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116-856: Death Stranding is a 2019 action game developed by Kojima Productions and originally published by Sony Interactive Entertainment . It is the first game from director Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions after their split from Konami in 2015. It was released for PlayStation 4 in November 2019, followed by a Windows port in July 2020. A director's cut was released for PlayStation 5 in September 2021, followed by releases for Windows in March 2022, iOS , iPadOS and macOS in January 2024, and Amazon Luna and Xbox Series X/S in November 2024. Sony published

232-841: A first-person shooter might secretly enjoy that their character gets killed in the game, although their expressions might show the contrary. The game used in the study was James Bond 007: Nightfire . Shooter games have been around since the beginning of the video game industry . Notable examples of shooting arcade video games during the early-to-mid-1970s include Syzygy Engineering 's Computer Space (1971), Galaxy Game (1971), Tank (1974) by Kee Games , Gun Fight (1975) by Taito and Midway Manufacturing , and Midway's Sea Wolf (1976). In turn, early arcade shooter video games were inspired by early mainframe games such as Spacewar! (1962) as well as arcade electro-mechanical games such as Periscope (1965) and gun games . A major turning point for action video games came with

348-421: A Freudian approach Odradek can be seen as "the psychological return of the repressed ". In Freud's theory of repression, an unacknowledged trauma surfaces as unconscious associations and neuroses, which affect thought, memory and dreams. Such an interpretation is supported by Kafka's letters and biography: in approximately 1921, he wrote a letter to Milena Jesenka in which he explains his mental disturbances in

464-424: A teaser trailer featuring music from Low Roar , whose music would later be used in the final game. The trailer was made possible with the technology of photogrammetry and motion capture . It featured Norman Reedus , who served as the basis for the protagonist. The game was the second collaboration between Kojima and Reedus, following the canceled Silent Hills . Kojima and Mark Cerny , lead system architect of

580-643: A "stillmother". Depending on its severity, a condition known as "DOOMS" allows a person to naturally sense, see, or even control a BT, as well as granting a variety of powers, such as teleportation or travel to other people's Beaches. There are individuals known as "repatriates" who can travel back from "the Seam"—a place between the world of the living and the Beach—;upon death. As such, these individuals can effectively return from death, though their deaths will still cause voidouts if killed during contact with

696-461: A BB (Bridge Baby), with the participation of the character "Deadman", portrayed by del Toro and Corti. The second introduces the character "Mama", played by Qualley. Furthermore, a 6-minute gameplay trailer was shown, which introduces in detail various game mechanics, such as the possibility of urinating and delivering packages to isolated delivery stations. This video features the participation of Geoff Keighley , Canadian journalist and video critic, as

812-625: A BT results in a destructive explosion known as a "voidout", which permanently damages the location of the death with an untraversable crater. As the player expands the coverage of the Chiral Network, they can access maps of areas, and use blueprints to produce consumable items and structures with the Portable Chiral Constructor (PCC, a device similar to a 3D printer ), including ropes, bridges, and power generators used for charging battery-powered equipment. The Network

928-436: A BT. Freelance courier Sam Porter Bridges ( Norman Reedus ) is transporting cargo to Central Knot City but is interrupted by Timefall and takes shelter. He receives assistance from Fragile ( Léa Seydoux ) in evading a BT. Sam arrives at his destination, where a citizen has committed suicide, with the corpse on the verge of necrosis. Due to being both a repatriate and having DOOMS, Sam is given an emergency assignment to accompany

1044-564: A Bridge Baby involved in the Central Knot City voidout. With the BB's assistance, Sam evades a horde of BTs and decides to adopt it as his own Bridge Baby; against UCA instructions to treat Bridge Babies as pieces of equipment, Sam gradually forms an emotional bond with it and nicknames it "Lou". Upon his return to Capital Knot City, Sam receives a message from his estranged sister Amelie Strand (also Wagner/O'Brien). She tells him that over

1160-585: A Family Man " The Cares of a Family Man " (German: "Die Sorge des Hausvaters") is a short story by Franz Kafka , originally written in German, between 1914 and 1917 about a creature called Odradek . The creature has drawn the attention of many philosophers and literary critics, who have all attempted to interpret its meaning; thus, there are numerous analyses of the text. In 1919, the story appeared in Ein Landarzt. Kleine Erzählungen ( A Country Doctor ),

1276-408: A broad category of action games, referring to a variety of games that are driven by the physical actions of player characters . The term dates back to the golden age of arcade video games in the early 1980s, when the terms "action games" and "character games" began being used to distinguish a new emerging genre of character-driven action games from the space shoot 'em ups that had previously dominated

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1392-488: A cataclysmic event known as the "Death Stranding" caused "Beached Things" ("BTs")—invisible creatures originating from the "Beach", lands thought to be unique to each person that are typically visited during near-death experiences and are said to be the link to the afterlife —to begin roaming the Earth. BTs are created from the dead via necrosis , and when they consume a living human being, they create an explosion on

1508-541: A collection of Kafka's short stories published by Kurt Wolff ( Munich and Leipzig ). The story, which is in the first-person narrative told entirely by the family man mentioned in the title, begins by discussing the etymological disparities associated with the word Odradek: Some say the word Odradek is of Slavonic origin, and try to account for it on that basis. Others again believe it to be of German origin, only influenced by Slavonic. The uncertainty of both interpretations allows one to assume with justice that neither

