Death Stranding 1 recap: Everything that happened before Death Stranding 2

Luckily, we're here to help. We've put together a guide recapping everything that happened in Death Stranding 1 so you can quickly brush up before you jump into 2.

We've tried to make it as simple and concise as possible, but if you've played Death Stranding, then you likely already know that 'simple and concise' in this context still means 'complex and verbose' – let's go!

Death Stranding 1 recap: Everything that happened before Death Stranding 2

Following a catastrophe called the 'Death Stranding', the world becomes entwined with the 'Beach', an alternate world, roughly analogous to the afterlife.

When people die, their ka (soul) attempts to re-enter their ha (body). If they do so, they turn into a Beached Thing (BT), unable to pass on to the Beach.

If a BT consumes a human, it triggers a voidout, a nuclear bomb-like explosion that has wiped several cities off the map, such as Manhattan.

The world is also plagued by timefall. This is a type of rain which causes anything it touches to age, killing crops, rusting metal, and scarring human skin, forcing all humans to wear large jackets and hoods while outside.

You play as Sam Porter Bridges (Norman Reedus), a porter working for logistics company Bridges, who is given the task of reconnecting the last bastions of humanity in the former USA and to rescue his adoptive sister Amelie by his late, adoptive mother, US President Bridget Strand.

Amelie is held captive by Higgs Monaghan (Troy Baker), a terrorist hell-bent on causing a new Death Stranding.

At each new location, Sam uses a device called a Q-pid to hook each settlement up to the Chiral Network, a communication network that allows data to be shared across it instantaneously by harnessing the power of the Beach, bringing each settlement together and eventually connecting the whole nation once more.

Sam suffers from DOOMS, an illness that allows him to sense the otherwise invisible BTs, and is given a Bridge Baby (BB) – an unborn child in a pod that can be used to detect BTs more accurately, as well as a pair of special Cuff Links that allow him to access the Chiral Network.

Sam comes to care deeply for BB-28, whom he later names 'Lou', taking care of her and refusing at various points to give her up to members of the United Cities of America (UCA), the spiritual successor to the US government.

Sam meets Fragile (Léa Seydoux) early on, a character with a strong link to the Beach that lets her teleport across the world.

Over the course of the story, she befriends Sam, and the two work together to take down Higgs, who had previously tortured Fragile by making her walk half-naked through timefall, permanently scarring her body.

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As he traverses America, he meets a cast of characters such as Die-Hardman, Deadman, Mama and Heartman, all of whom have their own reasons for helping him.

On the way, he uncovers a conspiracy about the BB program, learning that he was once a BB candidate himself, but that his father, Clifford Unger (Mads Mikkelsen), who Sam has violent visions of, attempted to save him, though both he and Sam were killed.

Sam's ha travelled to the Beach, where Amelie brings him back to life. Amelie is revealed not to be Sam's sister, but a piece of President Strand's ha that exists trapped on the Beach.

We also learn that Amelie is the trigger for the Extinction Event, known as the Last Stranding, that Higgs wants to bring about, with the Last Stranding travelling from Amelie's Beach to our world. Amelie, faced with the choice of quickly ending the world or dooming it to a slow, inevitable demise, chooses to allow the Last Stranding to take place.

On the Beach, Sam and Higgs clash, with the fight eventually devolving into a drawn-out slugfest, up to their waists in tar. Sam knocks Higgs out, and Fragile takes him away, seemingly executing him off-screen.

Following this, Sam manages to convince Amelie to prevent the Last Stranding. Sam and the others return to their world and Amelie cuts off access to her Beach, trapping her there, but preventing the Last Stranding.

Back home, Die-Hardman is inaugurated as the new president of the UCA, and Sam is ordered to dispose of Lou in an incinerator, as she no longer functions as a BB.

Deadman hints that perhaps Lou could survive outside the pod, so once reaching the incinerator, Sam takes Lou out of the pod, confirming Deadman's suspicious.

Having removed his Cuff Links before making the journey, Sam is off the Chiral Network and cannot be tracked. He takes Lou and vanishes without a trace.

That's the story of Death Stranding 1! Naturally, there are a ton of things we missed out, whether that's story specifics, lore details or characters and mechanics, but we feel like this gives you a good recap of the most important aspects of the story.

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