Keep on, keeping on (the go). Death Stranding Director’s Cut is the newest of the AAA blockbuster titles from console and PC to arrive on Apple’s.
Death Stranding Director’s Cut is the newest of the AAA blockbuster titles from console and PC to arrive on Apple’s platforms. Rebuilt for the Apple Silicon hardware, the game is available on Mac, iPad, and even the iPhone as a universal app.
Death Stranding initially launched on the PlayStation 4 back in 2019. A Director’s Cut version was released for the PlayStation 5 in 2021, which brought with it additional content. That’s the version being released on Apple’s platforms so you are getting the most up-to-date version with all the extra content, including the PC-exclusive Half-Life easter eggs and the Cyberpunk 2077 collaboration items.
Death Stranding is a third-person action-adventure game by writer-director Hideo Kojima, who made the genre-defining Metal Gear games. The game follows the story of Sam Porter Bridges, a seemingly ordinary porter delivering packages in a post-apocalyptic world. Throughout his adventures, Sam must battle a rapidly aging rain, mysterious undead beings trapped between worlds, cargo thieves, terrorists, and most terrifying of all, uneven terrain. And along for the ride is a baby. In a jar. Attached to you by a tube. Pretty much on par with what you’d expect from a Kojima game.
While this isn’t a review of the game, it’s worth having an idea of what you are getting into. I have close to 200 hours in the game, having played it once originally on the PS4 and again later on the PC. I have built all the roads, I have found all the preppers and got five stars on all of them. I’ve done about as much as one can reasonably do in this game and I’m here to tell you that this really isn’t a game for everyone.
Death Stranding has stunning scenery, some of the most amazing facial capture and performances in a game, and a sublime soundtrack from the late Low Roar who unfortunately passed not long after the game’s original release. At its best, it’s a truly inspired piece of work. However, it also has one of the most overwrought stories and writing, possibly ever, in a video game. And yes, the gameplay, for the most part, really is just delivering packages through tricky terrain. The game also has a strange inverse difficulty curve, where it’s more difficult early on but gets easier as your character gets vehicles and more equipment.
All of this means most people just turn away from the game within the first couple of hours and never look back. You will be inundated with pointless yapping by the characters as you spend more time in cutscenes in the first hour than actually playing the game and when you do play it feels like you are thrown into the deep end where your character can’t stay upright without tripping over seemingly pure air every five seconds as you walk. It’s almost as if the game deliberately tests your patience so only those truly worthy can make it past the first two hours. If you do then you are likely going to make it till the end of the 40-ish hour story.
All of this is important because, unlike some other platforms, Apple does not have a quick and easy refund system should you not like something after trying it out briefly. So I would strongly recommend watching some gameplay videos first and then deciding if you still wish to purchase it afterward.
Alright, moving on to the specific version at hand. I tested the game on the iPhone 15 Pro, which is the minimum required device to play this game with an Apple Silicon chip. Death Stranding on Apple’s platforms is a universal app, so you can purchase it on either iPhone, iPad or Mac and have it available on the others without requiring separate purchases. Just make sure the iPad or Mac has an M-series chip.
On the iPhone, you first have to download a 1.79GB file from the App Store. Upon launching the game, it will download 12.6GB and will inform you that more data will be downloaded later. After reaching a certain point in the game, it will download the remaining data for a total of 49.4GB of downloaded data through the game.
