"An Australian Phantom Pain" or: How MGSV and DS2 loose interest in their setting real quick
Now the similarities between MGSV and DS2 aren't subtle. From UI, Gameplay, Handling, Cinematography and Themes the Games have a lot in common (and thats completely fine and normal)
But one thing bugged me in DS2 the same way it did in MGSV ten years ago. Back then I was kinda disappointed that the historical setting of 1980s was very surface level. Yes you have the Soviet-Afghan War Background, kinda authentic Kit and the soundtrack. But then the Game brushes over this setting with a lot of anachronisms and ideas. Thats fine since MGS isnt really about historical accuracies but it just robbed the game of some flavour (See Back Ops Cold War for stylish 80s spy action OR MGS3 even though its anachronistic as hell but still keeps a consistent atmosphere)
And then they did it again with Australia in DS2. Yes there's the Map, some characters, some accents, some codex entries, some animals. And I get that it isn't about the Australia we know but the post DS version of it. But still, once you reach the Northern Biome it feels like the creative vision gets really muddled. Australia feels less like a setting thats intertwined with the game and more like background dressing that pops up in the form of a boomerang or a SSS post.
It fits the Kojima Game theme of: "Use the first paragraph of a Wikipedia Article loose attention and click on random article" And thats what i love about these stories but sometimes this approach hurts the overall vision. Sometimes the games feel more focused in their world building (like MGS3 or DS1). Sometimes they feel like a lot more inconsistent.
Tldr: Both great games but they dont take full advantage of their respective settings