I attempted to play Death Stranding 2 the “proper” approach. For 12 hours, I had Sam hike throughout Mexico and Australia delivering packages and battling brigands, and I watched each cutscene as I went. And regardless of being as soon as once more enamored with the moment-to-moment expertise of being a porter in Death Stranding–it genuinely could also be my favourite gameplay loop ever–I used to be having a foul time as a result of I could not discover any rhythm to the expertise. The issue, because it was with the primary sport, is that Death Stranding 2 is filled with cutscenes which are unnecessarily lengthy, very poorly written, and do not match collectively into any respectable larger context.
And there are lots of them. So many who I wasn’t capable of get into the stream of the gameplay expertise. I would have a good time strolling round delivering stuff for an hour, then watch a 15-minute cutscene that sucked out all my vitality, after which flip the sport off as a result of I wanted a nap. Since I would actually been wanting ahead to taking part in Death Stranding 2, I used to be beginning to discover it disappointing, despite the fact that I used to be truly massively having fun with the “play” facet of it.
My final straw was the introduction of the character referred to as Wet. Her first scene is a prolonged dance quantity within the rain that Sam watches. Her second scene is a tearful reunion with Sam’s associates, who all apparently know Wet very effectively despite the fact that none of them had ever talked about her earlier than. It is not till her third scene that anybody tells Sam who Wet is. However even then, her introduction does not matter–nothing concerning the gameplay expertise modifications in any respect because of assembly her, despite the fact that she’s one other magic particular person. These scenes look nice–very “cinematic,” because it were–but they’re utterly devoid of substance or content material. I used to be being compelled to take breaks from the components of the sport I truly loved in order that I might watch some self-indulgent nonsense that I discovered extremely grating.
So I attempted one thing radical, one thing I’ve by no means executed on my first playthroughs of any of the earlier video games designed by Hideo Kojima: I began skipping the cutscenes. I did it hesitantly at first, involved that I’d miss out on some vital piece of lore or plot. I figured I would use this energy sparingly, solely when a scene was overly lengthy and never apparently going wherever. However that cautious strategy did not final lengthy. Inside an hour of constructing that call, I used to be skipping each cutscene as quickly because it began.
One thing humorous occurred after that: I performed Death Stranding 2 for six straight hours. I used to be all of a sudden free to benefit from the components I like with out having to take a seat by way of the noise of the story. I now not needed to commit any brainpower towards making an attempt to determine how the newest nonsensical plot level is sensible subsequent to the earlier one. I might get again to the straightforward pleasures of strolling round delivering packages and constructing infrastructure.
The goofy factor is that I knew it could go this manner. I will not faux that I anticipated Death Stranding 2’s storytelling to be something higher than abysmal, however after I first booted it up, I did plan to look at all of the cutscenes anyway. It was extra for the sake of equity than something else–maybe this could be the one the place Kojima’s writing lastly clicked for me. I needed to give it a good shot.
To this point, I would at all times been capable of energy by way of his video games. I sat by way of each post-credits scene in MGS4, trudged all the best way to the “we ran out of cash” twist ending of MGSV, and I made it by way of the movie-length closing cutscenes of the primary Death Stranding in a single sitting. I hated each second of it, however I did my due diligence. However I am 38 years outdated now, and I now not have the persistence for all that.
And, to be utterly sincere, this can be a lesson I ought to have already discovered from the primary Death Stranding. Whereas I did watch all of the cutscenes within the first sport after I ran by way of it the primary time, I later got here again and performed it by way of twice whereas skipping all of them, saving 11 hours of my time within the course of. I already had the blueprint to happiness, however I did not wish to take with no consideration that Death Stranding 2’s story can be simply as irritating and nonsensical as its predecessor’s. I wished to imagine in Kojima the author as a lot as I imagine in Kojima the designer.
That hope is totally gone now, although, and that truthfully makes me glad. Now that I am free from any obligation to care concerning the cutscenes, I’ll have the very best time with the remainder of Death Stranding 2.