What do Death Stranding 2 Likes do?

Death Stranding 2 Likes Sam putting his thumb up to Fragile — (Image credit: Sony)

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What are Likes for?
How to get Likes

Death Stranding 2 Likes, whether you're receiving them or handing them out, are a core aspect that can be quite important on your delivery adventure. You can Like all sorts of things out in the desolate world of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, from in-game NPC social media posts, to signs and vital infrastructure left by other players, providing a way to approve of someone's contributions.

Furthermore, receiving Likes from NPCs will also help you unlock new and useful gear for successful cargo carrying and BT bashing, so it's important to know how to get Likes as much as how to give them out yourself. With that in mind, I've explained everything you need to know about the odd Likes system in Death Stranding 2 below.

What are Death Stranding 2 Likes for?

Death Stranding 2 Like player-constructed postbox — (Image credit: Sony)

Likes in Death Stranding 2 are a way for you to show your appreciation to other players and NPCs and for them to show their appreciation for you. Approach any kind of Chiral Network infrastructure made or placed by another player or look at a Social Strand Service post and press the right side of the touchpad on your PS5 controller to Like it. In most cases you can also repeatedly press this button to send multiple Likes!

This sounds a bit pointless but it's actually quite an important system in Death Stranding 2, and the more you put in, the more you should get out. Here's a quick rundown of the main benefits of sending and receiving likes:

All Likes received are put towards increasing the five categories that make up your Porter Grade (Porter, Combat, Stealth, Servicemanship, and Bridge Link) whenever you successfully deliver cargo. Your Porter Grade isn't that important at first, mainly affecting your title, but it becomes a way for you to unlock APAS enhancements later in the game.
Sending Likes to another player has no immediate benefit but if you also receive Likes from the same player, it's more likely that you'll share each other's infrastructure in your worlds. This can be incredibly useful for saving you resources on your travels though you'll obviously need to be playing online to get the most out of this aspect.
Sending Likes to NPCs usually results in you immediately getting Likes in return.
Receiving Likes from Prepper NPCs that live in settlements and bunkers, such as the Death Stranding 2 Inventor, go towards their Connection Level, which can help you unlock new and improved gear and upgrades – this is how you get some of the best Death Stranding 2 weapons!

How to get Likes in Death Stranding 2

Death Stranding 2 Likes from Alex Weatherstone for delivery — (Image credit: Sony)

As you can see, receiving Likes is where most of the benefits to yourself come from, so here are all the ways you can receive Likes in Death Stranding 2:

Collecting and delivering cargo: Whether part of a Main Order, Aid Request, or just while exploring the game world, ferrying packages to their intended NPC recipients is a great way to earn Likes and bolster Connection Levels.
Build infrastructure with PCCs: You're most likely to receive Likes from other players by making your mark on the world (and hopefully theirs) with infrastructure projects, from simple signs, to big watchtowers, generators and bridges. As mentioned, if you and another player like a lot of each other's construction projects, it's more likely that you'll see each other's stuff in in your own worlds.
Leave fabricated gear lying around: As above, leaving fabricated gear lying around means it has the chance to find its way into the worlds of other players for them to use without having to spend materials. Leaving certain Death Stranding 2 vehicles lying around can be a big help, for example.
Liking SSS posts: When you Like an NPC post on the Social Strand Service, you usually receive 10 Likes in return.
Celebrate your Death Stranding 2 birthday: You'll get a nice 900 Likes from Drawbridge for partying.

In short, just playing the game will lead to you getting Likes, but the more you engage with the game's infrastructure construction system and online components, the more likely you are to receive Likes – the more helpful you are, the better.

Early in the game, I recommend trying power-level connections with the Death Stranding 2 Bokka in Mexico and the Death Stranding Lone Commander in Australia to get some useful gear in return.