(for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: https://rosaliarambles.wordpress.com/2025/06/11/redundancy-review-day-1-a-new-beginning/)
Good morning robots and androids, welcome to Day 16 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.
I am extremely tired this morning, primarily because of guest-starring in a friend’s D&D game last night. He had included a former character of mine as backup for the party and initially wanted me to weigh in on what they had been up to in the proceeding time.
Discussions took form, eventually leading to me inquiring if he would be okay with me dropping in to reprise my role. I had retired from doing evening D&D games a long time ago, wanting to spend more time with my partner who I was long distance with at the time and just not having the social energy to keep a game going into the late hours of the night.
Was reprising the character fun? Extremely.
Blaze is my main character who is not like me in some way, shape, or form. They are an unhinged bucket of bolts whose main motive in helping the party was to take advantage of the situation to incite a war between two factions in this world, and why?
“It’d be really funny to see!”
Especially given the events going on in my life right now, playing a character who is completely off the wall insane was a lot of fun, more so when it came to improvising his motives and talking about collateral.
Am I still not capable of evening D&D games? Oh yes.
I have started writing this review later than I usually do because of how long it took me to even begin shaking the sleep off to get my laptop out and start writing – even on nights where I have gamed longer than I intended to I do not wake up like this, and it is definitely a social energy problem on my side.
One I am not… entirely hankering to fix, if just because “unable to socialise long past 9pm” is not really a priority issue for myself right now.
What is priority is the fact I have now received my unpaid wages for my time at my old company after shit hit the fan, which means today will be spent budgeting on various different topics, including:
- What to contribute to the bills account to keep myself afloat for a while
- Investing in some things around the flat to make summer easier and bring the place more to completion
- Putting money into savings to help pay for VExpo (vtuber convention) later this year
- Potentially going to a restaurant and having an actual date night out with my partner
I am still due money as well, in the form of statutory redundancy payments and whatever I can get from my lack of notice pay, but what I have got has gone a decent way to making me whole again – especially as the job search has hit a demoralising point.
Returning to full time work is somehow existing as a superposition in my mind right now. I am craving the return to routine enforced by someone else, but also enjoying the recovery that comes from not being in that situation anymore. Whilst the lack of a routine is definitely affecting me, there is also a certain amount of peace I am feeling from existing in my own rhythm once more.
Would I appreciate being back in full time work? Yes, especially as it gives me the resources to pursue the lifestyle I enjoy, but am I also considering what other paths might exist for me? Definitely.
If you would like to consider helping me explore one of these paths, please get in touch about hiring me for your projects. The life of a freelancer might not be one I have had a taste of yet, but the idea of jumping from client to client, project to project has an odd appeal to me right now. I would love to work for whoever is reading this!
So, one of the things I did after getting the news of my redundancy was start a game I had in my Steam library for the longest time after getting it in a Humble Choice bundle.
Yeah… I have been playing it a bit too much lately, but I did finish the story yesterday so I feel I can convey some thoughts at least, at least in a somewhat short form.
The core gameplay loop of Death Stranding is delivering packages. Playing as Sam Porter Bridges (portrayed by Norman Reedus), you go all throughout a post-apocalyptic America to deliver all sorts of goods to a colourful cast of characters.
Several hazards present themselves during these journeys, in the form of supernatural “Beached Things” (BTs), MULE and terrorist encampments looking to take your cargo or life respectively, and the ever-present threat of “Timefall” – rain that induces accelerating aging upon whatever it touches, which includes corroding your cargo’s protective containers.
You do not have to do your job entirely on the ground though, as the game provides several tools for making your life easier. Various structures can be constructed, ranging from humble ladders that can help you traverse rock and river, to giving you the ability to make a zip-line network later in the game, allowing you to complete deliveries door-to-door without encountering any threats whatsoever.
Your hands are not the only ones that can build structures though, as the unique selling point of Death Stranding is the integrated online aspect of the game. Whilst it is a singleplayer game and can be played offline; the game becomes significantly more populated when playing online, as the structures that others have built can appear in your world, helping you out when you might need it most.
Hideo Kojima is both the game director and sole writer of Death Stranding, the latter of which I was extremely excited for going into the game. Metal Gear Solid is one of my favourite video game series for its impactful writing, so I was excited to see what Kojima could cook up when fully in control.
The core theme of the game is “connection”, going through a broken continent to connect cities, distribution centres, and shelters into the “chiral network”, hoping to make a new America in the form of the United Cities of America (UCA). Every character you meet is extremely well written, with frequent twists and turns in what you learn about them, never leaving you bored in terms of story content.
That said, I definitely did have some issues with the pacing of the story, and not just because I am a glutton for side content in this game. Specifically from the end of Episode 8 onwards, the game accelerates in such a way that completely shifts the gameplay loop out of sync with what you were doing before.
Whilst it is still possible to do deliveries, and there are one or two required story deliveries still, the game shifts focus into action-mode, with greater dangers appearing as you head back east to the starting zone. These make it difficult to do “standard orders”, which are the bulk of the game’s side content, as the routes become fraught with danger and the Timefall is near constant.
Despite the pacing being an issue, I actually have no issues with the actual story content of the last act of the game. Almost all narrative threads have a payoff, even ones set up as far back as the game’s prologue will yield results, and those that do not are still satisfying enough that you are left wanting more in a good way. Even with the rapid pace of episodes in the endgame, there were still plenty of moments that left me shouting “WHAT?!” at my TV.
My playtime to go through the game landed me at just over 69 hours (nice). This included doing lots of side content between episodes but every minute of playtime was worth it for me – I recommend playing Death Stranding without hesitation. For people who enjoy great stories, and for those who just want a game to enter zen mode with, there is something for everyone.
I am not done talking about the game either, as there are several things I still want to write about it, but hopefully this short review gives enough information on the game to make you consider purchasing it.
Thank you for reading today, writing these Redundancy Reviews honestly keeps me going in a way that is extremely beneficial to my psyche, and with the small audience I am cultivating right now, I am very happy with the direction of my website.
Death Stranding Director’s Cut is available on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series, and Steam, with the Steam store page here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1850570/DEATH_STRANDING_DIRECTORS_CUT/
Rosalia Rambles 
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