Review of the game Death Stranding for iPhone 15 Pro. Kojima, this is a complete failure.

Yesterday the official release of Death Stranding for the Apple platform took place.

This is the third port of a major AAA game for the new generation iPhone 15 Pro, in particular. And if there were no big problems with the release of the two Resident Evil parts, now the situation has become worse.

On topic: Death Stranding review. Just a good game from Kojima

Let’s figure out what the long-awaited “new product” turned out to be and whether it’s worth getting it on the iPhone.

Briefly. What game is this?

You play for Sam Bridges, a simple courier who only knows how to do this. But on the other hand, now he had a goal – the whole United States of America was saying. All tasks are supported by a solid and well-developed plot.

People are hiding in bunkers from the temporary rain, which in a matter of seconds ages the inhabitants and destroys some buildings. The example needs to create a local data network so that each country can once again exist as a single connection. This network allows you not just to transfer files, but to completely create objects through local analogues of 3D printers.

With the help of this very supply chain, developers are trying to show how long and hard it takes to achieve big goals in order to ultimately achieve success.

This leads to constant phrases from the characters about the great goal: “Sam, there’s a new order at the terminal,” “Sam, don’t forget to check the orders,” and so on. And all this is intertwined with phrases like “Thank you, Sam, we are one step closer to the reunification of America,” “Sam, you are doing an important thing,” and so on.

Thus, the player performs routine, monotonous work. Again and again. Moreover, the “mission” can take from 5 to 45 minutes of real time. But I wouldn’t say it’s boring and dull. Here, special mechanics come to the rescue when distributing and transporting goods.

What can you play on?

Here is a list of additional devices:

• iPhoneequipped with an Apple A17 Pro chip or a new one (currently iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max)
• iPadequipped with an Apple M1 chip or later and updated to iPadOS 17.0 or later
• Poppyequipped with an Apple M1 chip or later and updated to macOS 13.3 or later

Graphics of the level “will pass”

There were no revelations here. The Death Stranding graphics presented in the mobile version vary greatly from device to device.

On the iPhone 15 Pro, the settings are minimal, although there is a good draw distance. However, due to the blur present in the moving image, it appears motionless if you just turn the camera a little.

And in general, all the edges are “soft” due to almost no stroking. And in general, as already mentioned at the beginning of the publication, the image on the iPhone has a resolution 720p. On tablets it is higher – 1080p.

However, there is no such thing in cutscenes. All the characters look quite clear and well designed. The videos are a real pleasure to watch. Especially when full Russian voice acting becomes available.

And everything is the same. Despite the fact that the graphics in Death Stranding are noticeably worse than in the console and, especially, the PC version, the image is still not polygonal and stands out against the background of standard mobile games, even Call of Duty Mobile.

Game process. How’s the management?

A large number of controversial issues arise here. However, everything is not as bad as it might seem from the screenshots.

Yes, the interface completely duplicates the gamepad. This is already the norm for any games. And if in the same Resident Evil Village you often need to use at least three fingers to control a character, then in DS you can usually use two.

It all comes down to the fact that such a game is not dynamic and does not require such active interaction with the controller.

If you play on a controller, the game very often requires you to attach triggers to hold the weight that is located throughout Sam Bridges’ body. But in the case of touch controls, just press the same keys, and they will be considered pressed. And it’s very convenient. Thank you for caring about mobile gamers.

But there are other subtleties here. Since Sam is in constant motion on a very uneven surface, he strives to stumble, fall, and so on. Walking in this case is not always convenient, since the sticks for some reason unknown to me cannot trigger or direct the character in a different direction.

This control can hardly be called responsive. It works mostly fine, but there are occasional glitches.

To briefly summarize: you can play, but it’s difficult. Moreover, your fingers cover the third screen, and part of the image is not visible.

With a gamepad the situation is much better. The iPhone has full support for DualShock and DualSense. At the last stage, even the force of influence and all the vibrations work. That is, all built-in functions are present.

Optimization leaves much to be desired. iPhone is very bad

Instead of words. A little gameplay (and that’s still ok)

Of course, no one expected that we would be given a smooth picture at 60 frames per second. It would be a miracle if 505 Games could even bring the graphics presented to this level.

However, many were hoping for at least a stable 30 FPS. Unfortunately, they are not there at launch. And if in the prologue the developers still adhere to this bar, then as soon as you release into the open world, frame rate will drop to 20 FPS. And this will be a fairly periodic occurrence.

Microfreezes, slowdowns, and rare artifacts are the norm for Death Stranding on iOS. It’s good that I didn’t encounter any bugs after several hours of playing.

In addition, iPhone going on a lot after 20 minutes of play. Not critical, but better remove the case if you use it.

But more work needs to be done on optimization. The graphics in the game cannot be changed to improve the situation.

If you have an iPad, Mac, or even a Steam Deck, choose a game on that platform. Playing on the iPhone screen is not very comfortable due to its size, but in general it is possible.

You can play, but it’s not comfortable

Brothers Death Stranding on iPhone is only worth it for those who “really want” to play this game.

Otherwise, buy her iPad or Mac. There, optimization and picture quality are noticeably better than on the iPhone 15 Pro. Until the developers fix the wireless framerate, this game launches awkwardly. Plus, it needs a lot of space – about 40 GB of memory. Owners of the 128 GB version may have problems.

Death Stranding is available on the App Store for 1,790 rubles. Protection is synchronized between all versions (iPhone/iPad/Mac), this is a universal purchase, available on all platforms at once.