1624-698: A different approach to game design at the time. According to Eugene Jarvis, American arcade developers focused mainly on space shooters during the late 1970s to early 1980s, greatly influenced by Japanese space shooters but taking the genre in a different direction from the "more deterministic, scripted, pattern-type" gameplay of Japanese games, towards a more "programmer-centric design culture, emphasizing algorithmic generation of backgrounds and enemy dispatch" and "an emphasis on random-event generation, particle-effect explosions and physics" as seen in arcade games such as his own Defender (1981) and Robotron: 2084 (1982) as well as Atari 's Asteroids (1979). In

1740-403: A distinctly Freudian light. Furthermore, Kafka's Letter to His Father indicates that Kafka had suffered from emotional trauma due to his childhood, which lends biographical weight to this argument. A religious perspective opens up another interpretation of the text. Goetschel indicates that the star-shaped form of the creature might represent tradition (specifically Jewish tradition ), which

1856-412: A dominant genre in video arcades and on game consoles through to the present day. Space Invaders set the template for later games in the shooter subgenre, and it is considered one of the most influential games of all time. During the arcade golden age, from the late 1970s to early 1980s, a wide variety of new subgenres were created. The success of Space Invaders led to space shooters becoming

1972-532: A hologram that interacts with the main character Sam in the delivery station. Japanese writer Junji Ito appears as the model of the Engineer, who is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal . The film director was modelled after Jordan Vogt-Roberts , while director Edgar Wright provided his likeness for Thomas Southerland. Hirokazu Hamamura made an appearance as the Collector. Liam O'Brien and Sam Lake were credited as

2088-481: A lengthy corporate conflict with Konami as a restricted subsidiary, Kojima Productions closed in July 2015 and re-formed as an independent video game developer and studio in December. The same month, Hideo Kojima announced his partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment , at the time led by Andrew House , to make a new PlayStation game. Kojima revealed the game at Sony's conference during E3 2016 with

2204-529: A level after dying, although action games evolved to offer saved games and checkpoints to allow the player to restart partway through a level. The obstacles and enemies in a level do not usually vary between play sessions, allowing players to learn by trial and error. However, levels sometimes add an element of randomness, such as an enemy that randomly appears or that takes an unpredictable path. Levels in an action game may be linear or nonlinear , and sometimes include shortcuts. For levels that require exploration,

2320-417: A level or group of levels, the player must often defeat a boss enemy that is more challenging and often a major antagonist in the game's story. Enemy attacks and obstacles deplete the player character's health and lives , and the player receives a game over when they run out of lives. Alternatively, the player gets to the end of the game by finishing a sequence of levels to complete a final goal, and see

2436-430: A life of its own, displaying life like qualities and traits, as well as his silent relationship with the object. The narrator's main concern about the creature Odradek is revealed in the final paragraph: In vain I ask myself, what will happen to him. Can he die? Everything that dies has once had a sort of aim, a sort of activity, which has worn it out; this is not the case of Odradek. Will he therefore one day tumble down

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2552-416: A limited range, but this attack is rare. Players may find a power-up within the game world that grants temporary or permanent improvements to their abilities. For example, the avatar may gain an increase in speed, more powerful attacks, or a temporary shield from attacks. Some action games even allow players to spend upgrade points on the power ups of their choice. In action games that involve navigating

2668-406: A more deterministic, scripted, pattern-type" of play. Terms such as "action games" or "character games" began being used to distinguish these new character-driven action games from the space shooters that had previously dominated the video game industry. The emphasis on character-driven gameplay in turn enabled a wider variety of subgenres. Namco 's hit maze game Pac-Man (1980) popularized

2784-508: A new life, the player resumes the game either from the same location they died, a checkpoint, or the start of the level. Upon starting a new life, the avatar is typically invincible for a few seconds to allow the player to re-orient themselves. Players may earn extra lives by reaching a certain score or by finding an in-game object. Arcade games still limit the number of player lives, while home video games have shifted increasingly to unlimited lives. Action games take place in either 2D or 3D from

2900-680: A plethora of shoot 'em up games taking place from a top-down or side-scrolling perspective. Space shooters were initially categorized as a separate genre from action games in the early 1980s, when the term was used to refer to character action games, up until character-driven shooters, particularly scrolling run-and-gun shooters, became popular by the late 1980s. The setting of shooter games often involves military conflicts, whether historical, such as World War II , contemporary, such as Middle East conflicts , or fictional, such as space warfare . Shooter games do not always involve military conflicts. Other settings include hunting games, or follow

3016-483: A post-apocalyptic world devastated by COVID-19, Walking Simulator , was released in March 2020. A sequel was first revealed to be in development in May 2022, when Reedus participated in an interview with the outlet Leo Edit to discuss his work on the game. Reedus stated, "We just started work on the second one". Later in the interview, he would reminisce about how, "the game came out, and it just won all these awards, and it

3132-501: A profit, securing funding for Kojima Production's next project. In April 2021, publisher 505 Games ' parent organization Digital Bros announced in a financial report that the PC release had generated €23 million ( $ 27 million ) in revenue as of December 2020, making it the company's highest-grossing game in 2020. In October 2021, Digital Bros announced that the PC release had generated €31 million . As of July 2021,

3248-481: A puppet (performed by Jonathan Roumie ). On December 15, 2022, a film adaptation of Death Stranding was announced. Kojima Productions partnered with Alex Lebovici and his company Hammerstone Studios to produce the film alongside Allan Ungar as executive producer. On December 14, 2023, a listing for an A24 -themed Death Stranding t-shirt was posted on the A24 merchandise website, and its description revealed that A24

