Death Stranding is now on PC, and players who didn't get the chance to experience Hideo Kojima's unusual, yet still prescient take on the post-apocalypse on the PS4 now have another way to experience it. Playing as Sam Porter Bridges, you'll make many deliveries across an alternate North America changed by a supernatural event that has forever blurred the lines between life and death. In addition to a variety of quality-of-life changes and upgrades for the PC release, Death Stranding now comes with a slew of items paying homage to Valve's Half-Life and Portal franchises. Some of them are extremely useful, making the game less of a headache than it could be for PS4 players. You'll need to complete a quest in order to get them, though.
On the surface, this new side-story featuring a mysterious imposter who admires games from Valve may seem like another set of references to games and broader pop-culture that you'd expect to see in a Hideo Kojima game. But as it turns out, this extended side-story offers some surprisingly useful perks for Sam, along with a fun payoff at its conclusion. However, it should be noted that this side-story spans across the entirety of Death Stranding. To see this storyline to its finish, you'll need to complete the main story of the game and reach its post-game chapter. That means it won't actually make the main missions any easier. Sorry: You still have to make do like the game's PS4 players!
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Now Playing: Death Stranding Video Review
In this spoiler-free guide, we're going to tell you how to take part in this questline, and what you'll need to do to get each Valve item in Death Stranding on PC. It all starts with an email marked with a λ symbol in Chapter 2, and from there, you'll get a total of six emails that make some bizarre references to Portal and Half-Life. And as you'll come to find, the requests from these emails run much deeper than the ramblings from a supposed Valve fanboy. So with that, here's how to get each Valve item in the game.
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After turning in this lost cargo, you'll get your first Valve crossover item, a pair of Gordon Freeman's glasses from the Half-Life series. These glasses are purely a cosmetic item for Sam to change his look, and they don't offer up any gameplay benefits. Still, it is a neat cosmetic for Sam, especially if you're tired of the sunglasses.
Returning the Companion Cube to Lake Knot City will reward you with another cosmetic item, the iconic valve from, well, Valve. Anyone who's played a Valve game will remember its games always begin with a somewhat ominous opening featuring a man with a red Valve stuck in his head. Now, you can have Sam wear that valve as a cosmetic item, which is placed on the back of his head as well. While it offers no gameplay benefit whatsoever, it's still a cool nod to Valve.
When you return to the Distribution Center South of Lake Knot City, you'll be able to claim your reward from the person impersonating Thomas Southerland. This order will grant you the Gravity Glove, the central item from Half-Life: Alyx. While the previous rewards were purely cosmetic, the Gravity Glove has gameplay purposes, and it's one of the more useful pieces of gear in Death Stranding. Like in Half-Life: Alyx, you'll be able to use the glove to pull in objects that are several feet in front of you, at the cost of some of your suit battery. While it doesn't outright break the game, it is an incredibly useful item. This is a must-have, and you'll want to get it as soon as you're able to.
After returning the Companion Cube to Distribution Center South of Lake Knot City, you'll get a special Half-Life-branded truck. Just like the long-range truck that Sam can fabricate at distro centers, this vehicle is able to carry tons of cargo and trek great distances. What's special about this particular truck is that it is not only more energy-efficient than the standard vehicles, but it also takes much less damage from Timefall. So if you're going to fabricate a truck, this is the one to choose.
This delivery will earn you the Headcrab hat. Like in the Half-Life series, the Headcrab is a gross creature that latches onto your head and sucks the life out of you. Thankfully, it's much more friendly and helpful in Death Stranding. Not only is the Headcrab a neat cosmetic, but it also has the bonus of restoring lost stamina by draining Sam's blood supply. To trigger this effect, Sam will need to be relaxed once the stamina meter is nearly empty. It will begin to feed off Sam's blood to get him back into solid shape. If you bring a blood bag, the Headcrab will dip into those resources instead of Sam's health, which removes the risk when having this hat active.
After cremating the final Companion Cube, you'll get a message from the imposter who reveals their true identity to you and explains the rationale behind this elaborate, fourth-wall-breaking side-story. We won't say who it is, but it was a fun payoff that also fits perfectly into Death Stranding's weird world. The final reward you'll get from the imposter is a chiral hologram depicting the Strider from Half-Life: Alyx. You can engage this hologram by placing it on any level 2 structure built from a PCC item. This special hologram doesn't offer any unique benefits, but like the giant Tallneck projection you can also find the game, it's a nice surprise for other players who approach your structures.
That does it for this guide on the Valve crossover storyline in Death Stranding. For more guides on Hideo Kojima's bizarre open-world game, including the full list of memory chips, be sure to check out GameSpot's roundup of content for the game. If you want to know more about the PC release of Death Stranding, give our updated review a look as well.