Death Stranding is a game about connection and isolation, love and loss, life and death. It's about the dichotomy of grand schemes and personal stories and how everything ties together. It's sometimes frustrating, but always meaningful and important.
"Now I want to pause here for a moment. I’m going to talk about gameplay more, and I’m not going to be especially keen on it. I wasn’t when I first started playing and simply writing it out makes it sound dull. And it is."
"Death Stranding is not a fun game, but it’s an important and meaningful experience that earns its payoff through every bit of frustration and slog"
"It combines some of gaming’s most loathed elements—over encumbrance, inventory management, difficult terrain, fetch quests, finicky stealth mechanics"
But still gives it a 9.5 out of 10......If people are going to criticise low scores, then the high scores deserve the same treatment, especially if they say things like this. You cannot say a gameplay isn't fun, say it is dull, and say it combines all of the gamings most loathed elements and then still give it a 9.5 out of 10.
Games are supposed to be fun, if the gameplay isn't fun, then it's not a very good game. If I find the gameplay part of a game boring and dull, then you have failed with the most important part of the game.
Other games have received scathing reviews for this kind of thing, but this game get's a pass somehow?
This is why all reviews should be taken with a pinch of salt. Play the game yourself or watch some gameplay videos to make up your own mind.