Perhaps the most hyped game of recent memory, outside of say Cyberpunk 2077, Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding proved a divisive title upon release in November of 2019.

Nearly two years on Death Stranding Director’s Cut has arrived with a number of in-game additions and a new console to explore Kojima’s vision of a post-apocalyptic world that needs to stitched back together again.

To be clear, this isn’t one of our usual reviews, or at least does not follow that traditional format.

Instead, we’re looking at what has been added to the mix by Kojima and co. to determine whether it is indeed worthwhile venturing into a game that takes on average 40 long hours to complete.

A new toolkit

Let’s start with the visuals on the PlayStation 5, which is what we’ve been playing the game on.

From this standpoint, the Director’s Cut delivers as expected, with the previous PS4 variant also proving a wonder to behold, especially on a display capable of bringing the Icelandic-inspired landscape to life.

That said the cut scenes, of which there are many, don’t feel like they’ve been fine tuned for the PS5 experience. To be fair though, they never really needed to, with the actual in-game trekking and boss battles being the areas that drew us in the most from a visual perspective.

And now we get to one of the aspects that the Director’s Cut adds – namely different tools to make your post-apocalyptic courier job a little easier. On this front, we get earlier access to a carrying bot that we can use to load up cargo, having it walk alongside us independently or remotely sent to a location.

While this can prove very handy in terms of delivering more cargo for some of the new side missions, we do wonder if this addition directly conflicts with the intention of the original game.

The reason why 2019’s Death Stranding proved divisive was the sheer amount of trekking involved, earning the game the title of a walking sim among many. Those that didn’t enjoy this aspect of gameplay were quickly turned off, while others appreciated the idea of working hard in order to earn reward.

For us, the protagonist of Sam Porter (Norman Reedus) is a man who is taking on Sisyphus-esque tasks in order to connect the world again, a theme that Kojima actively tries to explore. Addition quick fixes and workarounds goes against all of that in our opinion.

The same goes for the cargo cannon which can launch items over ravines or onto mountain ranges that would take a lot of time and stamina for Sam to do the conventional way. Where the original game revelled in the act of trekking and the toil it takes, the Director’s Cut tries to eliminate.

As such, it feels a little at odds.

The DualSense difference

While we struggled to accept the new tools available to Sam in-game, one element that was most welcome is the combat experience that’s been enhanced thanks to the addition of the PS5’s DualSense controller.

Outside of working expertly during cut scenes to build tension or anticipation, the adaptive triggers make each weapon feel unique thanks to varying degrees or pressure and feedback.

It is something we have noticed and appreciated on other PlayStation exclusives like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, with the same applying here. This system truly makes all the difference when Sam is heading back in time to fight Clifford Unger (Mads Mikkelsen) in WWI, WWII and the Vietnam War missions.

Along with the actual in-story experiences, the Director’s Cut adds a shooting range to the mix to fine tune your abilities, as well as time trialled missions that have a distinct Metal Gear Solid feel to them.

Speaking of which, there is a nod to the Kojima property in the new areas added to the map, which usually involves Sam taking out goons in semi-abandoned buildings. These missions do hint at the beginning of the Death Stranding story, but do not flesh out the lore any more than the original, which is something we would have like to see happen.

Lastly we need to talk about additions like the racetrack.

Here we feel a little duped, as there are only a handful of tracks and only timed trials for Sam to complete. You can use the racecars in-game, but they are not built to traverse the rocky terrain of Death Stranding at all.

As such, this mode quickly becomes boring, especially as the car mechanics do not seem to have given the same attention that carrying cargo in the game did.

Where side activities in titles like GTA V feel like great little mini games in their own right, the ones on offer here fail to impress.

Final verdict

Will Death Stranding Director’s Cut win over players that were on the fence of the 2019 original? The short answer is no. The additions that feature in the Director’s Cut deliver varying experiences, with some more welcome than others.

From a visual perspective the does not fail to impress and playing it on the PS5 showcases the difference between next-gen and current-gen.

What does not impress, however, is the fact that the additions do not enhance the storytelling and in some cases are to the detriment of the original’s mechanics.

If Death Stranding is an allegory for connecting society through toil and effort, the Director’s Cut feels like trying to add cheat codes to the mix.

Where Ghost of Tsushima’s Director Cut offered more of the same that made the original great, Death Stranding’s one does not.

As such, it’s not essential playing for those who enjoyed the 2019 title, but may be worth checking out for those who skipped the original.