Hideo Kojima’s games can be a bit confusing for some people, but he perfectly explained the crux of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain a decade ago. Metal Gear Solid is one of the most respected video game franchises out there, thanks to how unique and innovative it is. It tells one big story spanning across multiple decades and eras of warfare, with Kojima’s philosophies at the center of each entry. It’s an extremely anti-war and anti-nuclear franchise, even going as far as tasking players with achieving nuclear disarmament themselves in Metal Gear Solid 5 through its online mode. It’s a franchise that feels like it really has something to say while also being deeply entertaining and fun to play.
With that said, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain turned 10 earlier this week. It’s the last mainline game in the franchise and the last Metal Gear game that Hideo Kojima ever worked on. While he intended for it to be the end of the Metal Gear story, a troubled development led to him exiting (or being ousted) from his studio and led to a somewhat compromised game. Nevertheless, despite it being deemed as “unfinished” by some fans, it is still one of the best stealth-action games out there and has a remarkably compelling story, even with its flaws.
When Metal Gear Solid 5 was released, some fans were caught off guard by a menu that let you make your own custom character at the start of the game. You’re playing as Big Boss, why would you need to make a character? It seemed to be for the game’s online portion, but why was it at the start of the game’s story? It was a mystery that the player would likely put in the back of their mind until the end of the game. That’s when it’s revealed that you were never playing as Big Boss, you were playing as Venom Snake, a custom character double that was surgically altered and brainwashed into believing he really was the legend himself.
Venom Snake is actually a medic who was onboard the helicopter that injured Big Boss in the events of Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes. Venom Snake was used as a cover to allow the real Big Boss to go and carry out his own mission without attracting too much attention. It’s a really mind-bending twist, but one that had big implications on Metal Gear Solid games that take place later in the timeline, such as Metal Gear Solid 4. Some fans were left confused and even a bit annoyed at the whole “it was never really Big Boss!” twist, but Kojima explained the story in a way that makes a lot of sense shortly after launch.
Hideo Kojima Explains Metal Gear Solid 5‘s Story
In a tweet in September 2015, Kojima said the following: “[Metal Gear Solid 5] liberates Snake from the bonds of fate, and by passing the baton to the player—who was previously bound to Snake—they can bring the legend full circle. This parting of ways should not become some phantom pain, but an empty space that, by remaining unfilled, serves as motivation for the player to move forward.”
It’s essentially Kojima’s way of saying that this was the end of the Metal Gear Solid story and one that empowers the player themselves in the end. The player becomes their own legend for being directly part of the story as Venom Snake, before it’s time for everyone to ultimately move on. The end isn’t meant to be filled by another chapter or idea, but allow fans to sit in the emptiness of the finality of this saga and eventually move on from it.
With that said, it’s interesting to reflect on this statement now. Konami just remade Metal Gear Solid 3 and seems to be open to making even more Metal Gear games. Whether or not Konami wants to do more stories with Big Boss or Solid Snake remains to be seen, but it seems like that franchise will likely be resurrected with a brand new game in the future, whether Kojima wants that to happen or not. Some have resisted the idea of a Kojima-less Metal Gear Solid game, but money talks, and Konami is going to listen to it.
What did you think of Metal Gear Solid 5? Let me know in the comments.