3364-501: A rain known as "timefall", which damages the player's armor and cargo by speeding up their deterioration. BTs are normally invisible, but Sam's suit is equipped with a robotic sensor referred to in-game as an " odradek " that points towards nearby BTs, and the player can then scan the area to reveal them. As Sam is a "repatriate", he is taken to an underwater world known as the "Seam" if he is killed, where he can "swim" back to his body to revive himself. However, being killed and consumed by

3480-414: A release for Windows on March 30, 2022. The base game released on PC Game Pass on August 23, 2022, and features several unlockable items. On November 9, 2024, the five-year anniversary of the game's launch on PlayStation 4, Kojima Productions announced that they had re-acquired the intellectual property (IP) rights to Death Stranding from Sony Interactive Entertainment, and that they had planned to bring

3596-399: A right angle can also remind us of crucifixion . While Rammelmeier argues against clean-cut metaphorical interpretations of the story, he acknowledges that Odradek possesses some supernatural qualities, such as disappearance and reappearance. He states that these supernatural qualities are made all the more prominent by the text's otherwise objective or sachlich style. He adds that, due to

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3712-437: A space, players will encounter obstacles, traps, and enemies. Enemies typically follow fixed patterns and attack the player, although newer action games may make use of more complex artificial intelligence to pursue the player. Enemies sometimes appear in groups or waves, with enemies increasing in strength and number until the end of the level. Enemies may also appear out of thin air. This can involve an invisible spawn point, or

3828-430: A variety of perspectives. 2D action games typically use a side view or top-down view. The screen frequently scrolls as the player explores the level, although many games scroll through the level automatically to push the player forward. In 3D action games, the perspective is usually tied to the avatar from a first-person perspective or third-person perspective. However, some 3D games offer a context-sensitive perspective that

3944-451: A visible generator which can be destroyed by the player. These points may generate enemies indefinitely, or only up to a certain number. At the end of a level or group of themed levels, players often encounter a boss . This boss enemy will often resemble a larger or more difficult version of a regular enemy. A boss may require a special weapon or attack method, such as striking when the boss opens their mouth, or attacking particular part of

4060-562: A visit to Kojima Productions' studio. The official soundtrack of the game, Death Stranding: Timefall , was released through RCA Records and Sony Interactive Entertainment on November 7, 2019, and features artists such as Chvrches , The Neighbourhood , Major Lazer , and Bring Me the Horizon . A director's cut version of the game featuring new gameplay additions was released for the PlayStation 5 on September 24, 2021, followed by

4176-472: A working title) was revealed at The Game Awards 2022 , with the aforementioned teased actors confirmed, as well as Troy Baker returning from the first game. A second trailer was shown during a State of Play presentation by Sony on January 31, 2024, confirming its subtitle, On the Beach , and a release window of 2025. It included the likenesses of George Miller (performed by Marty Rhone ) and Fatih Akin as

4292-437: Is accurate, especially as neither of them provides an intelligent meaning of the word. The narrator hopes that by discovering the meaning of the name, they will be able to clarify its purpose and origin, yet conclude that none of these derivations, neither German nor Slavic, can produce a sensible meaning of the word. This indicates that Odradek has no identifiable meaning, and therefore no apparent origin. The story deals with

4408-443: Is controlled by an artificial intelligence camera. Most of what the player needs to know is contained within a single screen, although action games frequently make use of a heads-up display that display important information such as health or ammunition. Action games sometimes make use of maps which can be accessed during lulls in action, or a mini-map that is always visible. Action games tend to set simple goals, and reaching them

4524-434: Is in development. Death Stranding is an action game set in an open world , and includes asynchronous online functions. Kojima refers to Death Stranding as the first "strand game", an original genre characterized by the game's incorporation of social elements. Kojima compared this genre to how his earlier game Metal Gear —now considered a stealth game —was called an action game during its release because

4640-411: Is not only a spool, for a small wooden crossbar sticks out of the middle of the star, and another small rod is joined to that at a right angle. These details offer the reader the ability to examine and criticize the purpose and necessities of objects for things or people such as Odradek. Odradek is described as an object, yet is also given a “hypothetical humanoid appearance” when the narrator describes

4756-528: Is obvious. A common goal is to defeat the end-of-game boss. This is often presented in the form of a structured story, with a happy ending upon winning the game. In some games, the goal changes as the player reveals more of the story. Many action games keep track of the player's score. Points are awarded for completing certain challenges, or defeating certain enemies. Skillful play is often rewarded with point multipliers, such as in Pac-Man where each ghost that

Death Stranding - Misplaced Pages Continue

4872-456: Is passed on from generation to generation and accumulates some more bits of "thread" in each generation. According to Meksin, Odradek represents a rupture between the world of the family man and some other transcendent realm. It is immortal, and hides in shadows carrying a message from generation to generation, and witnessing it all. Meksin goes on to indicate that the physical description of Odradek with its wooden crossbar sticks joined to that at

4988-416: Is pulled into Clifford's Beach; there, he fights a BT manifestation of Clifford, who seeks his lost BB. After reaching Edge Knot City, Sam fights and defeats Higgs at Amelie's Beach. Higgs reveals that Amelie is an Extinction Entity: a godlike being manifested by the universe to trigger mass extinction events . Amelie is revealed as the true leader of Homo Demens, having conceived the Chiral Network to enable

