If you’ve spent dozens of hours hauling cargo across the fractured United Cities of America, you’ve probably already stumbled on a few random rewards for completing deliveries or helping other porters. But most players miss more than half of the cool, game-changing content available, because death stranding 2 unlocks aren’t always clearly marked or explained in the in-game tutorial. Some unlocks make your cross-country runs far smoother, others unlock hidden story beats you won’t see in the main playthrough, and a few are only available for a limited time before they disappear forever. This guide breaks down everything you need to know to grab the best rewards without wasting hours grinding irrelevant side tasks.
What Death Stranding 2 Unlocks Are Actually Worth Chasing First
Not all unlocks are created equal, and if you spend your hard-earned chiral crystals on cosmetic skins first, you’ll make your first 20 hours of play far harder than they need to be. Most death stranding 2 unlocks are tied to either connection level, story progress, or multiplayer activity, so you don’t have to grind endlessly to get the good stuff. Focus on these high-priority unlocks first to cut down on delivery time and avoid frustrating BT or MULE encounters:
You can unlock all priority functional unlocks before you hit chapter 4, so you don’t have to wait until the end of the game to make your deliveries easier. If you’re stuck trying to raise a prepper’s connection level fast, prioritize delivering their requested high-value, low-weight items first instead of hauling bulk cargo for them.
How to Unlock Hidden Story Content Without Replaying the Whole Game
A lot of players assume that all story content is locked to the main quest line, but that’s not the case. More than 3 hours of extra cutscenes and character backstory are hidden behind side delivery unlocks, and you don’t have to 100% every side quest to access them. Every time you max out a prepper's connection level, you get a unique story snippet that fills in gaps from the first Death Stranding, or teases future plot beats for the sequel.
You don’t have to do every random side delivery to unlock these snippets, either. Only deliveries marked with a small chiral symbol next to the order number count towards connection level progress for hidden story content. If you’re short on time, skip the standard bulk cargo deliveries and only pick up the symbol-marked orders to unlock all hidden story content in half the time. For example, I missed the entire backstory for Higgs’ redemption arc on my first playthrough, because I skipped all the side deliveries for the Mountain Region preppers. I only found it when I went back to clean up leftover quests on my second run.
Multiplayer-Locked Unlocks You Can't Get Solo
Even if you prefer playing offline, it’s worth connecting to the online network for a few hours to grab the multiplayer-exclusive rewards you can’t get any other way. These death stranding 2 unlocks are designed to reward community collaboration, so even small contributions count towards your progress. You need to contribute at least 20% of the materials to a shared highway segment to unlock the exclusive highway cargo skin, which makes your packages 30% less likely to get damaged if you fall or get hit by MULEs.
There are also weekly global community challenge unlocks for all players. If the global player base hits a set delivery number in a 7-day window, everyone gets a free permanent stamina boost item that lasts for 10 hours of play. You don’t have to participate in the challenge to get the reward, but you do have to log in within 7 days of the challenge ending to claim it, otherwise it expires and you can’t get it back. If you don’t have time to play during the challenge window, you can just log in for 2 minutes to claim the reward once it’s unlocked, no extra work required.
Common Mistakes That Make You Miss Permanent Unlocks
It’s surprisingly easy to lock yourself out of permanent unlocks if you don’t know what to watch out for, and most players don’t realize they missed something until they’re 30 hours into their playthrough. The most common mistake is selling unique quest items for extra chiral crystals. A lot of players dump old delivery relics when they run low on crystals, but those are required to unlock the secret post-game ending. Never sell any item that has a gold border in your inventory, no matter how much you need extra crystals.
Another common mistake is skipping cutscenes to get back to gameplay faster. Some unlock prompts only pop up during cutscenes, so if you skip them you might miss the chance to claim the reward immediately, and you’ll have to dig through your message history later to find it. If you accidentally delete a message with an unlock reward, you can contact the distribution center support terminal to resend it, but only if you do it before you leave the region. Once you move to a new region, old unlock messages get archived permanently and you can’t retrieve them anymore. The last mistake to avoid is forgetting to check your private room terminal every time you return to a distribution center. A lot of rare cosmetic unlocks are sent to you as gifts from preppers you’ve maxed out connection levels with, and they won’t show up in your main inventory until you open the message to claim them.
You don’t have to chase every single reward to enjoy the game, but even grabbing the top priority functional death stranding 2 unlocks will make your playthrough far smoother and more rewarding. Take your time to explore off the main delivery route, contribute to shared player structures when you can, and don’t be afraid to skip low-value side quests if you’re not interested in 100% completion. If you’ve found any weird hidden unlocks we didn’t mention here, drop them in the comments below to help other porters out on their runs.
