Death Stranding is getting a lot of heat for having a lot of walking. The game is pretty much a delivery simulator, but how much walking is really involved, is it as bad as everyone says or has the hype train made this seem worse than it actually is? Having completed the story, here are my thoughts on it.
The short answer is yes there is quite a bit of walking. For the first 3 or 4 hours, you will be walking a lot and this is the part that people complain about. At this point in the game, you have hardly any good walking gear, no access to vehicles and you won’t have “leveled up” any of Sam’s hiking abilities.
The moment you unlock vehicles, the game completely changes. Having to travel 2km to deliver a package is a quick spin on your bike. It takes the huge chore out of a small side quest to deliver a box. You can often deliver several other things in the process.
Further on, you will unlock additional gadgets like an exoskeleton that allows you to carry lots of weight, run faster and be far more sure footed over uneven terrain. Gloves to help you climb, more durable boots and a little carrier to help you with cargo.
Once you have gotten over the initial hump, you will have access to enough technology to make the delivery parts of the game a lot less painful.
Walking is not something you will do much of later on. You will always have access to bikes. You can either construct them at the major cities or you can “borrow” them from the shared garage. They are cheap enough to create, so you will never be stuck for a bike.
Trucks are also scattered around the place and can be stolen from MULE (bandits) camps. If you destroy your bike out in the wild, you will have to walk some distance, but may find another easily. Sometimes, its actually faster to just jump off your bike and walk by foot. Walking over a mountain can be faster than driving around it.
For a bigger overview on all aspects of this game, check out my full Death Stranding review.
