Death Stranding: Director's Cut (PS5 2021) - BEAT - With this being my second proper playthrough, I think it's cemented itself pretty high as a favorite game at this point, top 20 for sure. It just absolutely hits the kind of grind I can get into, where it never feels frustrating and I get new stuff on the regular that adds variety and options, while also having an incredibly unique and interesting story to follow along with. I struggle to have something to compare it to, but I sorta feel like it's the same as vein as a Animal Crossing, where the game can be quite repetitive with what are considered menial tasks, in Death Stranding's case, having to spend 60 to 70% of the game just delivering packages of various amounts across treacherous terrain. Sure there's combat, but it's a relatively minor part of the game and much of the game is about expanding the network, creating new roads and traversal paths, and getting new gear and items to facilitate better deliveries, while experiencing a crazy post-apocalyptic story. I don't know why I like it so much, but with this playthrough, I've put over 150 hours into the game at this point and still gonna put more time in to try and finish up most everything again.
As for the Director's Cut version, it doesn't add a whole lot new beyond the big performance boost (Which was already available on PC), but it does run fantastically on PS5. The new stuff is mostly just bonus traversal items, side content with the firing range and race track, and some bonus side mission stuff along with the Cyberpunk and Half-Life crossover missions. I wouldn't recommend someone to replay it like I have unless you are a pretty serious fan of the first game. I think you could do all the new content with a transferred endgame save, but it's not something you'll be likely dumping a ton of hours into.
For anyone that hasn't played it, I would recommend it if you love the wild story stuff that Kojima does, or want what is mostly a walking/delivery simulator as while it does have action and threats and all that, it's such a minor part of the game. It's a temporary hazard you have to experience while pretending to be the USPS during the apocalypse...So basically you are Kevin Costner from The Postman lol