The indie title about carrying an RV through a gauntlet of geographical obstacles is on its way to sell many million units, and I get why. Despite its simplicity, RV has a lot of what I’d originally hoped Death Stranding would be, and none of its bloat.
The maturation of platformers from the 2D of Mario and Sonic, to the 3D of Lara, and, well, also Mario, had a huge impact on me and on my love for games in general. The extra dimension, when combined with the graphical boost, naturally led to games that would benefit from a more grounded and realistic approach to platforming.
It was a great time for games, but the genre really hasn't evolved that much since. Even beloved games like Uncharted and Assassin's Creed, the closest we have to AAA realistic platformers nowadays, are pretty much that in name only. Long gone is the need to perfectly time your jumps, as these games care a lot more about a hero that will look cool performing the coolest-looking leaps and automatic ledge-grabs this side of Hollywood.
But maybe my assessment wasn't entirely accurate, because I was simply looking in the right direction. Maybe the evolution of the classic platformer actually ditched platform-hopping and even platforms altogether, instead opting for less obvious geographical obstacles. That's where titles such as Peak, Jusant, and RV shine. Games with fun obstacles that require not just great timing, but actual ingenuity to surpass. These are the true successors of the old platformers, and more.
When I finally learned what Death Stranding's gameplay would be like, over a year after they started promoting it, it rocked my world. A game by Hideo Kojima where the biggest challenge was traversing the world itself? I was immediately sold. Sadly, the series suffers from an inescapable plot that fluctuates between overcomplicated and bizarrely silly.
Subpar action, too. Yes, even if you'll only ever spend full price on a game featuring some sort of armed combat, you can at least agree that the version in Death Stranding is immensely inferior to what we'd seen in Kojima's very own Metal Gear Solid V. It feels like an afterthought, a weird, lingering one, since it remains in its full blandness in Death Stranding 2. The series could do great without combat, or at least without its form of combat, and with its stealth elements, or being the AAA version of Peak and RV.
I'll have Death Stranding 3 anyway
I think Death Stranding and its sequel truly shine when Sam is up against seemingly insurmountable threats that one can actually encounter in the real world. And that's what I want more of from Death Stranding. I want to find a way to go through a massive tornado, perhaps getting the chance to take screenshots while I'm in the eye of the storm. I want the game to task me with going around a volcano mid-eruption. Perhaps even jump over it.
RV, despite its success, doesn't have the budget to do that, or to at least make players get immersed in such a blockbuster event in a way that surpasses Hollywood—something that Kojima Productions definitely could pull off, and that they should pull off, given his undying fascination for all things Hollywood.
With that being said, I'm immensely grateful that Death Stranding exists. Even with all the gameplay compromises it makes to appease the AAA gods, it remains the most daring big-budget series out there, and I'd still have its regular wackiness over seeing it become yet another clone of a bland yearly-slated shooter series.
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