Please read only if you completed the game or don’t mind endgame spoilers as I will be talking about multiple chapters, the last one included.

I finished Death Stranding some time ago, after playing for several weekends, but I still find myself thinking about it (and listening to the OST), especially about my favorite gameplay moment and how it made me feel as a player – the last delivery.

I’m a very casual gamer, it’s surprising that I even got Death Stranding – but I loved all the trailers and the mood and aesthetics of this game and Kojima promised everyone could complete this game, so I gave it a try.

When you need to make your first delivery – deliver your mother’s body to the incinerator – I was excited but also tense and “oh no here it goes”, wondering how hard it’s gonna be, if I’ll make it, how will everything work etc. It wasn’t my first game ever of course, but it seemed harder and more stressful than what I usually play. Then the beautiful music started playing and I was sold, thus beginning my long journey.

After I went across the continent AND BACK, the time for the last delivery came – this time delivering your child’s body to the incinerator. I know I’m explaining it way simpler than it was, but that’s how I see it – you start by burying your mother and end by burying your child (luckily there’s a happy ending, but it felt like it when you started the mission). For me it’s an amazing, sad parallel and a moving way to frame the delivery missions. Such an emotional beginning/ending with a great soundtrack.

And it was my favorite gameplay moment - when the last delivery started and it was the same road, the same delivery starting point and destination as the very first mission, I realized I wasn’t tense or stressed out AT ALL. I learned so much, used so many tools and sneaked by so many BTs that this time it was crazy easy and the incinerator seemed so much closer than it was when I visited it for the first time (even though I went as slowly as possible because of the music). It was an amazing feeling, to basically repeat the first mission after playing the game for so long, using the same old ladders etc. I loved many other moments, but this is the best one – it made me feel for Sam’s journey, but it also made me feel that I improved as a player and what scared me when I first started, was now so easy and pleasant.

It might sound stupid, but I felt like sharing it, as I cannot stop appreciating this unique game.