This guide to Death Stranding 2: On The Beach has everything there is to know about building structures, as well as quickly and efficiently farming the resources needed to build, upgrade, and repair them.

PCC Level

Buildings available for construction are not just locked behind story progression, but also by the level of your Portable Chiral Constructor or PCC, which must be in your inventory in order to place structures. You will unlock Level 1 of the PCC after first establishing a connection with the Villa Libre facility during Main Order 003, along with your first two basic structures.

Several more PCC Lv1 structures lie in your progression path, before you finally unlock PCC Lv2 by establishing a connection with The Dowser during Main Order 021. Further story progression will unlock more PCC Lv2 structures.

PCC Lv3, however, can only be acquired in the post-credits game content. This secret upgrade is locked behind achieving a full 5 star connection level at the Mr. Impossible prepper facility with The Tar Twins. Note that no matter how many orders you turn in here, you will not be able to begin progress to a full 5 star connection level until after you wrap up the main story.

The single most difficult task you will undertake, this Sub-Order 124 involves collecting no less than seven containers holding chiral sculptures, which leak vog if damaged. On top of that, there is a time limit of just 50 minutes to gather them from locations that are spread far and wide, including in mountainous terrain. The key to accomplishing this is to have a solid infrastructure of auto-paved roads, zip-lines, monorail tracks, and support structures, as well as various vehicles in place to cover all types of terrain. The Coffin Board and Cargo Catapult will come in very handy. Given the limited time, you should avoid protracted gun battles during the mission. Either clear out the enemy bases entirely before beginning, or adopt a stealthy approach to get in and get out with the prize.

You may want to switch the Drawbridge Q‑Pid on to remove mechs and BTs from the world and facilitate a smooth mission completion, though this may affect your Porter Grade to some degree. You will be presented with this option after the credits, but can also do it through the ring terminal under ‘System’.

You cannot save during the run. Begin from the hardest locations by your own estimation of your skill level, and then work your way down to the easier objectives. That way you can just reset your progress from a save, if you determine early on that you will not be able to make the rating you want to achieve within the time limit.

PCC Lv1 Structures

PCC Lv2 Structures

PCC Lv3 Structures

There are no structures exclusive to the PCC Lv3 item. Instead, any new structures constructed will automatically be upgraded to Lv2. Bridges and Safe Houses will be built in a state of completion, rather than just their basic foundations, without any change to material requirements.

How To Farm Chiral Crystals

Chiral Crystals have a variety of uses aside from fabricating equipment. The building, upgrading, and repairing of certain structures also requires Chiral Crystals. Every 1000 Chiral Crystals on you will reduce your total weight by 1 kilo, with a likely cap of 50 kilos. 

The simplest source for Chiral Crystals is the shower in private rooms where Sam will wash them off of his body.

Much more can be harvested in the open world by using the scanner. Tar Pits near mines are a good concentrated source as well.

BTs are a guaranteed source for Chiral Crystals in their loot drops.

How To Farm Resins

Resins are required for a great deal of equipment fabrication, as well as the completion of Safe Houses.

A good source for Resins can be found at the ‘Mine near F3 Crater’ location. Repair and upgrade it for maximum efficiency. Contribute 1000 Chiral Crystals in exchange for 3200 Resins at Lv1. Another source can be found at the ‘Mine North of F6’ location.

MULE Postboxes are a source for all kinds of materials, so hack to unlock them.

Recycle any damaged Ghost Blades recovered from defeated Mechs.

How To Farm Metals

Resins are required for a great deal of equipment fabrication, upgrades, and repairs, as well as the completion of Bridges.

A good source for Metals can be found at the ‘Northeastern Mine’ location. Repair and upgrade it for maximum efficiency. Contribute 1200 Chiral Crystals in exchange for 4000 Metals at Lv1.

You will find great quantities of Metals in containers ready to grab and go in most enemy camps, as well as out in the open or on defeated enemies.

MULE Postboxes are a source for all kinds of materials, so hack to unlock them.

Recycle any damaged Ghost Blades recovered from defeated Mechs.

How To Farm Ceramics

Ceramics are required for some equipment fabrication.

