When Death Stranding debuted in 2019 it was by far one of the most memorable games of its time. While it was not without its controversies or flaws, the story, characters, and overall lore of the world made a lasting impact on anyone who played it. However, there were certain elements in Death Stranding that could be difficult to follow due to how dense and involved they are.

While Death Stranding had one of the best narratives of its console generation, a lot of elements were somewhat vague. Often times the game violated the "show, don't tell" rule and many big reveals happened through happen through phone calls and other conversations. Some are especially difficult as they often stretch the length of the game and combine story, characters, plot, and gameplay in ways that are not always seamless. One such element of the game was the Chiral Network.

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The Chiral Network in Death Stranding’s Plot

The Chiral Network was a major part of Death Stranding's unique gameplay. While Sam Bridges' real goal was to save his adopted sister from the game's primary antagonist, Higgs Monaghan, in order to do that he had to travel the entire length of the United States. He had to convince various settlements scattered throughout the blighted country to use the network in order to bring the nation together once again. This usually involved taking deliveries to another settlement who would in turn ask something similar of Sam before they would become part of the network.

In the story itself, the Chiral Network was kind of a replacement for the Internet. The implication in the game's background is that near-apocalyptic events that happened decades earlier effectively wiped out many forms of communication while creating Death Stranding's BTs. In the game itself, once a settlement has agreed to become part of a network, it allows players to build new roads and other forms of infrastructure which, in turn, makes traveling much safer and easier. The network itself, however, had its roots in a much darker place.

The Chiral Network’s Grim Origins

One of the more bizarre and iconic things in Death Stranding was the Bridge Babies. These babies are extracted from mothers who become brain-dead several months before they are able to survive on their own. They are then put in vats and have the ability to detect BTs due to their connection to the world of the dead through their brain-dead mothers. They are used regularly by people who journey outside the cities in order to remain safe. However, in the early days, the people in charge of the Bridge Babies had a much more disturbing use for them.

During the early days of the Bridge Baby experiments, Sam's adopted mother and President of the United States, Bridget Strand, had planned on incorporating them into the Chiral Network. One of Death Stranding's biggest twists reveals why this plan failed and had a surprising connection to Sam Porter's backstory. Ultimately real progress was made on designing the network once the characters Malingen "Mama" and her twin sister Lockne took over its design and apparently did so without the use of Bridge Babies.

In the end, the Chiral Network remains a critical part of the game's gameplay, pilot, story, and lore and can be a bit difficult to comprehend. So much of it is tied into one another and is a very dense aspect of Hideo Kojima's latest game. It's likely that understanding the story of Death Stranding will be required for the sequel and understanding the Chiral Network is a big part of understanding that story. How the network will tie into the next installment or if it will even come up, however, remains to be seen.

Death Stranding is available on PC, PS4, and PS5.

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