Death Stranding: Director’s Cut’s PC release is packed with new missions, weapons, and mechanics, for players to experiment and play around with.
When it comes to how much time they've spent in the spotlight, there aren’t too many games out there that can compete with Death Stranding. That’s because since Hideo Kojima’s first post-Konami title debuted on PS4 in 2019, it’s been treated to multiple follow-up releases. In 2020, the game made its way to PC as one of Sony’s earliest endeavors on the platform, before the launch of the enhanced Death Stranding: Director’s Cut on PS5 a year or so later. Fast-forward to 2022, and the game is still making news headlines thanks to its upcoming fourth re-release.
It might have flown under the radar slightly thanks to the release of recent heavy hitters like Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West, but Death Stranding: Director’s Cut is set to launch on PC on March 30. Fans have known about the game’s existence for a while thanks to NVIDIA's database leak last year, but there’s still plenty of reasons for them to be excited about playing it. In an effort to make the open-world game’s re-release as enticing as possible, Kojima Productions has packed it with new mechanics, missions, and content that players should be aware of before jumping in.
If players have experienced any of Death Stranding’s previous releases, they’ll have a good idea of what to expect when the Director’s Cut edition makes its way to PC at the end of March. At its core, Hideo Kojima’s latest title is still an open-world action game, set within a sandbox that’s shaped like a post-apocalyptic approximation of the United States. Players are thrown into the boots of Sam Porter Bridges, a futurist delivery-person played by The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus, as he travels across the desolated wasteland with his Bridge Baby buddy.
Even though Death Stranding Director’s Cut adds some significant new content to the mix, players will still spend most of their time sneaking past ghost-like BTs as they navigate through the game’s harsh terrain. While they do so, they’ll be treated to a story that feels like a tragic realization of the warnings Hideo Kojima embedded into his previous Metal Gear titles. In a world that’s succumbed to apocalyptic disaster, the creator’s love for geopolitical thrillers and sci-fi adventures shines through brighter than ever. What’s on offer might be challenging from a story perspective, but there's some heartwarming and powerful moments along the way that shouldn't be missed.
For the Death Stranding Director’s Cut release, Kojima Productions has tapped into the eccentric energy that frequently defined its previous incarnation’s time with the Metal Gear Solid series. Most of what’s been added to the experience has been designed to make the task of traversing the open-world’s terrain more enjoyable.
At several points throughout Death Stranding’s single-player story, Director’s Cut owners on PC will subsequently get access to new tools and pieces of equipment. These run the gambit from the cannon-like Cargo Catapult, all the way to the Buddy Bot delivery companion. Each has its own undeniable charm, and can shake up the flow of the game significantly.
Extra tools, that fundamentally enhance Sam Porter Bridges’ arsenal, aren't the only new pieces of content being added to Death Stranding with the Director’s Cut release. Several new modes have been thrown into the mix as well that offer players the chance to indulge in recreational activities between deliveries.
For example, a shape-shifting Race Track can now be built and played with towards the second half of the game. The ability to try out Death Stranding Director’s Cut’s newest weapons, gear pieces, and customization options at a firing range, is arguably the most welcome addition though. Accessible at most major terminals, this location also offers a wide array of challenges that are unlike anything else seen in the game.
Rounding out the new content in Death Stranding Director’s Cut are the extra missions that have been added to the game. While each of the new weapons and delivery tools come with their own side-quests, there’s only one chain of missions that really has any story significance. These can be accessed early on from the Distribution Center west of Capital Knot City, and revolve around a mysterious Ruined Factory. What these extra story missions lack in terms of length, they more than make up for it in terms of content. Beyond enjoyable call-backs to Metal Gear Solid, some story seeds are planted that could be big for Death Stranding’s future as well.
Even though Death Stranding’s original PC release was already comparable to the enhanced experience available on PS5, the platform’s Director’s Cut edition will feature even more technological advancements. For starters the game is set to be one of the first to take advantage of Intel’s new upscaling technology XeSS, which should produce impressive graphical results for early adopters.
In general, Death Stranding Director’s Cut’s PC publisher 505 Games has promised that the upcoming release will be the definitive experience from a technical perspective. Faster load times, smoother frame rates, ultrawide monitor support, and improved graphical effects, have all been confirmed to be aspects of the experience. So far though, there’s been no acknowledgment that Sony’s DualSense controller will be fully supported. This suggests that while it will still be usable, PC players shouldn’t be surprised if the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers that defined the PS5 version are missing in an official capacity.
In a welcome turn of events though, it has been confirmed that an upgrade path will be available on the platform that’s akin to the one on PlayStation consoles. Provided that players have the original game installed on their PCs, the option to buy the Director’s Cut for $9.99 will be available on Steam and the Epic Games Store. Just like on PS5, any existing save file will be transferable over for good measure too. Alternatively, if the latest re-release of Kojima’s hit is the first time that a player is looking to buy into Death Stranding, the Director’s Cut edition will set them back $39.99 instead.
Death Stranding: Director's Cut is available on PS5, with the PC version releasing on March 30, 2022.
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Ben is writer with a serious passion (obsession) with all things PlayStation, Pokemon, and motorsport.
