I just watched YongYea's review of Death Stranding. From what I can gather from this review, the gameplay is an engrossing experience that may not be for everyone. As I suspected, the plot centers around Sam, a "Porter" or delivery man in the post Death Stranding event world. The Death Stranding event itself was an event that blurred the lines between Life and death and became a supernatural link between our world and the world of the dead. The theme is connections, with Porters being the highly sought after threads that connect these isolated settlements. Now all of this echoes the concern of many people I've seen here who believe it is an empty and desolate walking simulator. However, in most walking simulators there is the simple mechanic of push forward on the stick, according to Yong; this is not the case, things like balance, a shifting load and terrain play a hug part in your traversal of the world. Very few NPC's are actually present in the game world with most being represented through a rather impersonal Hologram system. At the beginning you are co-opted by your former allies to continue the work to connect people to the Chiral Network a sort of supernatural internet, made possible by the Death Stranding. Your major adversary is the environment, and all of your stats and advancements are built around overcoming it's challenges. I see a lot of potential in this game, and regardless of how empty the world looks, it may not be as negative an aspect as one might think. If the controls are engaging, and require you to be more concious of your controlling of Sam, it may not matter much; especially if a chance fall or injury can happen at an inopportune time. Yong states that the terrain does not give you a lot of time to get comfortable with any mode of transportation, whether walking or riding. a fascinating aspect of this game is the social strand system. Once you have connected an area to the chiral network (provided you have an internet connection) you begin seeing structures left by other players that may be beneficial to you, such as charging stations for your battery powered equipment. This is all based on the words of a Youtuber and I plan to create my own review once I have had the chance to take my own plunge into this world. Yong ends with the statement that the game is engrossing and artfully made, but may not be for everyone.