Death Stranding Timeline – Complete Story So Far (What You Need to Know to Play Death Stranding 2!)

Death Stranding Timeline – Complete Story So Far (What You Need to Know to Play Death Stranding 2!)

With “Death Stranding 2: On the 
Beach” right around the corner,   I, Suggestive Gaming, thought there would 
be no better time to cover the famously complex storyline of the first title from 
Kojima Productions. Yes, this video’s only going over the story of one game… but it’s 
still a Hideo Kojima game, so strap in. While Death Stranding’s story is told in such 
a way where certain information and backstory isn’t revealed until later in the narrative, 
I’m going to try to piece everything together   as chronologically as possible. As such, I can 
only recommend watching this video to those who have already played the game and are looking for 
a refresher or better understanding of the plot. Newcomers to the series should definitely play the 
first game to experience the story as intended, but then come back to this video 
to like, comment, and subscribe. Seriously, while I’d love the views, 
the first few sentences of this video will spoil the ending of the game, so turn back 
now if you’re not prepared. You’ve been warned. Also note that much like with every open-world, 
massive universe-containing game I’ve covered here on the series, I’m going to have to leave 
out or breeze over a fair amount of side-quests   and secondary characters. This video is going 
to focus on the straight through story of the narrative, rather than acting as a massive lore 
exploration, so keep that in mind as we begin. Now, without further ado, this is what 
you need to know about Death Stranding. Our story begins literally at the dawn of time. 
Across the millennia of Earth’s existence, the planet experiences five mass extinction 
events which wipe out a majority of plant and animal species. Each of these events are 
triggered by a being called an “Extinction Entity.” Driven by a primal urge due to their 
connection to the “Beach” (a liminal shoreline connecting the world of the living and 
what comes after death), each of these   “EE”s act in such a way to be the catalyst of 
each of their respective extinction events. While each individual living being has their 
own Beach, where their soul goes after death, these EEs have access to a shared Beach, one 
from which they influence the living world. At some point in the 21st century, 
the sixth extinction event approaches, one meant for humankind. Unbeknownst 
to the world, a woman in the United States named Bridget Strand is the sixth 
Extinction Entity. Dreams of a new mass extinction haunt Bridget throughout her 
life, but she avoids acting to cause it. During her twenties, however, Bridget (now a 
high-ranking official for a growingly fractured United States) contracts uterine cancer; 
something she theorizes could have been the Beach “punishing” her for failing her duties. 
While undergoing treatment for her cancer, something unprecedented occurs: Bridget’s 
being is split in two. At this point, her soul (or “ka”) awakens, stranded 
on the Beach while her body (or “ha”), remains on the hospital bed. 
Though she’s left without a soul,   Bridget’s body retains her own distinct 
personality, naming her stranded ka “Amelie”. This event leaves Bridget (recovered and now the 
Vice-president of the United States) fascinated with the Beach. She begins researching and 
experimenting with the realm, conceptualizing the “Chiral Network”: a means to send data 
and communications through the world of death, whose disconnection from time would allow 
for seemingly instantaneous transfer speeds. This network is named after the mysterious 
“Chiral Matter” which exists on the Beach, most notably in a crystalline 
form: called “Chiralium”. While this research is ongoing, however, 
another event merges the Beach with the world of the living. After a pregnant mother 
is left brain-dead from an unknown cause, a doctor attempts to deliver her baby via 
cesarean section. When he attempts to cut the baby’s umbilical cord, however, 
the doctor senses a new kind of being,   one whose soul is stranded in the 
world of the living: a “Beached Thing”, or “BT”. While these BTs are normally unseen 
by the human eye, the baby’s umbilical-cord connection to the world of the dead through their 
mother (who effectively is in limbo between life   and death) allows the doctor to see a BT for 
the first time in the history of humanity. Shortly after these events, a massive 
explosion occurs when the BT’s antimatter combines with the matter of the physical 
world, releasing a violent blast of energy. This explosion, later called a “voidout”, 
is large enough to destroy an entire city, and the sitting President of the United 
States is within the blast radius. As the next in succession, Bridget becomes the 
President of the United States of America. Fearing that the voidout was a sign of the 
approaching extinction event, Bridget founds   a company called “Bridges”, secretly leading it 
wearing a mask soas to conceal her true identity as the President. Bridges continues research on 
the Beach, primarily through the “Bridge Baby” program, which aims to reproduce the birthing 
process that led to the detection of the BT in order to better understand them. The Bridge 
Babies, or “BB”s are seven-month-old fetuses, removed via c-sections from their brain-dead 
mothers and placed into pods that simulate the conditions of their stillmother’s womb, 
allowing them to feel as if they’ve never left. Of the Bridge Babies, one is the son of 
former United States Army Special Forces Captain Clifford Unger and his common-law wife, 
Lisa Bridges. When the pregnant Lisa is left brain-dead after a tragic accident, Cliff, 
desperate to save her and their child through Bridges’ experimental treatment, contacts his 
former squadmate, John Blake McClane. McClaine, now known mononymously as “Die-Hardman” 
thanks to his knack for surviving the   warzone, is currently working directly under 
President Strand on the Bridge Baby project. Not knowing their true purpose for his son, 
Cliff allows Bridges to deliver him while keeping his wife on life-support, placing 
the baby in a pod afterwards for further   research. This Baby’s potential catches the 
eye of Bridget, who decides to use him as the basis for her Chiral Network. In order to 
anchor the network to the Beach, however, the Baby’s life must essentially be sacrificed. 
When Die-Hardman learns of these plans, they weigh heavily on his conscience, forcing 
him to secretly inform his former Captain, Cliff. The pair then immediately devise a plan 
to get Cliff’s son out of Bridges’ custody. During the daring mission, Die-Hardman works to 
pull the wool over Bridges’ eyes, allowing Cliff to secretly enter and visit his wife for the last 
time. Kissing his wife goodbye, Cliff promises to take care of their son. After Die-Hardman spoofs 
her vital signs, Cliff puts Lisa to rest with a single gunshot, taking their son (still housed 
in his pod) with him as he flees the facility. On his way out, however, Cliff is discovered and 
stopped by Bridges’ security forces. He bluffs by holding his gun to the BB, threatening the 
company’s asset and forcing them to let him go. As he turns, though, one security officer opens fire, 
hitting Cliff in the back. Die-Hardman arrives and commands them to stand down, rushing to assist 
Cliff, who’s now collapsed from the gunshot. As heavy reinforcements arrive, Cliff 
stands and holds Die-Hardman hostage, bluffing again to prevent their 
gunfire. After telling his old   friend, “thanks for trying,” Cliff 
pushes Die-Hardman towards his guards, creating enough of a distraction to run back to 
Lisa’s room. Unfortunately, as Die-Hardman soon points out (still masking his involvement), 
Cliff is simply running into a dead end. Inside Lisa’s room, Cliff shoots the security 
mechanism locking the doors, preventing them from opening again. The weakened man crawls 
over to his wife’s corpse, apologizing for his failures and accepting his approaching fate. While 
Die-Hardman tries to convince his security forces to look elsewhere, a masked Bridget then arrives 
to instruct her men to cut through the doors. As the heavily armored security forces rush 
in, one shoots Cliff again, leaving him barely breathing while clutching the BB pod. As he stares 
into his son’s eyes, Cliff recounts his fear of becoming a father, causing him to leave the Army 
so he could always be there for his family. In his last moments, Cliff realizes that it wasn’t 
fear that drove him, but bravery. Die-Hardman helps Cliff to a seated position as a guard 
retrieves the BB pod and hands it to Bridget. As Cliff tells his son not to make the same 
mistakes he did, and instead to live his life   freely as himself, Bridget looks into the pod 
to make a shocking realization: it’s empty. She looks down, and sees the premature child in his 
father’s arms; free from his captivity. With no other choice, Die-Hardman is forced to raise his 
weapon to his former Captain, pleading with him to hand the baby over. Bridget, meanwhile, urgently 
commands him to shoot Cliff. When he hesitates, Bridget grabs his hand and forces him to fire the 
weapon twice, striking and killing Cliff Unger. Cliff’s body goes limp, and as his arms 
sprawl open, his son rolls onto the floor, also tragically struck and killed by one 
of the bullets. Bridget rushes to the baby, but it’s too late: her key to 
the Chiral Network is gone,   swept away with the lives of 
Cliff Unger and Lisa Bridges. However, on the Beach, Bridget’s ka, Amelie, 
searches for the baby. She soon finds him, calling out to him as “Sam.” 
