TEST
Enigmatic, spectacular, abstruse, brilliant, delirious ... The qualifiers are not lacking to qualify Death Stranding . The latest video game of the Japanese Hideo Kojima ( Policenauts , Metal Gear Solid ), considered a demi-god in the middle, was extremely awaited since the presentation of the first intriguing images in 2016. Since its release on November 8, exclusively on PS4, Death Stranding unleashes the passions of the players. Europe 1 took the time to test the game on length. It took a few dozen hours to unravel the threads of this confusing but fascinating experience.
From science fiction to cinema with a 5 star cast
The trailers distilled over the years suggested a game with intrigue as original qu'ambarique. On this point, Death Stranding holds all its promises. We had never seen anything like it before. An all-powerful creator (he is credited with screenplay, design, production and directing), Hideo Kojima embarked on a cryptic post-apocalyptic story. The action takes place in a rather distant future. Death Stranding, a supernatural phenomenon, has decimated almost the entire world population. Civilization has collapsed and nature has regained its rights.
In the United States, or rather what is left of it, the few survivors are trying to organize themselves. Bridges intends to connect the fields and towns still inhabited to build the United Cities of America. After the failure of a first mission, she entrusts this heavy task to a ... courier: Sam Porter, a silent, rough form, embodied in the game by Norman Reedus (Daryl in The Walking Dead ). Haunted by his past, he accepts the mission without enthusiasm. So it was an epic journey from east to west, like the pioneers of the first American colonies, to deliver goods to the survivors and connect them to each other. A job between the deliveryman Colissimo and the fiber technician of Orange, in a way.
We will not say more, except that during this venture, Sam will cross a few characters interpreted by real actors, thanks to the process of motion capture . Thus, Léa Seydoux is a mysterious delivery girl, Guillermo del Toro a talkative scientist, Mads Mikkelsen a father in search of his baby, Lindsay Wagner a kindly mother figure, etc. A five-star cast that gives the game a very cinematic look. Impression reinforced by (very) long cutscenes that punctuate the first hours of play.
Walk, deliver, start again
The choice of a courier as a hero may seem surprising as we are far from the classic hero of science fiction. Deliver packages, it does not sell dreams, even in a video game. But this is precisely the strong stance of Death Stranding . It's not an action game, rather an exploration game. Because most of the game has gone to ... walk. A lot. Very much. Each mission - or "delivery" - is to connect a point A to a point B, with tens of kilos of goods on the back to deliver in good condition.
Fortunately for the players, but not for Sam Porter, the steps are far from health walks. The obstacles and the dangers are numerous. There are Mules, looters addicted to delivery (yes, yes), on the lookout for the first carrier crazy enough to risk in their area. And then, the Stranded, ghosts appeared on Earth during Death Stranding, invisible and seeking to devour humans. Scary but Sam Porter is actually a "returnee": he can not die and when he gets killed, his soul resurrects his body. Here again, the idea is original: dying is not an end in the game, just a setback.
In reality, after a few hours of play, we quickly realize that our main enemy is neither a scary specter nor a looter jealous of our work but rather ... the rocks. The abandoned lands that we walk are indeed very hilly. But Death Stranding pushes physics in the video game to a level of extreme realism. The packages Sam carries, whose load regularly exceeds 100 kilos, unbalance at the slightest misstep. We must be careful not to fall, otherwise damage the precious load and see the mission fail.
A political and poetic game
Death Stranding took four years of development, an eternity in the video game, and we understand why. The game is extremely worked. The natural settings, especially the relief, are spectacular, the motion capture reaches a level of realism rarely seen so far. Everything has been thought through to the last detail, until the disposal of packages on the back of Sam before each step. A seemingly secondary feature but is quickly essential to hope to walk straight into the moor. As surprising as it may seem, we end up getting into the game of parcel delivery.
Moreover, visually, Death Stranding is a firework of crazy science-fiction ideas: a beach where the dead and the living cross, a fetus in a jar hanging on Sam's chest, rains that get older everything they touch ... The universe invented by Hideo Kojima and his teams has nothing to envy to the greatest sci-fi movies. Black and terrifying, the post-apocalyptic world is nevertheless poetic, helped by the haunting soundtrack that accompanies Sam's long treks.
And it's an eminently political game. As often, science fiction serves to reflect the fears of our society today. Death Stranding is the allegory of a broken world, uberized one could say. A world where communities build walls to protect themselves and no one else creates a bond with their neighbor. And that, Hideo Kojima tells us, is a world that is running to ruin. All the stake for us, players, will be to connect again humans.
Kojima, crook or genius?
At least not unusual, Death Stranding is not unanimous among players. There are those who say we are bored, that cinematics are too long, too talkative, that we just walk. For them, the omnipotent creator Hideo Kojima would be a little too much fun, without thinking of the players. Difficult to give them wrong, at least on the very cinematographic aspect of the game. We have happened to put the handle as some cutscenes are long! Death Stranding is a game that looks as much as it is played.
And then, there are those who cry to the genius. In an increasingly formatted industry, where the big original games have given way to annual licenses like Call of Duty and FIFA , Death Stranding is a UFO. Impossible to remain indifferent before this extremely original and technically splendid game. It is certain that it will be remembered for a long time. In Europe 1, we are not afraid to say that Death Stranding is a work of art.
Our opinion: a game that marks ... but not for everyone
Death Stranding is clearly a unique game, extremely original and with staggering staging ideas. A game that marks when we play and even after when we put the controller. Rarely has the video game been so deserved its unofficial status of Tenth Art. But you have to be honest: Death Stranding is not a game for everyone. You need to have the strength to push beyond the first 7-8 hours to start enjoying the story and the mechanics of play. We do not always have fun, the game is sometimes arid and obscure, but the experience is worth a deviation.