a good old-fashioned boss fight with Higgs from "Death Stranding"

Discussing anything about Death Stranding is a monumental task in of itself. I would not put it on my worst enemy. I've tried to hone in on one specific point of fourth-wall-breaking here; the main antagonist, Higgs, is prone to practically reaching out and shaking the player's hand. His dialogue displays an overwhelming power over the player, a condescending and omniscient form of intimidation. But does it go any further than that?

https://gameranx.com/features/id/187060/article/death-stranding-where-to-find-higgss-home-god-particle-go-getter-guide/, Higgs posing all cool-like in front of a BT (beached thing) he just summoned to kick your ass.

The player doesn't initially run into Higgs out of the gate--there is a mountain of lore and exposition that your have to get through first before he makes his grand entrance (and it is grand, he makes sure of it). When we finally do meet him though, he introduces himself as "the particle of God that permeates all of existence," which is a direct reference to his name: the Higgs particle is a physics term that describes the particle that gives mass to other particles. Essentially, this guy is introducing himself as a deity to you--and, to be fair, he is the most powerful DOOMS user you have met thus far (for the sake of brevity, I won't go too much into DOOMS here, but it is essentially the magic system of Death Stranding). He is capable of summoning and controlling monstrous tar creatures called BT's, or "Beached Things". As far as the player knows, there is nothing he can't do. Then, he says something interesting. Before the boss fight starts, he says "so how 'bout it? Aren't you getting tired of the grind? Isn't this what you've been waiting for this whole time? A game over?!"

Specifically at this point, the camera is framed in a way where Higgs is not looking at Sam, the protagonist, directly. Rather, he is staring straight through the screen at the player. These questions are undoubtedly intended to make the player feel just a little uncomfortable, and the delivery of these lines combined with the stellar camera work only add to this unease. It's almost as if Higgs knows that Death Stranding is not an action game, and that the player has not seen many fights. It's almost like he knows that most people who play video games are expecting this kind of confrontation.

But why does he know this? And why is he making a very clear effort to let us know that he knows? Well, again, it fits his character. He is extremely self-absorbed, attributing himself to the status of a god (which might as well supersede any fictional or artificial barrier between the player and the game). However, I think it is also a way for the game's creator to reach out a talk to the player directly.

Hideo Kojima, creator of Death Stranding as well as the notorious Metal Gear series, is equally well known for his rather strange, unconventional narrative design--riddled with points that deliberately shatter the fourth wall. These quirks in his games have now mostly been regarded as just that--quirks. But there are comments in these games, made by the creators, that direct the player towards a meaning or feeling they are attempting to convey. And there is no better way to do that than to directly tell the player yourself.

But that still leaves the question, why? What is the point of Higgs, declaring before the final boss fight: "No BT's, no void-outs, no bullshit... just a good old-fashioned boss fight. Stick versus rope. Gun versus strand. One more ending before the end... one last game over."

I believe that, in the context of this specific game, Higgs is often serving as a commentary on conventional game design and its lasting effects on games today. Death Stranding, despite the mixed reviews it received on release, is one-of-a-kind. It's groundbreaking for the art form, in literally producing a new "strand-type" genre that Kojima himself has said that he created. So it comes as no surprise that many people were confused by this game, or found it dull, or too exposition-heavy (critiques that are certainly not unfounded). It also isn't shocking that the creators of this game, then, might have anticipated this reaction; and as a result, they inserted some snide remarks from the main antagonist that pokes fun at traditional expectations on what makes a video game, well, a video game.

So, while Higg's fourth wall breaks certainly suit his character and serve to build him as this god-like being, it is also a way to comment on the ever-changing platform that is video games. And in this case, it seems like Higgs is saying we're a bit stuck creatively in the field of game design.