She picks up the lifeless baby, sealing the opening where his umbilical 
cord was cut before restoring life to the child through her connection to the Beach. 
Cliff watches from the waters, as Amelie then places Sam into the waters. As he sinks, a 
new ability awakens within him: “repatriation”. This ability allows Sam’s soul to return to 
his body, and he awakens back in his pod to see a very relieved, unmasked Bridget 
Strand along with her right hand man, Die-Hardman. The latter quickly points 
out that the baby’s days as a BB are done, considering his connection is now severed. 
Bridget decides to take the boy out of the pod, electing to raise him as her 
own under the name: Sam Strand. Following Sam’s resurrection, however, the 
world is forever changed. The Beach begins to entwine itself with the living world. Chiralium 
begins to appear on Earth, and its introduction to the atmosphere leads to a meteorological 
phenomenon that’s come to be known as “timefall.” During timefall, precipitation falls much like 
rain or snow, but due to the Chiral Matter’s connection to the Beach, whatever it touches 
experiences an extreme acceleration of time. Far greater of a threat than the timefall 
is the sudden appearance of more and more   BTs. Due to the Beach’s connection to the 
living world, the soul of any human who dies remains tethered to its lifeless body. Over 
the following 48 hours, the body’s natural necrosis process is replaced with a new one 
in which chiral matter fills the corpse, submerging them into a tar-like substance 
before they emerge as a new BT. These BTs, if allowed to come in contact with a living human, 
trigger additional voidouts throughout the world. To prevent more and more destruction, humankind 
quickly learns to incinerate their dead before they necrotize (although they must do it 
away from populated areas, as the chiralium released from the bodies into the air brings 
more timefall, and with it, BT presence). These connected phenomena come to be known 
as an event called the “Death Stranding.” The damage from the voidouts cause 
governments around the world collapse. The United States of America dissolves 
into fractured city-states and bunkers separated by stretches of land now claimed 
by roaming BTs. As society crumbles, roads, highways, trains, planes, and other means of 
physical travel become nearly nonexistent. Bridget Strand, America’s last President, 
shifts Bridges’ goals to rebuild the country under the new banner of the “United Cities 
of America” (or UCA). They continue their work on the Chiral Network, relaunching the 
Bridge Baby program to serve a new purpose. In order to transport goods between the 
disconnected cities, package carriers   (or “porters”) are entrusted with a BB in a pod. 
Through a connection with the BB, as well as the baby’s connection to the other side, porters 
are then able to detect the presence of BTs, allowing them to navigate through their 
territory to make deliveries. These BBs,   however, have a shelf-life, as they eventually 
realize their womb is artificial. After this occurs (usually shortly after one year), 
the BB is “removed from commission”. True to her word, Bridget raises Sam as her own 
son, and while he’s aware that he’s a repatriate, he has no knowledge of his true parents, or the 
horrific events that led to his brief visit to the Beach. During his adolescence, however, Sam 
quickly realizes his connection to the other side. He’s plagued with nightmares of the forthcoming 
extinction, and can sense BTs on his own. This condition comes to be known as DOOMS, and Bridget 
and Amelie learn to grant it to others as well, studying various “levels” that grant 
more abilities to the sufferer. Worst of all, Sam often awakens to find himself 
trapped on the Beach, left to wander along the unending shore. Luckily, Amelie finds him again 
and again, and he quickly grows to know her as his sister. To help him deal with his nightmares, 
Amelie gives Sam a dreamcatcher to wear, promising to always be with him as long as 
he has it. However, as she gives it to him, she makes him promise her that when the time 
comes to stop her, he’ll use it to do so. In return, Sam crafts a “quipu” for 
his sister (a knotted necklace), and his strong connection to it allows him 
to bring the physical object with him to   the Beach. After giving it to her, Amelie 
puts it on, and never removes it after. In the living world, Sam isn’t left 
without lasting effects of his origin.   He develops a psychological condition 
that causes intense physical discomfort (and even allergic reactions) whenever 
he’s touched, called “aphenphosmphobia.” As Sam reaches adulthood, Bridget introduces 
the world to her other adult “daughter”, Samantha America Strand, more commonly 
called: Amelie. Unbeknownst to the public, Amelie is actually Bridget’s separated ka, 
who hasn’t aged since her creation decades ago due to the Beach’s detachment from the 
passage of time. Bridget claims that her daughter was born with a condition that 
caused her soul to be born on the Beach,   masking her true origin. Bridget claims that 
her daughter’s advanced DOOMS abilities have finally allowed her to freely travel 
to and from the Beach, but in reality, Amelie is simply creating visual projections of 
herself in the living world using chiral matter. As an adult, Sam joins Bridges, taking advantage 
of his unique abilities to help drive them towards their goal of uniting the fractured cities. 
During his work with Bridges, Bridget has him meet with one of their therapists, a woman named 
Lucy, to try to overcome his aphenphosmphobia. The two meet, and Sam quickly shares 
his stories of DOOMS, repatriation, and his experiences on the Beach. Through 
their sessions, the two fall in love, causing Lucy to resign before 
the couple marry shortly after. When Lucy gets pregnant, however, their unborn 
unchild (planned to be named “Louise”) inherits her father’s DOOMS condition. As Lucy nears 
childbirth, she begins to have apocalyptic nightmares of the Beach, suffering the DOOMS 
symptom through her fetal daughter. Left unable to face the forthcoming extinction 
(as well as her potential role in it),   Lucy intentionally overdoses while alone, 
taking her and their daughter Lou’s lives. Left alone while Sam is away, 
Lucy’s body is allowed to necrotize, causing a massive voidout that 
obliterates their entire city. There’s only one survivor of the blast… and that’s 
only because he was resurrected afterwards. Sam, as a repatriate, is left to walk out of his city 
alone. Left devastated and broken by his loss, as well as his guilt for causing 
it, Sam resigns from Bridges.   He begins working as a freelance porter, 
spending the next decade building his reputation as a legendary deliverer “Sam 
Porter”, while living in his own self-exile. Bridget, meanwhile, continues her work with 
Bridges, still attempting to connect the   various cities of America. She recruits various 
others to assist her in her development of the Chiral Network, including the creators of its 
hardware and software (respectively): a pair of twin scientists named Målingen and Lockne. 
The pair were born with DOOMS, and conjoined at the head. When they were separated at birth, they 
both fully recovered, but found while growing up that they could telepathically communicate with 
each other no matter the distance between them. Lockne soon falls in love with a fellow Bridges 
member, but she’s unfortunately unable to carry a child to term. When Lockne’s partner dies in 
an accident, she’s left emotionally devastated. Feeling her pain through their shared connection, 
Målingen suggests that the pair “have a baby”, offering to carry the pregnancy in her womb using 
Lockne’s egg and her late partner’s frozen sperm. However, while she’s in the hospital awaiting her 
c-section, the building is struck by a group of terrorists opposing Bridges. Pinned under the 
rubble for days, Målingen is forced to survive by drinking timefall, eventually giving birth 
to the baby “on the other side”. Målingen hears the baby’s cries silence, as an ethereal umbilical 
cord connects her to a small, baby BT. Eventually, Målingen is discovered by Bridges, but she’s 
unable to leave the site of the hospital, as the BT (along with herself, by extension) is tied to 
the location. Målingen, taking on the moniker of “Mama”, continues her work for Bridges, who builds 
her a new laboratory over the hospital’s ruins. Mama’s experience not only leaves her tethered 
to the lab, but it leaves her somewhere between alive and dead. Her pulse flatlines, causing 
her to hide her vitals from Bridges. Even worse, however, is that this partial-death severs her 
supernatural connection with her twin sister, cutting off the constant communication she’s thus 
had with Lockne. Left ashamed, Mama decides to continue her work alone in the lab with her baby 
BT, isolating herself from Lockne completely. Bridget also recruits “Deadman”, a man 
born via an experimental genetic mix grown in an artificial womb. This left him 
without a ka, or his own Beach. Physically, he requires various transplanted organs 
in order to survive, creating something of a “Frankenstein’s monster”, as he later 
refers to himself. To maintain this aura, Deadman goes even further by (falsely) 
claiming that these donations came from cadavers. His fascination with death leads 
him to work as a coroner for Bridges. Additionally, Bridget recruits “Heartman”,   whose story may be the most tragic of all. While 
in a hospital ICU undergoing surgery on his heart, two nearby voidouts occur at the same time, 
leaving two overlapping craters in the ground, coincidentally in the shape of a heart. While the 
hospital is spared from the blasts, the ensuing shockwaves take out the power, bringing down 
Heartman’s life support and stopping his heart. He then suddenly finds himself on the Beach. 
