Death Stranding 2 Hides One of its Best Features, Here’s How to Unlock It

Death Stranding 2 has a pretty big hidden feature that is super easy to miss and it radically changes the game. The first Death Stranding game very much tried to de-emphasize violence and combat. It was far more about sneaking around, taking care of enemies in more thoughtful ways as opposed to running and gunning through areas. With that said, that was a big critique for some with the first game. Some would argue it was a strength, others would argue it is where the game gets frustrating, especially since Hideo Kojima has made some great action games. Death Stranding 2 does feature more action and adds a lot of guns for players to use.

Almost immediately, players are given weapons like assault rifles and shotguns in Death Stranding 2. The game clarifies that these shoot rubber bullets or otherwise non-lethal rounds, so no one you shoot will die. It still feels like a standard gun, just without all the murder. A big reason for this is because if someone dies in Death Stranding, their body can trigger a voidout, which is a giant explosion that leaves a crater in the Earth. It makes that area inaccessible for quite a while, but it will eventually return. So, murder isn’t advised… but it is possible.

How to Make Your Guns Lethal in Death Stranding 2

In Death Stranding 2, you can make all of your guns lethal against human enemies. Simply open the weapon wheel and hold R2 + L2 + Circle for a moment and you’ll notice the wheel start to turn orange. Once the entire wheel turns orange, your weapons will become lethal. You can run around and shoot to kill. Dollman will comment on this the more it happens, seemingly keeping track of how many people you’ve killed. I killed someone extremely early on in my 60 hours of playing Death Stranding 2 and he was appalled. I did it again right before writing this article and he noted that I had killed another person.

As I ran around shooting up a base of enemies, Dollman tried to talk me down from my murder spree and warn me that porters should try to make peace in the world or complete their mission as non-lethally as possible. It’s hard to say just how far this will go and what could happen if you keep killing everyone you encounter, but it’s clearly a message to the player.

If you do kill these people, you can take their bodies to a facility to be incinerated to avoid a voidout. However, if they are left in non-critical areas (near facilities or mission-specific areas), you may see a part of the world get destroyed. Make wise choices with this information, but it’s interesting to see Kojima empower players with these kind of choices.