Latest news with #Fragile
Time of India
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
How to Find and Expand the Monorail in Death Stranding 2
Image via: Kojima Productions Moving through the dangerous Australian outback is a much less daunting task after you unlock the use of the game's Monorail network. The Monorail isn't simply a fast travel feature. It's an order of operations altering game changer, particularly when you're carrying thousands of kilos of cargo. Here's how to do it so you can strategically expand the network to get your deliveries moving. Unlocking the Monorail: Main Story Access In order to visit the Monorail, players will need to finish Order 12 and Order 13. These missions are a very important step to get started on your journey around Australia. Battle a Mecha BT at Sector F1 in Order 12. Upon defeating the boss, you'll be introduced to the settlement leader and Fragile. The following day, you're ordered to help bring power back to a local coal mine. Bring at least 2,000 Chiral Crystals, Resins, and Special Alloys for this mission. Cleanup the mine through the terminal. This opens Monorail construction and gives you access to 4,800 Special Alloys. Death Stranding 2 On the Beach - Restore the Monorail and Deliver Special Alloys - Walkthrough 17 Setting Up the First Line: West Fort Knot to the Mine Once the mine has opened: Ship the cargo back to West Fort Knot. This initial monorail section is constructed automatically as an extension of the narrative. While it's a key transportation link, that only scratches the surface of this system's potential. How to Expand the Monorail Following the narrative portion, expanding the Monorail starts to take shape as an optional yet fulfilling secondary goal. It opened up quicker journeys, much more secure routes and the transportation of unimaginable cargo. Step-by-Step to Grow the Network Find Tracklayers on the Australian map These somewhat simplified vertical streetcar universal charger poles work like roving road nuts. They show up on your map as soon as you find one, and typically lead in the direction of the nearest Tracklayer. Ziplines The infrastructure built by Tracklayers serve as Ziplines, allowing for traversal and rapid supply drops. Required Materials For Each Tracklayer Tracklayers need: Chiral Crystals Resins Special Alloys Best Practices for Efficient Expansion Use a Pickup Off-Roader to deliver goods. Gather up knowledge and capacity before you go to explore. Stay on well worn trails. The way usually runs in the direction of the next Tracklayer. Slow down when you approach Tracklayers, onscreen prompts display the resources needed even before you start the interaction. When you're ready, connect to a Tracklayer and select 'Restore Track' from the in-game terminal. Death Stranding 2 | Load the monorail with special alloys 4800 from the mine and send it to F1 The Monorail in Death Stranding 2 isn't just about convenience. It's a strategic tool that rewards preparation, persistence, and planning. Growing it out changes how you interact and remap the landscape. Game On Season 1 continues with Mirabai Chanu's inspiring story. Watch Episode 2 here.
CNET
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNET
Death Stranding 2 Ending Explained: What Happened to Lou, Neil Vana and BB-28?
Death Stranding 2's release date was Thursday but some players who bought a special edition of the game have already been playing it for two days. As it takes 30 to 40 hours to finish the game, some will see the ending and wonder what in the world they just experienced. Death Stranding 2 comes from the mind of Hideo Kojima and he can be a little eccentric with his video games. This game is peak creativity from the legendary game developer but it's not easy to follow what happened, even when you've finished his game. Spoiler warning: If you haven't beaten Death Stranding 2 yet, don't read any further. If you've finished the game and are still scratching your head, keep on reading. Now Playing: Unboxing the Death Stranding 2 PS5 Controller 00:45 What happened with Lou? Early in the game, Fragile is holding Lou when Higgs shoots at her. When she comes to, she tells Sam that Lou is gone. We see a month later that Sam is searching for Lou and finds her, yet this is clearly not Lou -- it's a dream. Sam continues to carry around Lou's BB pod as if Lou is still a baby with him. He'll hear Lou cry, he can comfort her and all the other actions he was able to do in the first game. Toward the end, we learn a couple of things. First, Lou was Sam's daughter with Lucy, Sam's therapist, who is briefly shown in the first game. Second, the Lou that Sam has been carrying appears to be just a delusion of his that the Magallan crew has seemingly just gone along with. All those abilities that BBs can do, such as scanning for BTs, were done by Dollman. Lastly, Tomorrow is Sam's daughter, in other words, Lou. So, in the final battle with Higgs, instead of ending the world, Tomorrow, aka Lou, ends up helping take out Higgs in the most adorable way. She is brought over from the other side and it looks like she might be the star of her own Death Stranding game or maybe some DLC as a new porter. Who was Neil Vana? Neil Vana was a smuggler who worked similarly to Sam's, but instead of a package of whatever, he delivered brain-dead pregnant women whose babies would be sacrificed to the Bridges project and become BBs. His sections of Death Stranding 2 act similarly to the scenes featuring Cliff from the first game, in that they are