Line #8 YMMV/DeathStranding


1	%% Please don't use spoiler tags to hide content revealed in pre-release material such as trailers.
2	----
3	* {{Adorkable}}:
4	** Sam. Seemingly gruff and stoic, he really shows off his more playful and sweet side in various private room animations and whenever he interacts with BB-28.
5	** Heartman's tendency to give Sam likes and his excitement when he meets Sam for the first time is certainly endearing.
6	** Fragile tends to announce her presence by offering Sam snacks, while using colloquialisms like "Later, alligator," or "See you when I see you!"
7	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
8	** What is Amelie specifically? [[spoiler:Is she a human who was selected by a higher power to be an Extinction Entity? Is she is the God of Death that watches over life and death?]]
9	** Die-Hardman's confession to Sam. [[spoiler: Was he simply telling him this because he was the closest person around? Or is he actually confessing his crimes to the son of the man he murdered? The latter seems more likely given he was there when the infant Sam was killed and resurrected, and knew Bridget adopted him as her own child.]]
10	* AntiClimaxBoss:
11	** The battle with [[spoiler:Higgs]] is somewhat underwhelming considering the build-up. [[spoiler:The first phase consists of just running around the arena [[GetBackHereBoss trying to find him and deliver a melee combo while he sporadically sprays Sam with gunfire]] before he arguably hastens the process by dropping his defenses and running after Sam to knife him in the latter half, and the second phase, while [[CatharsisFactor cathartic]], is pretty difficult to lose unless the player is careless.]]
12	** The final boss, [[spoiler: a massive BT whale]], seems epic at first, but it quickly becomes clear that it poses almost no real threat to you – though your cargo is a different matter – and you’d have to actually be trying to lose the fight. Climb on one of the floating buildings and take shots at it with the numerous rocket launchers you’ll have thrown at you during the battle and it’ll be over in no time, with almost no damage done to you. Of course, you could also consider the final gauntlet of BT's you had to wade through to reach that point to be the ''real'' final boss.
13	* {{Anvilicious}}:
14	** Creator/HideoKojima stated that the theme of the game was making connections, and the game is not at all subtle about slamming the player over the head with a truckload of cargo worth of symbolism in the form of the multitude of rope and hand imagery. This seems to have been deliberate on Kojima's part, given his previous lamentations about how ''VideoGame/MetalGear'''s themes about how WarIsHell and the dangers of nuclear weapons [[MisaimedFandom went over the heads of a lot of gamers who]] [[RuleOfCool just liked the cool futuristic weaponry]].
15	** Much mirth was made of the characters' names and nicknames and how they relate to the characters' histories and occupations. The names aspect is justified due to the setting establishing that one's career and affiliation become part of their legal names.
16	* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Yoji Shinkawa of ''Metal Gear'' fame continues the tradition of ''amazing'' military character designs and creature concepts.
17	* BrokenBase: It's pretty much agreed that the game looks great and has a great soundtrack. However, the gameplay and story aspects are deeply divisive, as shown by the wide gulfs in many of the review scores.
18	** Gameplaywise, it's either an engaging, interesting and genuinely fun slow-paced experience that rewards patience and incentivizes atmosphere, or a boring, grindy and awkward walking simulator that no amount of budget can make less of a slog to get through.
19	** Storywise, most can agree that it's [[QuirkyWork a story so over the top 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.
20	* CatharsisFactor: [[spoiler:Though the fight with Higgs [[AntiClimaxBoss isn't the most challenging]], there's something inherently satisfying about being able to beat the snot out of him in so many ways after all the grief he put you through.]]
21	* CreepyAwesome: Cliff and his entourage of Skeleton soldiers are getting this from the fanbase due to their design being both horrifying, and completely badass.
22	* CryForTheDevil: [[spoiler: Higgs. He’s a legitimately nasty and sadistic villain that puts you through a lot of crap while wanting to end the world and yet, due to his journal entries titled “An Unknown Man’s Journal”, reading how committed he was to bringing the world together before he snapped due to his fellow porters dying and going necro, and hearing about his DarkAndTroubledPast, it’s really no wonder he ended up the way he did.]]