A good source for Ceramics can be found at the ‘Smoke Hill Mine’ location. Repair and upgrade it for maximum efficiency. Contribute 800 Chiral Crystals in exchange for 960 Ceramics at Lv1. Another source can be found at the ‘Mine North of Tar Lake’ location.

You will find small quantities of Ceramics in containers ready to grab and go in most enemy camps, as well as on defeated enemies, forklifts, or inside tents.

MULE Postboxes are a source for all kinds of materials, so hack to unlock them.

How To Farm Chemicals

Chemicals are required for equipment fabrication, and building upgrades including the improved Zip-Line with the extended range.

A good source for Chemicals can be found at the ‘Twin Valley Mine’ location. Repair and upgrade it for maximum efficiency. Contribute 1200 Chiral Crystals in exchange for 720 Chemicals at Lv1.

You will find great quantities of Chemicals in containers ready to grab and go in most enemy camps, as well as out in the open or on defeated enemies.

MULE Postboxes are a source for all kinds of materials, so hack to unlock them.

Recycle any damaged Ghost Blades recovered from defeated Mechs.

How To Farm Special Alloys

Special Alloys are required for equipment fabrication, and building upgrades including the improved Zip-Line with the extended range, as well as the completion of Safe Houses.

A good source for Special Alloys can be found at the ‘Mine North of F1’ location, during Main Order 013. Repair and upgrade it for maximum efficiency. Contribute 2000 Chiral Crystals in exchange for 4800 Special Alloys at Lv1. Another source can be found at the ‘Savanna Mine’ location.

You will find small quantities of Special Alloys in containers ready to grab and go in most enemy camps, as well as out in the open or on defeated enemies.

MULE Postboxes are a source for all kinds of materials, so hack to unlock them.

That is how to unlock and build structures in Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, as well as how to farm every material required to construct them.

While we won’t dive too deep into the events that bring those credits to your screen to avoid spoilers, we do have a few ways you can continue to enjoy Sam’s latest adventures once you experience his narrative for yourself.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at things you can do once you wrap up Death Stranding 2: On the Beach’s riveting main narrative.

1. Decide to Keep Q-pid On or Off

Once you learn more about Q-pid and its links to Drawbridge, you eventually get the option to keep it active if you so desire, or turn it off completely. It’s a handy addition for players who would like to complete pending deliveries or other missions without having to fret about encountering BTs or Ghost Mechs while doing so. Keeping it turned on achieves this goal, giving you an easier run through the open world.

However, Ghost Hunter missions require that Q-pid stays turned off in order to progress your rank with the mysterious entity. You should also keep it turned off if taking on BTs is how you get your thrills.

2.Complete All Pending Orders and reach 5 stars for all Preppers

You’re sure to have met at least a few Preppers during your travels across Mexico and Australia, and perhaps even helped out with a few Aid Requests or Sub Orders. Finding them all ensures that you have access to all of the cool rewards they offer, but that’s easier said than done considering they prefer to remain away from main settlements. Getting to a 5-star ranking with them all is sure to give you completionists out there a run for your money.

You could also take the time and Sam’s newfound freedom to complete any Orders you may have neglected over the course of his sprawling adventure. It’s a great way to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the cool additions that Kojima has made to the game while having the Q-pid turned on lets you play at a more relaxed pace.

3. The Aeronautical Engineer To Unlock Gadgets Like Drones:

The Aeronautical Engineer is one of the Australian Preppers whose quest chains you don’t want to miss considering the rewards he provides you with for your assistance. You can find him east of the region’s central lake at the Eastern Environment Observatory. While it’s a good idea to get started with his requests for aid as early as you can, it is indeed a challenge to find every Prepper in Australia’s vast landscape.

However, helping him out nets you cool rewards like Sentry Drones, the ability to catapult yourself with cargo, improvements to jump ramps, and a couple of cool cosmetics as you increase your ranking with him. They are all quite nifty upgrades that suit a variety of playstyles and are worth sinking some time into as they could change the way you approach other missions in the game.

