In Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, once you reach Australia, Sam won’t move forward with the mission until he meets Charlie. After going through the Mexico plate gate and finally meeting him, Charlie presents you with a choice: he will impersonate one of four familiar characters to brief you on the mission: Deadman, Heartman, Lockne, or Die-Hardman. Only one of these choices actually pushes the story forward.
Charlie Mannequin Choice
Once you make it to Australia in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Sam insists on meeting Charlie before agreeing to join the Drawbridge mission. To get there, you will need to go through the Mexico plate gate. When you meet Charlie, he will ask Sam to choose whose voice he’d like to hear the mission briefing in – Deadman, Heartman, Lockne, or Die-Hardman.
Now, no matter who you pick, except Die-Hardman, Charlie gives you a reason why that person isn’t the right choice:
- If you pick Heartman, Charlie says there’s no point since Heartman is already going to join you on the mission.
- If you pick Deadman, Charlie says it’s too soon to imitate him after his recent return to the Beach.
- If you pick Lockne, Charlie says it’d be too confusing because of the whole Mama-Lockne soul merge.
- If you pick Die-Hardman, that’s the only option Charlie actually goes through with. Choosing him triggers a cutscene.
Should You Choose Heartman, Deadman, Lockne, or Die-Hardman
So basically, none of those options go anywhere. Charlie just asks you to pick someone else each time. The only one that actually works is Die-Hardman. When you pick him, it triggers a proper cutscene where the President of APAC explains your mission and the story moves forward.
To keep the story going, just choose Die-Hardman. The rest are just optional dialogue paths that don’t add anything new if you’ve played the first game or paid attention so far. Eventually, if you try all three wrong choices, Charlie will make Die-Hardman the only one left anyway. So save yourself the loop, go with Die-Hardman from the start.
