Death Standing' on PC: What it does differently that sets it apart from PS4 version

After his controversial departure from Konami, the highly-regarded video game writer, designer, director, and producer Hideo Kojima founded his own studio. Their first project under the Kojima Productions banner is the star-studded title "Death Stranding." A-list actors such as Mads Mikkelsen, Norman Reedus, Guillermo del Toro, and Lindsay Wagner among others made up the cast whose likenesses were digitally captured and added to the game. Shortly before its release on the PS4, a PC version was confirmed and is now finally out.

The hype around it while in development was partly due to the mystery regarding its gameplay. Kojima, Reedus, and del Toro were originally working together on a sequel to Konami's popular survival horror series called "Silent Hills." Unfortunately, it was canned after the producer's spat with the company but not before a playable demo named "P.T." was released for the PS4.

Many were expecting "Death Stranding" to be another combat-heavy open-world action title in the vein of "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain" but it was not. Instead, it turned out to be an odd yet unique enough game that many critics claim is in a genre of its own. As with most PC versions, gamers can expect a host of improvements over its console counterpart. According to CNN, the visuals receive a notable upgrade especially when it comes to frame rate.

In an interview with Kojima Productions technical director Akio Sakamoto elaborated: "In the cutscenes, we recreated the parts that were not shown before. Overall, this wider view helps the game become that much more immersive, Moreover, unlike on the PS4 Pro, where the machine can push it up to 60 fps (frames per second), there are times when it drops down to 30 fps."

This usually happens in gameplay sections with many on-screen elements. Depending on the configuration of the user's computer, it can push the performance of "Death Stranding" way beyond what the PS4 can muster. The development team likewise noted that they worked closely with AMD and Intel to optimise everything for the platform. Sakamoto also hinted that future titles from Kojima Productions will likely have a process in place to allow for simultaneous releases on console and PC.