Death Stranding 2: On the Beach carries on a bit of a Kojima tradition in one of the best ways possible. It comes in the form of the 'Pretend You Won' option that some players have noticed appearing after dying in one of the game's boss battles. While choosing the option seems simple enough, what isn't explained is if there are any repercussions for choosing the option on the gameplay from that point onwards. After all, this is a Kojima game, so here's what you need to know in case a boss fight has you tempted to just pretend you won.
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What Happens If You 'Pretend You Won' in Death Stranding 2?
It Was All a Dream!
As noted above, the 'Pretend You Won' option appears after players have lost to a boss in Death Stranding 2. After selecting this, the game will inform you that selecting the option will 'Imagine that the battle has been fought, and move on with the story.'
It also notes that the battle may not be completely over if you select the option, and that players won't get a normal evaluation when selecting this option as they normally would for completing an order.
If players confirm the option again, a selection of 'slides' with images and some text explains how the fight played out. The text and images that appear will change depending on the boss fight that players initially died in.
After the cutscene, Death Stranding 2 places players right at the end of the boss fight, just as the boss is going through its 'dying' cutscene, so players can pick up the action and storyline from exactly where they left off.
Once the cutscene has finished, players will still get the 'Results' screen that gives an evaluation of their performance for the mission, but it will only give the Likes earned for completing the Order, rather than any additional bonus Likes they'd typically earn for completing the Order normally. Interestingly, though, it does still give points towards the 'Combat' category in the Porter Grade screen. This is likely because players at least fought the boss up until they died.
After the results screens, Death Stranding 2 continues as normal. It also doesn't appear to impact trophy unlocks, making it much easier for newcomers to get the Platinum trophy if they're willing to put in the time to tick off all of the others, such as increasing connection levels of all 42 facilities to five stars.
I've only tried the 'Pretend You Won' option once for the sake of finding out what happened to write this guide on a secondary save file.
However, as Kojima has incorporated things like a Chicken Hat that players got after failing a mission multiple times in Metal Gear Solid 5, which made the wearer invisible, it would appear this is a similar sort of mechanic that won't have any further impact on the gameplay.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 90 /100 Critics Rec: 95%
- Released
- June 26, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Violence, Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Kojima Productions
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
