Death Stranding Review Embargo Date Has Been Revealed

Death Stranding is one of the most anticipated PS4 exclusives set to launch this year. The reviews for the game are apparently arriving a full week before launch.

[criticalkare]

Wow 7 days before the release

[affrogamer]

That Kojima Konfidence!

[AspiringProGenji]

Confident By Kojima

[ilikestuff]

I wonder when the reviewers get the game, how long they get to play it before reviewing it, if it’s said it isn’t fun until halfway through and the reviewers rush out the reviews and only play for 5 or ten hours and bomb the game. I don’t know, I used to love kojimas work, didn’t like phantom pain however, was rooting for this game but to me it doesn’t look that good. I want to be wrong, hopefully I am. Guess we’ll see 7 days before the release date.

[carcarias]

Hehe, nice, sounds like an aftershave :)

[NecrumOddBoy]

Damn it! This is great but that means spoilers, street broken dates with uploads, and more will flood the internet faster. Media blackout!

[goldwyncq]

A Hideo Kojima Review Embargo

[rainslacker]

Reviews written and Directed by Hideo Kojima

[MasterCornholio]

Read the review and you will face death in 7 days.

[sprinterboy]

Kojima will want people to have proper time with it I guess plus its a good indication of game length.

[IamTylerDurden1]

Wow, they have faith in it. Risky, but it's a good sign. Then again, Concrete Genie's embargo was only lifted when the game launched yet it's really good and reviewed well. However, this is a great sign and the last PS4 exclusive that had the embargo lifted a full week before release was God of War PS4.

[rainslacker]

Quick....find something that's been downgraded so we have something to hate on!!!

I did the counts. The babies eyelashes have 3 less hairs, and that smoke particle effect isn't quite as black as before.

More seriously, I think the game is going to be an experience. There are those now that like to hate on Kojima, because at some point it became the cool thing to do around the MGS5 release. But the man is a legendary game designer for a reason.

[KingKelloggTheWH]

Pretty surprising for modern games. So many are afraid to let them in the wild.

[mockzer0]

I really can't wait to see what people think of this game. The latest trailers have given me hope for a really engaging story.

[2pacalypsenow]

Excellent

[NarutoFox]

Awesome

[Exvalos]

Welp I been saying this game will get a 95, a week release date embargo cements this.

[Jin_Sakai]

I highly doubt it will get a 95. If I had to guess I’d say it will get between an 85 and 90 Metacritic.

[UltraNova]

Don't count on it....its a new concept. I don't expect high praises and I don't care personally.

[DarXyde]

I'm willing to bet Slant wil be the lowest review.

They love to be edgy, which is hilarious since Edge magazine doesn't try to be.

[IamTylerDurden1]

I doubt 95, the media has been far too critical to give Death Stranding that score even if it deserves a 95.

The media rarely shows themselves up. If they've been attacking a game or a developer for months prior to launch they are less inclined to score the game as high as it deserves. We've seen it time and time again.

- Wolfenstein The New Order -
Received a 78 because critics thought it would be a shallow shooting gallery stuck in the past. I remember Machine Games at a conference showing off the mission where you steal helicopter plans and the media was so smug and condescending. The openly mocked the clip and the game. But New Order released and it was anything but shallow, instead, it was the blueprint for how to do great sp FPS. The game was very good, but critics scored it as if it was merely "pretty good". Anything under an 80 is a travesty imo, but, luckily they gave New Colossus the scores that New Order deserved. Both Wolfenstein games deserved mid to high 80's.

- Detroit Become Human -
The industry had launched an assault on Cage and Quantic prior to release, due to political views. That, combined with lackluster scores from Beyond put the media on a path to destroy the upcoming game. To their surprise Detroit was excellent and probably the best narrative driven adventure game seen in the modern era. Yet, to save face the game was rated a 78. The sad part is that most Tell Tale games and Life is Strange Before the Storm actually scored better while being dramatically inferior in nearly every way. Lets look

Life is Strange Before the Storm/Tell Tale vs DETROIT

Visuals? DETROIT

Choice? DETROIT

Polish? DETROIT

Acting? DETROIT

Story? It's debatable, but i'd say DETROIT in spades because the only Tell Tale games with even a good story are Wolf Among Us and maybe TWD1, but even so, it was more so that the characters were engaging rather than a well crafted narrative that you could actually shape. The original Life is Strange was endearing and it had some compelling narrative moments, but Before the Storm was a mediocre character study that boiled down to calling your stepdad an ass-hat and getting expelled. It was weak sauce for angry 14 y/o girls. Straight up. Name one damn thing that game did well.

Production? DETROIT

Gameplay? The gameplay is limited due to the genre, but at least DETROIT had meaningful choice and more open environments. DETROIT also used an incredible chart to assess your choices and had an overall superior gameplay experience.