4. The Fisherman To Unlock Backpack Covers:

In the northern part of the central lake in Australia is the S5 Distribution Center where you can begin The Fisherman’s questline. Once again, this individual is worth seeking out as soon as you can considering that he rewards you with nifty items like Grenade Launchers and Backpack Covers that can be quite handy on your travels.

The Backpack Covers are especially useful, allowing Sam to protect his precious cargo from the effects of Timefall, and require less replacing at higher levels. They are worth it at any stage of the game but can be especially handy when you’re looking to knock out any pending Orders once you complete the story.

5. The Crazy Pizza Chef Cutscene:

If you’re looking to unlock the platinum trophy on Hideo Kojima’s masterpiece, you have some digging to do. If you haven’t sought him out already, there’s a Pizza Chef in Australia who hands over some cool weapons and skills if you were to help him out.

However, searching nearby MULE camps for a secret item lets you return to him and unlock a very amusing cutscene and a trophy too! Kojima’s sense of humor notwithstanding, the Pizza Chef is one Prepper you might want to seek out as soon as you can.

6. Secret Boss Fight With The Lord of the Tar Lake:

Another important part of assisting the Fisherman, the Lord of the Tar Lake is a secret, completely missable boss fight that requires you to max out your approval with the Fisherman and then capturing a BT Dolphin. You will then have to head on over to the map marker for the quest where unleashing your Dolphin lets you take on the boss.

Since it’s a BT, whittling away at its health gives you the opportunity to capture it and use it in battle in a pinch. Pretty neat, huh?

7. Secret Boss Fight With The Headless Riders:

For those of you who like a bit of adrenaline, this is a boss fight that unlocks while you assist the Ghost Hunter. Once the opportunity presents itself, you will want to head on over to the quest marker with a cruiser bike and wait till night falls to take on the Headless Riders.

If your travels end up bringing you there during the day, you could just build a shelter and wait it out or try to return to the area when it’s dark again. It’s quite a fun fight and is something you won’t want to miss considering how unique it is.

8. Secret Boss Fight With Savior of Terminal Fort Knot:

If you’re up for a bit of spectacle and a challenging boss fight, you could attempt to max out your star rating with the Ghost Hunter for a boss fight that you’re not likely to forget anytime soon. There’s a giant BT just waiting to meet you at F8 Terminal Fort Knox and it’s arguably the most challenging boss in the game.

While it could be a challenge to improve your standing with the Ghost Hunter, it’s well worth the effort for the rewards he provides, allowing you to kill two birds (BTs?) with one stone. There’s a trophy that unlocks for defeating the boss at Terminal Fort Knox too, making this fight a necessity if you’re chipping away at that long list.

9. The Lone Commander For The Best Stealth Weapons:

Another important Prepper you might want to visit is the Lone Commander, whose rewards include the best stealth weapons Sam can use against those who get in his way as he travels around Mexico and Australia.

He is among the first of the game’s optional settlements, found in the hills around the Government Base. This introverted sniper is very generous with his rewards, providing Sam with sniper rifles and handguns that are equipped with tranquilizing rounds and a very handy smoke grenade that lets you channel your inner Assassin as you take on your enemies and vanish into thin air when you are detected.

10. The Architect To Enhanced Building Mechanics:

Once you have the Pizza Chef connected to the Chiral Network, you might find yourself delivering a piping hot pizza to The Architect, who can be found relatively close to where the Chef is located.

Helping him out is definitely in your interest, as he lets you construct and repair buildings faster as you increase your ranking with him. along with the Chiral Bridge upgrade and a few cool cosmetics. The boosts he gives to your building speed and repairs are not to be scoffed at, and could save you quite a bit of time as you make the world a better place via the Strand System.

11. Keep On Keeping On:

If you’re at the end of the game’s story, it’s likely that you’ve already unlocked Strand Contracts. Death Stranding 2 lets you assist other players who are looking to further their adventure, with the Strand System allowing you to leave key buildings on your map for them to access.

While you can choose to have active Contracts with your friends, random players who happen across your buildings and find them useful have the option to send a few likes your way and perhaps even open new Contracts with them later down the line. It’s a great way to keep engaging with the gorgeous open world in Death Stranding 2 while also giving you more reasons to keep exploring the world.

