# Death Stranding

16 Hacker News commenters recommended Death Stranding and 8 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its original design, open world and memorable story, and for being unlike typical games. Critics find much of the time spent walking tedious, and the sequel repetitive.

## Why people recommend it

- Original, unusual design and ideas (4 comments): "Some of the best games out there defy a lot of prior design knowledge or things most people don't like but still have a cult following" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45845146)) "there are more unusual games out there with reasonable budgets, like Death Stranding" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46410428)) "critical darling, and a hugely original put at doing something new" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49650056))
- Engaging traversal and open world (3 comments): "Death Stranding has an incredible open world "sandbox", rivaling the ones of GTA" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48811109)) "made just moving through the game world engaging and challenging" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48815455)) "the gameplay is what I really like" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48295057))
- Memorable, satisfying narrative and experience (3 comments): "DS and DS2 are beautiful games with deep, meaty narratives that are satisfying and rewarding" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48824525)) "Death Stranding and its sequel are among the best games I've ever played" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48813717)) "one of my most memorable game experiences ever" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48324250))
- Critically acclaimed Kojima game (2 comments): "critical darling, and a hugely original put at doing something new" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49650056)) "Clearly a critical success and an objectively good game however." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49645224))

## What people warn about

- Sequel repetitive and less impressive (3 comments): "less so in the second than the first one, sadly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48298895)) "Yes. And DS2 was somehow boring." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49642378)) "Why did it take six years to make more of the same game?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49644071))
- Unremarkable, only just a game (3 comments): "I saw nothing particularly interesting about Death Stranding." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49644035)) "Death Stranding is only a game by the narrowest of margins." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48809979)) "everything after MGS-3 has been very meh IMO" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49642112))
- Too much time spent walking (2 comments): "In DS1, I regretted building the roads because of how they mostly eliminated the need to walk around." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48858386)) "couldn't reconcile my need for entertainment against knowing 80% of those hours were spent walking" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49649430))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Helldivers 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/helldivers-2.md): 50 recommend
- [Triple-A Minesweeper](https://hackerapproved.com/p/triple-a-minesweeper.md): 40 recommend
- [Quake II](https://hackerapproved.com/p/quake-2.md): 33 recommend
- [Red Dead Redemption 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/red-dead-redemption-2.md): 28 recommend
- [Grand Theft Auto (1997)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grand-theft-auto.md): 28 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Death Stranding", https://hackerapproved.com/p/death-stranding/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).