Indeed. But if you look at the sheer volume of discussion (no matter how trollish and low quality it is at times) about the merits of this game that practically nobody has actually played yet, I think you have to conclude that is an answer in itself.
I mean, when was the last time there was this amount of discussion about an unreleased game? Especially as a lot of the argument is about the idea of what Death Stranding is as game.
Does every game have to be a combat-based power fantasy? Should game developers "stay in their lane", stick to making simple entertainment, not lofty artistic statements? Where and what is the "fun"? Kojima, genius or fraud? etc.
These are big, important questions that anyone who honestly cares about videogames should welcome.
I'd say a big part of the problem is "hype".
Every big game is built up as though it's somehow going to change the world or blow open the possibilities of what a video game can do.
So people get their hands on the game and (I would say kind of obviously) this doesn't happen.
However, there will always be someone who loves the game or who loves something about it and I think there is always some kind of effort to tear that down.
Right now I am playing Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair on Switch. Probably it's the best game I've played in the past few months and I am really enjoying it. However I am sure there are plenty of folk who would love to scoff at me for "playing a crappy 2-D cartoon platform game on the under-powered Switch".
Everyone seems to have their thing that they like and everything else is just "garbage".
It's not just console wars. I feel like we also have strange "genre wars" going on also.
A good question for people who don't like "Game X", especially when that is extreme dislike, would be "well, what games do you like".
The IGN guy who gave Death Stranding the 6.8, for example, has apparently NEVER given a game a 9 out of 10.
Check out all of Tristan Ogilvie's reviews and score history on OpenCritic. Tristan Ogilvie has written 108 reviews. Their average review score is 68. Tristan Ogilvie has recommended 51% of games they have reviewed.
opencritic.com
You can see that his highest rated game in the past five years is "Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition" which he gave a 8.9.
He seems to like the Yakuza games quite a bit.
Metro Exodus, Quantum Break, Lego City: Undercover.
A very generous seeming 8 for New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe.
There doesn't seem to be anything he is particularly enthusiastic about.
Death Stranding also looks like probably the biggest release he has ever reviewed.
It's funny that his 6.8 in particular across the field of reviews is the one that "proves" the game is rubbish.