Halfway through the development of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, creator Hideo Kojima reportedly made significant changes to the game after playtesting results were deemed "too good". According to one of the sequel's composers, Yoann "Woodkid" Lemoine, Kojima felt that because players "liked it too much" it meant that "something [was] wrong".

In Death Stranding 2, you can pile items into your backpack, but once your pile has grown too big to be confined to the pack, it’ll be stacked on top of it. Naturally, the stuff that isn’t secure will be far more susceptible to falling off and getting damaged.