5104-443: Is used as the basis for the game's online functionality, where players can leave supplies, structures, and messages that can be viewed and used by other players, although structures will eventually be destroyed by Timefall after some time. The player can recover cargo lost by other players to complete their delivery. The player does not directly encounter other players in the world. The game is set in an apocalyptic United States, where

5220-724: The Metal Gear series, along with Kenjiro Tsuda , had joined the game's Japanese voice cast. In March 2019, Hideo Kojima said that Death Stranding was slightly behind its release date schedule, and that he himself was testing and adjusting the gameplay day by day, defining that phase of development as "critical". A trailer released in May 2019 introduced Margaret Qualley as Mama and Nicolas Winding Refn as Heartman. Several character names were revealed: Cliff (Mikkelsen), Fragile (Seydoux), Deadman (Del Toro), Die-Hardman (Jenkins), Higgs (Baker) and Amelie (Wagner). O'Brien, Jesse Corti and Darren Jacobs were credited for voice-over work in

5336-406: The PlayStation 4 , spent two weeks in January 2016 looking for a game engine on which to develop the game. One candidate was used to develop a teaser trailer. Guerrilla Games was later announced as a collaborator on the development of the game, as it was providing their proprietary game engine Decima . Kojima Productions' meeting room was recreated in the engine as a reference of accuracy and for

5452-486: The University of Rochester on college students showed that over a period of a month, performance in eye examinations improved by about 20% in those playing Unreal Tournament compared to those playing Tetris . Most arcade games are action games, because they can be difficult for unskilled players, and thus make more money quickly. Researchers from Helsinki School of Economics have shown that people playing

5568-459: The arcades in the late 1970s. Classic examples of character action games from the early 1980s include Frogger , maze games like Pac-Man , and platformers like Donkey Kong . Shooter games allow the player to take action at a distance using a ranged weapon, challenging them to aim with accuracy and speed. This subgenre includes first-person shooters , third-person shooters , light gun shooters , rail shooters , run and gun games and

5684-468: The credits . Some action games, such as early arcade games , are unbeatable and have an indefinite number of levels. The player's only goal is to get as far as they can, to maximize their score. The action genre includes any game where the player overcomes challenges by physical means such as precise aim and quick response times. Action games can sometimes incorporate other challenges such as races, puzzles, or collecting objects, but they are not central to

5800-573: The eighth generation of video game consoles , overtaking previous record holder Judgment . Death Stranding remained in the Famitsu top 30 best-selling physical games chart for five weeks, until December 15, 2019, having reached over 253,000 physical copies sold at that point. As of March 2020, the game's sales in Japan have reached 262,827 physical copies and an estimated 136,279 digital copies, for an estimated total of 399,106 sales in Japan. In

5916-487: The first-person shooter (FPS) genre was popularized by Doom ; it is also considered, despite not using 3D polygons, a major leap forward for three-dimensional environments in action games. 3D polygon texture mapping appeared in action games around the mid-1990s, introduced to fighting games by Sega AM2's Virtua Fighter 2 (1994), to light gun shooters by Sega AM2's Virtua Cop in 1994, and to FPS games by Parallax Software 's Descent (1995). The Cares of

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6032-443: The high score . It also had a basic story with animated characters along with a "crescendo of action and climax" which laid the groundwork for later video games, according to Eugene Jarvis , who said many games "still rely on the multiple life , progressively difficult level paradigm" of Space Invaders . Following the mainstream success of Space Invaders , the industry came to be dominated by action games, which have remained

6148-430: The 1978 release of Taito's shoot 'em up game Space Invaders , which marked the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games . The game was designed by Tomohiro Nishikado , who drew inspiration from Atari 's Breakout (1976) and the science fiction genre. Nishikado added several interactive elements to Space Invaders that he found lacking in earlier video games, such as the ability for enemies to react to

6264-501: The BTs, bandits, and terrorists to deliver supplies to the cities. Bridges performs various governmental functions on behalf of the UCA. If they achieve a mental connection to a "Bridge Baby" (a "BB")—a premature child reflecting a state between life and death—it is possible for a person to sense the presence of a BT. Porters carry a BB with them, stored in a pod simulating the womb of

6380-585: The Last Stranding, the end of life on Earth. It is revealed that Amelie and Bridget are the same person; Bridget's soul separated from her body during early experiments into the Beaches and used the alias "Amelie" as a cover. However, Amelie is conflicted over her cosmological duties, finding the Last Stranding more humane than perpetual cycles of growth and extinction. With the help of allies made on his journey, Sam reaches Amelie and convinces her to delay

6496-494: The Last Stranding. Moved, she accepts but must separate herself and her Beach from the world forever. Sam is rescued by his BRIDGES allies, returning to the living. Die-Hardman becomes President of the UCA, and Fragile resolves to rebuild her company. However, Sam is told that Lou is dying. Although UCA law demands dying BBs are incinerated, Sam follows Deadman's advice and removes Lou from its pod in hopes of saving its life. In doing so, Sam connects with Lou one last time and discovers

6612-608: The North American home video game market (after it had crashed in 1983 ). Alongside side-scrollers, rail shooters and light gun shooters also became popular during the mid-to-late 1980s. Popular examples include first-person light gun shooting gallery games such as Nintendo 's Duck Hunt (1984), pseudo-3D third-person rail shooters such as Sega's Space Harrier (1985) and After Burner (1987), and Taito's Operation Wolf (1987) which popularized military-themed first-person light gun rail shooters. A trend that