segments that provide some background to the story while also just letting players stop thinking about packages and just do some shooting. During these sections, Neil wears an outfit similar to Solid Snake from the Metal Gear series, one of many references to Kojima's famous series found throughout the sequel. Each segment featuring Neil represents a particular strong memory that Sam experiences, unlike the quick glimpses of the past Sam gets whenever he plugs himself into Lou's BB pod. When Neil was a child, the Mexican town he was in was being inundated with BTs, causing havoc. He had met a young girl who helped him, but when she was trapped, he tried to help her, leaving a scar on his and her hands. Years later, when he sought a therapist to help him deal with his troubling work, he met Lucy Strand. Lucy is the sister of Bridget Strand, the President of the United Cities of America, and she was also Sam's therapist. Lucy and Sam fell in love, and she was pregnant with his child. In the first Death Stranding, the story given to Sam was that Lucy committed suicide. That appears not to be the case. It seems that Lucy was approached to give up her baby to Bridges, likely because of Sam being the father. She sought the help of Neil to smuggle her into Mexico. Neil thought Lucy was having his baby but she did make it clear that the baby wasn't his. Nevertheless, he was not going to abandon her this time around, so he made arrangements to sneak her out of the country. Those efforts became futile as Neil and Lucy were shot by the Bridges guards. Lou was taken out of Lucy to be used as a BB, with her body left on a medical table waiting for Sam to show up. While Neil did die, he didn't cross over, thus becoming a BT. The doctors who were seemingly going to examine his body mentioned the need for corpse disposal as Neil's soul, his ka, had left the body. While a BT would normally go to whatever person is near, Neil instead floats to Lucy's dead body. Here's when we see Sam show up and break down with his love dead and his child seemingly gone. Neil follows Sam, and whether it was done on purpose or was just the nature of being a BT, Neil makes contact with Sam, causing a voidout and destroying the city. This event caused Sam to retire from Bridges and develop his aphenphosmphobia, the fear of being touched. Neil's final fight with Sam was enough to finally let his soul be at peace. Kojima Productions/Screenshot by CNET What's the mystery of BB-28? At the start of his mission in the first Death Stranding, Sam comes across a BB that was supposed to be destroyed. For some reason, he decides against it and takes on BB-28 as his own. He formed a bond with the BB, and after a successful mission, he left for Mexico to raise the baby as Lou. Throughout Death Stranding 2, there's a mystery regarding the origins of BB-28. What eventually comes out is that BB-28 wasn't the 28th baby to be used by Bridges. It was actually the first, BB-00. However, there had been some secretive moves to seemingly erase Lou from the system. This resulted in Lou being in storage for 11 years and given the BB-28 designation. The most likely reason for this was to hide the details about where the baby came from and who the mother was. It's also likely that the person who brought Lou out of storage to be used again was the President, who knew Lou was Sam's daughter, and to possibly unite them when he came out of retirement. Who is The President? At the start of the game, Sam meets the President of the Automated Public Assistance Company or APAC. The company is bankrolling Draw Bridges and Sam's effort to connect Australia to the Chiral Network. APAC also owns APAS, a system used throughout the game to improve Sam's performance and skills. Toward the end of the game, The President confides in Sam through a private channel that he believes there is someone working against them. He tells Sam not to inform the others. It ends up that The President, however, is not to be trusted, and he wasn't real in the first place. The President, who has been working with Sam, is just another robot controlled by an entity referred to as APAS 4000. Sometime in the past, there was a voidout that killed 4,000 people and these souls somehow converged with the APAS AI system that handled deliveries. The APAS 4000 then went about concocting a plan to make humans into souls that would be trapped in the world of the dead. APAS 4000 views this as reclaiming the world before there was a Death Stranding, but it would ultimately kill all humans. Higgs is back. Kojima Productions/Screenshot by CNET What is Higgs up to? Higgs continues to want to see the world destroyed. He said he has been alone for tens of thousands of years on the Beach after being given the choice to stay by Fragile at the end of the first game. Then APAS 4000 brought him back from the Beach to have him compel Sam to work with Draw Bridges and connect Australia. They even provided him with a Ghost Mech army. Higgs, however, had plans of his own. His ultimate plan was to do the Last Stranding, an event where everyone would die and humans would go extinct. This is what Sam prevented in the first Death Stranding game, but with Tomorrow, Higgs could try again because she is an extinction entity, which is a being that will bring out an extinction event. He ultimately failed at his plan and was killed when Lou, in a giant baby form, ate him. What's with Die Hardman's dance? It's Kojima. Just go with it. Death Stranding 2 is out now, exclusive for the PS5 and costs $70.
