How Death Stranding Turns Walking Into an Immersive Experience

gamerant.com:

Underneath its strange world and equally strange characters, Death Stranding is still a «walking simulator» at its core. Players still walk from point A to point B, carrying packages and getting likes from NPCs and other players as a means of motivation. While other video games treat walking and running as passive actions, Death Stranding focuses on making them as engaging as possible.

In a typical video game with controllable characters, players either press a button or tilt the analog stick in the direction they want their character to go. Depending on how hard the button is pressed, or the stick is held, the character either walks or sprints in the assigned direction. That's usually as deep as movement mechanics go at a base level, as players would often rather focus on the more interesting parts of the game. Players still tilt the left analog stick in the direction they want Sam to go in Death Stranding, only this time they have to pay attention to multiple factors.

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First off is the environment, which plays a large role in overall gameplay in Death Stranding. By scanning their surroundings with the Odradek (the fancy scanner that looks like a baby crib mobile), players can distinguish if a piece of terrain is easy, difficult, or downright impossible to walk on. Paved roads and trodden paths make for some of the easiest terrains to pass through, while slopes and deep water force players to find another way around.

Level design is important in Death Stranding, not just because it makes the game unique, but because players are routinely interacting with it. When it comes down to gameplay, the main adversaries of Death Stranding aren't the cargo-obsessed MULEs or