Death Stranding, a video game developed by Kojima Productions, has won three awards and has five nominations at The Game Awards 2019 on Dec. 12.

Death Stranding was released on Nov. 8 and has now earned an award for Best Performance, Best Score/Soundtrack, and Best Studio. The game was nominated for Game of the Year, Best Narrative, Best Action/Adventure, Best Audio Design, and Best Art Direction.

The mysterious game was first previewed in 2017, with very little being known about it. With it’s release, eager fans have discovered that the game is an action/adventure set in an open world. It begins with a brief explanation of a series of mysterious explosions that took place on earth and have since set off supernatural events called the Death Stranding.

The main objective in Death Stranding is to connect isolated cities and societies scattered across the U.S. The idea of connection and lost connection is a reoccurring theme in the game. The player is introduced to their character, Sam Porter Bridges, and are introduced to their important role of delivering needed supplies to countless people and connecting cities all while fighting off against invisible supernatural entities.

The cinematic feel of the game is something to be admired. The story line only helps pull in the player to keep playing, doing more and more missions to discover the hidden secrets in the story line. As the player goes along, the game does develop more action. It’s important to note that Death Stranding is heavy on cut scenes. These scenes do matter, despite some gamers wanting to just skip through them. The cut scenes appear so simple at times, but carry little details important to figuring out the mystery of the story. If a gamer is not keen on sitting through lots of cut scenes, Death Stranding may feel like a movie in a very negative way.

The landscape design and detail is also admirable, with certain sceneries looking like they’re from a photo. There’s even heavy detail in the character Bridges as well. The simple actions and details of balance, cleanliness, hydration, and weight make Death Stranding realistic, despite being set in a futuristic apocalyptic world. Another aspect of the game to take note of is the soundtrack. The developers did a great job of finding songs that fit the feel of the game. The music genuinely makes Death Stranding relaxing to play when the player is simply traveling.

Death Stranding’s main character is made in the likeness of Norman Reedus. The game also feature’s the likenesses of Guillermo Del Toro, Tommie Earl Jenkins, Lea Seydoux, and Troy Baker.

Upon it’s initial preview back in 2017, the lack of details left gamers intrigued and making jokes such as renaming the game “Norman Reedus and the Funky Fetus”. After the release the joke is still ongoing, but with both positive and negative feedback. Thousands of reviews on the game focused on the delivery aspect of the game and nothing else. That aspect has deemed the game boring by some.  However many gamers have enjoyed the storyline behind Death Stranding and the amount of detail in the cinematography of the game.

Death Stranding like all games will only appeal to certain gamers, being a bad game to some, but also a good game to others. It’s up to the player to decide. With that said, make sure to give Death Stranding a try on the Playstation Store or find it in stores at GameStop, Best Buy, Target, or Walmart.