6728-555: The Switzerland charts. On the PlayStation Network , the game has reached an estimated total of 3   million players, including an estimated 390,000 monthly active users , as of April 2020. According to SuperData Research 's estimates, Death Stranding sold 477,000 digital copies in its first month on Steam . Kojima stated in May 2020 that the game had sold enough to recoup the development costs and turn

6844-529: The UK, the title debuted at number two on the physical sales chart, outsold by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare . Its sales made it the second biggest PlayStation exclusive debut of the year, behind Days Gone . According to Media Create, Death Stranding also debuted at number one in the physical sales chart for both Taiwan and South Korea. The game also topped the Italian and French selling charts. It placed second in

6960-474: The avatar eats will generate twice as many points as the last. Sometimes action games will offer bonus objects that increase the player's score. There is no penalty for failing to collect them, although these bonus objects may unlock hidden levels or special events. In many action games, achieving a high score is the only goal, and levels increase in difficulty until the player loses. Arcade games are more likely to be unbeatable, as they make their money by forcing

7076-695: The award for "Best PS4 Exclusive" at the IGN Game of the Year Awards 2019, whereas its other nominations were for "Best Music/Score" and "Best Art Direction". Numerous commentators noted that the game's story and gameplay resembled the COVID-19 pandemic . The game's prescient similarities to the pandemic has drawn comparisons to the way in which a previous Kojima game from 2001, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty , had anticipated 2010s phenomena such as fake news and echo chambers . A parody game set in

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7192-407: The bands Silent Poets and Low Roar , to score and enhance specific set-pieces and moments of traversal. When speaking on the use of music, Kojima said the music "would match this harsh but beautiful and pure environmental setting. I also felt somewhat of a connection to Low Roar and the game, the matching of Low Roar's acoustic but digital futuristic sound and the concept of Death Stranding ." After

7308-448: The best player, paving the way for the competitive multiplayer and deathmatch modes found in modern action games. Inspired by Street Fighter II , along with the SNK fighting games Fatal Fury (1991) and Art of Fighting (1992), John Romero created the deathmatch mode in id Software 's Doom (1993), which popularized competitive multiplayer online games . In the 1990s, there

7424-401: The boss. In many action games, the avatar has a certain number of hit-markers or health, which are depleted by enemy attacks and other hazards. Sometimes health can be replenished by collecting an in-game object. When the player runs out of health, the player dies. The player's avatar is often given a small number of chances to retry after death, typically referred to as lives . Upon beginning

7540-464: The cargo was delivered, and if it is intact, among other factors. These merits are, in turn, used to level up the player's statistics, such as stability and weight capacity, and increase their standing with individual locations and characters (which can improve rewards). How cargo is packed by the player, and the overall weight being carried, affect Sam's ability to navigate through the environments. The game extensively uses licensed music, most often from

7656-409: The cast for the game. At the event, a new trailer was shown, showing gameplay for the first time. It revealed that actresses Léa Seydoux and Lindsay Wagner were to be a part of the cast. On September 18, it was announced at Tokyo Game Show 2018 that Tommie Earl Jenkins would portray a key character in the game, and that Akio Ōtsuka , Kikuko Inoue , Nana Mizuki and Satoshi Mikami , veterans of

7772-695: The days following the E3 press conferences, Death Stranding reached the top ten in the most watched video game trailers on YouTube, with more than 4.5 million views. Upon release, Death Stranding received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic . Publications noted a range of reactions from reviewers across the board, with the game being praised for its unique concepts, lasting appeal, graphics, voice acting, and soundtrack, but also being considered to be bloated, frustrating, and slow-paced. Russ Frushtick of Polygon described Death Stranding as "the most advanced walking simulator

7888-469: The death of Low Roar's frontman Ryan Karazija in 2022, Kojima said, "Without [Low Roar], Death Stranding would not have been born." The player's main enemies include otherworldly creatures known as "beached things" (BTs), MULE (a cult of rogue, bandit-like porters influenced by an obsession with cargo, who attempt to steal deliveries so they can deliver it themselves), and Demens, MULEs who have begun killing porters to claim their cargo. BTs are surrounded by

8004-760: The disposal team to an incinerator to dispose of the corpse. However, an encounter with BTs causes a voidout that destroys Central Knot City. Sam revives in Capital Knot City and meets Deadman ( Guillermo del Toro / Jesse Corti ), a doctor from BRIDGES who has Sam deliver morphine to the dying President of the UCA: Sam's adoptive mother, Bridget Strand ( Lindsay Wagner / Emily O'Brien ). Bridget pleads with Sam to rejoin BRIDGES and help realize her dream of "reforming America" before succumbing to her illness. Sam takes her body for incineration but refuses to incinerate

8120-500: The dominant genre in arcades for a few years, before a new genre of character-driven action games emerged in the early 1980s. The term "action games" began being used in the early 1980s, in reference to a new genre of character action games that emerged from Japanese arcade developers, drawing inspiration from manga and anime culture. According to Eugene Jarvis , these new character-driven Japanese action games emphasized "character development, hand-drawn animation and backgrounds, and

8236-593: The east to the west coast of North America. Along the way, he delivers valuable cargo to various Knot Cities and settlements; helps research the Death Stranding with BRIDGES staff such as Mama and her twin sister Lockne ( Margaret Qualley ), Heartman ( Nicolas Winding Refn /Darren Jacobs); and thwarts deadly plots by terrorists and their leader, Higgs Monaghan ( Troy Baker ). While connected to Lou, he occasionally experiences memories depicting Clifford Unger ( Mads Mikkelsen ) and his hospitalized wife and BB child. Sam

