If you don’t know what we’re talking about, you’re probably among the lucky few who are new to Metal Gear and are currently living through a phantom pain that we’re all too familiar with. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is among the most potent entries in the franchise’s extensive library, and although it did draw its fair share of criticism, its gameplay formula remains as thrilling as it’s ever been, and that’s saying something considering that we’re talking about an eleven-year-old game here.

So why haven’t we seen anything like it in the decade that’s now passed? As always, we’ve got thoughts on the subject we’d like to share, so strap in!

The Freedom Of The Shadows

As a story with “Big Boss” at its center, this one definitely gives its take on the iconic character a gameplay loop that takes advantage of his extensive experience and his innate tactical proficiency to make it a power trip like no other when you nail down its mechanics. It helps that everything is so responsive, with animations for sprinting, diving, crouching, and taking cover feeling so seamless as you flit between safe points in pursuit of that pesky guard and a quiet place to deal with them.

That the animations worked so well while still feeling responsive made MGSV already ahead of its time, and we’d say that they’ve held up pretty well despite a new generation of hardware coming along to make things easier for developers. It’s an underappreciated facet of the experience that we felt deserves a special mention thanks to how fluid Big Boss felt in our hands, which made everything we did with him all the more immersive as a result.

Of course, that fluid movement came in very handy when engaging with stealth systems that gave you an unprecedented amount of freedom to deal with your objectives as you wished. Taking a quiet approach to the problems you were tasked with solving felt akin to a sandbox rather than a curated route through heavily guarded areas, an approach that was all too common for stealth-action titles at the time.

You had sniping, CQC, distractions to employ, vehicles to deploy, the Fulton system to ensure your Mother Base was a constantly evolving safe space that was able to fuel your mission, a bevy of very useful companions, helpful supply drops, and so much more in a world that felt like it was constantly responding to your presence in it, and evolving based on your actions. That evolution is most prevalent in the way enemies responded to your tactics in the game.

An emphasis on taking a tactical approach was underlined by an enemy AI that was smart enough to take note of ways you were exploiting it, and actively counter such efforts. Take out too many guards with headshots, and you quickly find that they come equipped with helmets. Using the cover of darkness to hide your approach sees them bring night-vision goggles and flashlights to the table. Take a closer and more personal approach, and they’re going to don armor to balance out the obvious difference in your skills.

It’s something that makes you feel like the world is recognizing Big Boss as the deadly threat you know he is, and it’s easy to let that power get to your head, only to be humbled by systems that punish a reckless approach unless you’re well-armed and skilled enough to survive the fight. That was a good thing in a game where a static enemy difficulty made way for systems that were designed to prevent you from forming safe habits.

That immediately encouraged experimentation in a world designed for it, and getting spotted was simply an opportunity to pull off a daring escape, evading your enemies to return to the shadows where you could pick them off one by one. It’s great that no one’s ever really safe in the field in Phantom Pain, as it immediately makes engaging with all that it’s offering a very addictive part of the experience.

An Intuitively Intersectional World

All of the innovative gameplay in the world couldn’t have made a difference if the world Big Boss was operating in didn’t support the fantasy that Phantom Pain was selling. Fortunately, Afghanistan and Africa had so much going on that they were far from the checklist-like open worlds that were kind of a rage back then, and continue to be a part of the genre’s offerings even today.

Events unfolded so organically it was difficult to see the game’s systems pulling your strings behind the scenes, pointing you towards new places and new activities in ways that were so organic, and often dynamically unfolding, that you were immediately compelled to see things through. The very ground felt like it existed to give you as many opportunities to approach your objectives in your own way, with terrain that was varied enough to encourage a tactical approach with a variety of options always close at hand.

With every outpost you discovered being a large, tactical playground for you to play with as you saw fit, it’s very good that all of the game’s systems came together to create an intersectionality that was an almost tangible presence alongside your Buddies (more on that in a bit). The weather and time-of-day systems affected visibility across the board, and immediately created choices about when to attempt an infiltration and what kind of tools to bring along for the job. Guards and patrols would switch up too, creating a dichotomy in a single location that you were then tasked with navigating.

