We infiltrate Kojima Productions’ top-secret project and break down all the key details on the biggest Metal Gear Solid game yet
1 WE FINALLY HAVE A RELEASE DATE
After months, nay years, of impatient waiting and reading way too much into everything Kojima has said and done in search of answers, we finally have what we wanted all along – a launch date for The Phantom Pain. Tuesday 1 September is the magical day that we’ll get to enjoy the beginning of the end for Big Boss, so book the week off now in preparation. Given that pretty much every other major game of the generation so far has suffered a delay of some kind, we really hope Kojima manages to buck that trend.
2 WE’RE GOING AROUND THE WORLD
MGS 4 was the first in the series to take us on a globe-trotting adventure, rather than sticking to one location, and it seems that The Phantom Pain will follow that template. Afghanistan and Africa are the only locations that are confirmed to make an appearance, but the Cuban island used as the setting for Ground Zeroes could feature again. Then there is the hospital we saw in the first reveal of The Phantom Pain, which looks to be somewhere else entirely – it’s apparently based on a real facility in Cyprus.
3 METAL GEAR ONLINE IS BACK
The multiplayer component for MGS V looks bloody brilliant. Not least because of the range of gadgets on show in the team-based mode we’ve seen, including cloaking devices, Fulton traps, fluffy dog toys that can freeze anyone one that sees it in some kind of cute trance, and a bipedal armored vehicle with a machine gun. The original Metal Gear Online had something of a cult following, but with a dedicated team developing this version, we suspect we’re going to get a more intricate multiplayer suite.
4 YOU CAN KIDNAP SHEEP
The Fulton recovery system from Peace Walker returns in The Phantom Pain. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it’s a big balloon that you attach to things, which are then carried back to your base. Anything from soldiers to sheep can be sent to Mother Base and those resources are used as you research new technologies. Whether you’re someone who likes the idea of base building, or someone who likes the idea of seeing a sheep attached to a balloon, there’s something for everyone.
5 YOU’LL GET INTO R&D
Developing your base will allow you to invest in new technology that can assist you when you’re out in the thick of it. You can, for example, improve your intel capabilities so that enemy soldiers will be tagged on your map. You could also make a call to Mother Base to request an ammo supply drop or, more spectacularly, an airstrike…
6 YOU CAN BE INVADED
Those aforementioned base building mechanics aren’t just helping you in single player. Some of the technology that you research will be employed in a defensive rather than offensive capacity, the reason being that other players can invade your base. You’ll want UAVs for an early warning; cameras; laser tripwires; anything that might trip a potential invader up. This does of course mean that you can also invade your friend’s bases to steal their precious resources.
7 IT WON’T BE QUIET
Kojima Productions has revealed that there are a companion characters that you meet who can then be called upon to aid you. One such character is Quiet, a sniper with the ability to turn invisible and move at superhuman speed. She can be called upon to spot enemies in order to aid infiltrations, lend supporting fire as she moves between sniper spots, or even to shoot a grenade that you throw to send it hurtling towards a target.
8 YOU CAN GET YOUR OWN WOLF
Alongside Quiet, the only other companion character revealed so far is D.D., a wolfhound that can be found as a one-eyed puppy. If you come across said puppy, you can send him back to Mother Base where he will grow into a eye-patch wearing wolf that can accompany you on missions. We’re tempted to leave D.D. at home, though, because Kojima Productions has revealed that if he is killed, he is permanently dead. We can’t bear the thought of that happening to our new four-legged friend.
9 YOU’LL SEE BIG BOSS FLY OFF THE HANDLE
Metal Gear history tells us that Big Boss is going to become a ‘bad guy’. We’ve yet to see his transition from hero to villain, though. Everything points to The Phantom Pain being the game that tells the story of how Big Boss’ quest for revenge twists the man and his motives. Or perhaps, we’ll gain a new perspective on the man that’s being called ‘Venom Snake’ in this iteration of the story.
10 WHAT BIG BOSS SAW IN THE HOSPITAL
In the reveal for The Phantom Pain, we saw Big Boss waking from his coma and crawling through a hospital that seemed to be under attack, he appeared to see a number of figures from Metal Gear history. That included a fiery figure that looked like Volgin, the antagonist from MGS 3 and a figure that was reminiscent of Psycho Mantis. Were these visions? Conflation of reality and fantasy? Or the real deal? We can’t wait to find out.
11 YOU’VE GOT TO MIX IT UP
One of the coolest features of The Phantom Pain is the way that the game will adapt to the way you play. Overzealous use of headshots, for example, means that on returning to an area, you’ll find the guards kitted out with metal helmets to neutralise that tactic. Having the game force you to adapt your strategy and use a wide range of techniques is pretty cool in our book.
12 YOU’VE GOT YOUR OWN HORSE
Taking a leaf from his mentor’s book, Big Boss starts using a horse in MGS V. Not only does it help you travel, it can also help you deal with enemies. You can, for example, hang off its side and use it to block soldier’s line of sight as the apparently riderless horse trots by. You can also have it crap in the road, its frictionless feces sending enemy vehicles into a spin should they drive over it.