12. New Items After Completing the Game:

Rolling the credits on the main story and returning to the DHV Magellan sets of the “One Day” episode which is essentially a epilogue chapter with no real objectives or urgent orders to fulfill. Think of it as Death Stranding 2’s postgame content.

There are a bunch of cool new items that Sam automatically gains at this stage that include cosmetics, a couple of new music tracks, and Backpack holograms that you can equip. It’s also an opportunity to try finding any gear or weapons that you may have missed during your playthrough. There’s a lot to see and do and entire regions that the main story does not guide you to, and you never know what else you might uncover.

13. Collect APAS Upgrades:

The APAS Enhancement System was one of our favorite additions to Death Stranding 2. It essentially allows Sam to tailor his loadout based on his objective at any given time and brings several Enhancements that could be very useful on your adventures.

While you can get started on collecting them all as early as Main Order #9 in Australia, and perhaps even unlock a few upgrades as you complete Missions. However, you will want to track them all down eventually, as abilities like the Emergency Vehicle Charger, Proximity Scanner, and  faster MULE Box Hacking are all quite useful in their own way.

A very helpful Prepper in this regard is BPAS, whose rewards include Super Aim Assistance, Super Enhancement Switch, Enhanced Balance Assistance, and a very handy upgrade to your Chiralium extraction rate, each of which are excellent upgrades to have at any stage of your playthrough.

14. Take On Brigands and Bandits

If you’ve played it safe by keeping you Q-pid on, the lack of BTs and Ghost Mechs might make your travels a tad lonely. However, there are still brigands and bandits for you to take on when the need arises, and their camps are a perfect opportunity for you to test out all the cool new gear and abilities you’ve unlocked relatively safely.

Plus, it makes sense for Sam to keep fighting the good fight after the ending to his adventure. You’ll see once you get to the end.

15. Explore, Explore!

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is meant to be explored as thoroughly as you can possibly manage. There’s so much to discover out in the world and so many secrets to uncover over the course of this grand adventure.

Consider our list as a beginning to what could be many hours of finding new people to help out, animals to rescue, and more gear to unlock in both Mexico and Australia while your actions can even help other players via the Strand System.

Oh, and a warning: there are heavy spoilers contained in some of these entries, so proceed at your own  risk. Here are 15 references and callbacks you likely missed while playing Death Stranding 2.

Hideo Kojima

Hideo Kojima is no stranger to video game cameos. The legendary game designer has been in dozens of games, some that hide his appearance better than others. Unlike Cyberpunk 2077’s realistic depiction of Kojima, Death Stranding disguises him very well – blink and you’ll miss it. And what’s more, players are sure to come across this cameo since it occurs right at the start of the game. As you return to the hideout, a group of BTs rise up from the tar to threaten Sam. Kojima happens to be one of those BTs, his glasses being a key giveaway to his likeness despite the tar-drenched face.

Creepy Scene With Dollman

You would think sleeping would do Sam a world of good considering all his hiking, but in Death Stranding 2,  going to bed can lead to some chilling nightmares for the courier. Choose to sleep in Sam’s bed and there’s a chance to trigger one of four dreams, but one in particular is rather notable for its creepiness and hilarity. Dollman, a human man stuck inside the body of a puppet, accompanies Sam throughout his journey, even hanging there near his bedside. He can’t even leave Sam in his dreams, apparently, as one nightmare features Dollman rising up inside Lou’s pod as Sam goes to check on the baby. Sam is horrified that Dollman has replaced Lou, but Dollman proceeds to sing and dance inside the pod regardless, adding to the creep factor even more. Maybe Sam just needs some alone time away from Dollman.

MGS5’s Moby Dick Reference

This one’s actually a double reference. The scene begins with Sam opening up the novel, Moby Dick, with Dollman narrating. This is an obvious callback to Metal Gear Solid 5’s Moby Dick reference with Snake’s Ahab codename accompanied by a hook arm, just like the sea captain protagonist of the novel. As Dollman ends his narration of the Moby Dick section in DS2, he comments that the striving for a common goal is similar to Kojima Productions, a rather blatant fourth wall break nestled inside the Moby Dick callback.

