To find the Inventor in Death Stranding 2, you must venture to a secluded island off the coast of northern Australia, near the Special Alloy mine and the F1 West Fort Knot settlement. This island is completely surrounded by a dangerous sea of tar, making access tricky and requiring players to carefully navigate a safe path across the tar or use the monorail for direct approach. Before the Inventor will engage with you, you need to deliver a piece of their lost cargo, which can be found scattered along nearby shores. Successfully connecting with the Inventor unlocks valuable gear, including one of the best stealth weapons in the game, the Bola Stun Gun.
The Inventor is located on an island on the far North side of the Australia Map. You gain access to it at the start of Chapter 3: Drawbridge. While it isn’t required, you can access this island as soon as you touchdown in Australia, and whether or not it’s worth it to head there immediately is up to you.
In this Death Stranding 2: On The Beach guide, we provide the fastest way to reach the Inventor, as well as a few alternatives for those who prefer to find him organically as they connect Australia to the Chiral Network.
How to reach the Inventor’s Island in Death Stranding 2
To reach the Inventor’s Island in Death Stranding 2, head to the northeast of Australia, north of the Mine North of F1 and West Fort Knot. The island is surrounded by deep tar, making it inaccessible by conventional bridges or roads. The most direct method is to scan the tar with your Odradek, looking for shallow yellow-marked paths that snake through the tar from the southwestern sandbank-follow these carefully to cross safely. Alternatively, after progressing the story and repairing the monorail, you can ride it from the mine and jump off when you pass above the island; once you’ve connected the Inventor to the Chiral Network, you can build a zip-line for future visits. Both methods require careful preparation, and a vehicle can be useful for the shallower tar crossings, but be sure it’s fully charged.
As soon as you enter Australia through the Plate Gate, you can open your map and find the Inventor’s island to the far north. It’s a fairly long walk from the Plate Gate, but it’s doable with just a bit of patience, and it doesn’t require any tools.
You will know you’re going the right way once you pass the Special Alloy Mine. Once you make it to the far north of the map, you’ll notice that while the Inventor is located on an island, there’s no bridge or road to reach it. This is the Inventor “puzzle” where you’ll have to use your ingenuity to find a way safely across the tar ocean.
The easiest way to make it across is to walk through the tar ocean using your Odradek scanner to see what is safe to step on. The yellow circles mean that you are in shallow tar, whereas the red ones mean that you can’t safely cross that part. Multiple paths from the coastline are shallow enough for you to walk on, but be sure to continue to use your scanner with L1 to make sure you don’t accidentally walk off a safe path.
You can also use a vehicle here to speed up this process, but at this point in the story, you most likely won’t have one. While using a vehicle is a faster method for crossing the tar ocean, having a vehicle would require more progression, so if you don’t have a vehicle yet, you’re better off just walking through.
Other options include using the monorail or devices that allow you to cross over water, such as the zip line or the Transponder. How you cross this tar ocean will depend on how much of Australia you’ve connected.
How to speak with the Inventor in Death Stranding 2
To speak with the Inventor in Death Stranding 2, you first need to reach his isolated island near West Fort Knot, Australia, which is surrounded by a dangerous tar sea. You can get there either by carefully following a safe path across the tar using your Odradek scanner or by riding the repaired monorail and jumping off at the right point. Once at the Inventor’s base, you must bring him one of his lost cargo pieces, which can be found scattered along the nearby coastline. Delivering any piece of his cargo will prompt him to open the door, allowing you to connect him to the Chiral Network and start interacting with him. Building a good connection with the Inventor unlocks valuable rewards, including the Bola Stun Gun for stealth gameplay. Be cautious while crossing the tar, as stepping into unsafe areas results in sinking and could lead to losing cargo or death.To speak with the Inventor in Death Stranding 2, you must first reach his isolated island near West Fort Knot, Australia, either by navigating a safe path through the surrounding tar sea using your Odradek scanner or by riding the monorail and jumping off at the right moment. Once there, you need to bring the Inventor a piece of his lost cargo, which you can find along the nearby beach. Delivering any cargo item will prompt him to acknowledge you, open his shelter, and allow you to connect him to the Chiral Network, unlocking interactions and valuable rewards.
Making it to the island is only half of the battle. When you arrive, you may find that you can access the terminal, but no one is there to acknowledge that you’re there. The only way to get them to speak with you is to show up with a piece of cargo that needs to be delivered to them. As you play through the Australia map, you’ll come across deliveries meant for the Inventor, and you can even find some along the beach before you cross into the tar ocean.
The exact location of the cargo on the beach can vary, so if you’d rather not explore the beach looking for missing cargo, you can also play the game normally, where a settlement will eventually have deliveries for the Inventor.
It doesn’t matter what package you bring to them, as once you arrive with it, they will acknowledge you’re there to connect them to the Chiral Network. Try to get them something on your first trip to the island, and continuing to bring them cargo will increase your reputation with them. Increasing your reputation with the Inventor gives you the following rewards:
- Level 1: Otter Head
- Level 2: Stun Bomb
- Level 3: Remote Stun Bomb
- Level 4: Bola Stun Gun
- Level 5: Custom Hologram: The Inventor, Patch 63: Otter Hood
What is the secret route to reach the Inventor’s island in Death Stranding 2
The secret route to reach the Inventor’s island in Death Stranding 2 involves carefully crossing a deep pool of tar surrounding the island by foot, using a path identified with the Odradek scanner. The scanner marks safe, shallower tar areas in yellow (which you can walk on) and dangerous deep tar in red. By continuously scanning and following the yellow path, you can safely navigate across the tar to reach the Inventor’s island. This path requires cautious traversal and can be monotonous since you must make the trip there and back on foot each time.
Alternatively, a more convenient but resource-intensive method becomes available after completing main order No. 21, which grants the blueprint for a level 2 PCA to build zip-lines. You can then rebuild the monorail tracks leading from F2 to the mine north of F1, which pass over the Inventor’s island. From the monorail near the island, you can jump down and build a zip-line on the island edge. Since monorail track connectors also count as zip-lines, this setup lets you freely and quickly access the Inventor’s island back and forth infinitely.
In summary, the secret route is the Odradek-scanned tar path, but the best long-term option is to unlock the monorail and zip-line network after some story progress.
What method is most reliable for crossing the tar to reach the Inventor’s island
The most reliable method to cross the tar and reach the Inventor’s island in Death Stranding 2 is to rebuild and use the monorail that passes over the island, then jump off the monorail directly onto the island. This method avoids the dangers of the tar entirely and is the safest and quickest once the monorail tracks are restored. However, it requires significant story progression and resources to unlock and rebuild the monorail terminals.
If the monorail is not available, the next most reliable method is to use the Odradek scanner to identify a safe path (marked in yellow) across the tar and carefully walk or drive across these shallower tar patches. Although this method is slower and more cumbersome-because you must repeatedly traverse the hazardous tar-it allows access earlier in the game without needing substantial upgrades.
Summary:
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Best long-term, most reliable method: Use the rebuilt monorail to jump onto the island.
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Alternative early method: Follow the Odradek scanner’s yellow-marked safe path to walk or drive through the tar carefully.
This monorail method also allows quick, repeated access using zip-lines once unlocked, making travel much more convenient.
