Death Stranding

Making Bridges 2019 seems so long ago, doesn’t it? 2020 has been the longest decade-of-a-year I’ve ever experienced, and it seems like for one step forward it’s ninety steps back. With a pandemic ongoing, each country has felt it differently but no one...

As thrilling as it is boring, as fantastic as it is mundane, but one thing’s for sure - there’s truly nothing else like it.

The narrative can be as tedious as some of the toughest package deliveries—for one thing, more of the story is told in monologues and emails than actual conversations, partly due to the quarantined characters, granting the story an unnaturally stilted pace—but even those most reticent to Kojima’s storytelling will find memorable qualities and encounters. Death Stranding is a game meant to be experienced by all, even those who won’t complete it, and a good PC build makes this the best version to determine if Sam is the right porter for the job.

Death Stranding takes on a whole new meaning in 2020, and it's a story well worth revisiting or experiencing for the first time on PC. The pacing of the game can certainly drag to a screeching halt through the middle, but with boosted frame rate and crisper visuals, you'll likely be too mesmerised by the hauntingly gorgeous world of Hideo Kojima's latest masterpiece to even care about the uneven story beats.

And as profound as it wants to be, this is still a game in which you can equip and unequip your penis so you can piss out Red Bull. The good stuff is waiting for you beyond that piss, beyond the shit grenades, beyond that Ride with Norman Reedus advert unceremoniously plastered into a game universe where I didn’t see a single television set. It’s just a test of attrition.

Slow, weird, and indulgent, but a true original, and a journey that will linger in your mind long after it's over.

Death Stranding is what happens when you give developer Hideo Kojima free reign to do whatever he wants. Bizarre and not always user friendly, the stealth-action game provides a unique experience that's laced with social commentary.

Death Stranding came out in 2019 for the PS4, but the PC port looks to become the definitive version of the game thanks to improvements that make it playable across any type of machine. It's also, oddly enough, more relevant than ever.