In terms of a console to PC port using a first party Sony engine built for games such as Horizon Zero Dawn, the port runs extremely well despite a lack of settings to be had in terms of optimizing visuals, as well as a 60 FPS lock on all cutscenes, but none of them are a deal breaker for one of the most unique walking sims around from one of the most influential game directors in gaming history.

Of course, if you're looking for a lot of action and MGS level stealth and action, it's not necessarily there. It's a unique, tiresome and sometimes excruciating experience, where the gameplay hook is more focused on the monotonous idea of simply being a post-apocalyptic delivery man, played by The Walking Dead/The Boondock Saints' Norman Reedus. Most of the satisfaction that comes from the game is coming in with the right expectation knowing that you're in for a long haul in terms of story, my first playthrough on PS4 took me roughly 60+ hours to complete my first time through, and that's before getting into the story (which is a mixed bag).

The story is honestly endearing in a Kojima sort of way. Sure, you can expect the out of place Monster energy drinks sitting around to keep your stamina up while you trek across the UCA (United Cities of America) and basically being postman Norman Jesus. While pretentious (I mean in a Kojima pretentious way, you know what I mean MGS fans), the story does have quite a few interesting gameplay moments, and despite what I said about there being little to no combat in the game, it does exist in small portions (I would say about 10-20% of the game) so they aren't a huge portion of the gameplay, and acknowledging the combat sections in general, I would say it's VERY MGS-lite. Fewer weapons (most of them are nonlethal and aren't acquired until 25-30+ hours in the game) and much simpler CQC/Hand-to-hand mechanics that make the combat just... exist in the game. While fitting with the game's universe and story, the combat is a cakewalk, and as stated earlier, does not take up a major portion of the game.

Finally, I have to give kudos once AGAIN to 505 Games and Kojima Productions work on this PC port. At 1440p on my RTX 2070 Super/i5-9600K, I was able to push a consistent 100-166 FPS with nVidia's DLS 2.0 technology, which gives individual rendered pixels a more refined resolution to create an upscaled resolution type look, in my case, checkerboarded 4K and it runs beautifully, despite Denuvo anti-tamper DRM existing within the game as of launch. The licensed music/original score composed by Ludwig Forsell is phenomenal, with perfect music setting each and every scene in the game. The acting in the game is absolutely superb, with Tommie Earl Jenkins and Mads Mikkelsen especially bringing in some of the best mocap performances in modern video games, where yet again, the DECIMA engine truly shines.

To conclude, this game is definitely not for everyone. If you set your expectations right and expect the 80/20 delivery/combat gameplay, along with a fair share of cheesy dialogue, there's a single ambitious vision created by one of the most acclaimed video game directors in video game history. DEATH STRANDING is more of a relaxing but stressful interactive movie with lots of inventory management mechanics. If this review managed to interest you in any specific area, I would say pick this game up once it goes on sale. Hideo Kojima and the rest of the KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS crew deserve at least some love for the ambition shown at hand in terms of pushing graphical fidelity, along with telling an interesting enough story within a dense and extremely lonely, but interesting open world, this is an experience you must try for yourself.