If you’re a Death Stranding fan chasing 100% completion for the latest entry, you’ve probably already noticed most of the basic trophies pop up naturally as you play through the main story. But the elusive Death Stranding 2 hidden trophies are a whole different challenge, with vague or entirely missing unlock descriptions that leave even veteran porters scratching their heads. I spent three full playthroughs testing every weird interaction, side activity, and off-map detour to figure out exactly how to unlock every single one of these secret rewards, no guesswork required.
What Are Death Stranding 2 Hidden Trophies, And Why Should You Care?
There are 11 total hidden trophies in the base game, with 3 more planned for the upcoming story DLC. Unlike standard trophies that show their unlock conditions right in your menu, hidden ones stay blank until you trigger them, making it almost impossible to guess what you need to do if you’re not actively looking for clues. None of the hidden trophies are tied to difficulty settings, so you can unlock them all on easy mode if you don’t want to deal with tough BT encounters or strict delivery time limits.
Most of these trophies reward you for engaging with parts of the game you might otherwise ignore if you only rush the main story. You’ll get to explore unmarked regions, build deeper connections with side characters, and even unlock exclusive bonus content like custom porter outfits, chiral building skins, and cut lore entries that fill in gaps in the main plot. 7 of the 11 hidden trophies are tied to side character storylines, so you can’t just skip side deliveries if you want to hit 100% completion.
The Most Common Mistakes Players Make When Unlocking Secret Trophies
It’s incredibly easy to miss half the hidden trophies on your first playthrough if you don’t know what to look for. The most common mistake I see is players skipping random NPC encounters at unmarked timefall shelters, since these interactions don’t show up as quest markers on your map. Another big mistake is selling or discarding random rare items you find in abandoned crates, as many of these are required for specific hidden trophy unlocks.
Many players try to track their progress with random community spreadsheets or outdated third-party checklists that don’t update with post-launch patch changes, which can lead to you wasting hours chasing a trophy that was moved or adjusted. If you want a reliable way to track your progress across multiple games, including hidden achievement checklists that update in real time, Ind Slots is a great tool to keep all your completion goals organized in one place.
Never sell rare delivery supplies you pick up off the beaten path, as three hidden trophies require you to deliver specific rare items to isolated NPCs scattered across the three main game regions. I also recommend saving your game before every major story beat, so you can reload if you accidentally skip an interaction that triggers a missable trophy.
Step-by-Step Unlock Conditions for All Missable Hidden Trophies
Four of the 11 Death Stranding 2 hidden trophies are completely missable if you don’t complete them before the final main story mission, since you can’t return to certain regions once you trigger the endgame sequence. Below are the exact unlock conditions for these four high-priority trophies, so you don’t have to do a full second playthrough to get them:
The remaining 7 hidden trophies are tied to story beats, so you’ll unlock most of them automatically as long as you don’t skip any optional cutscenes with Fragile, Higgs, and the other core cast members. If you missed one of the missable ones above, you can reload a save from before the final mission to go back and complete it, no full replay required. If you’re still stuck on any of the less common Death Stranding 2 hidden trophies, you can cross-reference your progress with updated community notes for edge cases like post-patch unlock changes.
Pro Tips to Speed Up Your Hidden Trophy Hunt
You don’t have to spend 100 extra hours wandering the map to unlock all the hidden trophies, as long as you plan ahead and use a few simple tricks. First, adjust your map filter to show unmarked locations first, so you can easily spot hidden shelters and stranded NPCs that don’t have standard quest markers. You can also fast travel between different distribution centers to trigger different weather events, which is perfect if you’re trying to find a timefall storm for the Timefall Friend trophy.
Always keep at least 10 flower seeds in your inventory at all times, so you can plant them whenever you pass a voidout zone instead of having to backtrack later. It’s also a good idea to turn on trophy notification pop-ups in your game settings, so you know immediately when you trigger a hidden unlock, instead of having to check your trophy list every time you complete a task.
Many players rush through the main story and miss half the Death Stranding 2 hidden trophies simply because they never take time to wander off the planned delivery route. Even 10 or 15 minutes of exploration between main story missions is enough to find most of the hidden NPCs and items you need for unlocks, and it makes the whole trophy hunt feel way less like a grind. If you’re playing with friends, you can even work on co-op deliveries to unlock group-related hidden trophies faster, as long as all players meet the unlock conditions for the specific trophy you’re chasing.
At the end of the day, chasing Death Stranding 2 hidden trophies is one of the best ways to get more out of the game, pushing you to explore parts of the map and interact with characters you might otherwise skip entirely. You don’t have to grind for hours to unlock them all, either — as long as you plan a little, avoid the common mistakes we covered, and check your progress regularly, you’ll hit 100% completion before you know it. Even if you’re not a completionist, most of these hidden trophies unlock fun bonus content like character skins and extra lore entries that are well worth the extra effort.
