I am still knee deep into Chapter 3. Discovered the BTs have another mini-boss form, this one being a Cthulu Panther that murdered me before I got a good look at him. I reset because that crater was in a very bad place for me. I do plan on purposely taking him on down the road though. Every time you see a significant story event, or defeat a BT, you unlock an adorable Green Army Men replica of the event or enemy in your private quarters. Not to mention that seeing how the first boss was just a bigger and nastier version of the mini-boss whale squid, I figure I should get my practice in now...

I think the most amusing thing to take away from Death Stranding is simply appreciating certain modern conveniences that we take for granted. Mainly transportation infrastructure and weather services. In the new chapter, you can build highway style roads which makes getting around this massive map unmolested so much easier. I also unlocked a weather service app that gives me the weather forecasts that helps me sidestep Timefall. Since gaining a lot of useful tools including the ability to create structures to protect me from Time fall and allow me to wait out the storm, to actually being able to build sleeping quarters wherever I want as long as I have the materials; I've decided to take Fragile's offer and jump back to the first zone to finish up some more quests and to hopefully encounter one of my friends contributions to the game so I can make a Strain Contract with her. I didn't realize until now how much the first zone is basically Video Game Ireland where Rain is the default setting with only different variances to tell them apart. Oh, I also unlocked the ability to use robo-couriers to send packages, but I'm probably going to ignore them because while their success rate of getting the package to the client is high, their grades on the scale are awful and so I'm probably better off just delivering them myself. I also unlocked the little hover carriers you've likely seen in the trailers that follow Sam. I have not used them as much since I'm better about not overloading myself with weight and I'm pretty sure they can't be used with vehicles.

I have actually reached my home state at this point as well, and I must say the mountains look just as intimidating to climb as they do in real life. Not looking forward to crossing them just yet. I got more info on Fragile and I find it amusing how little she cares about personal space and boundaries. I had a very awkward sequence with her that would have probably been misconstrued as fan service if A) It ended up being the opposite, and B) the entire situation illicit a knee jerk response of "who the smurf does this?". Of course, this being Kojima, I shouldn't have been surprised that we play one of his games and not have to be subjected to his favorite soap box real world topic: nuclear weapons. Yes they show up in this one, but how important they will be remains unseen. Technically Voidouts are more destructive and easier to pull off despite the absurdity from some of the emails about 3D Printed nuclear weapons. This game has also taken some interesting potshots at the current U.S. President and the whole Brexit nonsense, though in a way not to directly reference them by name.

I'm honestly surprised how good this game has been turning out. You really wouldn't think that being a post-apocalyptic UPS guy would be fun, but it's actually been pretty thrilling.