Death Stranding Player Turns His Treadmill Into A Controller For Ultimate Immersion

Looking for a way to not quit on his New Years resolution to exercise more, one Death Stranding fan has turned his treadmill into a PS4 controller.

One fan of Death Stranding has gone the extra mile and turned his entire gaming station into a treadmill, offering what might be the most immersive (and healthy) way to play Hideo Kojima’s latest title to-date. Death Stranding was only released a few months ago, but the game has been in the thoughts of many fans for multiple years now thanks to the tumultuous way creator Kojima split with his former company Konami and the incessant, often confusing marketing of his first solo project.

Death Stranding topped a number of Game of the Year 2019 lists from critics but received mixed reviews from fans, many of whom were expecting something more along the lines of Kojima’s previous entries in the Metal Gear Solid series. While definitely a departure from what he was typically known for creating, Death Stranding still found love from many players and has both been nominated for and won numerous awards since its release. Now, one player is taking the game’s walking mechanics to the next step.

In a new YouTube video released by engineer Allen Pan, Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding becomes as immersive as it can possible get minus a pair of VR goggles. Pan introduces the video by stating how he, like many people, would like to get more exercise in the New Year, but that he does not want to give up on his resolution like so many others often do. To that end, Pan does the only logical thing in order to keep himself interested in exercise: he turns his treadmill into a PS4 controller so he can play Death Stranding by walking.

As evident in the many different clips featured above, Pan had a little bit of trouble getting started with the project, and still has to use the actual PS4 controller for things like rotating the camera around, but the entirety of the left stick (movement) functionality has been transferred to the treadmill. The altered treadmill/controller machine can also tell the difference between Pan walking and running, transferring those movements to Norman Reedus’ Death Stranding character on screen.

Not only is this a fantastic way to make Death Stranding a more immersive experience, but it is also an impressive feat of engineering and one which will undoubtedly aid its creator in his goal of not giving up on exercise. While some fans may not want to take quite as many steps as the main character of Death Stranding does every time they turn on their PS4, its an undeniably effective way to combine exercise and gaming in such a simple manner that it’s surprising Nintendo hasn’t tried to do it already.