23	* DesignatedLoveInterest: There are also a number of players who initially thought that the Chiral Artist was the Junk Dealer's ''daughter'' and not his missing, presumed-dead girlfriend. The introductory scenes the player sees of her dancing while playing with a toy may have contributed to this impression.
24	* EndingFatigue: The story makes it seem as if Sam's confrontation with Higgs on the West Coast will be the endgame, but then it just keeps going with Sam having to go all the way back to Capital Knot City for a final confrontation with [[spoiler: Amelie]] who then proceeds to give revelation after revelation until the credits roll. ''Then'' you have to make one last delivery after the credits where you are treated to more revelations about [[spoiler: Cliff and his relationship to Sam]] ''and then'' the credits roll one final time... which are then followed by a final, gracefully short cutscene and the set up for the PlayableEpilogue.
25	* EpilepticTrees: It's a Kojima game, and the first non-''Metal Gear''-related one he's produced in over ''half a decade''. Rampant speculation was bound to happen:
26	** Whenever Kojima mentions an actress on his Twitter account, it's quite common for fans to speculate they must have a role in the game.
27	** Prior to release, there was a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb67zAmIx20 major]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_pGz1qpxPQ fan]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESuKiC9vOD4 conspiracy]] holding that ''Death Stranding'' is really a ''Metal Gear Solid'' spin-off in disguise and that Konami and Kojima Productions never truly split up in spite of appearances. Similarly, there are also conspiracies suggesting it's tied to ''VideoGame/SilentHills''. Naturally, both were deemed false upon the game's release.
28	** Kojima has ''[[https://www.gamepur.com/news/29252-death-stranding-information-not-incoming-launch.html stated]]'' that he is purposefully encouraging this out of sheer enjoyment of the fanbase's theorizing:
29	--->“Once the game is completed I believe people will be able to connect all these elements. It’s not that I’m just putting random hints out there - everything comes together. I’m trying to make sure that all the pieces of the puzzle fit in. But if I just give answers to people at this stage? I don’t think that’s very interesting.\
30	We live in a society where any questions you have you can go to the internet and immediately get answers. What is fun? What is not fun? What is in this game? What is not in this game? Everyone asks but that’s exactly what I want people to perceive on their own, because that is what is fun about a video game. I want people to have these conversations to build excitement until they have the final answers. The game hasn’t been completed at this point but we already have some sort of game going on with the fans already.”
31	* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: Seems practically custom-made to generate these interpretations, and the more we learn about the game, the crazier these theories get.
32	* FanNickname:
33	** Due to first trailer suggesting Sam was a MisterSeahorse, some fans have taken to calling this game "''[[{{Squick}} MPreg: The Game]]''". They've also taken to boiling the plot down to "[[RhymesOnADime Norman Reedus and his Funky Fetus]]".
34	** Many just refer to Sam Bridges as Norman Reedus in spite of his character having a name within the game.
35	** Calling the baby "Funky Fetus" or "Norman Fetus".
36	** Some have taken to calling Creator/MadsMikkelsen's character and his undead entourage "Squad leader Mads and the skeleton lads."
37	** Amelie is sometimes referred to as [[Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia Sweet Dee]] due to their similarities in appearance.
38	** The "Beached Things" are antagonistic otherworldy creatures that Sam can encounter and kill. They are officially given the acronym of BT or [=BTs=]. But some fans intentionally spell the latter as "Music/{{BTS}}" in relation to countless fandom puns and [[MemeticMutation memes]] that joke about Norman Reedus having to kill K-Pop members in this game, best exemplified [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7P3JJ-A2p8 in this video's comment section]] and [[https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1632505-death-stranding previous thumbnail]].
39	** "Cry-Hardman" for Die-Hardman's emotional scene towards the end of the game.
40	* {{Fanon}}:
41	** One of the more prevalent theories is that [[spoiler:Lou, the [=BB=] Sam travels with during his expedition actually ''is'' the daughter Sam lost when Lucy decided to kill herself ten years ago, or at least is her reincarnation of sorts. This wouldn't be the first time this universe plays with the concept of coming back from death, Sam's or Mama's case being the most prominent examples. [=BB=] 28 lacks any sort of database info, is compatible with Sam, despite most [=BB=]s being harmful to people with [=DOOMs=], and Sam bonds with her pretty much the second he sees her. There hasn't been any official word confirming or denying this theory, so some people believe it.]]
