Death Stranding guide: Bridge Links and Strand Contracts

Being a porter in Death Stranding is a lonely job for Sam, but he’s not alone. As long as you’re online, you’ll see structures and cargo from other players in your game.

At the most basic level, you can awarding Likes to these other Sams when you’re near an object of theirs in your game. You can strengthen your bond a little more, too, and this guide will teach you how with Bridge Links and Strand Contracts.

Bridge Links

In your cuffs menu, open Bridge Links. This will show you a list of players whose items — ladders, climbing anchors, postboxes, and so on — have appeared in your game.

At first, the menu is just a list of everyone you might’ve seen, whether you’ve interacted with or ignored their structures. The second tab is your list of strand contracts (below). The third tab is just the people you’ve interacted with.

In this menu, selecting your own record will let you view all of your information.

Strand Contracts

Forming a Strand Contract is like favoriting another player. A Strand Contract makes it more likely that you’ll see that player’s structures and abandoned cargo in your game.

To create (or cancel) a Strand Contract, highlight a name in the Bridge Links menu, and press the Triangle button.

Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

This is a good way to make a connection to your friends, but there’s a also a benefit to forming strand contracts with people with a ton of Likes, which is an indirect indication that their structures are useful and in good positions. Creating a Strand Contract is to both parties’ advantages: They get more Likes, and their stuff — ladders, bridges, and so on — will appear more often in your game.

As your porter grade increases — specifically, the top point of the star, which is called Bridge Link — you’ll be able to form more Strand Contracts. There’s no reason to be picky here, so choose a bunch of players with a lot of Likes and make your connections.

Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

You’ll still need to be on the chiral network for anything to appear, so you’ll have to put in the initial legwork yourself. Once an area is online, you’ll be more likely to find useful stuff.