preparations for the next trip, when I dig in my backpack and harness, transfer tools and ammunition to the trip and draw markers and connectors of my chosen route on the map.

DualSense suits her

Of course, it’s a much better experience to play the game in smoother 60 frames per second (the PS4 version handled only 30), and the photorealistic landscape and characters gain an even more tangible and natural charge. By far the biggest change is again the DualSense controller, which, thanks to a combination of haptics, adaptive triggers and sound, draws you into the world of Death Stranding like never before. Your BB infant will yawn or cry right in your hands, by rocking the remote control you will put him to sleep or calm him down after an accident or fight. The most fundamental use is the fact that thanks to precisely timed and perfectly gentle haptic vibrations, you can literally feel every single step of your character on the rugged terrain. Only then will you realize how precise the animation and physical technology of the game is. It is not only a great experience, but also a very useful tool for gameplay – you will stumble or stumble before you see the consequences. You will also feel stronger resistance from a heavier load in your own hands as you try to balance it with adaptive triggers.

You will honor a trip or fall before you see the consequences.

Returning to the world of Death Stranding thus makes a lot of sense because it dramatically improves the experience of playing it with control using new technology. Of course, we must not forget a lot of new content, although the vast majority of it is “just” new toys and tools. If you were hoping for a major addition to the promised new missions, I must unfortunately disappoint you on this front – this is one side location that you will look at repeatedly in the optional side missions. The gameplay is reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid 5 and nicely complements the storytelling / game world, but it’s not essential. I can’t shake the impression that this is the biggest wasted opportunity of the “Director’s Cut” edition, because as a big fan of the story, characters and the world of the original game, I was by far the most looking forward to discovering new places and new contexts.

On the other hand, new tools – especially the electric rifle and the supporting skeleton at the beginning of the game – drastically make the gameplay more pleasant at the beginning of the game, where otherwise you don’t have too many aids. Equally useful is the brand new shooting range, where you can train weapons and enemies in the style of popular VR missions as in Metal Gear Solid. Personally, the races didn’t suit me very well (they take place in a closed circuit on an abandoned part of the map, offer several vehicles and you can race against the “shadow” of previous best times you or friends – but the driving model is not much), but other aids such as catapult cargo, the carrying robot, improved bridges and jumping ramps fit perfectly into the game and enriched the already varied arsenal for your expeditions, as well as the “gravity gloves” from Half-Life. On the contrary, the advertising nipples of the energy drink Monster or the advertisements on the TV show Norman Reedus have disappeared. Of course, asynchronous multiplayer remains an essential component of the game, especially if the game is also played by your friends and you recognize their names on the constructions or shipments that you will find along the way.