8352-441: The game 7 out of 10, Game Informer ' s Matthew Kato wrote that the gameplay "really is as simple as it appears to be, and the elements around it – the story, combat, and lackluster mission objectives – aren't satisfying enough to anchor the title and get players invested." It is the fourth Kojima-directed game and the 26th overall to be awarded a perfect 40/40 score by Japanese video game magazine Famitsu . Death Stranding

8468-466: The game features actors Mads Mikkelsen , Léa Seydoux , Margaret Qualley , Troy Baker , Tommie Earl Jenkins , and Lindsay Wagner , in addition to the likenesses of film directors Guillermo del Toro and Nicolas Winding Refn , as supporting characters. Death Stranding received generally positive reviews. Critics praised its voice acting, soundtrack, visuals, story and multiplayer functionality, with more mixed opinions regarding its gameplay. The game

8584-466: The game had gone gold , meaning that development on it had finished. In October 2019, it was announced that the game would be released on Windows in mid-2020 by 505 Games , confirming rumors about a PC version that had existed as early as 2015. It was released on July 14, 2020. The same month during a segment of Conan , comedian Conan O'Brien revealed that there is a character modeled after him in-game, with O'Brien having been digitally modeled during

8700-525: The game has sold 5 million copies worldwide for the PS4 and PC platforms. The game was criticized for portraying asexuality as a "sexless" lifestyle choice , rejection of emotional relationships , and responsible for the decline of birth rate . In the director's cut , the data log containing these views is revised and contains an attachment that notes the log "advances a controversial thesis widely regarded as unsubstantiated and discriminatory". The game won

8816-487: The game in a specific genre. A teaser was presented during The Game Awards 2017 in December, where Kojima, Reedus and del Toro made appearances. Kojima revealed that the team was unable to do any performance capture or voice-over for the third trailer in time for E3 2017 due to the 2016–17 video game voice actor strike , so it was delayed until the Game Awards. In February 2018, Emily O'Brien and Troy Baker joined

8932-486: The game on their consoles, while 505 Games published all other versions under a license. The game is set in the United States following a cataclysmic event which caused destructive creatures to begin roaming the Earth. The player controls Sam Porter Bridges ( Norman Reedus ), a courier tasked with delivering supplies to isolated colonies and reconnecting them via a wireless communications network. Alongside Reedus,

9048-523: The game to additional platforms, coinciding with the immediate launch of Director's Cut on the Microsoft Store for Windows, Xbox Series X/S consoles, and the Amazon Luna cloud gaming service. The game's announcement at E3 2016 was met with a positive reception. In 2017, Death Stranding was nominated by Golden Joystick Awards in the category "Most Wanted Game". In June 2018, during

9164-459: The genre of "character-led" action games. It was one of the first popular non-shooting action games, defining key elements of the genre such as "parallel visual processing" which requires simultaneously keeping track of multiple entities, including the player character, the character's location, the enemies, and the energizers. Other classic examples of character action games that followed include Nintendo 's Donkey Kong (1981), which established

9280-413: The genre. Players may encounter tactical and exploration challenges, but these games first-and-foremost require high reaction speed and good hand–eye coordination. The player is often under time pressure, and there is not enough time for complex strategic planning. In general, faster action games are more challenging. Action games may sometimes involve puzzle solving, but they are usually quite simple because

9396-421: The last line of the story provide textual evidence for associations of Odradek to religion, or at least cultural traditions. Slavoj Žižek emphasizes in his analysis that Odradek "once had some sort of intelligible shape and is now only a broken-down remnant," and as such it should be part of a whole. The relation between the narrator (a family man, a father) and the creature could be this whole: Odradek might be

9512-420: The level is completed with time remaining, this usually adds to the player's score. In most action games, the player controls a single avatar as the protagonist . The avatar has the ability to navigate and maneuver, and often collects or manipulates objects. They have a range of defenses and attacks, such as shooting or punching. Many action games make use of a powerful attack that destroys all enemies within

9628-488: The memories he has viewed are his own: he is Clifford Unger's son, who Bridget Strand had transformed into one of the first BBs, accidentally killed alongside Clifford during a botched escape attempt, and resurrected by Amelie (which triggered the Death Stranding). The spirits of deceased BBs help save Lou's life, and Sam destroys his UCA cufflinks, going "off the grid" to live a peaceful life raising "Louise". After

9744-547: The mid-1980s, side-scrolling character action games emerged, combining elements from earlier side-view, single-screen character action games, such as single-screen platformers, with the side-scrolling of space shooters. These new side-scrolling character-driven action games featured large character sprites in colorful, side-scrolling environments, with the core gameplay consisting of fighting large groups of weaker enemies using attacks/weapons such as punches, kicks, guns, swords, ninjutsu or magic. The most notable early example

9860-422: The most varied sorts and colors". However, the text makes it explicit that there is no apparent use for the object. As such, scholars such as Samuel Rammelmeier have argued that the obscurity and uselessness of the object serves to create a foil for the narrator. He argues that the object's apparent uselessness, when seen in light of the existential dread pervading the last paragraph, can be understood as underlining

9976-409: The narrator's attempt to make sense of the only additional character, Odradek, and gives a detailed description of the creature in the second paragraph: At first glance it looks like a flat star-shaped spool for thread, and indeed it does seem to have thread wound upon it; to be sure, they are only old, broken-off bits of thread, knotted and tangled together, of the most varied sorts and colours. But it