You could choose to destroy any infrastructure focused on communications, which would then affect your enemy’s ability to call in reinforcements once they realized you were definitely above their pay grade. You could recruit enemies to your cause, using Fulton to feed your mother Base, which would in turn churn out better gear, which meant more opportunities for infiltrations and general mayhem.

Those interconnected systems form a sort of net that wraps around you from the second you’re let loose in the world, making for a very addictive gameplay loop that we like to revisit every now and then even after all these years. Your Buddies were yet another layer thrown into the mix, each one bringing unique functionalities that had a tangible impact on how you approached missions or objectives in the field.

Remember that emphasis on experimentation we were talking about with respect to the world in general? That applies to what you’re bringing along in your pockets as well, with an expansive arsenal that gives you a lot of flexibility in how you want to tackle a situation while remaining balanced enough to ensure that Big Boss didn’t feel too overpowered once he got his hands on better gear. Each of those tools, including but not limited to sleep grenades, decoys, cardboard boxes, the Fulton device, launchers, water pistols, mines, and all of the support options you had, was unique and came with wide use cases thanks to the world creating them.

Many games have since brought massive arsenals for the protagonists to make use of in their stories. But MGSV’s focus on systemic application of those tools automatically elevates it above anything else on offer. Of course, there are titles that try to emulate its unique vibe with varying levels of success.

Forms Of Flattery

Ghost Recon Wildlands and Breakpoint are probably good points of comparison, as they did recreate a military sandbox with an emphasis on a tactical approach with weapons, vehicles, and a lot of other common factors. But both games didn’t have MGSV’s depth in their systemic interactions or adaptive enemy behaviour to make all of it stand out. Hitman did take a philosophically similar approach to stealth sandboxes, but its vibe was a different expression of stealth sandboxes. Sniper Elite 4 and 5 are also great ones to look at, as they were titles that put you in a large map and largely left you to your own devices to figure things out.

Dishonored 2 was quite close to the systemic ambition of MGSV, but didn’t quite manage to recapture the magic thanks to its authored levels instead of the open-world chaos. Each of these games reproduced a piece of Phantom Pain, but largely failed to surprass in a way that recaptured what made it so special in the first place. Why is that?

Well, a game like that needs a lot of sophistication, with its AI, animations, systems, player tools, controls, and environments all supporting a sandbox-styled presentation and gameplay loop. That’s easier to dream about than to actually build, since every new mechanic would need to be worked into all of the game’s systems and woven into the countless interactions that they would encourage.

Combine that with today’s focus on bigger maps, scripted spectacle in key moments, RPG progression systems, seasonal content, and experiences that are too authored to allow for the kind of player freedom that was on offer in MGSV, and you begin to see why it’s a game that continues to remain unique. Its very philosophy is something that’s difficult to scale, and perhaps even not profitable to attempt, considering the complexity that belies the seamless interactions that we see in the game.

MGSV was far from perfect, but it has managed to create a lasting legacy. It’s remarkably difficult to find anything that comes close to it, and the surprising part isn’t that there haven’t been any attempts to iterate on it. But what makes it stand out is that it has remained elusive to those efforts even more than a decade after its release. That’s almost as magical as the time you spend in its world, and that’s the highest possible compliment we can give it.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

“I don’t want to tell tales out of school here, but I was told, and don’t make this a story because this could be nonsense […] The idea would be to do a third [Master Collection] with Revengeance and a cleaned-up version of 5, because that never got a fancy console version. I think it’s still good on PC.”

While Miller noted that it would be great if the “cleaned-up” version of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain also included all of the content that was notoriously cut out of the game before its release, he said that it is likelier to simply be a 60 FPS version of the game running on modern platforms. Interestingly, he also expressed interest in the inclusion of the much-maligned Metal Gear Survive in a potential third collection.

“The third one would be the last one they can do because they’ve done all the games and then they’ll see what they go forward with in terms of like the Delta remakes and stuff, but yeah, I think it’s nice that Metal Gear is in this place again.” He also raises the question of whether Konami would eventually make a Metal Gear Solid 6 at some point.

