I think I just put the finger on what charmed me the most of Death Stranding Art Direction. That calm, rainy mood, this kind of morning fog on the horizon. It's super comfy.

There is a strong love of Nature and beautiful ways to showcase it in Kojima Productions games. I recall the massive forests and mountains in MGS3, also a great moment, you could feel the wet atmosphere.

MGS2, you felt at sea. But mostly within dry and sealed facilities.

MGS4 was sandy and dusty.
I hate sand (just like Annie) and it worked on me, I didn't like the atmosphere which felt really oppressive.

MGS1 was cold AF. Many characters were shivering.

Fun things about all of this is that it's pretty basic, just colorimetry, FX and a bit of Sound Design an post process. But it works so well and gives a true location identity to those places.