Hypebeast
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
Kojima Productions and Anicorn Bring the Ring Terminal From ‘Death Stranding 2' to Life
Summary To celebrate the launch ofDeath Stranding 2: On the Beach,Kojima Productionsreunites withAnicornfor a striking new collaboration. This time, the duo brings a key in-game item into the real world: the Ring Terminal. A 1:1 replica of the device worn by characters like Sam Porter Bridges and Fragile, the Ring Terminal follows the success of its predecessor, the Cufflinks — an essential tool for Drawbridge operatives in the game's universe. Crafted from a durable brass and steel alloy, the Ring Terminal utilizes both advanced electroforming and precise 5-axis CNC machining. The result is a complex piece comprising 30 meticulously micro-engineered components. Its adjustable design thoughtfully accommodates a wide range of finger sizes, while a custom electroplated finish mirrors the in-game coloration and is designed to evolve through natural oxidation — adding a unique, lived-in character. The Ring Terminal also integrates NFC technology, allowing users to forge a symbolic connection with the immersive world ofDeath Stranding 2. While the display is non-functional and purely aesthetic, it enhances the object's narrative depth. Launching on June 26 at 10 p.m. EST, the Ring Terminal will be available exclusively through Anicorn's officialwebstorefor $240 USD.
Time of India
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
What will happen when you choose "I'll do it" or "I won't do it" in Death Stranding 2?
Image via Kojima Productions. It's just two more days after when players will finally be able to immerse themselves in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. However, those who pre-ordered the Digital Deluxe/Collector's Edition, have already started playing this highly anticipated game, thanks to the 48-hour early-access. But nobody thought that players would get into a serious dilemma at the very beginning of the game, when the main protagonist of the title will come across with one of his old friends, fragile. However, as it is a Kojima title, nothing comes in a straight line. Death Stranding: What to choose between 'I'll do it' and 'I won't do it'? Players will get two major options. | Image via Kojima Productions After Sam lost everything in Death Stranding, he and his Bridge Baby named Lou have been trying to get back a normal life. But it seems, that is not going to happen in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. One of the of the most important characters in the previous games and an ally of Sam, Fragile, knew her express delivery service is nothing without her friend. That is why Fragile went on to find Sam's hidden shelter in Mexico, and from there, the main story begins. In this scene, Fragile offers Sam a quest which will again submerge himself into delivery driving, which might cost the life of Lou. This quest is about helping Fragile with her Drawbridge operation which will eventually connect Mexico to the Chiral Network. After a short cutscene, players will get two major options to choose from the dialogue box - 'I won't do it' and 'I'll do it.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Free P2,000 GCash eGift UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo Now, if players refuse to help Fragile, the screen will go blank and the same short cutscene will appear once again, when Sam was cooking food for Lou and Fragile comes to him for help, and then the same dialogue options will appear. If players again choose not to help Fragile even after refusing once, the same cutscene will play again, but this time, Sam will be left with only one choice - to help her. Now if the 'I'll do it' option is selected, then the players will enter the main storyline of the game, and the real Chapters and Orders will begin from then on. So, the moral of the story is that it doesn't even matter which option you select because it doesn't branch the narrative paths based on your choice. If you want to continue playing the game, you need to help your old friend, Fragile. And that's how a Kojima game should begin with, absolutely unpredictable. Read More: All Difficulty Levels in Death Stranding 2 For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the India vs England Test match here . Game On Season 1 kicks off with Sakshi Malik's inspiring story. Watch Episode 1 here
CNET
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
Death Stranding 2 Review: Still Weird, but Way More Playable