A third collection that includes Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance would be especially notable since console players can’t really access it aside from backwards compatibility on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S for its Xbox 360 version. PlayStation gamers, on the other hand, would need to get a PS3 to play it. When it comes to modern hardware, PC is essentially the only way to experience Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance in all of its glory. There are also questions about the rights for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, since the title was developed entirely by PlatinumGames.

As for Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, a modern console version would likely be a welcome sight for many PS5 and Xbox Series X/S gamers since the original PS4 and Xbox One release has likely aged quite poorly due to it being more than a decade old at this point.

In the meantime, Metal Gear fans who never owned a PS3 can now finally play Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots thanks to the release of Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2. The title was originally released all the way back in 2008, and before last week, it was essentially stuck in limbo due to the difficulties of porting PS3 games to other platforms.

For more details about it, along with the remastered version of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, check out our review of Master Collection Vol. 2.

Tekken 8

The Tekken saga has always been drenched in betrayal that helps it stand outfrom the rest of the crowd, but Tekken 8 pushes that intensity higher than ever. That increase in intensity can be felt across each punch, kick, and slam as these hulking behemoths fight each other to the death. The generational curse of the Mishima family continues, and we find Jin at an interesting crossroads – continuing down the dark path of revenge much like Heihachi or Kayuza, or try to become a better man and break free from the cycle of violence. The fights here carry emotional weight beyond the tournament stage, and that makes this journey a lot more compelling to complete than prior entries in the series.

I’m talking, of course, about Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, a title that found itself in the news for all the wrong reasons a decade ago. While I can’t believe it’s been ten years already, I also think back to how disappointed I was after my first playthrough, my expectations shattered after finishing a game that I felt was adversely affected by Kojima and Konami’s creative conflicts.

In my haste to paint The Phantom Pain as yet another victim of a clash between corporate interests and creative vision, I was left with a sort of phantom pain of my own. I lamented the game that I felt I deserved, my years of loyalty to the franchise being among the main reasons I felt that way. I was bitter about things, but ten years is a long time to not make peace with a video game.

That being said, I’ve been writing about Metal Gear Solid a lot lately. And I’m glad because in the process of doing some due diligence, I finally found closure, a cure to my own phantom pain, if you will. I’ve finally forgiven MGS5, not because it’s changed in any way, but because it hasn’t.

Sometimes, the game you want isn’t the one you get. And that’s okay. But as far as MGS5 is concerned, I’ve forgiven it because I’ve finally understood how it tells its story.

A Bridge Between Timelines

At this point, it’s a good idea to look at how the run-up to The Phantom Pain’s release had me absolutely itching to finally dive into what I was sure was going to be an absolute narrative delight that was packaged in a superb stealth-action title.

Part of that anticipation was Ground Zeroes, a title that served as MGS5’s prologue, setting things up very nicely indeed in my book. It was a great proof of concept for The Phantom Pain, bringing so many incredible changes that felt like its sequel would be off the charts on both the narrative and gameplay fronts.

Alas, only one of those predictions turned out correct. The gameplay loop on offer was insane for a fan of the franchise ever since I first played it at fourteen. While many of my gamer friends were more focused on other aggressive rampages in other popular games, I obsessed over the stealth-action gameplay loop in any Metal Gear Solid title I played.

Ground Zeroes upped the ante in so many ways! The visual and audio cues that replaced the stealth detection tools from the previous games were a very immersive touch, as was having the ability to use Snake’s binoculars more seamlessly. The ability to monitor enemy movements after marking them with a very handy iDroid was also welcome. The Reflex System was a personal favorite of mine since some players might be prone to being found quite often in stealth games, and having the option to respond quickly and salvage the situation was an excellent addition.

The story was similarly good, setting up a very explosive narrative involving Snake, Skull Face, Cipher, and other important characters from a very talented cast. It was the perfect stage for a sequel that would bring the franchise full circle, and finally bridge the gap between Snake’s journey to taking on the mantle of the monster that we would come to know him by in Metal Gear 1.

But a prologue that supercharges expectations for the rest of the story placed a heavy burden on The Phantom Pain. It now carried the weight of both an incredible gameplay loop as well as the need for its narrative to give its players some catharsis after a long wait.

