Death Stranding is best kept quiet. It's a game by Hideo Kojima, creator of "Metal Gear Solid," so it's no surprise that it has strange characters, lengthy exposition, and indulgent cutscenes. But it is in the long, quiet moments in between, when you are hiking alone in a desolate and hauntingly apocalyptic wilderness, that the game truly shines. In these moments, "Death Stranding" is unlike anything I have ever experienced in a video game or any other medium.

Not that the plot isn't worth it. When it's not swamped by mind-boggling backstory, it's quite funny and deeply bizarre. You are Sam Porter Bridges (played with strange charisma by Norman Reedus of "The Walking Dead" fame), a courier delivering cargo left behind in America. A supernatural cataclysm called Death Stranding has driven humanity into underground cities, and the barren, desolate surface is plagued by soul-sucking ghosts called BTs and rain that rapidly ages those it touches.

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Your mission is to hike across North America from the East Coast to the West Coast, connecting scattered settlements to the Chiral Network, the spiritual successor to the Internet. Why Sam. He's a competent porter, with a reputation for delivering things on time. But more importantly, he can detect otherwise invisible BTs with the help of a little creepy baby wedged into his chest. Although one character insists that the so called bridge babies are merely equipment and not people, Sam can't help but bond with this creepy baby. And Sam is immortal and, as his boss casually puts it, the perfect candidate to make America whole again.

In Death Stranding, you spend most of your time outdoors, moving slowly from one place to another. The game is essentially a long-form fetch quest. But the environment and the many challenges it throws at you make these journeys worth enduring. This magical Scandinavian landscape is serene and beautiful, grand in scale and bewitching. As you trek across the continent, you will see huge cascading waterfalls, snow-capped mountains, steam-spewing volcanic crevices, raging rivers, dense forests, and spacious meadows.

But it is more than just a spectacle. Death Stranding secretly excels as a hiking and mountaineering simulator, with every rough terrain you encounter unraveling like a puzzle. In a hurry, Sam stumbles, stumbles, loses his balance, gets swept away by a fast-moving river, or slides down a steep slope, losing or damaging his cargo in the process. The result is lost or damaged cargo. Navigating this rugged and unpredictable terrain, carefully plotting a course and picking a path without dropping the unstable load balanced on one's back, is challenging and painstaking work, but also extremely rewarding.

Some tasks seem impossible. Standing at the foot of a mountain, snow blowing at the top, fragile cargo stuck in every corner of your suit. But one step at a time, we move forward, patiently climbing ladders and ropes as we approach our destination. Along the way, they may have to switch to Metal Gear mode to sneak past BT or deal with extreme weather conditions, such as a phantom blizzard. You might be knocked unconscious by terrorists and have your cargo stolen, forcing you to sneak into their camp and retrieve it. But only by overcoming such things will you be able to feel incredible.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it is. But what I love about Death Stranding is that they gradually make things easier by giving you new gadgets and tools little by little. As you progress through the story, you unlock an almost overwhelming number of kits, including power gloves for faster climbing, blood grenades to kill BT (don't ask), and mechanical exo-skeletons to handle more weight, take on tougher terrain, and run faster! . In addition, vehicles such as electric trikes are available. However, since they can only carry so much at a time, there is a strategic element to deciding which gear to take with you or away from before embarking on a lengthy delivery.

But you're never alone; Death Stranding's most overt theme is "connection," and it shows in the brilliantly clever asynchronous multiplayer. As players move through the world, dropping ladders and ropes or using a device called a PCC to build bridges across rivers, generators to charge batteries, zip lines, roads, and other useful objects, they appear in other people's games. Everywhere you go, you see the traces of other porters, and when you find a rope left behind by a fellow climber while struggling up a mountain, you can save yourself the trouble of climbing. And "Like", a kind of social XP! to show your appreciation.

Later in the game, both lethal and non-lethal weapons are unlocked, but I was impressed that I was able to play most of Death Stranding without using them at all except in unavoidable situations. there are dozens of ways to deal with BTs and terrorists, but just There is always the option of avoiding them. Sneaking through the terrorist camps, the DNA of "Metal Gear Solid" is strongly felt. The character movements and weapons feel similar to MGSV. But other than that, it's a completely different game, with a surprising range of non-violence.

Unfortunately, the story is Death Stranding's weak point. The big picture is great, and Sam's mission to connect fractured civilizations is an effective hook. However, many of the details are told in uninteresting ways: long, overwrought cutscenes, overly long text-laden emails, and rambling radio chatter. Mythology is a soup of inexplicable nouns, and despite the extraordinary reality in the characters' tearful faces, I found it hard to love them. The cast is excellent. Mads Mikkelsen is a charming and charismatic villain, and Léa Seydoux's performance as fellow courier Fragile has a convincing otherworldliness.

Thankfully, most of the game is spent delivering packages on site and fighting the elements. However, the endless parade of cinematics at the end of the game tested my patience greatly. That said, there were plenty of memorable set pieces and moments. The frequent use of songs by Low Roar, an American-Icelandic post-rock project by musician Ryan Karadzija, is tasteful. These ethereal pieces of music are often played at the end of long journeys, when the camera pulls back to reveal the landscape. And even when the story is pinching, "Death Stranding" is mesmerizing to watch.

Cutscenes are long and self-indulgent, but feature truly imaginative and trippy visuals, and it is rare that something so offbeat and surreal is made on a budget usually reserved for high-end blockbuster action games. The mechanical design, led by Yoji Shinkawa, who has worked with Kojima for many years, is also consistently impressive. Sam's equipment, the vehicles he drives, and the structures he builds all have a unique and singular high-tech aesthetic. This is a luxury game in every respect, and when played on a 4K high-end PC, you can really feel it. This is without a doubt the best version.

I can see why Death Stranding is a controversial game, but any misgivings I have are ultimately erased by the sheer splendor of hiking through a sweeping, desolate wilderness. It is an incredibly slow game, with an almost comical amount of backtracking, especially towards the end. Yet somehow, it keeps you on your toes until the very end. Admittedly, a ponderous delivery simulator will be a hurdle for many. But if you appreciate a game that defies genre, rewards patience, and isn't afraid to get weird, Death Stranding is a wild ride worth taking, even if you stumble along the way."