When Death Stranding came out in 2019, I did what a lot of people apparently did: Played it for an hour, thought it was a bit weird, and didn't pick it up again until years later (in my case, 2022). So when a sequel to the game was announced, I wondered what Hideo Kojima could possibly do in a follow-up to his strangest game yet. After playing Death Stranding 2 for 40-plus hours, he did quite a bit. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach should have been called Death Stranding 2: Quality of Life, because that's what this game is. From top to bottom, Kojima Productions made so many improvements to the original, making a weird delivery-sim game that is quite relaxing. Those improvements may not be enough to attract people who avoided the original, yet the players coming back are going to find a sense of calmness that you could assume Kojima wanted to deliver with his game. In the sequel, players are back in the role of Sam Porter, performed once again by Norman Reedus, who has found a place in Mexico to live his life with Lou, the former Bridge Baby who spent her first years in a pod. Fragile, Sam's somewhat love interest and fellow delivery person, seeks out Sam to do some deliveries to re-establish the chiral network within the country. As he's away, something terrible happens to Fragile and Lou, and without spoiling it, months pass, and Sam's services are called upon again. This time, he must travel to Australia and reconnect the entire country, just like he did with America in the first game. Watch this: Unboxing the Death Stranding 2 PS5 Controller 00:45 Safe to say, if you never played Death Stranding, none of that made any sense, and that's on par with everyone's experience who played the game initially. The whole world of Death Stranding is less about realism and more about vibes. Beached things, voidouts, chiralium, cryptobiotes and so much of this game's world doesn't make a lick of sense if you try to think of it regarding the science of the real world, but when you get to the basic theme of the game, which is reaching out to other people and forming strong bonds with each other, then everything does make a certain sense. There are people who want the world to heal by coming together, while there are others who want to destroy those bonds. Welcome to Death Stranding. Make it make sense That whole spiel about Death Stranding 2's story is the gist of it, yet there are new and old characters to meet and more of the world to learn about. That brings to one of the biggest quality of life (QoL) improvements to the game: Corpus. Lots of games have their own in-game encyclopedia, but it's apparent that Kojima Productions knew how confusing the game's story could get. So to help navigate that, the Corpus gets updated all the time, and there will be an on-screen notification about the new info as soon as it's mentioned, and you can jump right into understanding what was said. Not only does it make Death Stranding 2 easier to understand, it also helps when you did what I and a lot of others did with the original and started it only to never come back to it years later. Now, as soon as you load a save and come back to the game, it will bring up the Corpus to give you a rundown of where you are in the story. Again, this seems like not a big deal in most games, but the thing that sets apart Death Stranding is this weird world -- where, for instance, babies are extracted from their brain-dead mothers and put in pods that are meant to emulate a womb so that they can be used as a warning system to detect dead souls made up of antimatter that are stranded in the world of the living and can make this pool of tar to capture people thus causing an explosion being enough to decimate a city when they come in contact. It's quite a feat to implement a feature to help a player understand that concept, which is what Corpus helps with. Higgs is back. Kojima Productions/Screenshot by CNET Understanding the story is key because it just makes the core of the game so enthralling. Delivering packages is what players will be doing for the majority of their time. There is some battling with human separatists who control bases scattered across the regions and BTs that will show up whenever it rains, but you can go for hours and hours without dealing with either. Instead, you can just continue to deliver packages. When it comes to delivering packages, there are the main missions where the various mission givers tell Sam where to go and what to take. More often than not, the package has some weight to it that Sam can carry on his backpack, and he just needs to get the package to its destination without being destroyed. Other parameters may switch things up, such as delivering within a time limit, taking it slow with a delicate package, or hauling one that's very heavy because it's a whole human being wrapped in what looks to be a body bag. A few of these main missions also require taking a package away from the separatists or making your way through areas filled with BTs, meaning there will likely be a fight. Like with the story, the game's central delivery experience received a wealth of quality-of-life improvements. The biggest is that vehicles are unlocked very early in the game. In the original, players had to deal with doing deliveries on foot for hours before getting the first reverse trike to help them travel around the world quickly. Now players get access to one within a few missions. Later in the game, Sam will ride around in the DHV Magellan, an airship that travels through the tar currents of the world (just go with it) to transport immediately to any of the locations you have already delivered to. This makes going back to previous cities and bunkers, especially to deliver some packages found along the way, much easier