Cyborg Ninja

As we all know, there can’t be a Kojima game without a cyborg ninja in there somewhere. I mean, MGS1, MGS2 and MGS4 had them so why not Death Stranding 2? Death Stranding 2 doesn’t disappoint on this front. You encounter this ninja as he slices and dices a group of robots like it’s another Tuesday. The choreography performed here is top-notch, and the outfit design of the ninja is pure Yoji Shinkawa.

Kept You Waiting Huh?

One of the most iconic lines in the Metal Gear franchise is referred in Death Stranding 2, As a shirtless Higgs starts a duel with Sam, he utters the iconic ‘Kept you waiting, huh?’ line from the Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid games.

MGS4 Microwave Reference Scene

But that’s not the only reference featuring Higgs (there are a lot). One encounter between Sam and Higgs mimics Snake’s treacherous walk through the microwave hallway in Metal Gear Solid 4. Higgs even sings as Sam crawls forward, eerily mirroring the operatic singing from MGS4’s hallway scene.

Say No and Get In A Loop

We all love consequential decisions in games and Death Stranding 2 wastes no time setting one up immediately. After arriving at the base, Fragile asks if you’ll undertake the new mission. Upon which the option to outright refuse becomes available to the player. Selecting ‘I won’t do it’ rewinds the opening moments of the game and reverts back to Fragile’s question again. Select ‘I won’t do it’ again rewinds even further back to the very start of the game, before once more allowing players to answer the question. Well, turns out the only real option is to accept the mission, but the illusion of choice here is still well done even if Sam doesn’t really have a say in the matter.

Sam Loses His Hand

This one takes place inside another of Sam’s creepy nightmares. In this one, Sam walks to the ship’s cockpit to see a tentacle and a cat emerging from an opening. Sam curiously puts his arm inside the hole only to have his hand ripped off before finally waking up.

The Elder Returns

In yet another of Sam’s nightmares, a dancing mannequin is seen in the hallway. As Sam turns around, the mannequin wildly sprints towards him as the camera gets a good shot of his face. That face strikingly resembles ‘The Elder’ from Death Stranding. How Sam is dreaming of an old man he helped in Death Stranding 1 is beyond our comprehension but at the very least it’s another fun reference.

Higgs Taken Out Gray Fox Style From MGS1

This one’s a pretty big spoiler for the game, but the list is spoiler-tagged anyway, so here we go. The main antagonist of Death Stranding 2, Higgs, goes out the same way Gray Fox did in Metal Gear Solid 1. After gloating his dominance over Sam, Higgs suddenly gets pinned to a wall by a machine arm, which ends up slicing him in two. He couldn’t get a more honorable death than one that resembles Gray Fox’s. On a related note, Fox’s monologue and heroism during his death to Metal Gear REX made him one of the most beloved characters in the franchise.

SS Rajamouli

Kojima loves interacting with the global film industry any way he can, and this next callback incapsulates that passion. One of the many people Sam comes to rescue has the face of none other than one of India’s most prolific filmmakers, SS Rajamouli. Known for his action filmmaking style often utilizing CGI, Rajamouli was motion captured for this brief cameo, in which he gives a thumbs up for being rescued by Sam without ever uttering a word.

MGS5 Phantom Pain Reference

This is yet another double reference. Tarman, the pilot of Sam’s base of operations, the DHV Magellan, is modeled after filmmaker George Miller. During one scene, Tarman directly references the name of Metal Gear Solid 5 by stating “it’s something akin to a ‘Phantom Pain’”. We still feel the pain, Mr. Tarman!

Higgs Coffin Scene

Coffin Boards are pretty useful, and fun, in Death Stranding 2. They transport and dispose of corpses that otherwise would turn into dreaded BTs, and also can be used as a surfboard for Sam to use across water. But sleeping beside one of these coffins can result in a truly bizarre nightmare for Sam. The nightmare begins with Higgs crawling out of the coffin and ends with some next-level Kojima stuff involving octopus tongues and well, we won’t spoil the rest because it needs to be seen to be believed.

