144. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (2025) | Year of Metal Gear | S6E11

In comparing Death Stranding with its sequel, we come to a dichotomy of two gameplay experiences: a lonely one that matches what the games say about their protagonist and one in solidarity with other players that seems to confuse what the story has to say about what is happening in Kojima's world. We look at two conflicting narratives, then: the story of gameplay, where the game shines, and the story of the game's dialogue and cutscenes, where it... well... doesn't. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

Now that our boy Kojima has been taken out of Konami and Metal Gear, we have to wonder whether you can take the Metal Gear out of the boy. In this episode, we consider what it means to start a newly independent studio that can't help but rehash all the good and the bad of the games that made you who you are. Is Kojima trapped in a kind Metal Gear samsara? Listen and find out! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

Here we are at the end... or, at least, an end. One of many ends, as it turns out. We explore what it means for a whole series of games to end up being about alienation despite trying to be about identity. A game that can't escape its own structural sexism. A game that has genuinely refined combat and stealth mechanics but is so bloated it can never quite cohere into a well-defined vision. It's a sad to place to end, but fret not. We will end again. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

[Content Warning] In this episode we discuss sexual assault and all the ways in which Kojima handles it VERY BADLY. We do try to pry out the good as well, but in many ways this relatively brief game is a dark premonition of where things will end for Snake... and it ain't good. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

In this episode we not only learn that Nicholas has a day job but also that it is immediately relevant to questions surrounding video games and digital preservation. We discuss four modes or vectors for how this can work, none of which are mutually exclusive. All this to get at why preserving games is important and why people have conflicting ideas about how to do that. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

In this episode, we go back in time to the height of the Cold War, to discover the origin of the Snake/Boss dichotomy in Metal Gear Solid's third installment. Also on the docket: fan service scars, our boy Ocelot, and why it kicks ass to do martial arts with a motorcycle. Oh, and Nicholas tries to be nicer this time... Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

In this episode Nicholas tries to be fair to a game he very much did not enjoy, and Lauryn makes sure they cover something important, how the series is now leaning more heavily into its MANY combat mechanics and perhaps moving away from its origins as an anti-war war game. Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

This month, we finally discuss a game people have actually played: Metal Gear Solid. We also take a look back at Kojima's notion of creativity as a memetic/genetic process and how this game maybe complicates the somewhat rosy picture he paints in his memoir and interviews. Also! The premiere performance of "Liquid Snake and the Konami Code," with its hit song, "Genome Soldier!" Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

In this episode we discuss Kojima's response to Konami's attempt to make a Metal Gear sequel without him and how, in so doing, established the baseline for what "stealth games" would become. We also compare its gameplay to the more expansive Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to show how it tries to force the player into a near paranoic sense of hyperawareness. Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

Lauryn and Nicholas take you back to the Cold War, to the '80s, when hair was big and everyone was worried about nuclear winter. We begin with the very first Metal Gear game and discuss what it means to try and make an anti-war war game. We reckon with all the ways the game teaches you how to play that were in many ways anathema to how video games were played at the time but nevertheless became the bedrock for how modern games are designed. Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social