I think this is more on the surface with the explicit surrealism of Death Stranding but it was always there under MG's Tom Clancy trappings. These are less like people than they are props to be puppeteered through whatever notions grab the authors' whims.

it's not an invalid or at all unprecedented choice. it's a kind of heavy stylization that insists on doing things on its own terms, injected into an extremely expensive interactive experience where financial stakes are such that more conventional characters and performances are expected.

MGS1 came close to having actual characters in it but all of those characters ended up firmly puppetized in the later games. Especially poor Naomi