One Must Imagine Sam Happy: Death Stranding through Camus’s Absurdism

This paper aims to analyze Death Stranding’s plot and gameplay mechanics to demonstrate how the video game and its protagonist, Sam, exhibit elements of absurdism as defined by Albert Camus. Death Stranding is not merely a video game but an intricate philosophical exploration of the human condition. Sam’s journey through an inherently absurd world allows players to vicariously experience existential sentiments through the video game’s narrative and ludic elements. As the story progresses, Sam’s quest resembles a Sisyphean struggle which engages players in an absurd procedural rhetoric. This absurdity is further enriched by allusions to Kobo Abe’s literary works. The referenced plays and short stories of Abe evoke tangible yet contradictory poetic visuals that capture the complexity of the human condition. The concepts of rope and stick, as defined by Abe, persist their paradoxical nature within Death Stranding, further emphasizing the video game’s absurdist themes. Through this analysis, Death Stranding is presented as a profound interactive medium that mediates existential and absurdist ideas, offering players a unique philosophical experience.