13 WATCH OUT FOR SKULL FACE
Not only did he brutally torture Paz and Chico in MGS: Ground Zeroes, as leader, or at least a key member of XOF, Skull Face bears responsibility for the attack on Mother Base that decimated Big Boss’ army and left him in a coma, leading to the events of The Phantom Pain. We’d imagine that tracking downand confronting Skull Face will therefore be a large part of The Phantom Pain.
14 MILLER NEEDS SAVING
We don’t know a lot about MGS V’s story, but one thing we can be sure of is that you will have to save Big Boss’ long time ally, Kazuhira Miller, after he is kidnapped in Afghanistan by Soviet forces. Unfortunately for poor Miller, we know that he will be coming back minus an arm and a leg. With Snake also missing an arm upon waking from his coma, there are going to be plenty of prosthetics in this game.
15 LIQUID SNAKE COULD BE IN IT
We know that Big Boss is going to come into contact with a boy named Eli. All we know so far is that he will attack you, though we imagine he’s someone that Big Boss is likely to take under his wing in the long run. Interestingly, the writing on the back of Eli’s jacket includes the phrase ‘Liquid Man’. That fact, along with his appearance and age, means that Eli could very well be a young Liquid Snake.
16 HUEY IS GETTING TORTURED
If you needed any evidence that The Phantom Pain’s got a rather dark tone, how about the fact that Big Boss is apparently not above torture? Huey Emmerich – father of Otacon – is suspected of being a Cipher spy implicated in the attack on Mother Base. Big Boss and Ocelot torture him in a bid to find out precisely what went down and whether he was involved.
17 YOU’RE LIKE JAMES BOND
Both Big Boss and Solid Snake have always been fond of their gadgets. You won’t be surprised, then, to hear that there are going to be plenty of new ones for you to play with in The Phantom Pain. One of our favourites has to be the inflatable decoy that you can use to distract enemies. More unconventionally, you can also inflate it under an enemy standing at a cliff edge to send them hurtling into the abyss. Snake’s new arm is also notable in that it can stun people.
18 CARDBOARD BOXES ARE BACK
MGS has long had a penchant for mixing the most stony faced, serious story beats with the ridiculous and nonsensical. Its love of creeping around in cardboard boxes is an example of the latter and that’ll be included in MGS V. You can now get boxes with designs on the outside that can trick your enemies – an enemy commander design, for example, will have your enemies standing to attention and saluting the cardboard impostor.
19 YOU’VE GOT A TIME-TWISTING CIGAR
The Phantom Pain has a day/night cycle that’s significant because you may want to infiltrate a base using the cover of darkness, or tackle it during the day, when it may have less guards posted to look after it. In order to change the time of day and experiment with those different options, you can get out your Phantom Cigar for Big Boss to suck on as time passes quickly around him.
20 YOU COULD GET SOME FREE STUFF
Have you played Ground Zeroes, the prequel to The Phantom Pain? If you have, then you will be rewarded when it comes to playing MGS V. Though Kojima hasn’t said what you will get, those that have a Ground Zeroes save file will see some benefit when they play The Phantom Pain. Perhaps it’s worth making sure you save those prisoners.
21 HAYTER’S GONNA HATE
Sorry David Hayter fans, the gruff voice that’s become synonymous with Snake is changing, as those of you who played Ground Zeroes will know. Kiefer Sutherland is the man taking the lead role this time round. Though some fans aren’t happy with this, we think he did a pretty good job in Ground Zeroes, so we’re not too upset about the change.
22 SNAKE IS ’ARMLESS
The term ‘Phantom Pain’ – a phenomenon in which amputees still feel pain in limbs that they’ve lost – refers at least in part to the fact that Snake awakes from his coma minus an arm. The arm Snake gets in the wake of that is more than a replacement – it can be upgraded with new technology, giving Snake the ability to electrocute his foes.
23 YOU GOT SOME NEW SKILLS
Ground Zeroes introduced us to a more mobile Snake with a few new tricks up his sleeve. We now know that he’s going to have another new ability too. Snake has the ability to climb, scaling cliff edges in gameplay footage. We’ve seen little verticality in MGS games, so that addition is interesting in the way that if offers potential for opening up level design.
24 OCELOT IS YOUR BUDDY
Ocelot is the only character to appear in every MGS game and he continues that streak in The Phantom Pain. The last time Big Boss saw him was in MGS 3 where the two were at odds. How they ended up working together should be explained in MGS V. Don’t assume they’re really working together, however. That crafty Ocelot is always up to something.
25 THERE IS A CHICKEN HAT
Are you a bit rubbish at MGS? Fear not, Kojima has got your back. If you want to make things a bit easier you can don the chicken hat. Sure, it’s a bit humiliating, but it will make it more difficult for enemies to spot you, giving you a bit of a leg up. Granted, it’s not as discrete as the EZ Gun but to be honest, we’ll take the chicken hat for added hilarity.