Looking around, he sees the casualties of the voidouts, walking off to the ocean towards the 
world of the dead. Among the procession, he’s shocked to find, are his wife and child. While 
he tries to reach them, the power in the hospital is restored, and the doctors on the other side 
attempt to resuscitate him. As they successfully restart his heart, Heartman is forcefully pulled 
from the Beach, and away from his lost family. Obsessed with finding his family and moving 
on with them, Heartman replicates the events of his death and resurrection over and 
over again. Staying alive for twenty-four minutes before his heart stops for three, 
ultimately leading to a resuscitation which restarts the cycle. This continuous cycle 
of life-and-death occurs sixty times a day, and Heartman uses these trips to study the Beach, 
but more importantly to search for his family. This repeated start and stop ultimately 
damages his already genetically-deformed heart, which is shaped like a heart 
symbol, earning him his nickname. Along with Die-Hardman, now wearing the mask 
Bridget once did to completely hide his former identity, the USA’s last President enacts 
her final plan to create her vision of the United Cities of America. Amelie then embarks on 
a journey westward across the continent, hoping to spread Bridges’ message and convince the various 
cities to join the Chiral Network. Starting on the East Coast of the former United States, she 
travels with a group of fellow Bridges members, building facilities and terminals to connect to 
the network in the cities that allow them to. During this period, private delivery companies 
pop up, one of the larger of which is called “Fragile Express”, named after the daughter of 
its founders. When Fragile (a DOOMS sufferer) takes over the company in her adulthood, she 
continues growing it before merging with her main   competitor to the west, effectively making Fragile 
Express the only delivery company in the region. Unbeknownst to Fragile, however, the president of 
the company Fragile Express merged with, a fellow DOOMS sufferer named Higgs Monaghan, has been 
having secret discussions with Fragile’s mother, under the pseudonym of “Coffin.” Coffin 
informs Higgs of Bridges’ experiments using unborn children, ultimately leading to 
their “decommission” by slaughter. This leads Higgs to build a deep hatred for Bridges, as 
well an opposition to the idea of the UCA. At some unknown point, Higgs is discovered 
by Amelie. To Higgs, she reveals the truth behind her abilities, and finally explains 
her ultimate goal: to fulfill her duty as an Extinction Entity by outdoing her predecessors in 
a massive event she calls the “Last Stranding.” This plan involves uniting America through the 
Chiral Network so she can combine everyone’s Beach with her own, forming a massive “Seam” between 
worlds. Through this seam, enough BTs could flood the living world at once that the massive amount 
of antimatter will wipe out all life entirely. Seduced by the power Amelie is able to grant 
him, including a DOOMS level so high he can control BTs, Higgs effectively becomes Amelie’s 
“agent of extinction.” She provides him with a Bridge Baby of his own, however it’s not a 
real baby, but instead a doll that still grants him the ability to sense BTs. However, he quickly 
grows impatient with how long her plan is taking; as well as jealous of her belief that Sam 
will somehow usher in the end of days. Donning a golden, skull-like mask, Higgs leads an 
effort to combine the various splinter separatist groups into one large militant terrorist 
organization, called “Homo Demens”. Hoping to stop the UCA and capture Amelie so he can 
use her trigger the Last Stranding himself, Higgs commands the group to attack various 
cities to prevent their connection. As part of this mission, Higgs sends a nuclear 
bomb to Fragile Express for delivery to “Middle Knot City” in the central region of the 
continent. Not knowing the package’s contents, Fragile delivers the package, only 
for it to detonate not long after,   leaving a massive BT-filled 
crater where the city once was. Fragile, realizing the Demens are attempting the 
same plot with a delivery to South Knot City. She intercepts the bomb, but is soon stopped on her 
way out of the city and captured by Higgs. During a timefall storm, Higgs strips her down to almost 
nothing and offers her a choice: she can take the bomb and safely dispose of it in a nearby tar 
pit, but she’ll have to run through the timefall, severely aging her entire body. Fragile states 
that she’ll take “the damage, and the goods,” before Higgs places a mask on her face and allows 
her to run out into the rain to save the city. Despite these sacrificial measures, 
rumors still swirl about Fragile   Express’s involvement in the Middle Knot City 
attack, completely destroying their reputation, along with causing the world to accuse 
Fragile herself of being a terrorist. Three years into Amelie’s westward journey,   the team finishes their expedition and reaches 
“Edge Knot City” on the West Coast. Unfortunately, they fall right into Higgs’ final trap. Homo 
Demens attacks the city and takes control, holding Amelie hostage in the process. Using 
the abilities Amelie granted him herself, Higgs surrounds the city in the strange tar-like 
substance, effectively walling it off with BTs. Ten years into his isolation, “Sam Porter” 
makes his way toward Central Knot City to make a critical delivery of “smart drugs”. 
When he’s caught in a timefall storm,   he catches a glimpse of a woman holding an 
umbrella: Fragile. He swerves to avoid her, causing him to lose his motorcycle. Sam, who 
notices the woman is now mysteriously gone, is forced to continue on foot, taking shelter 
in a nearby cave to wait out the storm. Inside the cave, a photograph falls out 
of his pocket. As he goes to retrieve it, a drop of timefall falls on it. The 
photo, which was once of himself,   his pregnant wife Lisa, and his adoptive mother 
Bridget, is now faded where the drop fell: removing his last recorded memory of his 
wife from him. As he goes to retrieve it, Sam notices handprints appearing in the mud around 
him, sensing surrounding BTs thanks to his DOOMS. When he thinks they’ve passed, Sam goes to grab 
the photo again, but is stopped this time by a hand grabbing him, instantly triggering his 
aphenphosmphobia. He looks to see Fragile, who quietly signals that the BTs are 
still nearby. The pair hold their breath to avoid detection until the BTs drift 
away. Afterwards, they exit the cave, looking up to the sky to faintly see five floating 
figures before they vanish along with the storm. Fragile introduces herself and quickly 
realises that Sam is a fellow DOOMS sufferer. She offers him a job working for Fragile 
Express, but he declines and the pair part ways, with Fragile using an ability granted to her 
by her advanced level of DOOMS: transportation using the Beach, effectively allowing her 
to teleport from one location to another. Sam continues his delivery, braving the 
terrain to finally reach Central Knot City, where he turns in the Smart Drugs to complete 
it. After Mama thanks him via transmission, Sam is met with an urgent message 
for a commission. He walks outside, where he’s met by a Bridges 
transport vehicle pulling up. A man named Igor Frank introduces himself to 
Sam as a member of Bridges’ Corpse Disposal Team. Opting to explain on the way, Igor climbs 
into the truck with Sam to show him their cargo: the corpse of a man who tooks his own life, 
hours away from necrotizing. Using his DOOMS, Sam determines that the body has already begun 
the process, making the situation even more dire. The group are forced to cross BT territory 
to get to the nearest incinerator, but Igor is confident that with 
Sam’s DOOMS, and his own Bridge Baby,   they’ll be able to avoid the Beached Things to 
complete their mission. When they enter another titanfall storm, the group are ambushed by 
BTs, causing the transport truck to crash. When Sam comes to, he finds Igor frantically 
trying to pull the driver out from the overturned vehicle as the BTs surround them. The 
corpse unfortunately necrotizes right before their eyes, and it immediately 
rushes over and pulls the driver away. Igor is forced to pull his pistol and shoot the 
man before he can be consumed, avoiding a voidout. Unfortunately, a masked Higgs then appears 
to bring the BTs back. They grab Igor, and he detaches his BB, throwing it to Sam while telling 
him to run. Igor is then grabbed by a massive BT, and swept off of his feet before he can 
aim his pistol at his own head. As he’s pulled into the air, Igor frantically stabs 
himself, trying to prevent a voidout. Despite his sacrificial efforts, the BT is able 
to consume him while he’s still alive, triggering a massive blast. Sam grabs the 
Bridge Baby, and shields it while the pair are swept up in the voidout. Central Knot 
City is completely destroyed in the blast. Sam then finds himself on the Beach, 
where he sees the Bridge Baby (with   no pod) on the sand beside him. He picks up 
the baby and holds them close, but suddenly the cries stop and the baby vanishes, 
leaving small, BT-like handprints in the sand. Sam then stands to see the five figures 
floating in the sky before they vanish again. After a quick vision of Amelie, Sam 
repatriates to return to the living world. There, he looks around to see the crater where 
Central Knot City once stood. In his arms, luckily, is the surviving BB, its pod unharmed 
thanks to Sam shielding it from the blast. Two days later, Sam awakens in a 
Bridges facility, handcuffed to a bed. Deadman appears (via chiral projection from a 
nearby isolation ward) and introduces himself before remotely releasing one of Sam’s cuffs. 
