History YMMV / DeathStranding

*** In one of Deadman's emails, he recommends the movie "Film/TheShapeOfWater" as "just a romantic movie" to him. This is, of course, a reference to Creator/GuillermoDelToro, after which Deadman was modeled after, but it gets mor interesting if you look into the similarities between the main couple in the movie and Sam and Deadman. The movie follows a quiet girl who falls in love with a monster, a figure Deadman can probably associate himself with, due to his origin. It's like Deadman is hoping Sam will pick up on the movie's characters as a metaphor for the two of them.

* FriendlyFandoms: The game has garnered comparisons to ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', another introspective Japanese medium about an eldritch apocalypse. In particular, the ending explaining [[spoiler:Bridget/Amelie and her/their status as an Extinction Entity has been compared to Yui/Rei/Kaworu.]]

** Jim Sterling (of ''WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}}'' fame), an admitted long-time ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' fan, is very open about finding little to enjoy in the game during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hy87yKfXn0 his review]]. He makes a comparison to ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' since both games have, in his opinion, an obsession with "detail" and "realism" at the expense of actually being fun and engaging to play.[[note]]Unsurprisingly, Jim also has his own 8.8 entry on that game's YMMV page.[[/note]] Jim's usual viewership generally agreed with the review (with some begrudgingly accepting that the game simply wasn't his style); elsewhere on the Internet, unsurprisingly, Jim was thrown in with the likes of incompetent game journalists by rabid Creator/HideoKojima fans, despite his insistence that the review was nothing personal against Kojima Productions and that he was in fact glad that Kojima was able to put a game that was true to his artistic vision.

*** After the final boss battle, Deadman says "Oh Sam, I could just kiss you right now!"

* {{Narm}}: Hideo Kojima directed this game--at least ''some'' narm is expected:
** The prominent monster energy drink tie-in taking place in a post-apocalypse society.
** While some of the characters have normal names (Sam, Amelie, Cliff, Higgs), others have names that are rather strange and somewhat narmy, like Heartman, Fragile, or Deadman. The most hilarious of these has to be ''Die-Hardman'', which is so utterly ridiculous that it detracts from his otherwise imposing appearance and personality, and brings to mind Hot Coldman from ''Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker''. [[spoiler:While the last turns out to be just a codename (his real name is the much less ridiculous John), it's still a pretty absurd codename.]]
** A character named "Ludens Fan"? Strange, but not overtly moreso than the aforementioned strange names. Said character being modeled after games journalist Geoff Keighley? Even stranger, but this game does seem to be filled with cameos from Kojima's friends. Said character not being voiced by Keighley but rather ''Creator/MatthewMercer'', whose voice is at least an octave lower than Keighley's? Utterly ridiculous.

** Sam joking to Amelie that their [[RelationshipWritingFumble relationship]] is like "Mario and Princess Peach", then Amelie proceeds to make some more philosophical and term-heavy talk before serenely saying that in order to leave the Beach, they have to run on it together like "Mario and Princess [[IncrediblyLamePun 'Beach']]". Cue Sam and Amelie gleefully running across the shore together in slow-motion, with Amelie in high heels.
** Who are the five figures? [[spoiler:Living beings selected to become [[ApocalypseMaiden Extinction Entities]], who each caused one of the five major extinctions in the history of life on Earth. Yes, now imagine a single bacteria cell, an ancient roly-poly, or a stegosaurus showing up on a Beach and having no idea what the hell is going on.]]
** The name of Cliff's wife is Lisa, alright, but he also affectionately calls her... WesternAnimation/{{Anomalisa}}, which is such an obscure reference that it sounds like your typical over-the-top real name for a Kojima character.

** The amount and kinds of hearts that are associated with Heartman is rather ridiculous. The repeated shocks to his heart deforming it into the shape of a heart is absurd [[ArtisticLicenseMedicine license with biology]], but him living next to a heart-shaped tar pit and in a heart-shaped piece of the chiral network has no explanation whatsoever [[RuleOfSymbolism aside from it connecting to his name]].
** [[spoiler: Amelie]] gives something of a GenericDoomsdayVillain monologue before the fight with Higgs's giant BT, complete with a distorted voice and mask that is supposed to be creepy and vague language surrounding how the "great work" is almost complete. Higgs's "It's [=DOOMSday=]" pun adds a nice touch.
** In spite of how much Cliff wants to get his baby back because it is his child, he usually refers to it with its equipment name, "BB". When he says things like "Where is my BB?" during his boss fights, it sounds like he is paternally upset by the loss of a tool.

** You can't withdraw or deposit specific amounts of materials (Metal, Ceramics, etc...); instead you can only withdraw crates carrying specific set amounts and deposit the entire package. This can leave you in awkward situations where you have to waste a bunch of materials in order to complete a project, such as a segment of the road because it only needs 5 more metal and you have to withdraw 50. Even worse is that materials above the necessary amount you need don't roll over to the next upgrade tier and are lost.