Promises, Promises

That brings me to the promotional campaigns for The Phantom Pain. I couldn’t wait to dive into a larger, more ambitious open-world sandbox than the one in Ground Zeroes. And then there were those jaw-dropping trailers that I happily dove into along with the rest of the game’s community of fans.

They had me convinced that we were going to see a younger version of Solid Snake, and perhaps even be taken directly to the events of Metal Gear 1 as a result. Of course, none of that was promised outright, but the discussions were quite convincing, in my defense.

With all of those expectations, my first few hours in The Phantom Pain were spent just revelling in how its stealth mechanics were Metal Gear Solid at its finest. I was so thoroughly entertained that the story kind of took a back seat for a while. I loved every minute of those first few hours.

But, with a lore as elaborate, deep, and complex as the one in this franchise, I did eventually start focusing on the story. My curiosity to see how the events I expected to see would unfold made me prioritize the narrative, and that’s where the metaphorical chinks in the game’s armor began to show themselves. For starters, the distinct reduction in cutscenes struck me as an oddity, especially considering how brilliant those cutscenes had been over the franchise’s many titles. Keifer Sutherland taking over from David Hayter as the voice of Snake was a jarring oversight in my opinion, as was the tangible lack of dialogue from the character that made me wonder why the cat had his tongue.

Getting to the end of the story, Venom Snake’s true identity was a twist that I kind of saw coming, but nevertheless found flat considering my limited perspective at the time. I failed to consider that Kojima was an expert at the bait-and-switch tactic, something he had already done in MGS2. Not many people would have guessed we’d be playing Raiden instead of Solid Snake, after all.

I’m going to revisit why The Phantom Pain’s Venom Snake reveal made a lot more sense in just a moment, but at the time, it was a reveal that I saw as a let-down instead of a clever way of integrating the very expectations that made the story feel incomplete by Kojima, a storyteller who continues to astound me ten years down the line. I felt like I was an unwilling volunteer, pulled on stage to participate in a magic trick I never asked to be a part of.

It’s a good idea to look at Mission 46 and the idea that “you are the legend you created,” and its impact. Personally, it’s one that I believed could have worked better had the overall narrative been more cohesive as a whole. The game felt disconnected from its story as well as from the meta-narrative that the franchise had spent years establishing. And don’t get me started on my sentiments about Episode 51!

So What’s Changed?

I’ve spent a long time trying to make sense of my phantom pain. I tried the game again in 2018, and didn’t even get through the entire thing. My complaints about it continued to endure despite the game feeling better, but not complete. Mods and community fixes, and even an attempt to find Episode 51 mods, didn’t help either. Unlike other MGS titles that I would play over and over, The Phantom Pain was one I was simply not interested in revisiting.

But in a post Death Stranding world, and of course, my time spent working on the recent Metal Gear Saga story recap video, the chance to dive deeper into the Phantom Pain was something that has finally parted the curtains on Kojima’s vision for the game.

A better understanding of the developer and his game has led me to the conclusion that The Phantom Pain is a title that needed a more nuanced examination and a maturity that extended beyond a fanboy’s excitement to see his favorite stories come to life.

Diving back into the stories of Snake, The Boss, Volgin, the Cobra Unit, and, of course, a more detailed analysis of the saga made me see things differently. Deep diving into the lore of Peace Walker, and so many other important story beats, showcased just how much of the exposition I had missed during my time with The Phantom Pain. The solution to my problem was so simple, it was staring at me right in the face the whole time.

The absence of the series’ traditionally long cutscenes and the more usual form of revealing important story beats were the whole point of The Phantom Pain. Every major question of mine that went unanswered was already resolved. I just had to work for it, considering that most of the story was hidden away in tapes, intel, interrogations, and even eavesdropping on soldiers.

These seemingly disparate, for lack of a better word, unlockables, were simply collectibles or nice to have entities to me back in the day. But I now know that they were crucial arteries in a very creative narrative delivery system, a showcase of Kojima’s genius. They reframed missions I had already played, while relocating important exposition from cutscenes to player-driven discovery. It’s frankly something that I’m only beginning to see replicated in the current generation of games.

It made me see Skull Face and his attempt to create linguistic control as a kind of new warfare tactic in a new light. It made me see Big Boss as the one who betrayed me, just as he intended, and not Kojima, like I thought.