10092-424: The narrator's lack of purpose. This is an opinion shared by Heinz Politzer when he states that Kafka's absurdist writing emphasizes the meaninglessness of its subjects' lives. Such an interpretation can be compared to the nihilist tone of Kafka's better-known work, The Metamorphosis . Willi Goetschel analyzes "The Cares of a Family Man" from several perspectives. From the perspective of Marxist literary criticism

10208-411: The object as being able to stand upright on two points of the star. In the fourth paragraph the narrator states that Odradek has a lingering presence in his home, often not seen but his presence is noticeable. It is discovered that Odradek can speak, another human capability. Throughout the story, the narrator provides an extensive analysis of Odradek, attempting to emphasize how the object has taken on

10324-531: The past three years, she led an expedition across what is left of the continental United States, making contact with isolated cities and settlements and setting up terminals that would connect them to the Chiral Network: a system that facilitates instant communication and data transfer across vast distances through the Beach. However, upon reaching the last city on the West Coast (Edge Knot City), Amelie

10440-503: The platforming of Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. (1983) with side-scrolling elements from racing game Excitebike (1984) and beat 'em up Kung-Fu Master to create Super Mario Bros. (1985) for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It went on to have a significant impact on the video game industry , establishing the conventions of the side-scrolling platformer sub-genre and helping to reinvigorate

10556-400: The player is under immense time pressure. Players advance through an action game by completing a series of levels . Levels are often grouped by theme, with similar graphics and enemies called a world. Each level involves a variety of challenges, whether dancing in a dance game or shooting things in a shooter, which the player must overcome to win the game. Older games force players to restart

10672-437: The player may need to search for a level exit that is hidden or guarded by enemies. Such levels can also contain secrets—hidden or hard-to-reach objects or places that contain something valuable. The prize can be a bonus (see below) or a non-standard exit that allows a player to access a hidden level, or jump ahead several levels. Action games sometimes offer a teleporter that will cause the player's avatar to re-appear elsewhere in

10788-523: The player to lose the game. Games sold at home are more likely to have discrete victory conditions, since a publisher wants the player to purchase another game when they are done. Action games contain several major subgenres. However, there are a number of action games that do not fit any particular subgenres, as well as other types of genres like adventure or strategy games that have action elements. Character action games , also called "character-driven" games, "character games" or just "action games", are

10904-400: The player's goal of "reconnecting" an isolated and fractured society, to bridge its divides, and to "create new bonds or 'Strands' with other players around the globe." Certain themes and elements of the story were influenced by Kojima's childhood and the deaths of his parents. During Gamescom that year, two more trailers were shown: the first showed one of the key elements of the video game,

11020-407: The player's movement and fire back and a game over triggered by enemies killing the player, either by getting hit or enemies reaching the bottom of the screen, rather than a timer running out. In contrast to earlier arcade games which often had a timer, Space Invaders introduced the "concept of going round after round." It also gave the player multiple lives before the game ends, and saved

11136-420: The purpose of testing physically based lighting. The game entered full development in 2017. A few days before E3 2017 , Kojima announced that the game would not appear during the usual Sony conference. In June, information came from Shawn Layden , president of Sony Interactive Entertainment America, affirming that Death Stranding was in fact in a playable alpha version , but he had not been able to categorize

11252-436: The relation between the house father and Odradek represents the alienated relation between worker and commodities he has produced. The idea that Odradek will survive the narrator and the anguish this situation causes to him can also be interpreted as the idea of commodities being inherited and transcend the worker who made them, but in such a way that the worker himself would be completely ignored. According to Goetschel, from

11368-426: The same level. Levels often make use of locked doors that can only be opened with a specific key found elsewhere in the level. Action games sometimes make use of time restrictions to increase the challenge. However, game levels typically do not react to time passing, and day/night cycles are rare. When the timer expires, the player typically loses a life, although some games generate a difficult enemy or challenge. If

11484-439: The scale of a nuclear bomb, known as a "voidout". They produce rain known as "Timefall" that rapidly ages and deteriorates whatever it hits. These events damaged the country's infrastructure, leading its remaining population to confine themselves to remote colonies known as "Knot Cities", which form the remaining "United Cities of America". These colonies have relied on the services of a company known as BRIDGES, whose porters brave

11600-627: The stairs before the feet of my children and my children's children, trailing a line of thread after him? It's clear he does nobody any harm; but the notion that he might even outlive me is almost painful to me. The narrator fears that this purposeless object will outlive him. The family man, throughout the story, fears that Odradek will attack his role as the family man, the patriarchal figure in society. Odradek appears to represent an object with no clear purpose or apparent use. It appears not unlike an exhausted spool for thread, wound about by "old, broken-off bits of thread, knotted and tangled together, of

11716-563: The stealth genre had not been established. The player controls Sam Bridges, a porter for a company known as BRIDGES. The player is tasked with delivering supply cargo to various isolated cities known as KNOTs, as well as isolated researchers and survivalists, while also connecting them to a communications system known as the Chiral Network. The player is evaluated by the company and recipients based on their performance (including via " likes " similar to social networks), including whether

11832-404: The story might be a critique of capitalism in its last stage. Odradek represents commodities , it is "what is left of life once everything is reduced to materialism". Anya Meksin agrees that this interpretation is possible from a Marxist perspective. Odradek, being made of thread for mending, represents the world of manmade practical objects separated from the human work that produced them, and

11948-539: The story of a criminal, as seen in the popular Grand Theft Auto franchise. Although shooting is almost always a form of violence, non-violent shooters exist as well, such as Splatoon which focuses on claiming more territory than the opposing team, by covering the playable environment with colored paint or ink. Hybrid action games are games that combine elements of action games with elements from other genres. Studies have shown that people can improve their eyesight by playing action video games. Tests by scientists at