He then explains that the other should stay on, as it’ll keep him connected to Bridges 
while simultaneously monitoring his   vitals. He further explains that 
while the BB survived the blast, it’s “broken”, left unable to detect BTs. 
As such, it’s been marked for disposal. Deadman tells Sam that he’s currently in Bridge’s 
new headquarters: a base in Capital Knot City. He then tasks Sam with another delivery: 
taking morphine to President Bridget Strand, whose cancer has returned and is now in 
its final stages. He reluctantly agrees, taking the drugs to bring to Deadman 
in person in the isolation ward. Sam delivers the morphine to Deadman 
before he’s led to the President’s office,   where he finds her in a hospital bed alongside 
Die-Hardman. After a brief reunion with the masked director of Bridges, Sam approaches his 
mother and the other two men leave them alone. Although she’s weak, Bridget informs Sam about 
his sister’s mission and subsequent capture, asking for his help in rescuing her and 
reconnecting America to save humanity. Sam simply reminds her that America is dead and gone, 
refusing her request. Panicked, Bridget reaches for him, and the pair fall to the ground. Sam’s 
phobia makes him crawl away from the dying woman, who’s already starting to produce the tar-like 
substance. She then tells him she loves him, before uttering her final words: “I’ll see you on 
the Beach,” a phrase that echoes through Amelie. Deadman rushes in and carries the 
President back to her hospital bed,   but it’s too late. Bridget Strand, the 
United Cities of America’s first president, and the United States’ last, 
passes away from her cancer. The situation quickly turns from somber to 
dire, as Deadman and Die-Hardman realize they must incinerate the President’s body 
before it necrotizes (optimally without the public finding out about her death). With 
no other option, Sam reluctantly agrees to carry his adoptive mother’s corpse up 
the mountains to the nearest incinerator. After the two Bridges officials strap the 
cargo to Sam’s back, he begins his delivery; perhaps the most important of his life so far. 
Climbing the mountains, Sam reaches the facility, and brings the president’s corpse to the 
incinerator. Slowly placing her inside,   Sam says a silent goodbye before Bridget is 
lowered into the chamber. The flames ignite, cremating the president and preventing a new BT. However, an immediate spike in chiralium then 
occurs, triggering a heavy timefall storm. Sam then notices another piece of 
cargo he was sent with to destroy:   Igor’s “broken” Bridge Baby, codenamed “BB-28”. 
While Sam has some reservations about incinerating a living child, Deadman implores him to 
dispose of the broken piece of equipment. Suddenly, the power to the facility goes out, and 
BTs soon arrive along with timefall. Instead of incinerating BB-28, Sam decides to give it another 
chance instead. Sam then hooks into the BB pod, giving him a quick flash of his own lost memories 
of his time spent in one. BB-28 begins to work, helping Sam locate and avoid BTs as he 
makes his way back to Capital Knot City. There, he meets Deadman, handing 
him BB-28 and claiming that they all   owe their lives to the baby. 
Deadman agrees to look after the BB, sending Sam to his private room to 
meet the new president of the UCA. After Sam recovers in his private room, he returns 
to the President’s office to meet the new face of America: Amelie. Taking her mother’s place, Amelie 
appears via chiral projection from Edge Knot City, isolated there but still allowed to 
speak with Bridges by her Homo Demens   captors. Die-Hardman and Amelie then reveal why 
Bridget brought Sam there in the first place: to retrace Bridges I’s steps on their westward 
voyage, connecting all of the Chrinal Network terminals that have now finished construction. 
To accomplish this task, Sam is given a “Q-pid”, the hardware developed by Lockne containing 
the security and operations protocols that he must insert into the terminals 
to integrate them into the network. Sam declines the job again, storming out 
of the room. Die-Hardman convinces him to sleep on the decision, and Deadman 
arrives with a re-configured BB-28,   giving the pod to Sam to take 
with him back to his private room. As Sam sleeps, he is taken to the Beach, 
where Amelie meets him. She reminds him that he’ll always be “Sam Strand”, and 
that their bond can never be broken. She hugs him and asks him to come back, before 
walking into the sunset over the waters. Sam then awakens, and he’s visited by 
Die-Hardman, who asks him if he’s made   a decision. While he notes that he doesn’t 
share their goal of connecting the world, he admits that he’ll still do anything to 
help Amelie. Sam then takes the Q-pid and wears it around his neck, suiting up to 
begin his journey to reconnect America. On his way out, he connects up to BB-28, 
triggering another disjointed memory of Cliff, whom he doesn’t recognize but refers to 
himself in the vision as “daddy.” While Sam is unable to comprehend these visions, he 
has no clue that they’re his own memories. Sam then embarks towards “Port Knot City,” 
on the shore of the lake that formed in the   crater left by the very first voidout. 
On his way, he works with other various individuals in waystations along the way to 
deliver parcels and connect more terminals to the network. He also encounters a new 
type of threat in the form of “MULEs”, individuals who live with an insatiable addiction 
to stealing cargo from porters. Even the MULEs know not to mess with BTs, however, and they 
retreat as soon as a timefall storm rolls in. Sam soon learns another benefit of the 
Chiral Network: chiral construction. Using chiralium and other materials, Sam is able to 
construct bridges and various other resources. Other Porters then begin to do the same, 
sharing their work and making everyone’s collective jobs a bit easier. Mama also 
ends up developing anti-BT weapons, using Sam’s own blood (which the 
creatures have a negative response to). Eventually, Sam reaches Port Knot City and uses 
the Q-pid to get them online. When the man who greets him, Viktor Frank, recognizes a charm 
of an astronaut named “Lumens” on BB-28’s pod, Sam is forced to give him the news that it 
once belonged to Igor, his now-dead brother. Needing a way across the lake to continue 
west, Viktor recommends Sam check with   a private company to charter a boat; one 
Sam quickly recognizes as Fragile Express. As Sam goes to the harbor, however, he’s 
stopped by Higgs, along with a group of   BTs under his control. Higgs introduces 
himself to Sam, noticing Fragile watching them from afar. Higgs gets closer to Sam, 
and senses through his feelings that Bridget has died and Amelie has taken her place. 
Higgs taunts Sam with the knowledge that Amelie is an Extinction Entity, cryptically 
referring to her as their “angel of death.” The masked man then summons a massive 
BT, leaving Sam alone to fight it. Knowing that he can’t allow the BT to 
consume anyone (lest another voidout   wipe out Port Knot City), Sam is forced to take 
the BT head-on. Using his own blood as a weapon, Sam is able to defeat the creature, for the 
first time in human history. After collecting the massive amount of cirilium left in the BT’s 
wake, Sam continues to the harbor to find Fragile. Luckily, she meets him there, filling him 
in on her history with Higgs as she takes Sam to her boat. The pair then climb aboard 
and begin to sail across the cratered lake. On the ride over, Fragile tries to speak with 
Sam, but he coldly ignores her, drifting off to sleep instead; dreaming of Amelie. When he 
awakens, he finds that the boat has docked, and Fragile welcomes him to Lake Knot City. After 
delivering some cargo, Sam links up the city before Amelie and Die-Hardman inform him that with 
the destruction of Middle Knot City, he’ll have to gain the support of various independent 
shelters to bolster the Chiral Network. Fragile agrees to use the goodwill her company has 
left with those in the region to assist Bridges, using it as an opportunity to get 
back at Higgs. She gives Sam a cord woven with her blood and chiral 
crystals, signifying their bond,   while pointing out how their paths keep 
crossing (hinting at something more than sheer coincidence.) Additionally, 
she offers to help Sam even further by letting him call her to “jump” across space 
together using her control of the Beach. After assisting some shelters and convincing 
them to join the UCA (with some being easier   to convince than others), Sam’s visited 
one night by Fragile in his private room (who helps herself to his shower while 
he’s asleep). She again assures him that   Fragile Express had nothing to do with the 
terrorist attacks, despite the rumors Sam’s heard through his travels. She admits her part 
in the explosion that took Middle Knot City,   but tells her story of sacrificing her body 
to save South Knot, finally earning his trust. Meanwhile, Deadman attempts to find out 
about BB-28’s history to try to learn the truth behind the visions Sam encounters 
when connecting up to it. Unfortunately,   his trail stops dead, as BB-28’s service 
record is completely locked down. Sam continues delivering supplies to various 
remote facilities as he proceeds west, bringing them onto the network and learning of 
their plans to help rebuild society as he goes. Among these are a junk dealer, who believes his 
lost love (a woman who makes art with chiralium) was killed in a terrorist attack, blaming 
Fragile Express (and Sam, by extension). Luckily, Fragile is able to learn that the woman is 
still alive, and Sam is able to find her   and bring her back to the Junk Dealer, reuniting 
the couple (who promptly get engaged to marry). These actions earn Sam the Junk Dealer’s 
trust, servitude, and Chiral Network terminal. As Sam takes an order for South Knot City, 
the delivery terminal suddenly goes offline. A Bridges technician then arrives, suspiciously 
with the brim of his hat covering his eyes. Although he doesn’t know it, this technician 
is actually a disguised Higgs, who gives him an order that was left off accidentally; one 
addressed to Fragile herself. Warning Sam that the “contents are fragile,” the man runs off, 
leaving the porter to take it to South Knot City. Fortunately, Sam is able to see through this 
ruse, either with or without Fragile’s help. Sam instead throws the package into the nearby 
crater lake, revealing its contents were in fact explosives, which detonate safely under the 
tar pits. After thwarting another attempt at South Knot City’s destruction, Fragile 
appears next to Sam to thank him for   stopping Higgs’ latest attempt to frame her. 
