Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain had a pretty epic showing at E3 that generated a buzz based on sheer emotion and presentation alone. Speaking to IGN, director Hideo Kojima talked about how the game leads up to Big Boss creating Outer Heaven.
“I want the player to experience this in a convincing way, so I need people to empathize, to understand what is happening to Snake.”
It’s not about playing the villain though. “I don’t want people to play as ‘Snake the Bad Guy’.” Rather, it’s about how Snake embarked on his saga for revenge and how it ultimately consumed him. This same chain is what ultimately influences wars around the world.
“I want to experience along with the player how this is chain of event is contagious, and it ultimately affects organizations, even societies. […] I want the player to experience that along with Snake.”
Oh, and if you didn’t feel good about Paz dying in Ground Zeroes, then that was exactly the point according to Kojima. “That’s precisely the Phantom Pain, a pain that keeps stinging you despite the thing is gone. That’s exactly what the phantom pain is.”
Kojima still wouldn’t say much more about a release date other than “1984” but Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is pegged to release in early 2015 for the PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360.