42	** Deadman's origin is shrouded in mystery; we don't know who created him and with what exact purpose, we just know that he was made in a lab from a [[spoiler:human egg and sperm cell, with the zygote growing up in a UterineReplicator]]. It's theorised that Deadman was an early attempt at making an artificially-grown [=BB=], that couldn't function properly due to a lack of soul, making him useless at detecting [=BTs=].
43	** Heartman's and Fragile's accents, in a universe where air travel is impossible and sea travel likely doesn't exist either, are usually explained by them growing up in secluded prepper shelters, with only their immigrant parents to learn English from.
44	* FoeYayShipping: Higgs has an [[AbhorrentAdmirer obsession]] about Sam that borders on StalkerWithACrush. His bunker is covered in photos of Sam and scribblings on how much he hates him. He actively spies on him and gives him more and more absurd requests related to delivering pizza. He also [[LecherousLicking licks]] him when he's covered in grime and chiralium after getting to Edge Knot city. When he summons [[spoiler: the Extinction Entity]], he grabs Sam by his ponytail and manhandles him around. He also teases Sam mercilesly at different points in the game, calling him "Sammy" and "Samuel". Not a surprise that some fans would thus ship them together.
45	* FriendlyFandoms: The game has garnered comparisons to ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', another introspective Japanese work examining human relationships amid an eldritch apocalypse. In particular, the ending features [[spoiler:a misanthrope being stranded on a beach with red water being given the power to determine the course of another apocalypse. Bridget/Amelie's reluctant role as ApocalypseMaiden and her lifetime of scheming to set up her preferred ending has been compared to Yui/Rei/Kaworu.]]
46	* GameBreaker: The zipline structure, once properly set up, becomes the most efficient method of travel in the game, as it allows you to completely bypass [=BTs=] and rough terrain at high speed without having to sacrifice your cargo. It's also by far the most cost-efficient building in the game, requiring nothing to set up and very little to upgrade. It's upgrades also dramatically increase the distance from which you can zipline, allowing you to set up a network of extremely far apart ziplines that still connect together.
47	** Roads and vehicles are this before the zipline overpowers them. Much like in the real world, a truck can carry more cargo than a person can, and a decent road can take you remarkably close to most delivery points.
48	* GeniusBonus: A particularly sharp-eyed fan noticed that the "dog tags" Sam wears ([[spoiler:the Q-pid]]) have [[https://64.media.tumblr.com/4088ee6b9ecd91f5a7eeadb08ab17823/tumblr_inline_o8s9973tSy1u03axf_1280.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]].
49	* HarsherInHindsight: The game's themes were already extremely relevant to contemporary political and social issues, but things got even more on-the-nose a few months after release. 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/COVID19Pandemic 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.
50	* HePannedItNowHeSucks:
51	** Kojima Productions had mandated that journalists must finish the game before publishing a review; the reviewer for ''Edge'' magazine did not score the game after playing for 40 hours as he hated it too much to complete it. Cue angry responses on Twitter.
52	** [[WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}} Jim Sterling]] didn't finish the game and ended up not thinking much of it, which brought its share of backlash.
53	%%** LetsPlay/{{Videogamedunkey}} absolutely hated the game and gave it a 1/5, his worst ever review for any major title.
54	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Tommie Earl Jenkins' performance as Die-Hardman was widely commended by players, particularly [[spoiler:his gut-wrenching and tearful confession of his involvement in Cliff's death]]. What makes it especially cool is that he did it all in ''one'' take (as shown in the mocap behind-the-scenes video and [[https://youtu.be/Esgfrt6ZWW8 32:18 of this interview]]).
55	* HoYay:
56	** At one point Sam and Deadman take a shower in the same chamber together. Granted, they have all their clothes on, and it's so [[spoiler:Deadman can explain to Sam Bridget's true plans for the [=BBs=] without alerting surveillance]], but nevertheless there's a lot of pressing bodies and faces close together involved.