After finally sharing the full details of her experience with Higgs at South Knot, she makes Sam 
promise her that however things end with Higgs, he’ll leave him alive for her. She wants to 
find out for herself why he betrayed her. When Sam makes his delivery to South Knot City and 
brings it online, however, bad turns to… weird. As Amelie thanks Sam for making it halfway 
through his journey, her transmission suddenly   cuts out. Mama then tells Sam to be careful, 
as there’s been a massive chiral spike in his vicinity. Sam exits the Bridges facility out 
into the city, only to spot a massive timefall storm nearby. He’s quickly swept up in a vortex 
with several beached whales before blacking out. Cliff Unger then emerges on a Beach, seemingly 
one shared by the fallen soldiers of the first World War. Cliff, on an endless search 
for his “BB”, takes the role as commander, leading a squad of skeleton soldiers 
to assist in his hunt. Seeing Sam, he recognizes the BB pod, but not the adult 
man. Not knowing that Sam is truly his son, Cliff goes after BB-28, prompting a battle 
between the porter and the skeleton squad. When Sam eventually defeats Unger, the man falls, 
but still attempts to pull the BB pod away from Sam. As the two men are pulled close, Sam sees 
another vision of Cliff’s attempted escape. Suddenly, he finds himself back 
outside the Bridges facility in   South Knot City. Mama calls and explains 
that the moment Sam exited the facility, the storm stopped and the chiral levels 
instantly lowered. While Sam feels like he’s been gone for hours, Mama explains 
that comms were only down for a second. Hoping to learn more about his experience 
(and considering her lab is on the way),   Sam decides to pay Mama a visit in person. When Sam reaches Mama’s lab, he’s shocked to learn 
of her current condition: still tethered to the BT of her stillborn daughter by her ethereal 
umbilical cord. Mama shows Sam the weather data proving that the storm only lasted one second. 
However, when she pulls the data from his cuff, she finds audio recordings of the battlefield, 
giving them something to look into at least. After another chiral spike in the area, Mama 
realizes that the expanding Chiral Network is leading to dangerous increases of 
chiral levels. She notes that she   installed special limiters in the Q-pids to 
prevent this issue, so his must be faulty. She gives him a new Q-pid, but notes 
that the software on it must be updated,   and the only person who can do that is her twin 
sister, Lockne, who’s currently in Mountain Knot City. After Mama tells Sam the story of 
how she wound up in her current predicament, she takes a sample of his blood to test before 
sending him on his way to find her sister. Shortly after, Sam is visited by a projection 
of Amelie in his private room. Sam quickly notices that her quipu is missing; Higgs has 
taken it, and the city is growing more and more dangerous for her to stay in. Amelie urges 
Sam to finish the network before disappearing. When Sam reaches Mountain Knot City, he 
finds Lockne less than receptive to the   idea of joining the UCA, believing 
that expanding the Chiral Network is just asking for another Death Stranding. 
With her refusing to even listen to Sam,   he’s forced to return to Mama to 
see if she can talk to her sister. When he returns to Mama’s lab, she gives them 
a new set of cuffs imbued with his blood, which should allow him to cut the umbilical 
cords tying BTs to the land of the living, returning them to the world of the dead. To 
test this theory, she tells Sam to cut the cord tying her to her baby BT. Sam reluctantly 
does so, finally setting them free. As Mama says goodbye to her baby, her connection to the living 
world begins to fade. She asks Sam to take her to Mountain Knot City to reunite with her sister, 
and he agrees, strapping her to his back as cargo. However, just as Sam leaves Mama’s 
lab, he finds Higgs waiting for him. Somehow channeling the chiral energy 
in his mask, he summons a massive,   lion-like BT before siccing it on Sam 
and leaving. With no other choice, Sam is forced to run, safely escaping with 
his cargo to continue up the mountains. When Sam finally arrives at Mountain Knot City, he 
helps Målingen onto a stretcher, and Lockne rushes out to finally reunite with her twin sister 
face-to-face after years apart. The sisters apologize and share their love for one another, 
with Målingen finally revealing the loss of their baby. While she states that she wasn’t able to 
save their daughter, Lockne still has the ability to save their entire world, urging her sister 
to fix Sam’s new Q-pid. Telling Lockne she loves her one last time, Målingen’s Ha’s connection to 
the living world closes, and her body falls dead. Later, Lockne updates the code on 
Sam’s Q-pid, finally allowing him to   use it to connect Mountain Knot City 
to the Chiral Network. When he does, Lockne suddenly perks up. One of her eyes turns 
blue, the same color that were her sister’s, and she suddenly feels Målingen in her mind once 
again. Almost like before Målingen’s accident, the sisters now live together 
as two minds in one person. Unfortunately, when Sam returns to his 
private room, he’s met with an alarmed   Deadman who states some news: BB-28 is starting 
to become self-aware, growing into an actual child. While Sam doesn’t see that as a problem, 
Deadman proclaims that at its current rate, the BB will become “bricked” within a 
few days. To correct this, Sam allows Deadman to take BB-28 with him to conduct a 
procedure to reconnect it to the other side. However, when Deadman admits that the BB might 
lose its memories, Sam grabs it, asking if the baby, whom he’s started to call “Lou”, will still 
remember him. Deadman then snatches the BB pod, which… expels some waste fluid on him, covering 
his suit. Deadman then helps himself to Sam’s personal shower, but when Sam looks over to 
BB-28, the baby gives him a hintful “shh” motion. Sam then joins Deadman in the shower, 
and the coroner turns it on. With the cover of the shower’s noise, Deadman 
quietly reveals that he needs to tell   Sam something that won’t be picked up via 
audio or video surveillance by Die-Hardman. Deadman then reveals that he’s uncovered some 
troubling information about President Bridget   Strand’s involvement in the Bridge Baby project. 
Not only was it conducted in secret for years, but she also had intentions of not 
only using the BBs to detect BTs,   but also to incorporate them directly into the 
Chiral Network to facilitate travel to the Beach. Knowing Die-Hardman was Bridget’s right-hand-man, 
Deadman fears that they can no longer trust him, especially considering neither of 
them know his true name or face.   Deadman then cuts the shower off and 
takes BB-28 with him, sending Sam off alone to recover some lost data to hopefully 
learn more about their secretive director. Left with no way to detect BTs, Sam is 
forced to avoid them as he puts some distance between himself and “Lou” as he makes 
more deliveries and connects more terminals, allowing their bond to weaken a bit to restore the 
BB’s stability. Once it’s back to working order, however, Deadman calls to reveal that another 
massive vortex storm is heading right for Mountain Knot City. Luckily, Deadman had gone out to the 
field for work with BB-28, escaping the storm. The pair then agree to meet at a cabin 
near the city so Sam can reunite with Lou. However, as soon as Sam arrives at the 
cabin, so does the storm. In a flash, the roof of the building is torn off, 
and Deadman (clutching BB-28 with   all of his might), is pulled into the 
storm. Sam is swept up shortly after. Deadman then finds himself (luckily still 
holding BB-28), in another one of Cliff Unger’s war-torn Beaches, this one reflecting 
a battle on the city streets during the second World War. Deadman scurries to find shelter, 
as Cliff arrives with his skeleton squad to search for the baby he’s currently holding. 
