Do we not have a thread for this?
I don't know how much I actually care (apart from anything else, I'm not sure how much of Reedus's hair I need in my life), but the game is a big deal whether I buy it or not and we've finally learned a bit more about it which is perhaps interesting.
https://www.kotaku.c...eath-stranding/
It’s as offbeat, meticulously detailed, and intriguing as you’d expect from Kojima, if not more so.
To be released November 8 for PlayStation 4, Death Stranding follows Sam Bridges (Norman Reedus) as he makes a coast-to-coast trek across the ruined United Cities of America, creating new “strands” that link divided human beings back together. With him is BB, or “Bridge Baby,” a little foetus in an artificial womb that, among other things, allows him to see BTs, or “Beached Things,” supernatural monsters from other dimensions that are rampaging in the UCA.There’s a lot more to it than that, much of it likely involving Geoff Keighley, but that’s the backstory you need to know to get the most out of the presentation, which was over 45 minutes of live gameplay. Sam is given a simple mission: deliver four aid packages from Knot City to Port Knot City. The aid packages contain four supplies that are considered crucial in this world: food, medicine, anti-BT weapons, and “sperm and eggs.”Before heading out on any mission, you’ll pick out your loadout. This will include all the required aid packages that you’re delivering, plus anything else you want to bring with you on the journey: extra shoes, ropes, weapons, etc. The difference between Sam Bridges and most video game heroes is that while everybody else just disappears all of their possessions into a magical pocket, Sam is visibly loaded up with his burdens. Everything he carries is visibly attached to his character, affecting his weight and mobility.You can actually choose where on Sam’s body to put all this stuff. You can load it all up onto his back like a pack mule, but you can also put items in pouches hanging off the backpack, strap them to his arms and legs, or have him hand-carry certain pieces.This will affect his speed, yes, but also his balance. Sam’s centre of gravity will be shown in a yellow circle underneath him as you shift things around. As you run through the world, if you make hard left or right turns, he’ll go off-kilter if he’s overburdened, and you’ll need to press the L2 and R2 buttons to shift his weight back so he stays upright.The first obstacle Sam reaches in the video presentation is a river. Again, the HUD is here to give important information, showing the strength of the current in different spots. Blue is easily crossable, yellow is walkable with effort, and red will sweep you off your feet and send you down the river. Kojima walks into it for demonstration purposes, and shows how Sam is blown off course but also loses a package or two, which he has to pick up again.It’s not long before Sam comes across another package to add to his burden, a lost piece of musical equipment belonging to a character called the Musician. Fortunately for us, the Musician’s house is just down a cliff and across a small ravine. Sam sticks a climbing anchor into the ground, then rappels down the cliff. He crosses the ravine with his helpful extendable ladder.Later in the demo, Kojima points out that thanks to the game’s asynchronous multiplayer aspects, you might not even have to use your own ladder for this, since other players can leave their equipment in the world for others to use. He shows how there’s now a climbing rope and a ladder left by other players. You can “Like” these items. Social-media “Likes” seem to be the currency of this world, just as they are in ours.It’s not all just about slowly walking while holding a bunch of FedEx boxes full of sperm and singing to a baby. When Sam encounters a group of enemies, things become very Metal Gear Solid all of a sudden. Briefly abandoning his precious cargo, Sam goes into stealth mode, sneaking around an enemy camp.
