Death Stranding: A Commentary, Critique And Understanding

Death Stranding is a real video game made by Hideo Kojima, in case you didn't know. It stars Norman Reedus on a quest to save BB, which is a baby in a jam jar, from big spooky ghost men called BTs. For more detail, see video above.

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As always, thanks to ChimerainaSuit for over half of the thumbnails on the channel.

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[matthewq]

Damn, he's really pushing for the 10 minute mark.

[adudecalledtony]

the weirdest feeling in the world is putting this on to fall asleep to and waking up to it still playing

[Domo]

"Sorry, boss, I need to take a day off work."
"Why?"
"Whitelight uploaded."

[adamdrew]

Lore theory: the repeated exposition and multiple people telling you the same things is because people in DS are all so eager to talk to someone. I work from home and sometimes go days without talking to people outside video calls so sometimes I'll find myself super excited to have dumb mundane conversations. Maybe they're just desperate to talk.

[__-begk]

The entire game was just an elaborate excuse to get an actress to say "I'm princess beach" and no one can convince me otherwise

[shrimprjr]

7:01:18 "We've been talking for some time now."


*Some time*

[FemboyMisa]

Even in the afterlife there is sand. Apparently it does literally get everywhere.

[Huggbees]

Welp I finished the entire thing. Really great breakdown, gave me a good number of details to mull over that I missed myself. Well done

[botyorick]

OK let's do it
I'm gonna go for the joke
"Hey Whitelight... Nice job getting over the 10 minute mark"
Thank you thank you I'll be here all night... Literally

[J.T]

When I first saw Amelie's name, I thought it was a japanese pun. "Amelie" spelt in japanese is "アメリ" (A Me Ri) which is close to "America" which is "アメリカ" (A Me Ri Ka)

So Amelie is America without a "Ka" (soul)

[codylakin]

Speaking as a writer—of novels, not video essays—this video essay impresses me on an immense level. I can’t even imagine what it must’ve taken to put together, not merely on the level of content, but of structuring it and editing it into something as articulate and cohesive as this turned out to be. And for it to be engaging across the entire seven hours.
That’s not merely impressive, it’s flat-out amazing. I listened to and watched this over the course of a couple days, and looked forward to it in between. Incredible feat of writing and editing, in every way. Not to mention a beautiful thesis statement on the game and its themes.

[supesmin]

Fun fact: you can beat Metal Gear Rising 1.2 times before this review finishes

[elevenone]

Spoilers: 5 hours of this video is him reading Fragile's actress' full name

[watchingthemoons]

"In 15, minutes, death stranding does ww2 better than BFV."

I am offended and 100% agree with you.

[tomheraud]

1:00:34 "if you've got a huge load, and youre about to blow it, you can maintain that tipping point" - Whitelight 2020

[Quoth_]

WhiteSythe94. Ah I see, you—too—are cursed with a cringy gamertag created by a younger version of yourself, I feel for you.

[unintentionallydramatic]

Subscribers: "The *what* review?"
WhiteLight: "Yes".

[mrultima]

From what I've heard, from the incredibly trustworthy source of "some guy, " the reason for the Monster Energy Drink product placement is one time while hanging out Kojima saw the cryptid he was working with, Norman Reedus, open a can and drink the entire thing in a few seconds and decided that needed to be in the game.

[emackenzie]

6:30 I think my favorite part of the hand = death usage is how, for us, a handprint is a sign of "oh people have been here." One of the first things we tend to teach kids to do is finger painting or leaving their handprints, and the game turns that into a death omen. It reminds me of the whole "it used to be human vs maybe it never was" aspect of horror.

[TheGallicWitch]

I'm French, and to me, Amélie's name struck me for a different reason. Âme does mean soul, but in my language, "Lie" has an interesting meaning for this game's purpose. "Lie" is the present form of the verb "Lier", which means "to bond, to connect, to bring together". So literally, her name would mean the soul that connects. I find it appropriate, almost even more than the English Lie, if only because she was the reason Sam did all of this, the reason Sam connected America. What do you think?