Sam wakes up elsewhere on the Beach and   is able to make contact with Deadman before 
the pair agree to meet in the city’s sewers. Sam explores the war torn streets to 
make his way underground to reunite   with Deadman. While they’re blocked by 
a set of metal bars, Deadman is able to hand Lou over to Sam, and the pair share 
a quick reunion. Sam reconnects to the BB, allowing him to stand a chance against 
Cliff, who’s now fully on the hunt. After another gunfight with the confused 
commander, Cliff tries to once again snatch   BB-28 from Sam’s body. This time, as the men 
pull close, Sam pulls off Cliff’s dog tags. Sam is given another flash of his buried memories 
of Cliff’s escape before suddenly awakening in his private room. He rushes over to Lou, 
luckily finding the baby safe in her BB pod. Deadman then arrives, explaining that he had 
Sam brought there after finding him passed   out. Deadman then reveals that he’s figured 
out why Sam keeps calling the Bridge Baby, “Lou”, as he’s learned of Sam’s 
history during his research. Sam notices the dog tags he was able to bring 
back, and Deadman explains that they belonged to Clifford Unger, who he learned was a 
former US Army Special Forces officer. Unfortunately, that’s all the information 
Deadman was able to dig up on him. Deadman leaves to let Sam continue his mission 
westward, with his next stop being Heartman’s lab. Curiously, Heartman noticed that Mama’s 
body has shown no signs of necrotizing since she died. Hoping to study her corpse 
to understand more about the process,   Heartman has Sam bring her body 
from Mountain Knot City to his lab. Lockne hands over Mama’s corpse, 
and Sam takes it to Heartman’s lab. Once Sam arrives and gets the lab’s chiral 
network connection established, he enters   Heartman’s lab to find the man during one of his 
three-minute trips to the Beach. After Heartman is resuscitated, he introduces himself to Sam and 
explains his unique condition and motivations. Heartman then looks at Mama’s body, noticing 
that, despite being dead for days, it shows no signs of decomposition. Unbeknownst to Sam, he 
was also sent with a preserved piece of Mama’s umbilical cord. After waiting out another 
one of Heartman’s flatline Beach searches, Sam is sent to connect the final few terminals 
on his way to Amelie in Edge Knot City. As he does so, Sam collects data from previous 
extinction events, showing that chiral matter has existed since before the dawn of man. Heartman 
notes that each of the five previous extinctions were accompanied by the appearance of a Beach, 
and thus each had their own Death Stranding. Sam returns to Heartman’s lab, where the man fakes 
a cardiac arrest so he can secretly talk to Sam without Bridges knowing. He delivers a message 
from Deadman, revealing that the umbilical cord Sam delivered to Heartman wasn’t Mama’s… it was 
Bridget’s. Heartman then shows Sam fossil records of the previous five Extinction Entities, noting 
that each one had an umbilical cord of their own. This leads them to the realization that 
Bridget Strand could’ve been an EE herself, and Sam remembers Higgs 
stating that Amelie was one.   Not knowing the true nature between Bridget 
and Amelie’s connection, they wonder if the President could have passed on her status 
as an Extinction Entity to her daughter. Either way, Sam has to get to Amelie, and fast. 
He’s able to repair a chiral relay before using the BTs own power to pull buildings up from the 
tar against him. Angering a group of them, they inadvertently create a path for Sam to traverse 
across Higgs’ tarbelt towards Edge Knot City. As he reaches his destination, he sees Amelie 
walking atop the tar. As Sam tries to reach her, however, he’s dragged into the depths of the pit, 
quickly finding himself upon the Beach. There, he follows Amelie out to sea, before 
waking up just outside of Edge Knot City. Sam is immediately met by Higgs, appearing behind 
him and sarcastically thanking him for nearly completing the Chiral Network. Higgs swiftly 
traps Sam in a pool of tar, before finally taking off his mask to taunt his rival face-to-face. 
Higgs then shows Sam that he has Amelie’s quipu, challenging him to a race to find her; with 
the winner getting to usher in the end of days. Sam then gets the penultimate 
remaining terminal online,   retreating to his private room where he is visited 
by Amelie once again. She tells him not to worry, as she’s somewhere Higgs can’t find 
her: on her Beach. She urges him to   get the final terminal online, promising 
to meet him back in his room afterward. Before she leaves, however, she finally admits 
to Sam that Higgs was telling the truth, she’s an EE. She promises that 
she doesn’t want to end humanity, but instead to make everyone in the 
world “whole.” She then tells Sam to   promise her that she’ll stop her before 
she vanishes to await him on the Beach. Sam finally connects Edge Knot City to the Chiral 
Network, completing it’s coast-to-coast coverage and finishing Bridges’ mission to reconnect 
the country as the United Cities of America. Sam then returns to his room to await his meeting 
with Amelie. When he falls asleep, he awakens on the Beach, hearing Amelie’s distorted voice. 
He turns to see a masked Higgs, who then points towards the waters, where a massive, kaiju-sized 
Amelie is walking towards them. “Higgs” then takes off his mask, revealing Amelie’s face underneath, 
who tells Sam that she is the Extinction Entity. When Sam awakens, he leaves his room to go find 
Amelie, but as soon as he exits, he immediately realizes the truth of the premonition the night 
before. Walking towards him through the city is a colossal, human-like BT. Higgs then appears 
behind Sam to point out that embedded in its heart is a captive Amelie. He then has Sam “meet 
[his] ender”, as he transports Amelie before him. Higgs places his mask on Amelie,   and she tells Sam that now that the “great 
work” of completing the network is done, she’ll merge all of mankind’s Beaches into a 
“single shore” to create the largest extinction event of them all. While Sam doesn’t know 
whether this is simply a trick by Higgs, Amelie nonetheless states that this is her “reason 
for being,” calling it the Last Stranding aloud. With the truth revealed, Higgs 
removes his mask from Amelie,   wishing Sam a “Happy DOOMS-day” before 
leaving him to fight the massive BT. After a grueling battle with the massive being,   Sam is able to defy the odds and finally bring 
it down, leaving nothing but a mass of chiralium in its wake. Higgs appears once again, 
holding Amelie (who’s wearing his mask). Higgs shoots at Lou’s pod, causing Sam to turn 
and take the brunt of the gunfire. Higgs then vanishes off to the Beach, beckoning Sam 
to meet him there for the grand finale. Sam then repatriates, returning to his private 
room to plan out his final attack on Higgs. There, he’s met by Fragile, who can send Sam to 
Amelie’s Beach, promising to follow him   as soon as she can get to him. Leaving Lou 
behind, Sam then lets Fragile touch him, following the love he holds for his 
sister to transport to her Beach. There, Higgs holds Amelie hostage and 
challenges Sam to a “good old-fashioned bossfight.” Sam then finally fights 
the man one-on-one on Amelie’s Beach, culminating in a fistfight. When Sam eventually 
defeats Higgs, Fragile finally arrives. Sam rescues Amelie, who takes off Higgs’ mask, 
removing the powers that she once gave him. Fragile then punches Higgs in the face, finally 
taking out her frustration. Sam then ties him up, allowing Fragile to get her answers. She then 
gives Sam BB-28, who she was able to bring to the Beach, before leaving him alone to 
do whatever he needs to with Amelie. Sam and Amelie then reunite, and she reveals 
that she had been lying from the start,   she was never under capture. She further 
explains that it was Die-Hardman’s idea, as they had no other way to convince Sam to finish 
Bridget’s mission. Regardless, Amelie states that everything worked in the end, inviting Sam to run 
along the Beach with her until they make it home, just like Mario and Princess “Beach” (this 
is a real line in the game, by the way). As they run, however, Amelie and Sam get 
separated. When Sam goes to look for her, he instead sees Bridget Strand on the 
Beach, and before her is Die-Hardman, holding a gun to her. Die-Hardman, finally 
“invited” to the Beach, points out that he’s holding the same gun that started everything, 
which he’ll now use to make things right. When Bridget tells him to fire the gun, he does, 
but quickly finds that she’s unharmed. Bridget solemnly states that “there is no atonement” for 
them, pointing towards the waters. Die-Hardman looks to see the skeleton soldiers emerging 
from the depths. When their leader arrives, Die-Hardman is met face-to-face with a ghost from 
his past: his former commander Clifford Unger. Cliff takes off Die-Hardman’s mask, 
recognizing the man underneath as his friend, John McClane. John apologizes for his part in 
what happened to Cliff, but Unger immediately turns his attention to Bridget instead, 
demanding that she hand over his BB. She simply tells him that he’s been looking in the 
wrong place, pointing towards Sam in the distance, currently holding BB-28. As Cliff and his men 
advance towards Sam, Amelie appears before him once again, suddenly pushing him off a 
nearby cliff into the surrounding water. Sam is then forced to repatriate before 
awakening back in his private room. There, he’s met by Deadman, who explains that Amelie 
brought him back before leaving a message: “I’m going to finish what Bridget started,” 
before completely vanishing. With Amelie, Cliff, and Die-Hardman all likely still on that Beach, 
Sam decides that he must return immediately. Deadman convinces him to give Lou a break, 
however, and the remaining Bridges team (along with Fragile), convince Sam to return east to 
their headquarters to regroup. Unable to use the Beach to travel, Sam embarks on a journey 
back to where he started: Capital Knot City. On his way, Deadman and Heartman uncover 
the dangers of the Last Stranding, however, they believe a vengeful Cliff is behind it 
(still not knowing Amelie’s true intentions). As Sam approaches Lake Knot City, he notices 
another massive chiral storm approaching, and he is once again swept up in its vortex. Sam then finds himself on one more war-like 
Beach, this one resembling the Vietnam War. This initiates one, final battle with Cliff 
and his skeletons through the jungle. After defeating him one last time, Sam approaches 
a collapsed Cliff, who looks at the BB and finally realizes what Bridget meant. He then 
stands and hugs his son before vanishing. Sam then has a vision of Cliff and John McClane 
talking in Lisa’s room before waking up in his private room in Port Knot City. There, Deadman 
appears and plays a prerecorded message from Die-Hardman, left in case he didn’t return. In 
it, John reveals that Amelie invited him to the Beach personally, using a doll as a guide. While 
he suspects it’s a trap, he decides to go anyway. He then reflects on how everyone’s been 
following Amelie’s plan without question,   even though no one’s ever seen her in 
person… not even Die-Hardman himself. He then reveals that when the 
UCA archives were restored,   he learned the truth: Bridget had uterine 
cancer in her twenties and was infertile, which means Amelie can’t be her daughter. 