57	** After the final boss battle, Deadman says something along the lines of "Oh Sam, I could just kiss you right now!"
58	** When Sam and Deadman [[spoiler: are swept away by a supercell that takes them to the WWII era battlefield]], they have a codec call at the start to meet up. Deadman's last words in the conversation sound like a thinly-veiled [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove love confession]]
59	--->Deadman: (...) So I sought solace in the comapny of the dead. But meeting you has opened my eyes. You’re very special, Sam.
60	** One can assume when Die-Hardman admits to having loved [[spoiler:Cliff and Bridget]] that the intention was he meant it in a purely platonic/familial sense, but said statements are delivered with all the [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove gravitas]] more typical of a ''romantic'' confession.
61	** Heartman notes that he gets along with Sam shockingly well, and even throws a few innuendos his way. A post-game email from Heartman notes that he [[spoiler:started a new relationship with a woman named "[[LazilyGenderFlippedName Samantha]]"]], and the game is notorious for its extremely unsubtle use of MeaningfulName.
62	* IKnewIt: Many fans believed that Mikkelsen was involved with the game. The Game Awards 2016 trailer confirmed this.
63	* JustHereForGodzilla: Many are interested in the game just because it stars Creator/NormanReedus and Creator/MadsMikkelsen.
64	* LowTierLetdown: Of the three equippable exo-skeletons, the speed skeleton is usually considered the worst by a large margin. The power skeleton dramatically increases your carrying capacity and is extremely useful in the early game. It somewhat falls off by the time you enter into the mountains, but it can still be useful for other deliveries where the floating carriers and vehicles are bogged down by uneven terrain. The all-terrain skeleton is overall the best, increasing your carrying capacity by a sixty pounds (which is nothing to sneeze at), giving you excellent balance and mobility in difficult terrain, and drains battery extremely slowly. It's also unique among the skeletons in allowing you to equip gear to your hips still, making it easy to order your cargo in an aerodynamic way and allows for easier balancing of your load. To contrast this, the speed skeleton increases your running speed and at level 2 increases your jumping ability. While it also allows for the hip gear slots to remain open, it's doesn't increase your carrying capacity and burns through battery like it's nothing. This ultimately restricts it to use against [=MULEs=], but even then your vehicles can outrun them and you have tons of other options to deal with them. The only possible reason one would want to use it is raiding their encampments, since sprints makes Sam liable to trip if he's uneven terrain. It lags behind the power and all-terrain skeletons as a result, and will likely see little use outside of specific areas that require fast mobility, and even then it's beaten out by the trike in speed.
65	* MagnificentBastard: [[spoiler:President Bridget Strand and Amelie are the Extinction Entity and a being split between the living world and the Beach respectively. Haunted by nightmares of the world's destruction she is destined to bring about, Bridget and Amelie sought to avert the end. Bridget, in the living world, began unethical experiments on Bridge Babies, manipulating the noble Clifford Unger to turn his son into one. Eventually killing him, she inadvertently killed his baby as well and felt so guilty that Amelie repatriated the baby from the Beach, Bridget raising him as Sam Strand -- this unfortunately triggers the titular Death Stranding. Deciding it may be best to put the world out of its misery, Amelie leads an expedition across America to establish the Chiral Network, also recruiting the psychotic Higgs Monaghan and the Homo Demens to destroy her own team and "capture" her. Bridget then coerces her adoptive son/brother Sam to rescue her, finish the network to either initiate the Last Stranding or have Sam kill Amelie to save the world. Sam instead manages to reach Amelie with love and she decides to seal herself away to give the world a reprieve from the inevitable extinction. Bridget/Amelie did terrible things to give humanity just a little more time and ultimately succeeded in her goal of reuniting America and granting humanity hope for tomorrow.]]
66	* MemeticMutation: As natural of a Kojima game. [[Memes/DeathStranding See here]].
67	* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler:While triggering the Death Stranding was accidental on her part, Bridget may as well still have crossed this when she planned to use an infant as a LivingBattery without the father's knowledge (even lying that she's trying to keep his child safe), and shot the father (and the baby, by accident) dead in cold blood when he found out about her true motives and attempted to escape with his son. It's telling that even when she revived the child (which was the catalyst for the Death Stranding to occur) and raised him as her own in atonement, when Sam grew up and learned about what she did, he leaves the government in disgust.]]
