Death Stranding: On the Beach is finally out, and Kojima has returned with Sam’s most emotional journey to date. Sam successfully connected the UCA in the original game, and this time around, he has set out to connect Mexico and Australia with the Chiral Network. While the story is simpler than the first game, it does get complicated as we approach the end credits. So, if you are left scratching your head after finishing the sequel or are curious how Sam’s porter journey comes to an end, here is our breakdown of the Death Stranding 2 ending.
Spoilers Warning:
This post contains heavy spoilers for the ending of Death Stranding 2. Make sure to finish playing On the Beach to avoid ruining the intended experience.
How Does Death Stranding 2 End?
There are several plotlines at play in the sequel game, such as Sam’s past, BB-28 aka Lou’s history, Higgs’ plan, the President’s mission, and finally, Neil and Lucy’s relationship. All these storylines sublimely converge, resulting in the grandeur endgame of Death Stranding: On the Beach. We’ve broken down each major storyline and addressed it below:
APAS 4000’s Plan Stopped by Die-Hardman
The President of APAS is the one who urges Sam to first connect Mexico and then Australia to the Chiral Network to continue linking up the world, utilizing the Plate Gates. Sure, this doesn’t sound like a good project at first until we learn their malicious intent behind connecting the regions. In a lengthy cut scene in the finale of Death Stranding: On the Beach, it is revealed that there is no president. Instead, it has been a sentient AI all along, using a face to give orders to Sam.
When a massive Void Out occurred in the Elder’s region, it took out the lives of 4,000 people. These 4,000 souls merged with the APAS AI, giving rise to a new intelligence called the APAS 4000. This AI was also the culprit who resurrected Higgs to continue pushing and exacting revenge against Sam. Their grand plan was to evolve the rest of humanity, i.e., a unified sentient being. In that way, humans can never trigger a Void Out and can survive any extinction event.
When the APAS 4000 contacted Lockne to design a new Q-Pid for them, the twin scientist informed the former UCA President, Die-Hardman. He disguised himself as Charlie, Drawbridge’s generous patron, and spied on the APAS president. Die-Hardman also had Lockne make a special Q-pid, which severed the connection between APAS and the 4,000 souls, thereby putting an end to APAS 4000’s plans to end humanity.
Neil x Lucy x Sam’s Mystery Solved
Like the first game, Sam continues to see new flashbacks when connecting with his BB pod. This time, he sees flashes of his wife Lucy and the mysterious character Neil. In the final moments, we learn that Neil and Lucy’s paths were intertwined since they were kids.
Years later, Neil, who has been doing the dirty work for Bridges, encounters Lucy, his new therapist. It should be noted that Lucy was Sam’s wife at this time, and she began to develop feelings for Neil, which developed into a complicated love triangle.
However, when Lucy becomes pregnant, she realizes her mistake and chooses Sam over Neil. Neil, being heartbroken, starts to avoid her, but Lucy is pushed into a dire situation where she needs his help. As Sam is a repatriate, their newborn is considered to be a valuable resource for Bridges’ BB research. Therefore, Lucy pleads with Neil to lie that the child inside her is actually Neil’s and not Sam’s to save the life of the child.
Neil agrees to help her and plans to take the mother and child to Mexico. However, they were found by the Bridges soldiers and were killed by them. Moreover, Sam and Lucy’s child is saved when the Bridges staff forcefully takes her away from Lucy’s body and turns her into BB-28.
So, yeah, the BB Sam was carrying all this time was Lou, his daughter. When Sam comes to see his dead wife, Neil’s body undergoes necrosis, which is the case for the massive Void Out that happened in Sam’s past.
Sam and Lou Thwarted Higgs’ World-Ending Dreams
Higgs makes a menacing return to the game, thanks to the APAS, who brought him back from the dead. Kojima continues to use Higgas as a meta-commentary on villains in gaming. While APAS had plans for him, Higgs was dead set on seeking revenge against Sam and Fragile, and also retrigger the Last Stranding to destroy the world. The sequel game opens up with Higgs severely injuring Fragile and shooting down Lou. But it’s later revealed that Fragile was the one who got shot and not Lou.
Lou ends up in the world of the dead and quickly grows up to become Tomorrow as the beach bends the rules of time. Lou is Tomorrow, and Higgs knew about this for a long time as he continuously teased Sam that he didn’t know anything about his BB.
If you are still confused about how Lou is Tomorrow, we suggest you go through our Lou’s current status post to understand the baby’s history completely.
To complete his unfinished world-ending business, Higgs comes back and kidnaps Tomorrow, whom he considers the vital requirement to ignite the Last Stranding. Sam finds the item with a connection to Higgs and jumps to the APAS beach. In the grand finale of DS2, Sam and Higgs have a rematch but with battle guitars. It was an electrifying final battle with Sam overpowering Higgs. To everyone’s surprise, a giant baby Lou shows up and gulps down Higgs.
The Last Stranding is stopped, and Sam finally gets to reunite with his daughter. Once again, Sam saves the world and his daughter this time around; however, he loses Fragile, which makes it a bittersweet ending. DS2 brings Sam and Lou’s unforgettable journey to completion and also grandly sets the stage for Lou, aka Tomorrow, to take it from here in Death Stranding 3, as teased in the mid-credits scene.
Death Stranding 2’s story is indeed more straightforward than its predecessor. We hope our explainer helped you grasp the DS2 tale better. Having said that, what do you think about the ending of Death Stranding 2? Let us know in the comments below.
