Get to Episode 3
Death Stranding Tips & Tricks
Death Stranding is very much a game that should not be rushed. However, we highly recommend that you make a beeline for every main story mission and delivery until you reach episode 3.
This is because the early hours of the game are pretty brutal, as you’re left with basically no tools or equipment to help with your deliveries. Once you hit episode 3, that’s when the game will start doling out all of the good equipment and tools that help to make your deliveries easier and much more fun.
This includes fast travel, smoke grenades, and a Power Skeleton that lets you run faster even with tons of cargo loaded onto your back. You can always go back to previous areas to clean up side missions and orders that you missed earlier, so there isn’t really any downside to getting to Episode 3 first, then backtracking.
Auto-Arrange Your Cargo
Death Stranding Tips & Tricks
The bulk of Death Stranding’s gameplay revolves around your cargo and inventory management. Pack too much stuff on Sam’s back, and he’ll keel over easily. You need to learn about the ins and outs of his suit, figuring out the kinds of items that would fit best on his belt, suit, tool rack, and back.
Or… you could just let the game do it for you.
In the cargo menu, just press the triangle button to let the game auto-arrange your inventory for you, and it’ll sort everything out in the most optimal fashion.
From what I’ve played so far, the auto-arrange function works wonderfully in Death Stranding. Instead of you having to fiddle with all the different sections of Sam’s suit and spending even more time in the menus, the game does a decent job of putting everything in its right place, and this can have a great improvement on your mobility and steering as you’re running from point A to point B.
Sneak Around BTs
Death Stranding Tips & Tricks
The BTs are the main supernatural element of Death Stranding, and are also what make this feel like a horror stealth game.
Whenever the BTs are nearby, BB will alert you and let you know that it’s time to start sneaking. At least in the opening hours of the game, it’s futile and pointless to even try fighting back against them. You have no weapons, all you can do is punch, and that’s not going to do you any good.
However, it’s actually really easy to just sneak past the BTs in Death Stranding. All you have to do is crouch, tap the R1 button to do a quick scan to get a sense of where the nearby BTs are, then sneak around them. If they ever get too close, hold the R1 button to hold your breath and they won’t even know you’re there, unless, of course, you physically bump into them.
Even if you do get caught, as long as you have enough stamina, you can always shake them off, run away, then go back to sneaking.
Later on, as you get access to grenades, you can fend them off. But in general, it’s not really wise to take on BTs, especially in the middle of a delivery. They can really damage your cargo and ruin your delivery score.
Keep Building Structures and Leaving Likes
Death Stranding Tips & Tricks
Multiplayer is a huge part of the Death Stranding experience, and the game certainly tries to encourage every player to do their part in making the world a little less scary by making small contributions here and there.
Player contributions come by way of structures, which are essentially ladders, anchor ropes, generators, and other cool buildings and tools that you can leave around the world for other players to use. You might think that the asynchronous multiplayer makes things too easy, but as you spend more time with the game, you’ll be glad that these structures exist.
You’re also encouraged to leave structures of your own, as people will leave you Likes if they find your structure useful, increasing your own porter grade and Bridge Connection stat in the process.
The community and multiplayer aspect of this game is huge, as players are essentially encouraged to work together to keep maintaining the structures that they find useful (as they can degrade over time due to timefall), and make the experience a little easier on newer players. It’s also just a nice thing to do for your fellow couriers.
Assorted Tips & Tricks
Death Stranding is full of little convoluted systems and mechanics that aren’t immediately obvious, so here’s a short list of facts and cool tidbits that might help you out on your journey:
- You can select your background music by choosing the Music Player option from the menu and playing a song from the list of tracks. Music is unlocked by completing orders.
- To equip a weapon or just a piece of gear or equipment, go to your cargo menu, press X on the item, and choose the Equip option.
- You can rest in the open world. Hold circle to rest, then hold square to take a nap to refill your stamina and blood gauge.
- If you ever find yourself losing balance, hold the L2 and R2 buttons together and stop moving to regain your footing.
- MULEs will always detect you if you have cargo on you. If you see a MULE camp on your map, it might be a good idea to go in without anything on you, sneak around their camp, steal their loot, then get out.
Be sure to check our Death Stranding guide wiki for more tips and information on the game.
Here are a few other guides to help get you started:
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