There comes a time in a playthrough of any long game like Death Stranding 2: On The Beach when you ask yourself, “Is this the best way to do things?” And while I do not claim to have all the answers, I can certainly try to help any newcomers, and hopefully veterans, ease into the experience of being the best porter in the world.
It all boils down to little habits to make your deliveries as smoothly as possible, so here it goes:
Choose Multiple Orders At A Time
As the name implies, when you are choosing your Main and Standard orders, it is possible to choose multiple deliveries at the same time, making it possible to create a path that goes to several facilities in one run instead of choosing just one at a time. This might sound obvious, but the game does not tell you to go and do this, instead opting for the safer path of delivering one package at a time.
Halfway across the game you will realize that the distances across shelters might be a bit longer, so it is up to you to make the most of these treacherous paths and pick up several orders with your truck to increase the star levels with each prepper or fast travel and skip the bread and butter of the game. Those items that people reward you with 5 stars are worth your while.
Relying On Others’ Structures
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach’s asynchronous multiplayer is what sets the game apart from making it extremely isolating. After all, you are uniting the world one connection at a time. It is only fair, then, to actually rely on the other porters who are playing alongside you. Once you add a new facility to the chiral network, signs, bridges, and more will appear. Do not be stubborn (like a friend of mine), the game is made for you to interact with these structures to make it easier for yourself, to feel that you are not alone in this harsh environment.
Grab someone’s off-roader, charge in their generator, and remember that you can give more than one like to them. In fact, you can give dozens, so if you are feeling charitable, go ahead and smash that touchpad button of the DualSense to show your wholehearted support.
Improve Your Connection To The Chiral Network
This one is easy. With every delivery you make to each facility, you increase your star level with them. Once you reach a threshold, you will receive a reward and increase the availability of materials with it. This helps to bring materials with you when you are out and about to repair, complete, or upgrade structures made by yourself or others.
Not only that, but the rewards, starting from Mexico all the way to Australia, range from hefty guns that pack a bigger punch against BTs and bandits to battery packs to attach to your truck to last longer on the road without having to recharge. So yeah, consider going off the beaten path and try doing some of those aid requests, standard orders, and delivering lost cargo found on the side of the road. It’ll make everyone’s life better.
Invest in Roads
As the title says, investing in roads is a very smart way of ensuring your journey in Death Stranding 2: On The Beach goes as smoothly as can be. The distances you will have to traverse will be ever longer, so to efficiently shorten the amount of time between deliveries and not have to worry about any old rock wrecking your fragile cargo, invest in roads.
The best part of it is you don’t have to go it alone. If you get lucky, it is very likely that if you are the first to invest in the construction of a certain road with some materials, other porters will notice and pitch in. By the time you realize, the road will be ready for yours and everyone else’s use. What makes it the most satisfying are the notifications that other porters are using the roads that you so vigorously worked on, adding to that unmistakable sense of community that only Death Stranding 2: On The Beach has.
Quickly Access Your Cargo
Finally, this one is a mistake I admit to making more than once. It is always important to auto-arrange your cargo when picking up new items on the go, and there are two ways to do this. One is by clumsily pressing the Options button to open the Ring Terminal, or Main Menu, and manually going into the Cargo Management option to auto-arrange your cargo there.
The other is by holding the Up button on the D-Pad and quickly pressing the auto-arrange option there to do it instantly on the road, without accessing any menus. That will easily save you some time in the long run.
And there you have it. Of course, these are just a few quirks that I myself picked up on, and hopefully other porters will find useful as reminders on their long-term playthroughs. Either way, I encourage people to play and explore the game on their own terms to find their ways to play and make the experience their own.
Looking for more guides to help you on your long treks across Australia in Death Stranding
2: On The Beach? How about this one to help you learn the code to the Motherhood Shelter, or this one to help you unlock the music player.
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