Death Stranding, Fallout, Wasteland: are apocalyptic games what’s needed right now during the coronavirus crisis?
- With the current state of the world, playing out a survival drama in a shattered civilisation might feel too close to the bone
- But games like Death Stranding are big on themes like community, connectivity and collaboration that many could find comfort in
“Welcome, Sam Porter Bridges.” For anyone who has played the Hideo Kojima-created video game Death Stranding, this automated greeting will sound all too familiar.
A legendary delivery man who is tasked with reconnecting isolated communities via the so-called Chiral Network as he trudges across a bleak, inhospitable landscape, Sam has already become something of an unlikely hero for our times. Like Kevin Costner’s character in The Postman, only way cooler.
Just over a month ago, a video shot in Innsbruck, Austria, went viral as a shopper, clearly panic buying as a result of the coronavirus, ludicrously overloaded his scooter with bags.
The comparisons were immediately made to Sam, lugging his boxed-up deliveries through the rugged, rain-soaked terrain of the United Cities.
Is this a fate that awaits us all in a post-Covid-19 world? Are we all destined to be overloading wheelbarrows with toilet rolls in the future? Maybe it’s the nature of the surreal times we’re in right now, but apocalyptic-themed games feel right on the money.