68	* {{Narm}}: Hideo Kojima directed this game--at least ''some'' narm is expected.
69	** The prominent Monster Energy tie-in taking place in a post-apocalypse society.
70	** While some of the characters have normal names (Sam, Amelie, Cliff, Higgs), others are on-the-nose descriptive terms like Heartman, Fragile, or Deadman. The most hilarious of these has to be ''Die-Hardman'', which is so 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.]] Even the aforementioned "real" names have {{Anvilicious}} [[MeaningfulName explanations]] that can ruin serious scenes.
71	** A character named "Ludens Fan"? Strange, but not 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.
72	** The enemy faction call themselves ''[[MeaningfulName Homo demens]]'' ("insane man"). In context it makes perfect sense as a spin on the term ''Homo sapiens'', but spoken aloud it sounds a lot like they're saying "[[DepravedHomosexual homo demons]]" instead.
73	** When the main character uses the toilet, he's screened from view by an advertisement for the TV show ''Ride with Norman Reedus''. Of course, Norman Reedus is also playing the main character.
74	** 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. Building an internet helps reconnect America, but saying the same of incinerating the President's corpse just glamorizes dirty work.
75	** The subplot in which [[spoiler: the Chiral Artist and the Junk Dealer reunite]] is a rich, if small, vein of Narm, from her unasked-for expository monologue to a silent Sam, the obvious symbolism of [[spoiler: the hourglass getting broken]], and Sam carrying her to him in ''a body bag''.
76	** 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.
77	** The extreme connection between Mama and Lockne is already... odd (for instance, how they refer to the baby as ''theirs'', when Mama is actually Lockne's surrogate), but things get even weirder when they combine their souls, giving Lockne heterochromia. Then Lockne caresses her own face as a way to "hug" Mama...
78	** The [[RuleOfSymbolism sheer glut of heart imagery]] associated with Heartman is difficult to take seriously. He has a heart deformity that makes it resemble a heart symbol, taking extreme [[ArtisticLicenseMedicine license with biology]]. He also lives next to a heart-shaped tar pit in a heart-shaped area of the chiral network.
79	** Heartman’s "Extinction Entity" theory being shortened to “E. E.” is as awkward as the initialism is in ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty Sons of Liberty]]'', with the added Narm of having the capacity to call back to [[spoiler: [[Narm/MetalGear Otacon crying it out during Emma’s death scene.]]]] Heartman's knowing look through the fourth wall when he first says it doesn't, [[NarmCharm or does]], help.
80	** [[spoiler: Amelie]] delivers a GenericDoomsdayVillain monologue before the fight with Higgs's giant BT, complete with a distorted voice, Higgs' golden skull mask, and vague language surrounding how the "great work" is almost complete. Higgs's "It's [=DOOMSday=]" pun adds a nice touch.
81	** Sam joking to Amelie that their 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.
82	** 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.
83	** 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.]]
84	* NarmCharm: Many people feel that all the aforementioned Narm is a positive; with Kojima games, the utterly bizarre ideas, names, and gameplay is often a big part of why you play in the first place.
85	* NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognize: The strange BRIDGES worker who gives Sam the mysterious package is quite obviously Higgs in disguise, partially because he looks and sounds just like Creator/TroyBaker.
86	* PeripheryDemographic: ''{{Webcomic/Terminal Lance}}'''s author, Maximilian Uriarte, claimed in a half-joking, half-serious manner that ''{{VideoGame/Death Stranding}}'' was "...the most realistic depiction of Marine Corps infantry life I’ve ever seen to date." [[https://terminallance.com/2019/11/12/terminal-lance-anything-you-need/ in a comic]] and [[TheRant its accompanying rant]].
