(Featured Image: Hideo Kojima director of Death Stranding)
Little did I know that video games were more than something to do when one has extra time. What created interest and my dive into video games? “Ludens” by Bring Me The Horizon’s EP Post Human: Survival Horror used in the video game Death Stranding. I love this song. So, I bought the game, dusted off my barely used PlayStation 4, and inserted the disc.
Now, I realize there are stories to be told in this medium. Powerful ones. Although I have not gotten past episode two, Death Stranding is of a dystopian genre, in which the main conflict is to reunite a shattered America thus saving humans from obliteration. Sam Porter Bridges, the not-so-perfect hero is pitted against, and the list is not exhaustive – Timefall, the Beached Things (BTs), and a condition described as Dooms whilst delivering packages. Timefall seems to be a metaphor as well as a commentary on acid rain, a relevant human-triggered change destroying our present environment. Another human-triggered issue involves social isolation. Hideo Kojima, the director of Death Stranding asserts, “People have built “Walls” and become accustomed to living in isolation. “Death Stranding” is a completely new type of action game, where the player’s goal is to reconnect isolated cities and a fragmented society. All elements, including the story and gameplay, are bound together by the theme of “Strand”, or connection.” https://www.instagram.com/p/ByDW1zkHamD/
So what makes this a good video game? The narrative and the gameplay. In Video Game Storytelling: What Every Developer Needs to Know about Narrative Techniques, the author Evan Skolnick emphasizes the development of archetypes, “a small group of highly resonate types” (New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2014) indispensable to a good narrative. In Death Stranding we emphasize with the hero, repatriate Sam Porter Bridges suffering from Aphenphosmphobia, as he carries his dead mother to safety; we listen to the herald, Sam’s mother urges Sam on; the mentor, Deadman, giver of the cuff and knowledge; the shapeshifter Die Hardman; the villain Higgs; the trickster, an incubated Bridge Baby strapped to Sam’s chest; the arch-rival Cliff; and a friend Fragile. In terms of story, the plot is well explained, unite a fragmented country; and, full of conflict, person vs. nature, person vs. unknown, person vs. person, and person vs. society. The gameplay is challenging with lots of impediments, such as the Timefall, “BTs”, and “Homo Demens” – quite difficult (but not insurmountable) for the novice.