** Sam and Amelie are supposed to be siblings [[spoiler:(though [[NotBloodSiblings not related by blood]])]], but when Amelie was introduced, many viewers mistook her for Sam's estranged ''wife''. It doesn't help that Sam later sardonically compares their dynamic to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario and Princess Peach]]. Amelie and Fragile's chilly interactions on the Beach, and Kojima's own comments, make it feel like they're fighting over Sam in a ''love triangle''. To top it all off, it turns out [[spoiler:Amelie and Bridget -- Sam's ''adoptive mother'' -- are one and the same]], further complicating things.

** Sam and Amelie are supposed to be siblings [[spoiler:(though [[NotBloodSiblings not related by blood]])]], but when Amelie was introduced, many viewers actually her for Sam's estranged ''wife''. It doesn't help that Sam later sardonically compares their dynamic to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario and Princess Peach]]. Amelie and Fragile's chilly interactions on the Beach, and Kojima's own comments, make it feel like they're fighting over Sam in a ''love triangle''. To top it all off, it turns out [[spoiler:Amelie and Bridget -- Sam's ''adoptive mother'' -- are one and the same]], further complicating things.

** Sam and Amelie are supposed to be siblings [[spoiler:(though [[NotBloodSiblings not related by blood]])]], but when Amelie was introduced many viewers actually mistook her for Sam's estranged ''wife''. It doesn't help that Sam later sardonically compares their dynamic to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario and Princess Peach]]. Also not helped that Kojima compared Sam's relationships with Amelie and Fragile to a ''love triangle'' months before the game's release and that it turns out [[spoiler:Amelie and Bridget -- Sam's ''adoptive mother'' -- are one and the same]], further complicating things.

** You can't withdraw specific or deposit specific amounts of materials (Metal, Ceramics, etc...) and can only withdraw them in amounts that the game allows you to. This can leave you in awkward situations where you have to waste a bunch of materials in order to complete a project, such as a segment of the road because it only needs 5 more metal and you have to withdraw 50. Even worse is that materials above the necessary amount you need don't roll over to the next upgrade tier and are lost.

** Who are the five figures? [[spoiler:Living beings selected to become [[ApocalypseMaiden Extinction Entities]], who each caused one of the five major extinctions in history of life on Earth. Yes, now imagine a single bacteria cell, an ancient roly-poly, or a stegosaurus showing up on a Beach and having no idea what the hell is going on.]]

* HarsherInHindsight: A major aspect of the game's setting is that the Death Stranding has led to the survivors bunkering down in safe locations and avoiding physical contact with one another, mostly relying on digital avatars to communicate, while transport of physical goods would be handled by deliverymen decked out in protective gear. Mere months after the game's release the UsefulNotes/CoronavirusDisease2019Pandemic eventually led affected countries to pursue the policy of social distancing to minimize further spread of illness, in which people were encouraged to sequester themselves in safe locations to avoid physical contact with each other and rely on digital media to communicate, while transport of physical goods would be handled by deliverymen decked out in protective gear.

*** Funny enough, this is the only IGN video in YouTube to have an equal amount of likes and dislikes, further amplifying the polarizing nature of the game.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** A major aspect of the game's setting is that the Death Stranding has led to the survivors bunkering down in safe locations and avoiding physical contact with one another, mostly relying on digital avatars to communicate, while transport of physical goods would be handled by deliverymen decked out in protective gear. Mere months after the game's release the UsefulNotes/CoronavirusDisease2019Pandemic eventually led affected countries to pursue the policy of social distancing to minimize further spread of illness, in which people were encouraged to sequester themselves in safe locations to avoid physical contact with each other and rely on digital media to communicate, while transport of physical goods would be handled by deliverymen decked out in protective gear.
** In another staggering bout of foresight by Kojima, the premise of "delivery-men" as the last bastion of America and the importance of "connections" that are necessary to support each other was, at first, the subject of exaggeration and memes but becomes a lot more poignant after current events in the US where the United States Postal Service is being dismantled in lieu of the upcoming Presidential Election, which jeopardizes many peoples' ability to cast a ballot. In essence, the delivery-people are now being hailed as the last bastion towards a fair democracy and many are now realizing the importance of connections, both physically and otherwise.

* HarsherInHindsight: A major aspect of the game's setting is that the Death Stranding has led to the survivors bunkering down in safe locations and avoiding physical contact with one another, mostly relying on digital avatars to communicate, while transport of physical goods would be handled by deliverymen decked out in protective gear. Mere months after the game's release the UsefulNotes/CoronavirusDisease2019Pandemic eventually led affected countries to pursue the policy of social distancing to minimize further spread of illness, in which people were encouraged to sequester themselves in safe locations to avoid physical contact with each other and rely on digital media to communicate, while transport of physical goods would be handled by deliverymen decked out in protective gear.

