2019’s Death Stranding introduces us to a core mechanic and driving narrative force in its opening cinematic: ”Timefall”, a weather phenomenon appearing as a deadly rain which speeds up the aging and decaying of anything it touches. A serious problem for our player, who serves as a courier carrying fragile cargo across long distances and through dangerous Ghost territories. And throughout the game’s story, Timefall is portrayed as a dangerous and oppressive force which strikes fear into characters and punches down on a society of survivors attempting to rebuild.
When entering Ghost encounters, the player may instinctively slow down and attempt to hide and wait for the Ghosts to pass by. However, in this world Ghosts are always accompanied by Timefall, which presents the player a dilemma: do they rush ahead and risk their packages being destroyed by a Ghost, or do they sit idly by while their packages are destroyed by the rain? Timefall effortlessly re-contextualizes what is essentially a quantitative time limit into a qualitative narrative element which pushes the player forward at a heightened and more exciting pace.
Death Stranding’s core loop sees the player traveling through barren landscapes to rural human outposts, delivering precious cargo and taking new orders from other outposts.
Each order and its subsequent delivery is scored in its own unique way, however all delivery scores share a few common criteria, one of which is how much each package has decayed since the order was taken. Cargo will automatically decay at a naturally slow rate, and the player’s performance in the world can affect this process.
Falling, submersion in water, and rough handling by enemy characters will damage cargo, and Timefall will accelerate the decay rate of all cargo while encountered.
In this context, Timefall subtracts from the player’s delivery time limit, and the more time a player spends in Timefall, the less time they have left to complete the delivery. While the player can check on their packages’ damage and decay, the conversion rate between time spent in Timefall and decay of cargo is not explicitly stated. This creates the illusion of a qualitative grading criteria, and a sense of urgency for the player, encouraging them to rush ahead when encountering Timefall lest their packages decay and delivery be graded poorly.
Loosely delineated “Ghost Territories”, dangerous areas where Ghosts are known to appear in large numbers, are located throughout the world, and are often conveniently placed on the player’s path between a delivery’s start and end points.
This forces a Ghost encounter with the player - sunlight fades away, rain begins to pour, the camera pulls in close, and even the player’s DualShock 4 controller begins to cry in fear. It’s a dramatic entrance clearly signaling a change in pace and stakes, without any screen-space instructions or an interrupting cinematic.
While in Ghost territory, the player has only a vague sense of where nearby Ghosts are located, and only the direction to the nearest Ghost is explicitly given to the player. Ghosts are able to move around, but they can’t see the player, and will not track the player’s location unless provoked.
Wandering through a minefield, the player must carefully traverse the territory by moving forward and avoiding the closest Ghosts, forging a fickle path ahead which may change depending on where the next Ghost might be located.
If we pretend for a moment that this world existed without Timefall, the player might instinctively stand still, or even hide, while inside Ghost territory. Since it’s unlikely a Ghost will find the player out of its own free will, this could very well be the safest, and perhaps even optimal, strategy for the player to take. We can imagine what is intended to be an exciting encounter quickly turning into a slow, monotonous experience.
Adding a time limit to this experience would force the player out of this strategy and into something less comfortable and more exhilarating. However, instead of simply adding a quantitative timer clearly delineated in screen space, Death Stranding goes further. Adding Timefall creates a vague, intimidating, and oppressive force driving the player forward into danger.
Timefall also integrates seamlessly into the experience in other ways. Wet ground is slippery, making the player more prone to tripping, falling, and damaging their cargo. A landscape littered with abandoned packages from other players suddenly becomes a rapidly decaying gold rush. Other characters panic at the sight of stormclouds and rainbows, knowing that a Ghost encounter may be near. And Ghost territories appear more intimidating and immersive in a torrential downpour.