to do. The ship, however, does suffer from a serious case of Conveniently Broken Device trope (think of those episodes of Star Trek where the teleporters could solve a problem, but they happen to not be working). You'll find the Magellan never seems to be available when you need to travel all the way back to a previous location, which is fair, as this would take some of the fun from the game. The transportation options don't stop at the ship. Not far into the game, there will be an option for Beach Jumps using Fragile's umbrella. These spots are found all across Australia, but unlike traveling on the Magellan, these jumps will just take Sam and not his vehicle. Another new addition is the monorail, which can carry Sam and a lot of packages from one location to another. Similar to how players can build highways to travel on, the monorail is a system that needs to be built in segments. There are a few places with the monorail already in place, but players can extend it farther. Combat also had some subtle improvements. Sam feels very at home with the different weapons available, and while you can take down human enemies with stealth, it's just as quick and easy to mow them down with an assault rifle. Later in the game, robots will be the more common enemies that will take more damage to deal with, but Sam is still very capable of putting them down. Everyone's favorite BB, Lou. Kojima Productions/Screenshot by CNET Big, beautiful and weird The first Death Stranding was already incredible to look at, and the sequel bumps up the visual fidelity across the board from the character models to the particle effects when in combat. Thanks to the quality of life improvements to the game, there's more time to appreciate the game world. This time around, there's a lot more color to the world. It's still not vibrant, considering this is supposed to be Australia after some ghosts started appearing and destroying big parts of the land, but there's a bit more variety in biospheres than in the first game. In particular, the snowy mountain range where you'll spend most of the last third of the game is just beautiful in how serene it is. Granted, during parts of your journey in those mountains, you'll be bombarded with snow squalls that will completely blind you, requiring the use of the Odradek scanner to get the layout of the land so you know when the edge of the mountain is approaching. As is the case with any Kojima game, the cutscenes are the real eye-candy. The cast of characters has expanded in the sequel with Elle Fanning (A Complete Unknown, The Girl from Plainville) playing the mysterious young woman named Tomorrow, Shioli Katusna (Deadpool 2, Invasion) who plays a pregnant woman named Rainy who can control and reverse the effects of Timefall, and famed Australian film director of the Mad Max franchise, George Miller, as Tarman, the navigator of the Magellan. Every person gives a great performance, although it is noticeable that for the lead character, Norman Reedus doesn't talk much in these cutscenes. Some new and old faces in Death Stranding 2. Kojima Productions One person who does talk quite a bit and is worth pointing out is Dollman, played by actor Jonathan Roumie (The Chosen) but modeled after Turkish-German film director Fatih Akin. This living doll acts as a guide for Sam, providing useful tips and background for the players, but it also represents a staple in Kojima games of having weird supporting characters. And trust me, there is a lot of weird in Death Stranding 2. Some of the moments had me wondering just what the hell I was playing, and I can't wait to see streamers and YouTubers reach these parts in their Let's Play because the reaction content and the memes are going to be tremendous. Kojima really went deep into that part of his brain that concocts these strange yet charming and kind of badass moments within his games. Completing the main story in Death Stranding 2 takes about 40 hours if you rush through all the main missions, but to get all of that weirdness that only someone like Kojima can come up with, you'll need to spend double that to complete the sub-missions available. These quests will have Sam travel to practically every inch of Australia, delivering items from headache pills to people. Some of the missions will unlock new items while also learning more about the mission givers. There are scientists, musicians, animal caretakers and even a pizza chef. There's so much to do in Death Stranding 2, and what makes this such an enjoyable game is how it's become so accessible. Now, will this be enough to attract every gamer to what is essentially a post-apocalyptic delivery sim game? Probably not, but if you had a twinge of interest in the original Death Stranding but found it a bit too awkward or maybe complicated with its mechanics, then Death Stranding 2 is going to suck you right in and will have you spending hours enjoying a peaceful journey of just delivering packages. Death Stranding 2 is a PS5 exclusive and comes out on Thursday for $70. Those who buy the digital deluxe edition of the game for $80 will receive in-game content and early access to the game that starts on Tuesday.
