Death Stranding's Review Embargo Has Ended: Come Read Our Review

Update: The review embargo has lifted, and our Death Stranding review is now live, as are many other outlets' thoughts. Check out our video review above, and for more takes, check out our review roundup. You now have less than a week to wait if you're excited to get your hands on the game, with the PS4 release coming on November 8. If you'd prefer to play on your computer, a PC version was recently confirmed for release in 2020.

Original Story: First revealed at E3 2016, Death Stranding's development has been accompanied by a slow-drip of trailers and gameplay demos. Only in the past few weeks have people outside of Kojima Productions been able to get their hands on the long-awaited game, and although opinions are still under embargo, that won't be the case for much longer. The review embargo for Death Stranding lifts on November 1 at 12:01AM PT / 3:01 AM ET / 7:01 AM GMT / 6 PM AET. So not long now. If you need something to do while you wait, check out the Death Stranding launch trailer--though, be warned, it's a bit spoilery.

The most recent opportunity for Kojima to demonstrate what he's been working on since leaving Konami was Tokyo Game Show 2019. There, over the course of two days, Kojima gave us a deeper look into the moment-to-moment gameplay of Death Stranding, which included everything from mundane traversal to battles against supernatural enemies. He followed that up with a closer look at the private quarters of Sam Porter Bridges, the main character played by Norman Reedus. It was a very revealing demo, though not in the way you might expect.

Reedus is but one of many celebrities that will appear in Death Stranding, along with Guillermo Del Toro, Mads Mikkelsen, and Lea Seydoux, to name but a few. Sadly, Keanu Reeves won't make an appearance despite rumors. We've also learned that real-world brands like Monster Energy will also be prominently featured in the game--it's anyone's guess as to whether or not these inclusions will have an impact on the credibility of the fictional (and strange) world that Kojima has crafted.

In fact, the strangeness has been at the heart of the game's messaging since the very beginning. If you fell off trying to make sense of Death Stranding a long time ago, now is the perfect time to brush up on everything we've learned so far, including details about the world, the characters that inhabit it, and the unusual constraints that will be set upon Sam as you guide him across treacherous terrain in a bid to reunite the once united states of America.

If our current Death Stranding guide isn't enough, you can also take Kojima's very straightforward explanation below:

After Death Stranding reviews land on November 1, the rest of us will have to wait until the game releases on November 8 to see what all the fuss is about. (Kept you waiting, huh?)