With Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima has set out to create a world rife with unimaginable bounds. Asynchronous multiplayer, a whole new way of experiencing online gameplay, will connect every player by together evolving the world around them and assisting each other with travel in many interesting capacities.
The 48-minute gameplay demo revealed much of the intricate details concerning what this game really is. Players will have the option to lend a hand to their counterparts via left supplies. In turn, those who find the item will leave a like and may eventually do the same for someone else. Such items that can be left behind include ladders, shoes, weapons, vehicles, and so much more. While every gaming style may differ in a variety of ways, Death Stranding will draw them all together into one coherent playthrough.
As areas on the map become more and more traversed, they will eventually soften. Some players will build roads and highways, alone or with others, connecting the game's various locales with an interesting (if not insane) multiplayer aspect. Signs and other warning beacons can be placed all about the world to stave off threats for the more adventurous types. Structures can also be built along with others by leaving supplies at certain building sites, lending a hand in the actual reconstruction of the devastated in-game world.
And, it doesn't stop there, as even during tough boss fights, players can call into being ghost-like apparitions (Kojima coined a "Strand") which are multiplayer individuals. Though they won't directly help with combat, they can assist players by tossing necessary items. It might very well be the difference between life and death—or, at least in the world of Death Stranding, the difference between life and a "void out."
In an article with Game Informer, Kojima explains:
"If you just use [something another player placed], one like will be sent automatically. But also you can send more, like a tip."
This "tip system" will redefine how every player experiences both singleplayer and multiplayer capacities, now both wrapped into one. Like literal strands, every player is drawn into one space: a near-future dystopian America that is the world of Death Stranding. Interaction plays a huge role in the game, with a system for likes and in-game multiplayer mail, plus continuous world-evolution. With this, Kojima has gone the extra mile in servicing a whole new genre in gaming.
Envisioning a title with a variety of different touches, from designer collaborations to Hollywood stars, Kojima has delivered by also fusing a social media aspect that will, in essence, extricate singleplayer solitude. Though there are many gamers out there still wary about his forthcoming project, believing it to be a mere walking simulator, true Kojima fans can see through the layers of the game. It's one of the few contemporary titles that will go above and beyond at delivering something of an experience never quite seen before.
Come November 8th, every player will be among a complex strand of open-world gamers.