I love Death Stranding.
Amazing landscapes to explore and very fun gameplay mechanics. I've always loved 'Tycoon' games and this feels like setting up a delivery network, building roads, transport hubs, transport lines, getting more efficient all the time. Steering convoys through difficult terrain which gave me Spintires / Mudrunner vibes.
All with amazing music and visuals.
I played it twice from start to finish, first off-line, then on-line.
Then kept going to maximize all deliveries.
Best was exploring chapter 3 before taking on any missions.
A 98km survival trek exploring the map while wondering what role everything along the way would play.
Death Stranding still has the best developed game play map with chapter 3. Mountains that feel real.
I didn't spend much time in the more traditional fighting bits between the chapters. Actually I set the difficulty to Easy for those to get them out of the way and back to the main gameplay loop. I enjoy fighting the least, Death stranding had the perfect balance for me between exploration, travel and a little combat. (for the main gameplay)
