Delivering Existential Concerns: Death Stranding as the Most Existential Game We Have (So Far)

This paper explores Death Stranding as the most comprehensive example of an existential video game to date. Drawing on Yalom's framework of existential psychotherapy, it analyzes how the game systemically engages with death, isolation, freedom, and meaninglessness through both narrative and gameplay. By inviting players into a slow, meditative rhythm of reflection, it delivers an existential experience. Despite its success, few mainstream games explore these themes with similar depth—revealing an urgent need for more research and design in this space. This paper is a call for more research, design, and critique that takes existential play seriously.