My main goal with Death Stranding Director’s Cut was to finish the main campaign, a feat I failed to realize with the original version on PS4. Back then, I got close to wrapping up Episode 8 before I just stopped. So with the updated version of the game, dubbed the Director’s Cut for reasons unknown, I decided to start over from the beginning to experience the story from beginning to end.
I was also looking forward to unlocking, at a pace, all of the new content. I’m talking the Buddy Bot, the Level 3 Stabilizer, the Metal Gear Solid-esque stealth missions alluded to in the first teaser trailer. The thing is, I didn’t engage in any of these experiences other than the first of those stealth missions. In fact, I don’t think I unlocked any of the new gear at all, to say nothing of actually using it.
As I stated in the opening paragraph, my main goal for playing the Director’s Cut was to finally see the story through to the end. And I did. However, I was actually looking forward to messing around with some of the new tricks of the trade. In practice, I didn’t even unlock any of them.
Now, some of this was because I had no intention of five-starring every location in the game — I went down that path the first time, which is what led to my fatigue during my first playthrough. And in order to unlock some of the new content, you really need to put in some effort. After reading Josh’s guide to unlocking every single item in Death Stranding Director’s Cut, I think I made the right call and dodged another burnout bullet there, even at the expense of experiencing some of these new toys.
The problem is, I doubt I will ever play Death Stranding again. I’m certainly not planning on going back anytime soon. And that means I will be forever left wondering how much — or, I guess, how little — fun it really is to ride the Buddy Bot. C’est la vie, I suppose. You win some, and you lose some.