Indeed, Venom Snake is simply an extension of the player, a way for Kojima to weave his players into his plotline as the “phantom” of Big Boss. It locked the game’s purpose as a bridge to the first title in place, and in doing so, let me finally accept how its story was delivered to me.

The Pain Fades

These realizations are the reason why I now rank The Phantom Pain high among my favorite Metal Gear entries. It was meant to be incomplete to a player who refused to engage with it completely, a sort of way to convince said players to look past the “git gud” gatekeeping in other titles and truly engage with the games they wanted to play.

Although I still wish for a playable Big Boss segment in the game, and of course, the restoration of all the cut content from Episode 51, I can safely say I’m over my phantom pain. Those additions wouldn’t have mattered in the long run, considering that my closure came not from new content but from a new perspective.

I can’t say that the hurt I felt ten years ago wasn’t real, but looking back, it’s probably going to be what has convinced me to truly enjoy the games that I play. My phantom pain was a necessary step in my journey towards more fulfilling video games.

By finally understanding what The Phantom Pain was trying to teach me, I know that I’m going to look deeper into every future game that I play, and probably be extra alert if it’s one from Kojima! It’s time for me to dive back into The Phantom Pain and experience it the way that Kojima intended.

I just wish it hadn’t taken me ten years to get there.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organizati

But within the context of modern gaming, two of Kojima’s works stand out from the bunch – namely, 2015’s Metal Gear Solid and the recently released Death Stranding 2. Both of these games are the pinnacle of Kojima’s biggest franchises, so we thought it’d be a great idea to pit them against each other in different aspects and see which of them comes out on top.

Storytelling & Themes

Starting out with storytelling, Kojima has always resorted to an exposition heavy narrative structure where characters tend to take their merry time delivering monologues and introductions, and the complexities of the mission. Both Metal Gear Solid 5 and Death Stranding 2 employ this very style of storytelling, which comes with its own set of flaws. Death Stranding 2 feels like the right candidate for such a treatment rather than The Phantom Pain.

The primary reason for that disparity is that the world of Death Stranding 2 holds a long history with unique phenomena such as Beached Things, Timefall, and Extinction Entities, and explaining these things along with the technology involved, is absolutely necessary to make sense of what’s going on. On the other hand, Metal Gear Solid 5’s story revolves around the usual military stuff, along with a strong focus on discerning one’s identity, which could have been narrated in a more convenient manner. Don’t get us wrong, Metal Gear Solid 5 features a great story but unfortunately, most of it is hidden in tapes or is left up to the player’s interpretation so the way the plot unfolds is rather inconsistent.

Death Stranding 2 also does a great job of crafting a story where the themes resonate with the story on both a surface level and beyond. Embarking on long treks in a desolate land devoid of hope rekindles the feeling of being alone in a huge world, and as you slowly bring communities together, the fruits of your labour start to show in the form of new structures appearing throughout the world, new relations being built, and NPCs who often unexpectedly, begin to matter.

Metal Gear Solid 5, on the other hand, doesn’t have that strong of a synergy between what’s being told through the story and what’s being played in the open world. According to many players, the story actually suffered when the series made its shift to an open world setting. Death Stranding 2 feels much more connected in this regard with the story gelling well with the open world mechanics, resulting in a tighter narrative. This is a clear win for Kojima’s latest game.

Gameplay & Mechanics

Moving on to the gameplay and mechanics, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is literally a playground of possibilities. It’s a sandbox that gives you certain tools and a goal, but how you achieve that is very much up to you. You could be a madman and use brute force to stop anything in front of you, or be a ghost in the dark, or anything in between. The sheer breadth of tools at your disposal can be daunting at first glance, but experimenting with them is the core part of what makes Metal Gear Solid 5 so special. The game thrives on its systemic nature, meaning if you can conjure up any wondrous solution in your adventures, it’s very likely that with proper execution, it is quite possible.

