Are We Already Playing the Next Metal Gear Game?

The Video Game Awards took place last week and outside of confirming that Geoff Keighly deserves more than just weekly YouTube shows, there weren’t many surprises. The notable moments of the night came down to game previews including two guys trying to have fun playing the next Zelda and the intriguing lunacy that is Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding. The show actually kicked off with a touching tribute to Kojima you really should check out here. And we get it, Hideo is adored by gamers for good reason, he’s been beaten down by insane forces, and for gamers following the disappointment of PT or MGS Pachenko, Death Stranding starts to feel like a victory to a game we didn’t know we were playing.

We’re starting to wonder if we’re already playing the next Metal Gear.

Ingredient 1: An Unstoppable Army Gone Rogue

Let’s break this apart a bit. In every Metal Gear game the story starts with an all-powerful enemy, typically a PMC or small army that’s seemingly gone rogue. In this story, it’s hard not to view Konami in the same light. After all the company that defined our childhoods’ with arcade games like The Simpsons or TMNT has managed to recast itself as the villains of the gaming community. They have been comically horrible to Hideo Kojima again and again and have all but abandoned serious game development. They even made Metal Gear Pachinko… Pachinko!

It’s not enough to lose your games, but to see them morphed into something like this is just salt in the wound.

Ingredient 2: A Self-Less Solitary Hero

So now that we have an enemy force we need to define the protagonist. Norman Reedus seems to be channeling Snake’s gruff gravitas (replacing an eye patch with Daryl Dixon’s signature floppy hair), but obviously the hero of this one is Hideo Kojima himself. An anti-hero that refuses awards and is forced to work alone by his commanders. This really isn’t much of a stretch – after all he’s become a character in his own games already.

So we kinda feel bad we still haven’t rescued him in our game. It’s a friggin’ long game!

Ingredient #3: Unpredictable Lunacy Disguised as Plot

Transplanted arms that alter personalities, nanomachine enhanced super villains, freaking vampires, the Metal Gear games abandoned reality decades ago. We’ve learned at this point to not try to make sense of it, just enjoy the ride as it will be hard to forget. Similarly it’s hard not to watch the continued drama unfold among Konami, Hideo Kojima, and the collective gamer community. PT unceremoniously appeared on the PSN store and quickly became a coveted prized possession for those that managed to keep it before Konami forced Sony to yank it. Guillermo Del Toro publicly stated he was done with games and suddenly appears in the latest Death Stranding teaser. Our past Snake is now president (at least on TV but oddly fitting after the mess of Solidus and the Patriots). It’s been an exceptionally twisty ride for Hideo Kojima and team and one of the most intriguing stories to follow for the last couple of years.

It’s time where for a movie where president Kiefer yells orders at a Kiefer Jack Bauer to bring down a Kiefer Big Boss

Now I’m not saying this is all one elaborate alternate reality game (ARG) or artistic Joaquim Phoenix inspired long con. But years of MGS games have conditioned me to see these connections (forced as they may be). Whatever the case, the good news is that it appears as though this story may end on a good note. Despite fighting his own company and having his properties forced out of his hands, Hideo’s clearly landed on his feet and with a sizeable amount of gamers eager to support his next game. And he I thought getting radiated into oblivion at the end of MGS4 was the most challenging thing a protagonist would have to endure.

It looks f-ing insane, but we can’t wait to play it and couldn’t be happier for Hideo