My favourite game of the whole 2020 become this very slow gaming artwork by Hideo Kojima called Death Strending. It is kinda boring, but in very fascinating way.

When it comes to games I am quite picky person. Who would not be, considering the amount of hours one can potentially spend after diving into the new world and willing to learn new mechanics. Usually I struggle between mainstream (therefore too arcade) titles with blockbuster story and on the other side indie games with a bit too small budget and occasional but apparent shortcomings.

Weird and expanding gaming limits

Death Stranding immediately caught my attention because of how weird it was. What I have read and saw about it felt like something between a gaming experiment and David Lynch movie.

This game as a first released work of Hideo Kojima since his departure from Kojima Productions (Metal Gear Solid Franchise) went really wild on discovering new game mechanics and expanding their limits.

It's beautiful and also bit crazy

It looks beautiful, happening on hyperrealistic atmosferic Iceland-like landscapes, with beautiful music and you as a Porter with the main goal of delivering and reconnecting like that the America again.

But Kojima also plays with you as a player by carefully narrating the speed of the game and reward system, combines multiple games and genres into one, places product placement without obvious reasons (and sourcable contracts) and allow the user to pee all over the map, smartly connected into the passive multiplayer seems quite crazy, especially when the main character starts to breaf

Carefully Narrated Homo Ludens

Kojima's worldview book is embodies in the book "Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture," by the Dutch historian and cultural theorist Johan Huizinga, who claimed that the act of playing (ludus) is what makes human beings human -- and that it predates culture.

"There will be people who see something they have not seen before [in a game], and are compelled to create something of their own," Kojima said. Those who play become the creators, who then devise new forms of ludus.

In Kojima's eyes, that is how society moves forward. And how is he choosing the main mechanics around which he builds his games.

But seriously, Death Stranding is also a lot of walking and could not be for everyone. Try it and you will either love it or hate it.