12064-441: The template for the platform game subgenre, as well as Konami 's Frogger (1981) and Universal Entertainment 's Lady Bug (1981). Martial arts action games eventually emerged in the mid-1980s, with Data East 's Karate Champ (1984) establishing the one-on-one fighting game subgenre. While Japanese developers were creating a character-driven action game genre in the early 1980s, American developers largely adopted

12180-405: The text's stylistic dryness, a reader who reads the story through an ideological lens may find evidence for any interpretation they may wish to hold. Nevertheless, the story's last passage and its concern with "my children's children", the object's apparent lack of purpose, the ephemeral qualities of Odradek, the religious symbolism of the transverse rod and the star shape, and the mention of death in

12296-426: The trailer. Del Toro and Refn both received a "Special Appearance" credit, with Kojima later explaining that only their likenesses were used and their voice and motion capture were performed by other actors. The same trailer also revealed the release date of November 8, 2019. In an accompanying blog post, Kojima explained that the game's core theme was "the true importance of forging connections with others", referring to

12412-506: The voice actor and model of Veteran Porter, respectively. Phillip North is portrayed by Tommy Wirkola . During the Tokyo Game Show conference, Kojima showed and commented live on a 83-minute video dedicated entirely to the general features of the gameplay of the game. There, Kojima proclaimed that he was open to developing a sequel to further solidify the "strand game" genre. On September 26, 2019, Kojima Productions announced that

12528-437: The world has ever seen", and as being "composed entirely of fetch quests ", but that it was "pretty damn fun once it gets out of its own way". Frushtick argued that the game "felt like two games in one", consisting of "a wholly unique open-world adventure with asynchronous cooperative multiplayer that allows me to feel like I'm part of a community, building a world from scratch" and "a long, confusing, deeply strange movie." Rating

12644-681: Was Irem 's Kung-Fu Master (1984), the first beat 'em up and the most influential side-scrolling martial arts action game. It was based upon two Hong Kong martial arts films, Bruce Lee 's Game of Death (1973) and Jackie Chan 's Wheels on Meals (1984), This side-scrolling arcade action format became popular during the mid-to-late 1980s, with examples including ninja action games such as Taito's The Legend of Kage (1985) and Sega 's Shinobi (1987), run and gun video games such as Namco 's Rolling Thunder (1986), and beat 'em ups such as Technōs Japan 's Renegade (1986) and Double Dragon (1987). Shigeru Miyamoto combined

12760-766: Was a "3D Revolution" where action games made the transition from 2D and pseudo-3D graphics to real-time 3D polygon graphics . 3D arcade system boards that were originally designed for 3D racing games during the late 1980s to early 1990s, such as the Namco System 21 , Sega Model 1 and Sega Model 2 , were used to produce 3D arcade action games in the early 1990s, including 3D rail shooters such as Namco 's Galaxian 3 (1990) and Solvalou (1991), 3D fighting games such as Sega AM2 's Virtua Fighter (1993) and Namco's Tekken (1994), and 3D light gun shooters such as Sega AM2's Virtua Cop (1994) and Namco's Time Crisis (1995). On personal computers ,

12876-447: Was a huge thing", before reiterating that the development team had "just started part two of that". In response, Kojima posted a series of photos on Twitter , cheekily depicting him punishing Reedus for confirming the game's existence. The sequel was teased with images revealed at numerous game expos featuring Elle Fanning , Shioli Kutsuna , and Léa Seydoux . A first trailer for Death Stranding 2 (stylized as DS2 and clarified to be

12992-430: Was also subject to review bombing on Metacritic . In December 2019, the website removed over 6,000 negative user reviews to prevent "potential score manipulation", judging them to be suspicious. In its debut week, Death Stranding was the best-selling physical game in Japan, with Famitsu reporting that the game had sold 185,909 copies. This made it the most successful debut for a new intellectual property in Japan for

13108-553: Was captured by a terrorist group to guarantee Edge Knot City's independence. She pleads for Sam to follow her expedition and complete the Chiral Network, thus "reforming America". As this pilgrimage ends at Edge Knot City, Sam can then rescue Amelie, and she can take Bridget's place as the President of the UCA. Sam reluctantly accepts the mission. Following the instructions of Die-Hardman ( Tommie Earl Jenkins ), Bridget's personal aide and Director of BRIDGES, Sam begins his journey from

13224-408: Was co-producing the film. It was later officially revealed by A24. Action game In an action game, the player typically controls a character often in the form of a protagonist or avatar . This player character must navigate a level , collecting objects, avoiding obstacles, and battling enemies with their natural skills as well as weapons and other tools at their disposal. At the end of

13340-432: Was nominated for and won several awards, including for game of the year . By July 2021, the game had sold 5 million copies worldwide. Numerous commentators later noted that elements of the game resembled the COVID-19 pandemic , which began during the months following its original release. A sequel, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach , is in development for PlayStation 5 and scheduled for release in 2025. A film adaptation

13456-517: Was popularized for action games in the early 1990s was competitive multiplayer , including what would later be known as esports tournaments. The arcade fighting game Street Fighter II (1991) by Capcom popularized the concept of direct, tournament-level competition between two players. Previously, action games most often relied on high scores to determine the best player, but this changed with Street Fighter II , where players would instead challenge each other directly, "face-to-face," to determine

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