Kojima stated that he wanted Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain to look photorealistic. If these new screenshots that you see above are any indication, then it looks like he got what he wanted: the screenshots look absolutely stunning, and it’d be easy to mistake them for photographs of a real location at just a glance.
Of course, there was never any doubt that Metal Gear Solid V would look good- Metal Gear Solid 2 and 4 were used to debut the graphical capabilities of the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 respectively, and Metal Gear Solid 3 and 4 of the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. The series has always been a graphical powerhouse.
Of course, it’s the new gameplay changes, and not the graphics, that have players wary of this new, upcoming game, but maybe after all this time, Kojima deserves the benefit of the doubt. We’ll know soon enough anyway, as MGSV launches next year.