‘FedEx’ game a stunning achievement

Death Stranding

Sony Interactive Entertainment Available on PlayStation 4

One of the more damning criticisms to level at a video game is to say it had a lot of “FedEx quests” where one has to get something from X and deliver it to Y over a lengthy trek. How audacious that Hideo Kojima (one of the most well-known game designers in the world), has built a game around FedEx quests and a self-effacing delivery man.

Death Stranding is the oddest AAA game I’ve played this year and that’s a compliment. Imagine the television show Lost, crossed with the go-out-and make-things approach of Minecraft and you’ll get a sense of Kojima Productions’ peculiar title.

Sam (Norman Reedus) works for a company delivering packages to inhabitants of the former United States, after the cataclysmic Death Stranding.

Deterring travel are BTs or beached things — violent, ghostly apparitions caught between the worlds of the living and the dead.

BTs are invisible, but people afflicted with an advanced case of DOOMs Syndrome can see them. Sam has DOOMs. He can sense BTs but not see them.

Sam, raised by the former American president, would prefer to be left alone. Yet, despite his gruff exterior, he’s a pushover who’s convinced by the president’s daughter, Amelie (Emily O’ Brien), to try to unify the settlements by linking them to the Chiral Network, a variation on the internet. Sam must travel from east to west coasts to bring computer terminals into the Network’s fold using a tool created by twin physicists.

As important as it is to get people onto the network, lots of packages — from medical supplies to pizza — need to be delivered. Figuring out how to make the most of Sam’s expeditions is essential. The more cargo Sam delivers, the more perks he’ll acquire in the form of tools and other resources to make his hauls easier. Thoughts of reward must be counterbalanced against the hazards of over encumbrance; the more Sam is weighed down, the harder it is to maintain his balance along slopes and inclines. Learning how to shift Sam’s weight around as he shleps about on foot is key since a fall can damage his cargo and cut into profits.

The first dozen or so hours spent with Death Stranding will likely try the patience of a chunk of its audience. It took me 56 hours to complete the 14 episodes that make up its core campaign. And it wasn’t until I hit Episode 5, Mama, that the game really clicked for me. Certainly, I found carrying packages to be a tedious activity at points, but what lingers in my mind are sublime moments such as when I dashed through a valley swarming with bandits with a swaying tower of cargo on Sam’s back. I will remember the game’s characters (Heartman, Deadman, Fragile, I salute you) and the snowballing effect of its story, which I consumed with increasing enthusiasm.

So yes, the grind is worth it.