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The Worst of All Possible Worlds
The Worst of All Possible Worlds

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104 - Death Stranding (ft. Drew Toothpaste)

Drew Toothpaste (@drewtoothpaste) and the lads gulp down some cryptobiotes with a Monster energy chaser as they strap on their packages and unite the United Cities of America in Hideo Kojima’s 2019 mail-delivery simulator: Death Stranding. Topics include the wonders of nature, the terrors of the afterlife, and what it means to build community in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by malevolent ghost babies.

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Drew Toothpaste - Twitter // Bluesky // Patreon // Instagram

Everything is Real - In Everything Is Real, Natalie Dee & Drew Toothpaste investigate the conspiracies and strange happenings that peel back the edge of reality. Join Drew (a research chemist) and Natalie (a Ph.D in Metaphysics) as they study the fringes of society.

Media Referenced in this Episode:

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Commercial: “Graham Sorter Brücken: A Life of Great Import(er)”

104 - Death Stranding (ft. Drew Toothpaste)

Comments

I know I’m way late to this one but turning off the online component is literally the most insane thing I think you can do in this game and kind’ve breaks the entire point of it. That was honestly upsetting to hear.

Derek Woods

I see this game as in conversation with games like Hardspace Shipbreaker and Viscera Cleanup Detail and Harvest Moon/Animal Crossing/Stardew life sims - these games that aren't really job simulators but are very much about work, about labor. Games that make you feel kinda weird about why you put off doing the dishes for virtual chores, or relax after your gig economy app job by roleplaying a haggard contractor. There's something really chewy to me about the fact that Death Stranding is almost too close to life in 2023, the way Paranoia also is now, yet still has an appeal. I think it combines elements of both the Viscera Cleanup Detail/Shipbreaker approach of provoking you to think about which and why systems put people in these meat grinders, and the life sim approach of there being a certain escapism to observing your chores do meaningful good in the world around you, something we of course don't get much of in late capitalism.

Elah

Opening up my Trapper Keeper, labeled "Voltaire Lore" in puffy paint, to jot down "AJ likes feet."

Dergon

you know to really settle in when the interstitial starts with "is this thing on?"

Elah

I will always love Kojima for making a game where Mads gives me flowers on my birthday

By Tove!

Hell yes drew toothpaste. I Don't Do Shit is my personal anthem.

Lucas White


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