Everything you need to know about Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain was officially announced back in March 2013 alongside Ground Zeroes.
It will be the first open world Metal Gear title and introduce a host of new stealth tactics for fans of the series. Although, there’s still no word on when it will be released, we’ve had some extended looks at some Phantom Pain gameplay.
The game will run on the new Fox engine, enabling a new level of graphical realism, intelligent AI and some brand new stealth tactics.
Be sure to keep this page bookmarked if you want to keep up with the latest on all the Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain news and rumours.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain release date
Konami offered fans Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes earlier this year in an attempt to stave off demands for even a loose Phantom Pain release date.
We were all expecting at least a hint at the special Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain GamesCom 2014 event, but all Konami would give us was a confirmed PC release.
Sadly then, we’re no closer to finding out when we can play The Phantom Pain, but we expect it will be sometime in late 2015 at the earliest.
When it does arrive, The Phantom Pain will be available to play on PS4, Xbox One and PC as well as last-gen consoles the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain news – What we know so far
The first truly open world Metal Gear
Thanks to a combination of gameplay trailer reveals and confirmation from Konami, we now know that The Phantom Pain will be the first Metal Gear Solid title to go truly open world.
From what we’ve seen so far, Snake is seen traversing a barren, desert-esque landscape on horseback, navigating wildlife, remote command posts and inbound enemy vehicles.
The game will feature realtime weather, with sandstorms building up from what was previously a beautifully clear day. With that comes the realistic passage of time. Using what the game is calling “The Phantom Cigar”, you’ll be able to skip forward in time, rolling through day and night until your chosen moment.
New stealth tactics inbound
The open world structure of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain will enable you to utilise the game’s enhanced stealth tactics. The passage of time will cause you to adapt your approaches to changes in patrols, enemies and more.
The AI is a lot more intelligent in The Phantom Pain. If you are favouring or overusing techniques or weapons they will adapt and make it more difficult to infiltrate the bases. This is down to the new Fox Engine. For example, if you’re pretty adept at headshots, you might find the enemies suddenly have metal hard hats to protect them from your one-hit K.Os.
More vehicle variety
Not only will you get access to horses in The Phantom Pain, you’ll also be able to take advantage of jeeps, tanks and other new vehicles in which to traverse the open world.
These new vehicles, along with the horse, will become part of your new Metal Gear Solid experience and offer new ways to infiltrate or tackle enemy bases.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain Storyline
The Phantom Pain will be set nine years after the Ground Zeroes storyline ends. Snake is a lot darker than in previous titles and seems unstable and angry following the events that have occurred during those years.
Of course, we’re not quite sure what’s happened as yet, as Konami are keeping the storyline details tightly under wraps. It does look like Snake is allying himself with shadier characters in The Phantom Pain, as in one trailer he is seen torturing his previous friend Emmerich.
It also seems that The Phantom Pain will have a strong focus on rebuilding Mother Base and the Diamond Dogs, which were both looking pretty ropey at the end of the last Metal Gear title.
We already know that the multiplayer of Metal Gear Solid 5 will, at least in part, have you invading the Mother Base built up by other players.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain Characters
These are all the characters we’ve spotted in The Phantom Pain footage so far:
- Venom Snake: He’s looking pretty vexed and melancholy in The Phantom Pain. No doubt, those emotions will only get worse as the game progresses.
- Huey Emmerich: Poor old Emmerich is seen being tortured by Snake and Ocelot in The Phantom Pain. We’re not sure why at this stage, but it is possible that Snake thinks he’s a spy working for Cipher.
- Ocelot: only appearing briefly in one trailer, it looks like Ocelot is training new Diamond Dogs soldiers on the Mother Base.
- Kazuhira “Kaz” Miller: Kaz was left in a pretty bad way at the end of the last Metal Gear game, but is still at Snake’s side in The Phantom Pain.
- Quiet: Again, like Ocelet she’s only seen briefly in the trailers released so far. But you can spot her acrobatic skills in action. She’s also seen being tortured by Ocelot.
- Eli: This unknown young boy is seen pinning Big Boss to the wall with a chair. Although Big Boss disarms him and knocks him aside before Eli can stab him, he looks to be quite the courageous youngster. Some believe he is a young Liquid Snake, thanks to the Japanese kanji on the back of his jacket translating to “Liquid Man”.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain Gameplay
We’ve been shown two lengthy Phantom Pain gameplay trailers of late. Although both are of the same mission, Konami has been quick to highlight how the open world structure changes according to time and day.
Our initial impressions is that The Phantom Pain looks absolutely stunning. The map shown off at both E3 2014 and GamesCom 2014 is vast – littered with livestock, enemies, bases, villages and babbling creeks among other details.
Armed with your trusty steed, The Phantom Pain already has a strong Red Dead Redemption feel to it. That’s mostly down to teh landscape and the fact you’re on a horse, but it even mimics the way the soundscape changes as you near enemies.
Although this is set to be a darker MGS game, there’s still room for creator Hideo Kojima’s trademark sense of humour. You can make your horse defecate on the road to spin enemy vehicles out of control, or send a dead goat off using the Fulton surface to air recovery system.
The much-loved Metal Gear box is back, but this time it’s been pimped out a bit. As you’ll no doubt have seen in the Sony GamesCom presentation, you can use it to distract guards with a colourful picture of a near-naked lady. We didn’t find this too amusing, as it’s pretty sexist for both genders, but it definitely got a few laughs at GamesCom.
E3 2014 Gameplay
After the E3 2014 trailer, Konami then released a second version of the same trailer at GamesCom. Although it appears to be the same footage, the GamesCom version tackled the same mission at a different time of day and from a slightly different approach.
It was used to show how different circumstances would change the mission and the behaviour of the guards and patrols.
GamesCom 2014 Gameplay
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain Trailers
Read more: Best games 2014
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
