Death Strandingis a unique game, with such a heavy emphasis on social features thatdirector Hideo Kojima thinks he’s made a new genre. This genre is defined by its social strand system, wherein actions taken by players in one game can impact the world of anotherDeath Strandingplayer. TheDeath Strandingsocial strand system seems to have been well-received by fans, with some dedicating a significant amount of time to it.
While games likeDark Soulsallow players to screw each other with its social features,Death Strandingfocuses on cooperation and helping each other out. To that end, if a player builds a structure inDeath Strandinglike a generator, that generator will appear in other players' worlds for them to use. Players can vote for structures that they like the most with “likes,” which in turn help out the person who created the structure in the first place.
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It’s a system that encourages positivity, which is admittedly lacking in many online games. It’s pretty admirable then that someDeath Strandingplayers have decided to ignore the main story for now to improve the game world for others, building as many structures as they can, contributing to roads, and leaving behind helpful items like ladders and climbing ropes.
WhileDeath Strandingreviewshave been mixed, most of the reviews seem to have a positive opinion on the social strand system. Considering this, it will be interesting to see if it’s implemented in other video games moving forward.
Somewhere we most likely will see the social strand system is in a potentialDeath Strandingsequel. Hideo Kojima has already talked about the need to makeDeath Strandingsequelsto really establish the social strand system genre. How Kojima will improve on the system remains to be seen, and fans shouldn’t expect any details about aDeath Strandingsequel or Kojima’s next project for quite some time.
The next thing on Kojima Productions' plate may be the rumoredDeath StrandingDLC, and maybe we’ll hear about a sequel sometime after that. Then again,Kojima Productions has also expressed interest in producing feature filmsinstead, so who knows what Kojima will make next.
Death Strandingis out now for PS4, with a PC release to follow in the summer of 2020.
