The core is just as pleasing to the brain as the original, and the burst mechanic adds some surprising depth. The music slaps really hard, can't wait for the soundtrack.

Umm, yeah. It's pretty damn good.

Edit: Finished it. Can confirm it's still good.

Thirty bewildering hours in, and having barely scratched the surface of the systems and stories packed into this game, I can already confidently say that this is one of my favorite games ever. I would love put in a hundred more hours and then gush in detail about the weird and wonderful setting, emergent gameplay, sublime writing, evocative music, gorgeously minimal art, superb gamepad controls, etc. etc., but I decided against it because word about this needs to get out right. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. now.

At this point this is like saying film nerds need to see the godfather, but this game really is very good.

Nails just about everything about the gameplay pretty much perfectly (the only thing missing is a map feature), and the story is surprisingly poignant. Worth your time.

IDK who needs to hear this but the berserk powerup lasts until the end of the level

Chaotic, beautiful and most of all, fun -- the undiluted, weapons-grade kind of fun that's so out of place in video games in 2024 that it caught everybody by surprise, including its creators who are still struggling to keep their servers afloat a month after launch.

Weird port that runs in a mix of 30 and 60 fps. Good music though.

Many nice things have been said about Death Stranding and they are all true -- bold, hauntingly beautiful, genre-defining. It's also been said countless times, including by many people that liked the game, that it's a "walking simulator", which is patently untrue -- it has more varied gameplay, meaningful tools, interesting challenges and slicker combat than nearly all "shooting people in the face simulators".
The story is Kojima's trademark mix of goofy and pretentious, and you might love it, hate it or anything in between, but you can't say that it's been done before. My only real gripe is that vehicle physics are kind of wonky.
If you try Death Stranding and end up hating it, that's fair enough. But I urge you not to dismiss it out of hand, based on the mistaken belief that "fun = shooting people", and everything else must be boring by default.

EA, Unreal Engine and performance issues, name a more iconic trio