He questions who Amelie really is, and whether the Extinction Entity 
theory is even real. Still, if there’s   even a chance she’s responsible for the Death 
Stranding, he feels it’s his duty to stop her. Knowing he may not return, Die-Hardman loads his 
gun with hematic rounds made from Sam’s blood, hoping their connection will allow 
him to use it on the Beach. He then   closes his message by admitting he has no powers; no DOOMS, no repatriation… he’s just a man 
who’s always run from death… until now. At this point, all signs begin to point towards 
Amelie behind everything, and as the chiral network begins to break down, things get even more 
dire. Fragile then arrives to confirm the worst: she finally got Higgs to talk, and he 
revealed everything about Amelie’s plan   for the Last Stranding, including her 
being the source of his DOOMS powers. While Sam initially denies it, Fragile 
explains that like Die-Hardman,   Higgs carried a doll, and both were 
a connection to Amelie and her Beach. Deadman backs her up, noting that Cliff carried 
dolls too. All three men were drawn to Amelie’s Beach to be used by the Extinction Entity. 
The only way to confirm who the EE truly is, however, is for Sam to return 
to the Beach… one last time. Before he can do that, though, Fragile 
suddenly collapses into a coma. Deadman calls on Sam to help retrieve a supply 
of “cryptobiotes” from Port Knot City.   These bug-like organisms started 
appearing after the Death Stranding, and ingesting them helps the consumer 
restore their blood. The group hope   Sam’s delivery will help revive her before she 
becomes stranded, and he quickly heads off. However, Sam’s progress is quickly halted by the 
largest BT he’s seen thus far. This gargantuan, whale-like creature dives in and out of the tar 
pits, weaponizing its chiral energy into a laser beam. Sam calls upon all of his abilities 
and Bridges tech to eventually bring the Beached Thing down, leaving nothing 
but a mass of Chiralium in its wake. After recovering the cargo and pressing on, Sam 
is able to make his delivery to Capital Knot City, finishing his journey back east, and helping 
to bring Fragile back from the brink. With Sam back at headquarters, the 
entire Bridges team finally reunites. Fragile thanks Sam for saving her, and the group 
confirms what they’ve all come to accept: Sam, as the only one who can reach Amelie’s 
Beach, is their only hope. Fragile admits that she didn’t escape the Beach 
on her own, she was repatriated;   pushed out by Amelie to clear the stage for Sam to 
return to finally finish things once and for all. The team then lays out the stakes: if Sam can 
convince Amelie to stop the Last Stranding, the world might still be saved… but if she refuses, 
Sam may have no choice but to kill her. However, if he does, the connection to her Beach will 
close, and he’ll be stranded there forever. While Sam knows that preventing this extinction 
will only buy humanity time, he agrees anyway, learning through his travels that they 
deserve the chance to keep rebuilding.   He then takes on his final 
delivery, but not just for himself. For everyone who believed in 
him. For everyone who waited. For Lou. He hands over the BB to Deadman and Lockne, 
knowing that she’s already been through enough. His last journey will be on his own. Fragile 
then helps him cross over one final time, and he holds his dream catcher as he reaches 
for Amelie across the void. In a flash, Sam disappears, and the others are left to 
wait for his return from the Beach… hopefully. Amelie then welcomes Sam back to her Beach,   offering once again to take him home. However, 
things quickly unravel as Bridget appears, finally revealing the truth to her son 
that she and Amelie are one and the same. Bridget confesses that she’s the Extinction 
Entity, and that Amelie never existed in the real world. Bridget was split, with 
her “Ha” in the world of the living,   and her “Ka” trapped on the Beach. As Bridget aged 
and weakened, Amelie remained young and powerful. She created the persona of a daughter to hide the 
truth, but the moment has finally come to end it. She then states that the Last 
Stranding has already begun,   and now Sam has a final decision to make:
Do nothing: stay with her on the Beach, and witness the end of the world together.
Or sever their connection: cut her Beach   loose and delay the extinction, allowing 
mankind to “live to die another day”. Left with the literal fate of humanity 
in his hands, Sam holds a gun symbolic of the same one that began the Death 
Stranding. However, he puts it down, instead grabbing the woman he’s known as 
his sister and pulling her close into a hug, assuring her that he’s there for 
her, like she always was for him. Sam remembers the promise he made to 
Amelie long ago, to stop her when the   time came. The EE explains that the bonds 
between people brought the world together, and she sees how important that is to Sam. She 
then volunteers to shut herself in while locking the rest of the world out, hopefully mitigating 
at least some damage from the Last Stranding. Sam then asks her while she has to stay on the 
Beach, and she explains that she is the beach; she must stay there and ensure the extinction 
happens, even if Sam’s actions prevent it for hundreds of thousands of years. She decides to pay 
the price for life’s chance to continue to evolve and survive, promising that even though they won’t 
be together, she’ll always be connected to Sam. She then pushes him into the waters, and he 
soon washes up on the shores, finding nothing but a doll, his photograph (of himself, Bridget, 
and the pregnant Lucy), and Die-Hardman’s gun. Sam is then forced to wander the Beach, seemingly 
alone until he’s visited by the EE again, explaining her entire history and why she 
shared her dreams of the extinction with Sam. Trapped on the endless Beach, Sam takes 
the gun and places it to his own head. Hoping to finally bring his journey to an 
end, he closes his eyes and pulls the trigger… Only to hear a click. And another. And 
another. Until he finally gives up and falls to his knees. He then hears the EE 
tell him that she was the one who brought him and Cliff back together; to show him that 
he was never abandoned and he was never alone. The voice then urges him to live, before 
softly singing “London Bridge is Falling Down.” Sam then begins to hear his friends from 
Bridges call out from the other side. He sees BT-like footsteps in the sand and follows 
them to find Amelie, who points to the sky, urging Sam not to give up while telling him 
that he’s “still connected.” Sam then looks up to see the five floating figures once again, 
the one in the center seemingly holding a baby. Sam is then pulled into the waters, 
and looks down to see Deadman,   frantically grabbing at his leg while holding 
Lou. Sam is then able to repatriate, returning to the world of the living once again thanks to 
his friends pulling him back from the other side. Sometime later, Die-Hardman delivers an emotional 
address to declare the birth of a new nation: the United Cities of America. As a former soldier 
who once swore to protect the Constitution, he now pledges himself to the people. He urges 
the UCA to tear down walls and remove masks, finally taking off his own to 
reveal his true face to the public. Die-Hardman honors the sacrifices of Bridget 
and Amelie, stating that though they’re gone, their memories live on through the 
chiral network and in their hearts. He acknowledges that America was rebuilt not 
by one individual, but by their collective strength. Still, he quietly pays tribute to 
the unsung hero who made it all possible: someone whose name doesn’t need to be 
said, because everyone already knows. As the speech ends, Deadman finds Sam preparing to 
leave, resigned now that Amelie is gone. Deadman tries to lighten the mood by explaining how they 
brought Sam back from the Beach, mentioning their   first failed attempt to use Amelie’s doll. 