** Jim Sterling (of ''WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}}'' fame), an admitted long-time ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' fan, is very open about finding little to enjoy in the game during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hy87yKfXn0 his review]]. He makes a comparison to ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' since both games have, in his opinion, an obsession with "detail" and "realism" at the expense of actually being fun and engaging to play.[[note]]Unsurprisingly, Jim also has his own 8.8 entry on that game's YMMV page.[[/note]] Jim's usual viewership generally agreed with the review (with some begrudgingly accepting that the game simply wasn't his style); elsewhere on the Internet, unsurprisingly, Jim was thrown in with the likes of incompetent game journalists by rabid Creator/HideoKojima fans, despite his insistence that the review was nothing personal against Kojima Productions.

** While he's not a 'level', The First Prepper is ''the'' most annoying prepper you will encounter in the entire game, especially if you want to link up the entire chiral network and five-star every location. First off, you have to locate him yourself, as there are no missions that take you to his location before you actually meet him. Secondly, he is located high up in the snowy mountains amidst a lot of craggy rocks, which makes getting to him incredibly tricky and risky if you're carrying cargo. Third, the region he's in is often inside a timefall blizzard, so even if you can get there, your equipment, containers, stamina, and batteries are going to degrade ''fast'', and your visibility is limited, increasing the risk of you falling off a ledge or wandering onto a steep cliff. But even if you prepare for all that and get to his location, you are faced with what makes him truly exasperating: He won't join the chiral network until Rank 3, and his rank won't increase normally. You have to make a delivery or complete a mission, sleep until he sends you an email, then read the email before he will increase his rank, and he only increases one rank at a time. This means 1) you can't just turn in a bunch of lost cargo and complete several missions in one go to instantly get to Rank 3 with him, and 2) you are stuck, in the high mountains that is inaccessible to bikes or trucks, ''unable to build any structure in his territory''. That means no recharge stations to charge your batteries, no timefall shelters to repair your containers, and, most frustrating of all, no ziplines to easily get in and out of his location. You have to walk down the very steep mountains to get out of his zone, recover cargo or do his missions, then walk back up in the deep, blinding blizzard, then walk down the mountains to a safe house to rest, then back up to him, rinse and repeat several times before you can unlock the ability to build structures.

* FriendlyFandoms: The game has garnered comparisons to ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', another introspective Japanese medium about an eldritch apocalypse. In particular, the ending explaining [[spoiler:Bridget/Amelie and her/their status as an Extinction Entity has been compared to Yui/Rei/Kaworu.]] Additionally, like ''Evangelion'', ''Stranding'' has also attained cult status and a divisive reception.

* GeniusBonus: A particularly sharp-eyed fan noticed that the "dog tags" Same wears ([[spoiler: the Q-pid]]) have [[http://img.kojimaproductions.jp/img/works/modal/menu-img-01.png equations engraved on them.]] Some fans were able to figure out that they are [[http://mokadara.tumblr.com/post/145930543457/death-stranding-and-quantum-physics related to black holes and quantum physics]]; [[spoiler: the chiral network uses the time and space-related unusual properties of the Beach to transmit data]].

* GeniusBonus: A particularly sharp-eyed fan noticed that the Q-pid have [[http://img.kojimaproductions.jp/img/works/modal/menu-img-01.png equations engraved on it.]] Some fans were able to figure out that they are [[http://mokadara.tumblr.com/post/145930543457/death-stranding-and-quantum-physics related to black holes and quantum physics]]; the chiral network uses the time and space-related unusual properties of the Beach to transmit data.

* GeniusBonus: A particularly sharp-eyed fan noticed that the metal "dog tags" Sam's wearing have [[http://img.kojimaproductions.jp/img/works/modal/menu-img-01.png equations engraved in them.]] Some fans were able to figure out that they are [[http://mokadara.tumblr.com/post/145930543457/death-stranding-and-quantum-physics related to black holes and quantum physics.]]

** Storywise, most can agree that it's [[WidgetSeries a story so ridiculously stupid that it could only have been written by Hideo Kojima.]] Whether it's the ''good'' kind of weird, with a likable cast of eccentrics and a [[NarmCharm charmingly awkward]] approach to the complicated themes, or the ''bad'' kind, with a nonsensical stew littered with obnoxiously {{Anvilicious}} references and uncharismatic protagonists, is up to debate.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Yoji Shinkawa of ''Metal Gear'' fame continues the tradition of ''amazing'' military character designs and creature concepts.

** As Sam puts it, the repetitive talk about reconstructing America by the UCA and BRIDGES sounds a lot like a feverish cult. This language can get particularly ridiculous when it gets tied to what Sam can or must do. Build an internet helps reconnect America, but saying the same of incinerating the President's corpse just glamorizes dirty work.

** Fans were a little leery of ''Famitsu''[='=]s [[https://screenrant.com/death-stranding-famitsu-review-score-perfect-japan-conflict-interest/ perfect 40/40 score]] when it was discovered that the man who wrote the review, Hirokazu Hamamura, made a cameo in the game as an NPC. He also has a history of getting himself into conflict of interest-related issues as he also gave ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' a 40/40 after appearing in an advertising campaign for it.

* HilariousInHindsight: Particulars notwithstanding, the idea of "needing to stay quiet when an unseen monster that uses sound to hunt is nearby" becomes this after the release of ''Film/AQuietPlace''.