Callback to the Shirtless Boss Battle from MGS1

This shirtless fight between Sam and Higgs is a direct reference to the battle between Solid and Liquid Snake brawl on top of the destroyed Metal Gear Rex in Metal Gear Solid. This begs the questions: Are Sam and Higgs brothers?!

Solid Snake

This is perhaps the most iconic reference in the entire game. One of the characters, Neil, dresses just like Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series. It’s almost a one-for-one cosplay. Indeed, Neil is sporting a bandana tied in the back, a military camo outfit, and an identical haircut to Solid Snake. What really puts the bow on this reference is Neil’s hesitant head movements, mirroring Solid Snake’s own movements from the MGS games. It’s rather poignant that Kojima was able to revive his beloved Solid Snake character from Konami’s grip one final time, even if it’s just a callback to one his older works.

For Guerrilla Games, making their own game engine like Decima may have been a risk, but it ended up paying off for them in spades. The developer’s engine powered not just Killzone Shadow Fall and Horizon: Zero Dawn, but will also power Hideo Kojima’s upcoming Death Stranding (albeit in modified form).

The Hideo Kojima connection actually goes deeper than that though. The whole reason the engine is called Decima, for example, is in honor of Guerrilla’s partnership with Kojima. As revealed by technical director Michiel van der Leeuw while speaking with TNW, the engine was formerly unnamed, but after the decision was made to share it with the then freshly onboarded Kojima Peroductions, Guerrilla decided to name it the Decima Engine, after the Dejima Island, a port of trade between Japan and the Dutch in pre-Industrial times (the Netherlands being where Guerrilla themselves are based, of course).

As we already know, sharing the engine with Kojima was a show of good faith, and one that was intended to welcome Kojima to the Sony family.

In the end, of course, Decima Engine stands as evidence of Guerrilla Games’ mastery over their craft—and will presumably go on to power a whole lot of Sony first party games in the coming years.

Horizon: Zero Dawn as well as Killzone: Shadow Fall ran on Guerrilla Game’s Decima Engine, their custom built engine that will also be powering the upcoming PS4 exclusive from Hideo Kojima, Death Stranding. But in an age when extremely impressive third party engines are readily available—for instance, Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4—why did they go to the effort to make their own engine?

Not that anyone is complaining, because the results speak for themselves, but why invest so much in making a proprietary engine? According to Guerrilla Games, the engine was custom made because the development studio wanted to have control over all the components of game development, rather than have any of it be out of their control, as it might have been had they used a third party solution.

“We like to make things, our company attracts a lot of inventor types. For us, it’s important to feel like we’re in charge of what we’re going to do next,” said technical director Michiel van der Leeuw while speaking with TNW. “You think: this third-party service we’re using isn’t just going to disappear. Then something like Morpheme, which is an animation suite, gets bought up by Zynga and Zynga pulls the plug. It’s a reminder that sometimes it’s just better to make things yourself.”

Which, of course, is fair. And Guerrilla very obviously had very specific needs that they wanted met. When they built Decima Engine for Killzone Shadow Fall, it had already been future proofed, so they were willing to retool it for an open world game like Horizon as well.

“Sometimes I look at someone else’s engine, and I think: that does the exact thing you want it to do way more than ours does, I wonder if we should’ve done it that way,” said Van der Leeuw.

“We tend to make things that can do more than just what we need in the moment, and that slows down our process. At the same time, because we’d already built this relatively complex engine, when someone decided that hey, we want to use our first-person shooter engine to make an open world game, we were in a position to say: that’s a lot of work, but we can do it.”

In the end, as I said, the results speak for themselves. Horizon: Zero Dawn was stunning, and the Decima Engine is clearly impressive enough for a maestro like Hideo Kojima to want to use it for his upcoming game Death Stranding (although modified). What a triumph for Guerrilla Games this has been.

After breaking off from Konami and becoming an independent studio, Kojima Productions partnered up with Sony for its upcoming game, Death Stranding. Part of that partnership was Kojima and his team using Guerrilla Games’ Decima Engine, which they used to create Killzone Shadow Fall and Horizon: Zero Dawn, for the development of Death Stranding.

