Now, let's celebrate the fact that our beloved entertainment is now more successful than film and music. It either tells that video game is getting more and more user or the price is so damn high now. But with the large amount of players, developers, visual artists, etc within it; we just appreciate it in a tiny portion.
I don't have any data for this, but I believe that you already encountered this kind of people that talk so passionately about music, graphic novels, or films. They can babbling and having argument about Nirvana, Beatles, Tarkovsky, Wong Kar Wai, Frank Miller, and others name that feels right to put the tagline artist to them. While on video games, do you think companies like Ubisoft or even Moonton are suitable to be called as a group of artists? Heck no, what kind of artist makes something based on the consumer demand or the money potential and often plagiarize other's work (talk about the last name on my example)?
But it is very often for us to talk about these companies and how their works will satisfy us. And when we talk about video games with original concept that's not about the current trends genre or multiplayer gameplay with the whole purpose to reach global rank is a very rare occasion. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it is bad to have some PvP action with the aim of highest rank. What I mean is we are not digging enough to see the other gems and potential of this biggest entertainment industry.
That is also what makes me love Death Stranding and appreciate Hideo Kojima, the director of the game. It may sound silly to some people because of the fact that it is a game with stagnant gameplay and long cutscenes. But no, it is not a purely walking simulator, besides the reason you can actually use many transportation vehicles or rope gliders, there is a deeper meaning in the experience of walking as a porter through the apocalyptic world of Death Stranding.
Let's recap the story and premise of Death Stranding before we're bravo six going dark. In the far future, the bounds between death and life somehow have been broken. The soul of the death then turns into a harmful and deadly ghost. This also leads to another odd occurrence like corpses of humans need to be cremated or they will explode, rain (Timefall) speed up the ageing process of everything it touches, and human Festus can be used to detect the appearance of the ghost. We will play as Sam Bridges(Norman Reedus), a porter that has been assigned by the president of the United States (Lindsay Wagner) to reconnect America.
It may seems like a solid premise of a story, but I have several critics and cons with the story. First, it is convoluted and trying to act like a smart story in its own way which results in failure in many aspects. Like the made-up scientific name such as BB (Bridge Baby), Qpid, or the Chiral Network didn't help to set up a smart conversation. The second is the script of some scenes are cheesy and weird. I'll give you an example of a dialogue between Cliff (Mads Mikkelsen) and President Bridget, instead of using the word baby, Kojima chooses BB as the alternative, this leads to a weird situation where a grown-up guy called his own son BB. I mean okay, he still belongs to Bridges company, but calling it "my BB" is just another phrase for "my baby that belongs to Bridges Company". So you want to take your son or give it to the government of the USA? Oh, don't forget that famous Mario and Princess Beach scene.
I don't have many complaints besides those two things, the messy technical can be included, but let's just go to the main thing of this. While the storytelling style of Hideo Kojima can be debated whether it is good or not, we can all agree that this man has one of the best music tastes and knows how to put them in a good way. The walking gameplay between point A to B may be exhausting, but the music that accompanies us during our walk is simply relaxing. Bring Me The Horizon, Chvrches, Silent Poets and Low Roar; these music artists with each of their own unique songs fit so well with the gameplay sequences. Let's not forget the name of Ludvig Forsell who successfully arranged the masterpiece "BB's Theme", he really deserves the trophy of best music.
Whether you want to bring it into a heavy narrative like Detroit Become Human or series of your own choices as already applied in Telltale's Walking Dead, video game is still a game. Death Stranding's choice for its gameplay is walking and deliver, thus Kojima also proclaimed that it will be the strand-type game. It may sounds like gambling with poor cards and the only good thing in your hand is K which stands for Kojima. Surprisingly, it is actually a refreshing experience that resulted in those who hated it and the other one is the opposite. Whether side you choose, both are acceptable.
Now it may add some questions, how it is okay to have both opinions for the gameplay and how can people even enjoyed the game? Simply it is because Death Stranding is an arthouse video game. A lot of people might disagree with this, especially in some fact like Kojima Production is a big studio, published by Sony, or not abstract enough. But in my opinion, arthouse is not always some narrative with indie distribution, instead it is anything that is created to emphasize art. Death Stranding itself really goes in the direction of"it is something that I want to make" not "something to grab money for me". We can see the concept of arthouse in its aesthetic design, the concept of working together that implemented in the gameplay, a bunch of allegories about connecting with "no dislike button available", or even the intention of Hideo Kojima to purely tells the meaning of connection between every individual.
With this whole arthouse thing in the game, it has also resulted in a divided group of people and that is fine. Enjoying an arthouse is a matter of privilege, if you don't have the capabilities to do it or it's not your cup of tea then that is not a problem. The privilege of enjoying an arthouse medium doesn't make you higher than the others. Don't act like a snobbish person, just don't.
And this also leads to the second question on the reason why people can enjoy a fancy walking simulator. As I mentioned before, it is because of the matter of privilege. If you use both of your eyes, instead of listening to the roast about the walking simulator or how Kojima is just an elitist, you will realize that the gameplay of it was built on a strong foundation. It's not just a blatantly walking simulator in an empty landscape, there is a technical balancing system (that get a bit rubbish sometimes), an interesting story for each main tasks, the brilliant acting by the casts (Troy Baker, Lea Seydoux, Mads Mikkelsen, Emily o Brien, etc), obstacles throughout the way, well-composed soundtracks, and generated environment that you and your friend can modify to help the road become easier. Those all the reasons how people can enjoy Death Stranding and please don't act like an arrogant superior person who can't appreciate others point of view and trashed the game, just don't.
Perhaps one thing that we could all agree on is the fact that we hope too much for Hideo Kojima's first independent work to be the same as the other blockbuster titles in the "popcorn" video game industry. We want him to create something that entertains and thrilling as the Metal Gear series or something horrifying as the Playable Teaser of Silent Hill, but then Kojima decided to take the other route with a message about human connection within maybe one of the most unappealing approach in term of mainstream gameplay. Or maybe the truth is, there is no room for that, for re-interpreted pattern, for more creativity appreciation in this oversaturated biggest entertainment industry?
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