Replayability? DETROIT in spades

DETROIT looks better, runs better, has more choice, more meaningful choices, higher production value, better acting, stronger themes, better score ect. If you want to say Detroit was more expensive, ok, but there is also more than twice as much game. It's a travesty that Guardians Tell Tale on PS4 has the same Metacritic as Detroit. I played Guardians of the Galaxy on PS4 and while i like the Guardians in film and print, the game is utter shit. It just is. It's a piece of shit that doesn't deserve a 68 let alone a 78. It's a joke that it scored as well as Detroit. Guardians Tell Tale had terrible visuals, voice acting, gameplay, lack of choice, tiny environments. The only saving grace was Rocket via Nolan North. It deserved a 60.

- Days Gone -
Critics Were sceptical from the jump and it showed. RE2 was showered with praise while Days Gone was criticised for being another Zombie game and too generic. Yet it incorporated heavy survival with fantastic motorcycle traversal and groundbreaking horde gameplay. All that combined with a deep, well acted narrative. Days Gone deserved better.

[Pyrofire95]

Such science.
I'm sure you've run tests.
But this a is bigger quandary, like it REALLY matters what the metacritic score is. Predicting metacritic isn't some meta game in itself neither is flooding it with first impressions or mass rating 1s or 10s to get it to the score you want. It's just another system that's been broken by a broken society.
Today while making clam chowder I made a horse with a big dick with parsley flakes.

[ShinjukuSon]

87-94

[rainslacker]

Doesn't matter really does it? So long as there is one or two negative reviews which are obviously going to be the only valid ones.

[sagittariusboy]

Kocky Kojima at it again

[IRetrouk]

I don't really use reviews to be honest, but it does show confidence, really looking forward to digging into this one.

[Xack]

7 days before launch is surprising. Thought Sony/Kojima might be super secretive with this one. Seems like they're confident but I can't see a meta score above 90

[sprinterboy]

Personally wont be reading any review embargo reviews tbh, always some num nuts putting in a spoiler they don't think is a spoiler like enemy types, brief story over view.
I want to go in blind so all notifications off on phone for a week and no visiting any game sites. Even youtube gives stuff away with the content image? Radbrad is terrible for that so I unsubscribed.

[Kubark]

I was wondering how Kojima was going to handle the timing of the embargo. He is no doubt aware of the nay sayers out there.* This is a good way for Kojima to signal that he is confident in his and his team's work.

*Giant Bomb for example. Those guys have all but made up their minds. I do not not share their overly negative views.

[Krangs_Uncle]

Where did you see their negative views? I heard their Podcast 210 which was pure shite, but nothing overly negative .. Maybe they have been since.

[Kubark]

It was on YouTube. I'll find the link.

[Kubark]

Here it is. It seems pretty clear that some of these guys have contempt for the game and, I suspect, for Kojima too.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[Krangs_Uncle]

It's going to get slammed in reviews... That's becoming more and more obvious. I obviously hope I am wrong.

[Moe-Gunz]

I didn’t expect that. I believe the game will be very divisive but I’m all in as MGS is my favorite franchise of all time and I’m a big fan of Kojimas’ work. Additionally I’m looking forward to something different.

[Chaos_Order]

This shows an incredible amount of confidence.

[theshredded]

Do me proud Kojima!

[Juusterey]

It's almost like he has nothing shady to hide

[rainslacker]

He's generally pretty proud of his work. Has he ever really tried to hide something?

[Juusterey]

except for snake in mgs2, no
lol
but obviously that's different

[rainslacker]

Well....that wasn't the context I was actually talking about. He likes to surprise, and troll, so it's reasonable he wouldn't just give every detail.:)

[One-Shot]

November 1 at 12:00 AM PST

[akaFullMetal]

This shows great confidence in kojimas part but I do fear reviews will be pretty decisive.

[sushimama]

I'll be playing this baby at midnight on release. Preloading come at me !!!!

[phanter90]

Kojima + Ronaldinho = Embarginho

[S2Killinit]

I think the bigger gutsy move by Kojima is including the sex/nudity that got them the Mature ESRP. It means he would rather stick to his vision than to tone it down for sake of better sales prospects.

[ReVibe]

A whole golden week to ripen groves of spoilers. Guess I'll have to abstain from YouTube.

[Thundercat77]

This is a game I will buy based solely as a fan of Kojima's work. I know reviews are going to be devided but I also know reviews these days are not to be taken as the only decision point.

Reviews said Days Gone was trash and it turned out to be a huge commercial hit breaking some Playstation records.
Reviews said Code Vein is trash and I am having a great time playing it.

[Chumdiddy]

I like it. Have confidence in your product.