Death Stranding was Hideo Kojima’s first game after his controversial departure from Konami. The Japanese creator and the mythical developer broke ties after a close relationship that had kept them together for almost 3 decades, but Metal Gear Solid V’s high cost and creative rifts sparked something no one ever imagined.
Kojima released Metal Gear Solid V to the market with a low profile for his part, which is understandable when you consider that Konami cut him off from all kinds of promotion of the game (even eliminating the characteristic “A Hideo Kojima game” and remained silent until His contract ended. Little time passed between Kojima’s contract end and his new adventure: a studio that revived the name Kojima Productions and partnered with PlayStation to launch its first game, Death Stranding.
The first time we saw Death Stranding was in 2016, with a trailer that was recorded in the retina of many and that confirmed that we were going to be facing a unique game. 5 years later, we get its final version, a misnamed Director’s Cut to follow the trend of the world of cinema, but that has little to do with the meaning that is given to this qualifier in the seventh art.
Today we have Death Stranding Director’s Cut on our hands, the PS5 version of the 2019 game that polishes its progression, adds useful content and a small mission that develops a little more one of the most beloved characters in the game. So tie your boots, spread the weight of the load and check your BB, which we started with Death Stranding Director’s Cut review for PS5.
Forming connections
I can tell you little about Death Stranding that you do not know if you have played it and, on the other hand, as much as I tell you about Death Stranding if you have not played it, the less you will understand. Hideo Kojima’s game seeks to bring together an unstructured, divided United States, divided by apocalyptic events that have fragmented society and that they have made him take refuge in cities.
Those who do not want to live with others or who prefer solitude seek their own shelters, but the outside world is so dangerous that only a select few can cross it. So that, our role is to join those separate points along the map, but not only that, with the union what we cause is that they help each other thanks to the Chiral Network.
By adding shelters, distribution points, and cities to the network, we make more resources available to help people everywhere. In turn, those resources serve us, the carriers, to make our journey through the unstructured United States of America less dangerous.
Sam porter bridges, protagonist of our history, must cross the US from end to end and complete the implementation of the Chiral Network. To do so, you will have to win the support of every shelter, city, or distribution point, but danger lurks everywhere.
The fact that society is reluctant to leave its home is due to the dangers that we encounter. On the one hand, they are the mules, who are renegade deliverymen who have fallen into a kind of dementia that clouds them and whose objective is to steal packages and equipment from the deliverymen. On the other hand, we have the EVs, some Stranded Entities that represent those dead who have not managed to reach a place beyond the beach (a representation of purgatory). EVs will not attack us (a priori) unless they detect us, so we will have to be stealthy and avoid them thanks to our BB (a baby that allows us to see what is between life and death), although later we will discover how to fight them.
Finally, a terrorist organization wants the end of the world to be unleashed, so they attack any city or refuge worth its salt, causing deaths, deaths that in turn cause large explosions that bring the world one step closer to its new mass extinction.
Yes, I already knew all this, but what’s new?
The novelties in the history of Death Stranding are introduced as we advance in the game, although if we want to discover them at once, we can load a complete game from our PS4 version and in the last episode of the game we can perform the different missions.
I already anticipate that you do not expect content at the level of Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut, which had an expansion of more than 10 hours, a new island to explore, enemies and much more. In Death Stranding, the improvements to this Director’s Cut have been oriented to experience since we started the game, with playable tweaks, new gadgets and more.
As for that mission that we saw in the trailers and that gave us hope to see something completely new, the truth is that it ends up falling short. This mission will take us to an abandoned factory where we have many references to the Metal Gear Solid saga like the one we saw in the original trailer of the game.
For the rest, the mission will be divided into 3 different orders that if we do while we advance in the game they will appear according to our progress, but if we decide to play the mission at the end of our game we will see how after completing the first order the next one appears and so with the other, asking for similar things and making us feel that we are walking the same path over and over again.
Even so, I must say that I liked the mission for what it brings to one of my favorite Death Stranding characters and because perhaps it can leave the door open to a game about the same universe, but with another point of view. Likewise, another point to highlight is the multitude of references both in the soundtrack and in the scenes and plans to Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 3.
At the gameplay level, gadgets have been added that will make our lives easier and that are unlocked through these new missions or even by completing orders that we already had in the base game. Among all of them there are some quite useful, such as the boots that allow us to descend in a controlled way after jumping from a great height, but there are others such as the team cannon or the Mauser pistol that do not end up making much sense.
The first, because you have to invest too much to throw equipment and thus prevent it from deteriorating when passing through areas with rain (without ensuring that it does not end up being damaged) and as for the second, it is a type of weapon that stuns enemies with electric shocks, making noise and annoying the stealth component that we can get with rifles.
Finally, crazier extras like the circuit … well, they’re there, they don’t add anything, but if we like driving Death Stranding maybe we’ll have a good time. We will also have new customization options for the capsule of our BB or the backpack.
And the graphical improvements?
Already on PS4, the Decima engine proved to be one of the best of the moment. On PS5, this Guerrilla engine loaned to Kojima Productions proves that it is ready to offer a game at native 4k resolution and 60fps with a great quality in the faces and textures, as well as in drawing distance. All while we wait for Horizon Forbidden West.
Death Stranding Director’s Cut has two graphic modes on PS5, being the most obvious to use the one that offers native 4k and 60fps, since it brings much more to the game than the quality mode that offers 1800p at 60fps. Beyond these tweaks in image quality and performance, I have not been able to see great improvements in topics such as lighting, effects or some textures of the environment, although the faces and the models have seemed improved. For its part, the PS5 SSD allows our game to load instantly and that trips through Fragile from point to point are a breeze, something that is appreciated.
Added to the technical improvements we find the ultrawide mode, which was very well received on PC and requested by PS4 players for those with ultrawide monitors to enjoy, an improvement that has come down to us in this PS5 Director’s Cut.
Refering to using the DualSense, Death Stranding also adds haptic feedback in certain conditions and depending on the terrain we step on, as well as functionalities of the adaptive triggers with weapons or gadgets. Once again, the PS5 controller manages to transmit a little more thanks to these functionalities.
The soundtrack, meanwhile, is augmented with new songs from artists such as Woodkid or Midge Ure, with songs that will reappear while we carry out Sam assignments, although these new songs will only play during the new missions.
Is Death Stranding Director’s Cut Worth It?
Death Stranding Director’s Cut is the perfect opportunity for those who have never played one of the most special games of the last decade do it in its improved version. Beyond that condition, I think that the new content and the improvements do not justify a new checkout if we already had the game on our PS4.
The technical tweaks update the game for the new generation with success, but I still have that aftertaste that perhaps it could have offered something better. For its part, the new content of the Director’s Cut does not add, rather it complements. In fact, it is important to note that the best way to enjoy these additions is by playing from the beginning because of how they are integrated.
Even so, I still have very good memories of Death Stranding and I consider it as one of those jewels that any player should experience at least once in their life, so, If you have never played it and you have a PS5, the decision is more than obvious. If you had already played it and you have it on PS4, I doubt that what this version offers is worth it.
▪ Release date: 11/08/2019