The philosophy behind Death Stranding - an esoteric interpretation of Hideo Kojima’s Divine Comedy.

A lot of game lovers and experts reviewed Death Stranding, even who didn't play it. So much has been said about its limits and its values so I will pass over my personal opinion. The enthusiastic ones pointed at the philosophy behind the game, claiming to have been experienced a spiritual trip in the quest of Sam Porter Bridges. How much there is in terms of actual philosophy in Death Stranding?

I will not mentions the revelations at the end of the game to avoid spoilers but they integrate with the whole vision.

The Japanese author explores a brand new world where the main character, Sam Porter Bridges, will walk alone with the mission of building his own world, reconnecting the territory of United States into a new nation. Indeed there is the presence of the other players. The online gaming of Death Stranding is mandatory for a complete gaming experience and it invites the players to build structures (shortcuts, bridges, highways) inside a common platform without never meeting, having awareness of their presence just through the structures which will create the new country.

This gameplay matches a lot with the buddhist concept of creation of self universe, the one that dwells inside of a person who is having his/her inner exploration and asks only to the own self the responsibility of its grow. The man (or woman, astral body has no gender) built his own soul as an house and the more he struggles, the more the house grows, becoming a land, and the land becomes a whole universe.

This universe is connected to the material world and to its inhabitants through a common sharing of energy and experience. We are on Earth to make our inner world grow and to share with others, same as us but different and unique. This is what happens in the social structure of Death Stranding, where we share the same platform (the game) but we never meet in our own private game but throw common effort, visible in the structures along the adventure.

The man in his way to the enlightenment will have to deal with his own demons, the defences that along our way made us weak and blind to the actual reality. In the material world we don't see them but they lead our actions, in the bad and the good way, but in the metaphisic state we recognize them as the ghosts of our past and the past of our kind. In Death Stranding we face very unique creatures. The Beached Things are echoes of the past world, they are able to lead us down in an abyss that when we fail, becomes a huge voidout in the world we are creating.

This voidout could represent the thraumas that make the weakness of the man. The Way doesn't ask for them to be removed but to be able to be aware of them and deal with their presence.
The gameplay allows to shoot them in the traditional way but the sum of the actions against the BT is to cut the ombelical cord that bound the ties to weakness. The umbelical cord is a recurrent image in esoterism, meaning the necessity to cut off the material relationship to the Earth, first represented by the birth connection.

There are states of mind lead men to high knowledge. One of the fundamental ones is the purity of infancy. We are born aware of our needs and true will of consciousness that allows to see actual reality. The constant presence of BB, an artificial fetus that Sam brings always with him, might represent this radicated aspect of several religions and philosophies. Sam will loose BB for a while in his walk to maturity as it is part of the way to enlightenment.

One of the most important aspects of Death Stranding gameplay is delivering huge cargos along unwelcoming lands. Since the beginning it is asked to the player to find balance into his way. The constant search for balance is one of the main aspects in the buddhist and taoist philosophies where the way to happiness is not just reaching a goal but being aware to find constantly a new balance, like walking on the line of the equilibrist.

The spiritual walk requires to spend time in the personal own world, being aware that it is the one that truly leads the actions that we experience in the material world. The constant pain and struggle that Sam Porter Bridges has to experience is not a punishment but the information of transformation and growth that changes along his experience.

Meditation itself is a moment of introspection that doesn’t really require particular positions, mantras or oils and incense, but dedication to focus in isolated areas of the true self. This is helped by the long moments when Sam walks alone from an area to the other.

The non linear identity of time is part itself of any gaming, allowing the story to happen in different sections so this factor is native in the medium itself, but in Death Stranding plays an important role both in the narrative structure and in the way the cycles of life and death doesn’t represent an end but a continuum, without revealing too much.

Infact the theory of evolution of making through the process of spiritual awareness is part of the storytelling of many fictional entertainment works today and Death Stranding proposes its own theory that makes the videogame a chance of personal introspection and a complex parabola into mindfulness.