Out of all the Hideo Kojima-ass characters in Death Stranding 2: On the Seashore, Dollman is likely to be the Kojima-iest. Not solely does he have a reputation that describes what he’s — the first telltale signal — he’s additionally actually a small doll with a person’s soul trapped inside it and, for no discernible motive, animates at a distinct body fee. It looks like a easy joke and, at occasions, it’s performed for one, however Dollman is one of the higher characters in Death Stranding 2 and is a becoming microcosm of the recreation’s tone.
It’s value emphasizing as soon as once more how foolish Dollman is. He hangs off Sam’s thigh just like God of Warfare’s Mimir — whom the recreation makes a sly reference to — and flops round as Sam climbs, falls, and slides round, typically checking up on the noble porter if he takes an excessive amount of of a tumble. Regardless of being a bit man that animates like he’s in a stop-motion movie, nearly everybody takes him critically in cutscenes, even carting him round or buckling him up like a toddler. He may also be thrown and used as a surveillance drone to tag enemies. There’s no clarification for a way he can float in midair or return to Sam like a boomerang. And if there’s a proof buried in the encyclopedic Corpus, it in all probability has the phrase “Chiral” in it and doesn’t make sense anyway.
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This playfulness permeates by means of different elements of the expertise, and it’s a key trait of video games led by Hideo Kojima. Death Stranding 2, regardless of being a largely severe title, has all types of goofy components. There’s a winged cat made of tar with a half-explained backstory who crawls round the ship. The pilot of stated ship misplaced his hand in the tar and this tragedy permits him to pilot a ship in the subterranean tar currents for some motive. There’s a dance quantity close to the finish that comes out of nowhere and is one of the most hilarious elements in any Kojima Productions recreation. That is adopted by one other music-oriented scene that’s ridiculously over-the-top and dumb in the finest methods. There are not any pee and poop grenades this time, however Sam can nonetheless urinate virtually wherever he needs.
Some of the recreation’s different humorous moments are doubtless unintentional and absolutely a end result of corny writing as a substitute, however all of these varieties of lighthearted moments are key elements of KojiPro’s titles. Whether or not it’s the pooping Sasaki household in the Steel Gear Strong sequence or how Colonel Volgin greets his second in command Raikov with a agency crotch seize, virtually all of these video games have quirky moments that make them stand out. Dollman being so overtly absurd on its face is a manifestation of that trademark silliness.
Nonetheless, some of this silliness can typically bend into eye-roll-inducing territory. Dollman’s backstory hinges on a nonsensical contrivance and invokes the nanomachine-centric writing Hideo Kojima has closely relied on since Steel Gear Strong 4: Weapons of the Patriots. The unexplainable will be defined in case you make up sufficient phrases after which make up how your made-up vocabulary connects collectively. Many elements of Death Stranding 2’s narrative depend on jargon-fueled conveniences and get too misplaced in the sauce, muddling some of the human ingredient that’s very important to a narrative like this. There will not be many convincing methods to clarify how a human man’s soul flew right into a doll, however utilizing nonsense phrases to gloss over it tarnishes the concept only a bit.
Nevertheless it’s not all goofs and gaffes. After the shock of a speaking puppet wears off, Dollman reveals himself as one of the extra level-headed and heartfelt characters in the complete recreation. Grief is one of Death Stranding 2’s operating themes, and Dollman’s phrases typically give steerage when it’s wanted most. His potential to talk softly to Sam about what he’s going by means of makes up some of Death Stranding 2’s finest moments. He’s sincere with Sam and acknowledges his ache however offers him the house to work by means of it with out letting him fall deeper into despair, all of which is delivered tenderly with Jonathan Roumie’s soothing voice. Speaking to him in non-public rooms can typically yield gameplay suggestions, added context for the story, or a joke (and he’s value talking to for that alone), however he’ll typically speak in confidence to Sam. These moments of compassion converse on to the earnestness Kojima video games typically have.
Death Stranding 2 is rather a lot of issues — unusual, contrived, honest — and people pillars are concisely represented in Dollman’s tiny body. He doesn’t get as a lot of an arc as he deserves and is generally there to serve Sam’s objectives, however he’s a useful addition to the crew as a result of of his potential to embody a lot about the recreation. The explanation behind his existence is trite, nevertheless it’s simply nice that he exists on this world in any respect.
