Necropolitics, fathering, and the environment in Death Stranding: critical narrative intersections in the dynamics of Hideo Kojima’s game

Abstract

This article analyzes the game Death Stranding as a critical narrative of the structures underlying the modern/colonial project, investigating how its dynamics challenge logics of domination, particularly regarding necropolitics, the sexual division of reproductive labor, and the relationship with the environment. The objective is to comprehend how the game constructs, at both symbolic and interactive levels, alternatives to the predatory rationality associated with the West. This is a qualitative, interpretative study based on the autoethnographic method of self-narratives and on Saldaña’s data coding cycles. The corpus consists of excerpts from the gameplay experience, analyzed through descriptive and narrative coding, followed by an eclectic stage and pattern identification. The analysis is organized into three categories: environment, necropolitics, and fathering. The results indicate that the game subverts the centrality of violence by discouraging killing, promotes a critique of environmental exploitation through a collapsing world, and repositions care as a central element of the experience by integrating productive and reproductive labor in the protagonist’s role. It is concluded that the game operates as a critical allegory by proposing relationships grounded in connection, care, and the preservation of life.