Instead, they used Bridget’s umbilical cord, the most direct connection to Amelie’s 
Beach, but even that didn’t work at first. For a month, they searched fruitlessly until 
Die-Hardman remembered the revolver. Tracing it led them to a distant edge of Sam’s Beach, where 
Mama was the first to see him. Lockne relayed the news, and Heartman confirmed it during 
a near death experience trip to the Beach. To rescue him, Fragile planned to 
sling Deadman and Lou across the Beach,   using umbilical cords crafted 
from Bridget’s DNA as a tether. Ironically, the gun that started everything 
ended up saving Sam. Amelie had told him that it had another purpose: it wasn’t a weapon, 
but a lifeline. “A stick that became a rope.” Deadman then pulls Sam close to reveal one final 
secret: Cliff’s wife (who they still believe is BB’s mother), was named Lisa Bridges. Cliff 
himself was killed by a man named “John,” a former special forces operative turned presidential 
aide… who later returned under a new identity as Die-Hardman. Records of this were buried 
in the chiral archives, with only Sam granted access. Deadman doesn’t trust John… but he’s 
willing to work with him for the sake of the UCA. On Sam’s way out, Die-Hardman privately confesses 
everything. He admits he killed Clifford Unger; not for the country, but out of love 
for Bridget. John notes that Cliff had   saved his life many times (explaining 
where his nickname came from), and when Cliff returned as a ghost, Die-Hardman 
knew he had come for revenge. However, Cliff saw the man he once knew trying to 
do right, and chose to forgive him instead. Die-Hardman breaks down, overcome with guilt, but 
clings to the hope that Cliff brought him back for a reason: to finish what they started. Sam rejects 
the idea of an immortal president, reminding John that fear of death is what gives life its value. 
Sam states that if America is to be rebuilt, the old habits truly have to “die hard”, and 
that includes the people who cling to them. Sam prepares to leave, and 
Deadman meets him with grim news:   the order to decommission a now 
unresponsive Lou has come through. The BB was never technically alive, 
and now that the nation is restored,   they can’t risk it necrotizing. Sam is given 
the choice to perform the incineration himself. Before he goes, Deadman disables Sam’s cuff links.   If Sam removes them, he’ll be completely off 
the grid and untraceable by the UCA. However, Deadman warns him that once he uses the 
incinerator, the system will reconnect him. Outside, Sam runs into Fragile, who 
tells him she’s launched the UCA’s first officially approved private delivery 
company. She admits she didn’t kill Higgs, instead exiling him to eternal solitude on the 
Beach. When she asks Sam to join her new company, he declines, still like the same man she met 
in the cave before he reconnected America. Fragile then grabs him and reminds him 
how far he’s come. Sam doesn’t flinch; his phobia now gone. Fragile insists that 
he’s learned to connect. To touch. To feel. However, he insists that 
everything he touches, he loses. Sam then walks away with Lou’s 
pod to make one last delivery. Once he makes it to the incinerator, Sam quietly 
prepares to say goodbye. After thanking Lou, he plugs into her pod again. This time, 
Sam is flooded with the memories of John and Cliff planning the escape, as 
well as the day of its failed attempt. Sam takes off his cuff, removing him from the 
grid. As Lou’s pod lowers into the incinerator, he quickly grabs it, plugging in one final 
time. At this point, Sam sees the full truth of the events of the day Cliff died. Watching the 
memory play out with himself inside his mother, Lisa’s room, the memory suddenly stops just 
before Bridget forces John to pull the trigger. Cliff then speaks to Sam, stating that while 
he was only ever good at tearing people apart, his son has an exceptional ability to bring 
people together. Cliff then hands the baby form of Sam to himself before his son in for a 
hug. The memory then resumes as the fun fires, killing Cliff and bringing Sam back to reality. With the truth of his origin now revealed to 
him, Sam places his cuffs in the incinerator and burns them, choosing to live free of the 
connected network he helped build. He then takes Lou out of her pod, frantically 
trying to wake her up. Unfortunately, a BT-like umbilical cord emerges from 
Lou, leading Sam to fear the worst. As he holds the baby to his shoulder, he’s 
instantly relieved when she begins to cry. Sam then looks to see a happy, revived Lou, 
holding Amelie’s quipu. Sam then cradles Lou, holding her close as the echoes of the BB’s 
sacrificed in the past watch over them. Sam then exits the incinerator, holding 
Lou while walking out into a storm,   seemingly normal timefall-free rain. As the 
two look forward towards their uncertain future together, the clouds part and the sun 
shines, revealing a rainbow in the storm’s wake. Sometime later, Sam looks at the photograph of 
his old family: himself, his mother Bridget, his wife Lucy, and their unborn daughter. 
A baby’s hand suddenly meets his, and he speaks out to his adoptive 
daughter, calling her “Louise.” And with that, we reach the end 
of the first “Death Stranding”,   leaving Sam and Lou to an unwritten 
future in a rebuilt America… That is until they wind up in Australia,   ready to travel across another continent to build 
the bridges to reconnect society once again. But… that’s a story for another time. Hey everybody thanks for watching! 
Huge thanks to the subscribers and   channel members on screen for supporting 
the channel, and you can be one too by checking out the links in the description! 
You’ll get to watch videos early and stuff. Speaking of the description, I’d like to thank 
the “Game Scripts Wiki Blog” for creating a transcription of the game that was a HUGE help 
to reference while I was writing this script.   Link in the description to their site. There’s 
also a link to a mod to restore Monster Energy cans to the Director’s Cut of the game, which was 
extremely important to the creation of this video. Also remember to like the video, 
comment on what you’d like to see next, and subscribe for more gaming timelines 
and story explanations and stuff. I’ve got   a lot of stuff I’m working on right now, 
and you’re not going to want to miss it! Until next time, I’m Suggestive 
Gaming, and now, you’re in the know.

Before we reconnect another continent in Death Stranding 2, let’s take a walk across America’s broken landscape and unpack everything that happened in the first game. From BBs and Beaches to the Strand family’s warped legacy, I cover every major story event in chronological order… with as much detail as Kojima will allow.

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Video Chapters
00:00:00 – Intro
00:01:31 – Pre-Stranding Era
00:11:44 – The Death Stranding
00:28:33 – Prologue: Porter
00:33:35 – Episode 1: Bridget
00:37:45 – Episode 2: Amelie
00:42:32 – Episode 3: Fragile
00:46:56 – Episode 4: Unger
00:48:18 – Episode 5: Mama
00:52:14 – Episode 6: Deadman
00:55:06 – Episode 7: Clifford
00:57:22 – Episode 8: Heartman
00:59:51 – Episode 9: Higgs
01:06:37 – Episode 10: Die-Hardman
01:07:17 – Episode 11: Clifford Unger
01:09:11 – Episode 12: Bridges
01:12:42 – Episode 13: Sam Strand
01:21:33 – Episode 14: Lou
01:24:09 – Outro

All game footage captured and edited by Suggestive Gaming; please do not use without expressed permission.

#DeathStranding2 #KojimaProductions #PS5

Reference material:
https://game-scripts-wiki.blogspot.com/2019/12/death-stranding-full-transcript.html

Mods/Utilities:
Otis_Inf’s photomode mod
https://www.patreon.com/c/Otis_Inf/

“Monster Energy – Restored” by ozeuce
https://www.nexusmods.com/deathstranding/mods/74?tab=description

DLSS Swapper
https://github.com/beeradmoore/dlss-swapper

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

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