87	* ScrappyMechanic: Whenever you make a delivery, you're treated to a lengthy cutscene of Sam loading the cargo into a tray or shelf, and then it is whisked away into the safehouse or bunker. This cutscene will play out hundreds of times throughout the game as you make delivery after delivery after delivery, with no variation or any interesting storytelling, it's just cargo being moved by machines. When the game was first released, skipping the scenes took at least 3 button inputs [[note]]press 'start', then right to select 'skip', then circle to confirm[[/note]], ''and sometimes there would be more than one cutscene per delivery'' [[note]]especially when recycling[[/note]], which meant you would be doing thousands upon thousands of button inputs just to skip a bunch of pointless cutscenes. Thankfully after a few updates, that input was reduced to just pressing X, but the cutscene would still play for a few seconds before giving you the prompt.
88	** Similarly was the screen effect that Sam would receive every time he entered a BT area, where the whole world would freeze, the camera would zoom in closer to Sam's shoulder, and the odradek would extend and spin very dramatically. After a few times, these scenes would just become tedious, especially when you're driving on the highway on the edge of one of these areas, and your gameplay would constantly be interrupted by something you've probably safely driven past dozens of times before. A patch gave you the option to skip these scenes after the first time you encountered the BT in that area.
89	** With the exception of chiral crystals, you can't withdraw or deposit specific amounts of materials; instead you can only withdraw crates carrying certain set amounts and deposit the entire package. This will leave you in the awkward situation of wasting materials to complete projects (for instance, submitting 50 metal when only 5 are required), and those excess materials truly vanish instead of rolling over into the next upgrade.
90	* SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer: It’s very easy to get sidetracked delivering lost cargo found out in the world, since there’s a lot of it, or gathering materials to build roads, bridges, shelters, or other structures to aid yourself and other players in deliveries.
91	* SlowPacedBeginning: It is strongly recommended not to bother with standard orders until after beating Chapter 3. The reason being that before then you are limited to the linear Eastern Region, and must slog from end to end with few tools at hand. After reaching the Central Region you quickly get access to movement-enhancing skeletons, vehicles, auto road-pavers, and most importantly ziplines. From here on out the gameplay is much smoother, varied, and it's now viable to optimize your route by completing multiple deliveries at once. Premium Deliveries are also unlocked during Chapter 3, which offer far more Likes than standard orders and are needed for achievements.
92	* SpiritualAdaptation: It's a surprisingly loyal video game adaptation of ''Film/ThePostman'' of all movies.
93	* {{Squick}}:
94	** The E3 2016 trailer certainly has a bunch of stomach-churning imagery: the dead sea life, the newborn bawling on the beach while attached to an obviously artificial umbilical cord, Sam's [[NakedPeopleAreFunny bare ass]] covered in handprints and boasting a cross-shaped scar on his stomach hinting at some possible MisterSeahorse shenanigans. This is definitely going to be one of Kojima's weirder games, which given [[VideoGame/MetalGear his]] [[VideoGame/SilentHills pedigree]] is certainly saying something.
95	** The Game Awards 2016 trailer doesn't let up; the brain surgery scar on Creator/GuillermoDelToro's forehead is only the beginning.
96	** The Game Awards 2017 trailer is somehow ''even weirder'', with some stomach churning visuals including the mysterious invisible monsters, the terrifying giant ''with a hand for a head'' dragging people up to a presumed FateWorseThanDeath by umbilical cords, and the baby Norman's character is trying to protect being literally ''down his throat''.
97	** The E3 2018 trailer, while significantly less gross than the previous trailers, still has a cringe-inducing scene of Sam ripping out a toenail, and then a scene at the ending where another character ''eats a giant [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade tardigrade.]]''
98	** The grenades Sam uses to defend himself against [=BTs=] are developed using Sam's own blood, urine, and feces.
99	** Fragile's backstory. [[spoiler:Higgs made her [[FanDisservice run naked... in Timefall rain, making her body from the head down extremely old.]]]]
100	** Mama and Lockne are twin sisters and Mama helped out Lockne with her inability to bear children by [[ExtraParentConception carrying her and her late husband's fertilized egg]] for them. That's fine, but what makes it [[SiblingIncest sound weird]] is the sisters referring to the kid as ''their'' baby.