When it comes to Death Stranding 2, many of these factors take a backseat as you are just a simple porter transporting cargo across places. But the beauty of Death Stranding 2 lies in how Kojima is able to make that simple act of going from A to B such an interesting affair, right from the ever-looming threat of BTs to environmental hazards and much more. But it’s a very slow burn, and that coupled with a mostly flat difficulty curve can make it a bit monotonous when compared to the dynamic and gratifying gameplay of Metal Gear Solid 5 and that puts this point in Metal Gear Solid 5’s favour.

Stealth Execution

In terms of the stealth execution, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain features a vast breadth of mechanics that intertwine with one another to create some stellar experiences. You can crawl through long grass, hide in cardboard boxes, or use tranquilizer darts to stun enemies – and much more. You can Fulton extract guards, shoot your rocket arm into your enemies, and mix and match different tactics to create the ultimate stealth strategies that are almost a form of player expression.

Death Stranding 2’s stealth mechanics also improve upon its predecessor in meaningful ways, but they still pale in comparison to the genius of Metal Gear Solid. Death Stranding 2 introduces new tools that help tailor your playstyle towards being stealthy, but it doesn’t manage to deliver the ultimate stealth experience as it doesn’t really align with its core vision. That said, it still provides a decent offering of stealth action with some amount of flexibility in how you choose to approach the situation. But in this case, it’s a clear win for MGS5.

Presentation & World Design

The world design of Metal Gear Solid 5 is all about enclosing different enemy encampments and facilities in a tightly constrained map, and while it works for the most part, it’s not the most engaging open world of the last generation. It serves its purpose, and the sandbox part of the world is absolutely amazing, but visually, it just pales in comparison to the post-apocalyptic beauty of Death Stranding 2.

The Decima Engine produces some stunning visuals, creating a visual dichotomy of a world that’s devoid of life yet somehow brimming with character. The map seamlessly transitions from grasslands to different terrains like tall peaks and deserts and much more, and everything from just the atmosphere to the level of detail is higher than what the 2015 classic offers. Clearly, Death Stranding 2 excels in the open world department.

Cast & Characters

Coming over to the cast and characters, it’s definitely going to be a break neck competition between the two. Kojima has a very distinct style when it comes to characters in his works as they operate on a precise wavelength between caricature and psychological depth, often blending over-the-top personalities with surprisingly human vulnerabilities, making his characters feel both surreal and deeply relatable.

These traits can be seen in both Death Stranding 2 and Metal Gear Solid 5, but Death Stranding 2 does take a slight lead thanks to a star studded cast that has done justice to the script. Metal Gear Solid 5’s story was a bit disjointed due to the way it was told, and one can see the cracks in how the character development arcs were laid out. You don’t play as Big Boss, and Venom Snake is mostly a mute character. Ocelot, Kaz and Huey do an admirable job, but Kojima’s latest is filled to the brim with a star studded cast. Thanks to this, we get some great performances captured with stunning attention to detail – and that alone nets a victory for Death Stranding 2.

Legacy and Replayability

Both Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid broke new ground with their respective first entries, with the former birthing an entirely new genre (the Social Strand System) while the latter defining the blueprint of what a modern stealth game should be. Although Death Stranding 1 sold quite well due to its sense of mystery, and Death Stranding 2 will also likely do well thanks to its critical reception, there is no doubt that Metal Gear Solid has amassed a massive fanbase and a strong legacy over the course of almost forty years.

Death Stranding 2 is without a shadow of doubt a fantastic game but it would likely appeal to a very specific set of audience. Metal Gear Solid 5, on the other hand represents the pinnacle of stealth genre, the last Kojima directed Metal Gear that pushed the series into new directions. MGS5’s replayability is also quite high especially with the systemic nature of the open-world and how the narrative starts to make a lot more sense on subsequent playthroughs.

So, another point awarded to Metal Gear Solid 5.

Conclusion

If you have been following along with the score line up until now, you would have noticed that we are sitting at a total of three points for each game – meaning no game turned out to be objectively better than the other. And that’s to be expected, of course, when comparing such excellent games coming from the same director.

Metal Gear Solid 5 is a lot more palatable to the average gamer thanks to an action-packed gameplay loop and the fun that comes from experimenting with the different tools on offer, while Death Stranding 2 leans more into creating a holistic experience with its philosophical themes in the narrative and the signature Strand-type gameplay. Each game has proven to be a very important piece of gaming technology, and deserves to be appreciated on its own terms.

