Death Stranding Director's Cut Review

Reviewed by Tristan Ogilvie on PlayStation 5.

"A long list of quality of life improvements certainly makes the PS5 Director's Cut the most feature-rich and accessible version of Death Stranding. If you're yet to experience its gorgeous vistas and general sci-fi weirdness and you're not turned off at the thought of a 40-hour fetch quest, then this is the best way to enjoy its fiction with the least amount of friction. However, by giving us powerful new cargo-moving tools that allow us to forgo heavily burdened hikes in favour of walking the path of least resistance, it diminishes frustration at the cost of any sense of hard-earned gratification. This may be called a "Director's Cut," but I can't help but feel that, for better or worse, the PS4 original perhaps more closely resembles the director's vision."

[DJSPY]

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. They literally fixed your complaints about the game and you complain that they fixed them.

[flexivefowl]

Death Stranding is the perfect example of a game you'll either love or hate.

[senshai]

"Didn't like base game. Didn't like director's cut "
-IGN

[adithyavm]

Carrying boxes were boring initially, but once the story picked up, it had a meaning. The way this story unfolded slowly and the well designed maps made this game a strange and beautiful experience..

[ChristopherToro]

It's hilarious IGN got the same guy to play the directors cut.

[JamieByrneTV]

Who's here because it just dropped on Xbox?

[Tactics]

He enjoyed it less, yet reviewed it higher. That makes perfect sense.

[mypadawan]

IGN in 2019: Delivering cargo is too tough. 6.8
IGN in 2021: You made deliveries too easy now. That defeats the purpose of the game. 7.0
🤣🤣🤣

[aciel]

My advise to ppl watching this review video is to mute the sounds and watch the video. If you like what you see then you will like the game. If you don’t then you don’t.

[thelocalfortuneteller]

Death Stranding is a hard sell for this generation of energy drink slamming, high intensity multiplayer, three monitor TWITCH livestream setup gamers. Their attention span is too far gone.

[HarryJamesE]

We all know Cod Vanguard is going to get 9/10 by IGN

[tomd]

Shits on the original for being too uncompromising. Shits on the Director's Cut for making compromises.

Alrighty.

[gondalasatvarsh]

Making the same guy who reviewed death stranding playthrough this again must be some inside joke at IGN.

[ncentral]

Not going to lie, all the new tools you have for delivery should make the base game so much easier and faster.

[Muaddib]

IGN 2019: Death Stranding is a interesting, but repetitive game that can feel overly frustrating and lack satisfaction due to finicky controls and complex gameplay mechanics. 6/10

IGN 2021: Death Stranding Directors Cut feels too easy and doesn’t give you the same level of satisfaction as the original game (apparently), the new accessibility features make the game less of a challenge which hurts the directors vision. 7/10.

Oh yeah, it’s big brain time.

Also, nice job barely covering things like remastered graphics, haptic feedback, and overall replayability for returning gamers to the title. You know, literally 90% of why we are all here.

[Sean-lvfx]

This game is like two games in one, try getting s ranks in some of the more challenging deliveries(I think there is 500 of them). A big part of this game is about _efficiency, _ yes you can deliver your cargo in not the greatest time and in pretty beat up condition and still continue on with the game. A lot of the challenge is about getting your cargo there in the best time, using the best(shortest) routes, and getting it there in the best condition you can.
For that you'll need to know the best tools(equipment) to use, and plan out your routes carefully which adds massively to the challenge of this game.

[fr_]

This game was amazing, it's not suited for everyone, but to me it was a gem of his own

[Pendleton]

Can’t believe it’s already been two years since this weird, yet incredible experience released.

[dav-]

Did the reviewer finish the game this time or is it just like in 2019 when you gave it a 6 and then we learned that the reviewer didn't even get past the 4th chapter?

[witcheryen]

This guy didn’t like the game when it was cumbersome, and he still doesn’t like it because he thinks it comprised the vision of the game. Ok so it’s a lose lose lol.