101	* StoicWoobie: Sam Porter Bridges becomes this when his entire backstory is revealed. [[spoiler: Sam is the biological son of Clifford Unger and his wife Lisa Bridges who after being taken out of his mother's womb was nearly converted into a Bridge Baby to use as part of Bridget's Chiral Network. His father tried to escape with him, only for both him and Sam to lose their lives at the hands of Bridget, though Amelie finds his Ka and grants him his DOOMS abilities and makes him a repatriate. Bridget then adopts Sam and her and Amelie both manipulate him throughout his entire life, guilt tripping Sam into finishing the Chiral Network and making him believe Amelie was kidnapped by terrorists. It's also revealed that years ago Sam lost his pregnant wife Louise which caused a voidout that destroyed their hometown in which he was blamed for and cut his ties with Bridges and his adopted family out of guilt and anger. When Sam finally 'saves' Amelie, he learns the truth about her and in order to save mankind must choose between watching the end of life itself with Amelie or having her sever her Beach from this world and never see her again. He then spends a month wandering the Beach in isolation and even attempts to commit suicide, only for Deadman and Lou to rescue him. Months later, Sam then has to bring the now lifeless Lou to the incinerator and when he pulls into her, learns the truth about his past. He is able to resuscitate Lou and take her out of her pod, but Sam severs all his ties to Bridges for good in disgust for what Bridget/Amelie did to him, having been robbed of his true parents and life choices.]]
102	* TaintedByThePreview: The initial gameplay reveal -- which, bear in mind, was the first look at the game after two years of cinematic trailers and speculation -- was heavy on exploration and light on action, which led to some backlash from people interested in the project and caused some to dub the game a "Walking Simulator." The release date trailer managed to [[WinBackTheCrowd quell most doubts]] by showcasing actual combat.
103	* ThatOneLevel:
104	** "Order #33 - Hourglass Delivery: Chiral Artist": As the name implies, the target cargo is a small hourglass, and it's fragile. Unlike other fragile cargo missions, however, Sam is forced to carry this piece by hand, and the path to the destination is hilly and littered with rocks. If Sam needs to put down the target cargo for any reason, he puts it ''standing up on its side'' and if it so much as tips over, the cargo's destroyed.
105	** "Order #38 - Emergency Provision Delivery: South Knot City": The player is tasked to deliver food and medicine to South Knot City. Sounds easy enough - except [[spoiler:Higgs hands off a nuke to Sam under the guise of a Bridges maintenance worker]]. This extra package is extremely fragile and the shortest route to the objective cuts through MULE territory, which wouldn't be much of a problem if it weren't for the fact that this is also the first mission where [=MULEs=] come armed with [[GrapplingHookPistol Sticky Guns]] to steal cargo from a distance.
106	** All of episode 6. [[spoiler: Deadman takes BB for repairs at the beginning of the episode.]] This translates in gameplay as Sam no longer being able to detect BT’s, and not just not being able to see them when standing still, the scanner won’t even point to whatever direction they’re in, meaning that if you enter BT territory, you won’t know where they are until you bump into one. When not in BT territory, the orders you take on will send you all over the snow covered mountain, which has some of the game's most difficult terrain. You do get the All-Terrain Skeleton in this chapter, though, which makes scaling the mountain much quicker.
107	** 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:
108	*** You have to locate him yourself as there are no missions that take you to his location before you actually meet him.
109	*** He is located high in the snowy mountains amidst craggy rocks making getting to him tricky & risky if you're carrying cargo.
110	*** The region he's in is inside a timefall blizzard which causes your equipment, containers, stamina, and batteries to degrade ''fast''. Your visibility will also be limited due to the blizzard, increasing the risk of you falling off a ledge or wandering onto a steep cliff.
111	*** He won't join the chiral network until Rank 3, and his rank doesn'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.
112	*** His deliveries are all down the mountain you just climbed, meaning you not have to repeatedly traverse all this hostile terrain to make those deliveries, but also to find a place to sleep.