Returnal

Rogue-like third-person shooter Returnal is relentlessly unforgiving, a game in which time is an agonising loop for astronaut Selene after she crash lands on the hostile alien world Atrophos. Otherworldly creatures stalk cadaverous biomes, hurling bioluminescent bullet hell between Selene’s scavenging for artifacts, resources, and ether. Its challenge can put players off but stick around and the accumulated muscle memory makes subsequent playthroughs a breeze. Returnal’s emotional narrative weighs heavier on successive runs too when the unfolding of events has already been discovered.

Cyberpunk 2077

Stuffing an open world with overabundant icons and waypoints usually hinders immersion, but Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City is such a superbly designed game, that constant signposting doesn’t affect the experience. It’s dense, labyrinthian, a steaming cesspool, gorgeous and bleak; its a city with many mysteries. Night City teaches us that regardless of cyber-genetic augmentation, its citizens are still people with thoughts and feelings. The same can be said of V, who through companions met during Night City’s plentiful and varied main missions often displays tenderness and empathy beyond their chrome. How V resolves side quests and the choices they make, it all impacts the conclusion to their story too.

]]> https://gamingbolt.com/15-games-everyone-wants-sequels-for Tue, 10 Dec 2024 19:19:19 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=606230 For whatever reason, there are numerous games with unresolved narratives. Others harboured neat ideas but executed them poorly. Perhaps, in this era of remakes and remasters – as welcome as it is – game developers should look to some of their existing IPs for inspiration. This feature aims to highlight 15 such games that deserve follow-ups.

The Order: 1886

Despite its frustrating overreliance on then-outdated QTEs, The Order: 1886 oozed style and atmosphere. It’s steampunk story set within a vampire-enriched Victorian London expressed deep imagination too. Perhaps its sky-high expectation was ultimately it’s undoing but there’s enough here to warrant a sequel. Interestingly, developer Ready at Dawn have since been acquired by Meta, and Sony themselves renewed the IP as recently as December 2021 – a VR sequel, then, surely isn’t out of the question.

]]> https://gamingbolt.com/metal-gear-series-sells-62-1-million-units Thu, 31 Oct 2024 16:00:49 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=602964 The Metal Gear franchise is on the comeback trail, but even though we’re still not quite at the point of its comeback just yet, the series is continuing to see sustained sales, as per updated sales figures shared by Konami on its official corporate website.

As per Konami, as of the end of September, the Metal Gear series has collectively sold 62.1 million units. As of August last year, the series’ sales stood at 60 million units, which means it has sold an additional 2.1 million units since then. One would assume that the majority of those sales were for Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, which launched in October last year.

Metal Gear fans also have upcoming MGS3 remake Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, which is in development for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, but doesn’t yet have a release date. Additionally, Konami also seems to have plans for a second Master Collection. Read more on that through here.

“I edit and create the promotional videos myself,” wrote Kojima. “Trailers, key visuals, package, I do all of that too. Concepts, layouts, checking, all that. I worked directly with Kyle on the MGSV logo. I always work in-house, without outsourcing to PR agencies or outside agencies. For me, the ‘game’ I create is not just the game. It includes everything. That’s my style.”

Kojima then followed this post up with another one, describing all of his work on Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain as being part of his role, including “not all, but most of the merch too.”

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain was the last mainline entry in the Metal Gear series, with later releases being either spinoffs like Metal Gear Survive, or remasters of older titles, like Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1. The Phantom Pain had an infamously difficult development period, leading to various side-effects, including cut content, and Kojima’s departure from Konami.

Konami itself is currently working on a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, titled Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. For more details on the remake, here are 10 things we recently learned about it.

I edit and create the promotional videos myself. Trailers, key visuals, package, I do all of that too. Concepts, layouts, checking, all that. I worked directly with Kyle on the MGSV logo. I always work in-house, without outsourcing to PR agencies or outside agencies. For me, the… pic.twitter.com/ue8pLnu2AD

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) September 1, 2024

It’s tough to do all these while making the game at the same time, but I believe these are all part of my works. Not all, but most of the merch too. https://t.co/202srsIENL

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) September 1, 2024