Recently, while speaking in an interview with The Next Web, Guerrilla Games’ technical director Michiel van der Leeuw opened up about the partnership between the two studios, and had nothing but positive things to say. van der Leeuw said that the collaboration between Guerrilla and Kojima Productions has been “intense”, and that the two teams, who share similar ideas about how to use their engine and how to go about the development process, have shared much better chemistry than Guerrilla had predicted they would.

“Inventor types like us don’t just like to make things, we like to share them,” said van der Leeuw. “Sharing makes you stronger. Sometimes you don’t get anything back but thanks – that’s also nice. But sometimes you find someone who’s on the same track, and it gives you all this creative energy. It’s all just code in the end, anyway: it’s the mindset of the maker that matters.”

“We gave Kojima Productions the engine as a show of good Sony citizenship,” he continued. “They’d lost all their tech, it would have felt rude not to share. But we didn’t expect to have this much chemistry with a studio from the other side of the globe. Collaboration has been intense.

“We have similar priorities. How long to iterate, how to keep your code clean, where to prioritize efficiency, in what order gameplay elements should go. But in some ways, they’re also very different. For instance, they think photorealism is far more important than we do.”

Recently, Hideo Kojima showed off the first few hours of his upcoming game to the people over at Guerrilla, who were very impressed by what they saw- so it’s fair to say that their collaboration on the engine seems to be going well so far.

Death Stranding is currently without a release date, but there have been rumblings about it launching in 2019 itself. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more updates.

NOMINEES

Nintendo Switch: 

Nintendo’s new console managed to overcome all odds and skepticism, and actually work. The handheld-console hybrid showed us just what the utility of having a flexible, modular system like the Switch truly is, while its spontaneous local multiplayer capabilities made it stand out from every other portable system that had ever come before. In terms of specs, the Switch may not be the most impressive- but in terms of imagination, and how much it altered the paradigm, the Switch truly stands out.

Xbox One X: 

Going in the opposite direction of the Switch, the Xbox One X doesn’t try to do anything new- it just tries to do what it does exceptionally well. And it pulls it off with aplomb. The Xbox One X, with its stunning 6 TERAFLOP GPU, and its 12GB of GDDR5 RAM, with support for HDR-10 and native 4K gaming, with every bit of the latest, most sophisticated tech packed into it imaginable, is a beast of a console- and a reminder that Xbox’s heritage lies in delivering true power to console gamers.

AMD Ryzen CPUs: 

The first nw CPU architecture that AMD introduced in five years, the Zen-powered AMD Ryzen won everyone’s hearts and awe right away earlier this year- because of the sheer extent of performance it delivered. PC gaming gas always been a step ahead of consoles and portables- and with Ryzen, that generation gap has been widened even further, cementing PC gaming’s technological supremacy.

Decima Engine Used In Horizon Zero Dawn: 

Horizon: Zero Dawn is one of the most stunning games ever made- that it achieves this on a gaming console, while having a vast open world makes it veritable black magic. And it’s apparently a hugely flexible piece of tech, too, since Hideo Kojima will b using the engine in his widely anticipated upcoming game Death Stranding.

Frostbite 3.0 Engine Used In Star Wars Battlefront 2: 

Okay, look, Battlefront 2 has a lot of issues. We don’t even want to get into any of that right now. What is undeniable is that, for all the problems the game has, it looks and sounds spectacular- thanks to the technical wizards at DICE, who, with Frostbite 3.0, have upped the ante on the kinds of visuals we should expect in games yet again. We can’t wait to see what DICE does next- just how stunning will the next Battlefield look?

WINNER:

Nintendo Switch: 

The Nintendo Switch introduces an all new paradigm to gaming, and it executes it nigh on flawlessly. The hybrid concept just works, and the flexibility and convenience offered by the Switch is so great that at some point, you will find yourself wanting to play every game on it. Does it lack in power? As a home console, definitely- but when you consider how much Nintendo managed to stuff into a 6.2 inch across diagonal tablet, it is mind boggling. The Switch wins our best tech of the year award for not just doing what gaming technology has always done, but better- but for doing something completely new, and then more or less perfecting it along the way, too.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.