That's not actually true, Soyuz re-enter on a very shallow profile, shedding a lot of speed over a lot of time with relatively low G. Additionally, Soyuz is a lifting body, which makes the profile even shallower.
Mercury had 8g deceleration on orbital reentry vs 11-12g on suborbital one.
Mercury had 8g deceleration on orbital reentry vs 11-12g on suborbital one.