The landscapes you encounter are diverse. Mountains seem to be the most prolific so far, spanning huge swathes of the earth and often cutting you off from your desired location. You also encounter desert areas that are almost Mars-like, providing a valuable change of color from the greys and greens that are dominant early on. Forests can be found in other areas, along with vast plateaus and lakes.
You’ll also come across locales with blocks of stone that are reminiscent of the basalt columns at the Giant’s Causeway near Belfast. There are also some urban/city areas in the game, but surprisingly they feel quite underwhelming compared to the natural biosphere. This is in part due to the fact that much of the population died out during the titular Death Stranding extinction event. As well, the denizens of this new America are unwilling — perhaps unable — to venture outside due to the threat of phenomena like time fall and the BTs.
Physical land is not the only aspect of Death Stranding where the environment informs your gameplay experience. Weather is also incredibly important. Timefall, as indicated above, is a threat to people — but it also ruins cargo. This is because, as the name suggests, it causes time to pass dangerously quickly within the area it manifests.
As you progress deeper into the game, you unlock the ability to build timefall shelters designed specifically to alleviate and avoid extended exposure to the rain. Likewise, there’s also a weather station that you bring online which enables you to see timefall coverage up to 30 minutes in advance in order to plan your route better, or get out of the rain if abruptly caught in a deluge.
If you’re up high trekking over any mountains, timefall can take the form of snow. I found the snow particularly beautiful when playing, and it too impacts your movement, as walking through any snow slows you down considerably (especially considering most of the time you only encounter when climbing steep slopes). In certain areas you’ll also find extreme gale winds that can rob Sam of his stamina and even throw him off his feet, depending on exhaustion and cargo weight.
Equipment, a literal lifesaver
The equipment you fabricate and utilize during your journey across America is also intrinsically linked to the physical environment. Attempting to climb some mountains? You better bring some ladders and climbing anchors. Driving across extensive amounts of rivers and lakes? Make sure to pack a PCC so you can build a generator to recharge any vehicles. Unfortunately many of the more useful structures and equipment don’t get unlocked until much later on in the game, but you never feel unprepared early on. Death Stranding manages to feed you enough elements of gameplay, piece by piece, to make progression feel balanced.