I have it waiting here, installed and ready to be played. I've played the first 20 minutes or so, which I usually do after purchasing a game, even if I don't intend to start playing it "for real" at that point. I found the controls somewhat clunky (which I usually do in Japanese games, so that was no surprise). The graphics are unusually realistic. Advanced inventory management doesn't bother me, as long as it's skilfully executed. I used a gamepad, which I've found to almost always work best for this type of games (with Cyberpunk being a notable exception, for which the gamepad support was very badly implemented).

I hope that the action scenes aren't too difficult, since I suck big time at fighting/shooting/maiming.

Mikael, here's what I think about the action sequences -- once you know what to do, it's not bad at all. I was horribly confused until a few hours ago, and then finally worked it out.

The human enemies are best snuck up on and tied up, but if you have to you can punch them out. It's not too difficult. I think you get a weapon later in the game.

The non-human enemies are really intimidating and frightening until you know how to defeat them. Once you do, most of them are really easy, except for the mini-bosses, which just require more effort as opposed to different tactics. I also just defeated a main boss, and it was quite a bit of work, but I managed on the first try.

This is a game with no quicksave and you can only save in places where you're safe.

I'm finally working out how this game works and what is necessary and what isn't. and it seems like less of a grind and more fun now.

Thanks Hagatha. I've understood that you can save manually (which is a gigantic plus for me). I can take that you can only save when you're "safe".

Yes, you can manually save. It's just a bit cumbersome, but at least you can do it.


I'll get through the game now that I'm more comfortable with the interface. There is an intruiguing story here, and the music is good, plus who doesn't love Norman Reedus? You will also recognize Lindsay Wagner and Mads Mikkelsen.

As noted above, don't try to do everything because you can't. Stick with the main quest missions or it gets silly and confusing.

EDIT: A few more hours in and I'm rethinking my position again. This game would be great fun if it weren't so repetitive. It's exciting to be attacked by the BTs every now and again, and the game world is beautifu and I want to explore it. But it isn't fun to be attacked by the exact same enemies in the exact same places on the map every single time you pass that way -- and you have to go that way because the game forces you to. Since you're often delivering things from point A to point B and back again, you are forced to re-fight that same battle twice each time you do the round.

At a certain point you want to get on with the game, not re-fight the same battles every time you travel between two locations. Been there, done that, defeated the enemy in that location. Why are they back? It takes away any sense of accomplishment.

Well, let's move on the next area and see how that goes.

ANOTHER EDIT, several hours later:

That's better. Area #2 is huge and it's possible to get around the various maurauder camps without being attacked. I deliberately went into one and after a few tries was able to punch them all out. And now I have an actual weapon, a gun, plus some kind of smoke grenade. I'm going to go back again so I can steal all their stolen goods. I've only run into one BT area, but it was a doozy, in a blasted shopping mall. There are more signs of a dead civilization here than there were in Area #1. It's very atmospheric, the remnants of what was obviously OUR civilization, almost gone. There's a sadness to it all.

I get it now.

EDIT: So, several hours farther in, I see the point of the game, which is connections. The area I'm in has the usual delivery quests, but also required road-building, Other players are apparently building roads, as am I. And you really have to build roads, as some places are very tough to get to on foot, not to mention the lengthy walking. There is now one very long stretch of road connecting several locations, but the roads also decay with time so you have repair them.

People leave other structures all over the place, too, like storage lockers and chargers for your bike, and signs that boost your stamina or cheer up your baby-in-a-canteen, or give you directions, or warn you of dangers like cliffs and BT areas.

I just realized that I've covered only a small amount of ground in this area because I got pretty OCD. I'm going to have to start travelling outward to see what's out there.

It's actually a lot of fun once you get past the first area and have a clue as to how to defeat the scary BT's.

I think the estimate of 40 hours for the game is for people who basically power the through the main, required deliveries and move on without doing all the OCD stuff.

So here's the deal -- this is a very strange game, but strangely compelling. It's slow-moving and sometimes frustrating, but now that I understand how the game works, I'm in. I can see how you either love it or hate it. It isn't guns-blazing, because each death can cause a massive explosion, destroying everything in its path. In fact, you can't kill your human enemies. I'm not even sure I'm able to kill the BTs.

In the very large area I'm now in, I'm rebuilding roads, a time-consuming task that would be made easier if the other playerscurrently playing in the area would chip in, but most don't, so i'm doing it for everyone. The rewards for doing so are huge, plus it makes the various delivery quests much, much easier.

And the game really is all about delivery quests. But I now see that as a nudge and a wink, because most RPG quests are, in fact, deliver and fetch quests. In Death Stranding this is overt, making the "Fed Ex" quest be exactly that, and not covering it with a thin veneer of deeper importance. The delivery quests get you out into the world, push the story along, albeit slowly, and give you increasingly powerful equipment to use. Plus likes, which are all-important in this world .

Anyway, I'm now, finally, loving this game. It took a while, but I'm there.

That's great news, which I will pass along to my son.

Excellent, Marian. It really is fun.