Against my better judgment, I went back to death stranding.
I immediately remembered why I closed the game out last time. Sam is sitting in his room, and the game won’t let me leave until I have highlighted every interactive item in it, and sent through the exposition associated with it. I sat through that.
When I attempted to leave the room, I started skipping cutscenes. I had to consecutively skip five or six times just to get to the point where I was allowed to interact with my character again.
And I tackled the mission where we build the first part of the CHIRAL Network by visiting an outpost. That wasn’t too bad. They let me navigate the terrain without getting jumped, and they let me overload my pack to show me how it affects my movement and navigation.
Cool.
The next mission goal was on the othe side of a mountain. It was raining. Was I supposed to seek shelter, like the introductory scene implied? Is waiting… gameplay? I pressed on in the rain, and encountered BEs which I can’t remember what it stands for, but are meant to be threatening. After stealthing for 5 minutes, they find me anyway and transform the landscape into an oil drenched hell. I fled, then lost my first package trying to cross a river.
I found a camp. It was raining. Clearly this was meant as respite. I entered, and there were a half dozen techwear bandits inside, all aware and attacking me at once. I fled up the mountainside, escape, but can’t find a path to my destination. The rain finally began damaging my packages. There was no path forward.
Out of curiosity, I reloaded from last Save data, and it is before the BE encounter. I will probably try again, but despite the immersion I am not finding this /fun/.