Death Stranding 2’s Dollman Is the Beating Heart of the Game

Out of all the Hideo Kojima-ass characters in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Dollman might be the Kojima-iest. Not only does he have a name that describes what he is — the first telltale sign — he’s also literally a small doll with a man’s soul trapped inside it and, for no discernible reason, animates at a different frame rate. It seems like a simple joke and, at times, it is played for one, but Dollman is one of the better characters in Death Stranding 2 and is a fitting microcosm of the game’s tone.

It’s worth emphasizing once again how silly Dollman is. He hangs off Sam’s thigh similar to God of War’s Mimir — whom the game makes a sly reference to — and flops around as Sam climbs, falls, and slides around, often checking up on the noble porter if he takes too much of a tumble. Despite being a little guy that animates like he’s in a stop-motion film, just about everyone takes him seriously in cutscenes, even carting him around or buckling him up like a child. He can also be thrown and used as a surveillance drone to tag enemies. There’s no explanation for how he can float in midair or return to Sam like a boomerang. And if there is an explanation buried in the encyclopedic Corpus, it probably has the word “Chiral” in it and doesn’t make sense anyway.

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This playfulness permeates through other parts of the experience, and it’s a key trait of games led by Hideo Kojima. Death Stranding 2, despite being a mostly serious title, has all sorts of goofy elements. There’s a winged cat made of tar with a half-explained backstory who crawls around the ship. The pilot of said ship lost his hand in the tar and this tragedy allows him to pilot a ship in the subterranean tar currents for some reason. There’s a dance number near the end that comes out of nowhere and is one of the most hilarious parts in any Kojima Productions game. This is followed by another music-oriented scene that is ridiculously over-the-top and dumb in the best ways. There are no pee and poop grenades this time, but Sam can still urinate almost wherever he wants.

Some of the game’s other funny moments are likely unintentional and surely a result of corny writing instead, but all of these types of lighthearted moments are key parts of KojiPro’s titles. Whether it’s the pooping Sasaki family in the Metal Gear Solid series or how Colonel Volgin greets his second in command Raikov with a firm crotch grab, almost all of these games have quirky moments that make them stand out. Dollman being so brazenly absurd on its face is a manifestation of that trademark silliness.

However, some of this silliness can sometimes bend into eye-roll-inducing territory. Dollman’s backstory hinges on a nonsensical contrivance and invokes the nanomachine-centric writing Hideo Kojima has heavily relied on since Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The unexplainable can be explained if you make up enough words and then make up how your made-up vocabulary connects together. Many parts of Death Stranding 2’s narrative rely on jargon-fueled conveniences and get too lost in the sauce, muddling some of the human element that’s vital to a story like this. There may not be many convincing ways to explain how a human man’s soul flew into a doll, but using nonsense terms to gloss over it tarnishes the idea just a bit.

But it’s not all goofs and gaffes. After the shock of a talking puppet wears off, Dollman reveals himself as one of the more level-headed and heartfelt characters in the whole game. Grief is one of Death Stranding 2’s running themes, and Dollman’s words often give guidance when it is needed most. His ability to speak softly to Sam about what he’s going through makes up some of Death Stranding 2’s best moments. He’s honest with Sam and acknowledges his pain but gives him the space to work through it without letting him fall deeper into despair, all of which is delivered tenderly with Jonathan Roumie’s soothing voice. Talking to him in private rooms can sometimes yield gameplay tips, added context for the story, or a joke (and he’s worth speaking to for that alone), but he will sometimes open up to Sam. These moments of compassion speak directly to the earnestness Kojima games often have. 

Death Stranding 2 is a lot of things — strange, contrived, sincere — and those pillars are concisely represented in Dollman’s tiny frame. He doesn’t get as much of an arc as he deserves and is mostly there to serve Sam’s goals, but he’s a valuable addition to the team because of his ability to embody so much about the game. The reason behind his existence is trite, but it’s just great that he exists in this world at all.