113	** The wind farm. It's basically a bottleneck corridor leading through a [=BT=] infested forest littered with rocks and tree stumps that make it difficult to avoid confrontation. It's one of the earliest places you have to visit, which means you have little to none gear unlocked to aid you. There's also strong wind that makes it very strenuous to travel if you have a lot of packages on you. The location is out of the way, which is both a positive and a negative: positive because you can completely avoid it after you max out the connection level (if you're doing a 100% completion) and there's only one plot-required delivery there, and a negative because you have to go out of your way if you want to max it out, meaning you can't take up more cargo to raise the connection level with another facility on the way. "Fuck the wind farm" became a bit of a meme in the community.
114	** Peter Englert gives many challenging missions to deliver pizza during the post-apocalypse. His third request is the most frustrating. The player has to pick the pizza up at the Timefall Farm, but this time, they have to bring along a bottle of champagne. The champagne is required to be carried in Sam's hands, which means that any vehicles or ziplines are off limits. Even with every road in place, the player will have to dash through at least one mule camp and possibly a BT area to get back to the road system. When the danger is over, Sam now has to walk all the way from the middle of the map to the north, which is ten minutes of tedium.
115	* UglyCute: Delivery drones. They're basically giant robot eyeballs that haul cargo from one place to another using a pair of human-like legs. But their general incompetence at their jobs and the fact that they sing vaguely off-key make them oddly endearing. In a way, they're an alternate universe counterpart to the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series's [[https://metalgear.fandom.com/wiki/Dwarf_Gekko Dwarf Gekko]], especially their more lackadaisical depiction in ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''.
116	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: [[spoiler: A lot of fans felt that way about Amelie and Bridget once it was revealed they'd been EvilAllAlong and had been manipulating Sam from the start to bring about the end of the world. Despite this, the game goes out of its way to try and make you feel sorry for Amelie, portraying her as a PowerfulAndHelpless {{Woobie}} and pinning most of her more deplorable actions on Higgs (ignoring the fact that she basically brainwashed him into working with her). That's not to mention her crimes as Bridget, like trying to use Sam for her experiments when he was still a baby, murdering his father Clifford Unger in cold blood when the latter found out about her plans and tried to save his son from her and her stealing Sam from Unger in the afterlife to quench her own guilt over having accidentally killed Sam along with him.]]
117	* UnintentionallySympathetic: [[spoiler: As a consequence of the entry above, it can make Higgs come across as this. Despite all his deplorable actions, he's also the victim of child abuse and is being actively brainwashed by Amelie. It can make his subsequent humiliating defeat and undignified suicide come across as unwarranted, particularly as he shows immense regret for what he did to Fragile and the fact that he didn't think to seal away Amelie the way Sam did.]]
118	* WinBackTheCrowd: After multiple trailers showcasing abstract imagery and the only "gameplay" trailer showing mostly environmental exploration, people began to grow weary of the mystery surrounding the game. Then came the release date trailer, which not only showcased new gameplay, including combat and driving, but finally provided some concrete details about the plot and setting. Excitement for the game picked right back up. There's also the fact that it confirms that the game ''will be released'' after an extended period of silence led people to believe the game might've fallen into DevelopmentHell.
119	* TheWoobie: Clifford Unger is the definition of being a Woobie. A former Special Forces operative who retired to be there for his pregnant wife Lisa, Cliff's life only got worse when Lisa fell into a coma and became brain dead, leading to their unborn son [[spoiler: Sam]] being removed from the womb and placed in a pod under the lie that they would save him only to secretly wish to convert him into a Bridge Baby. When Cliff's former squad member John[[spoiler:, who would later become Die-Hardman]] tries to help Cliff escape with the BB despite his loyalty to his superior [[spoiler: Bridget]], Cliff has no choice but to MercyKill his wife and is gunned down and forced to barricade himself in their room. Even with John's attempts to try and save his life, Cliff [[spoiler: and his son]] are shot dead, which leads to him becoming a powerful BT consumed by guilt over losing his son and rage against his murderer [[spoiler: Bridget]] for taking him away. [[spoiler: It becomes worse when you see that Amelie resurrects Sam and has Bridget adopted him as her own child, meaning not only did Cliff witness his child being shot, but also had said child stolen from him. Thankfully however when Sam encounters him a third time, Cliff is able to make peace with him and realize that Sam is his son, allowing him to move onto the Other Side.]]

Context YMMV / DeathStranding