It's been just over nine years since the release of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Painthe latest game in the venerable action-stealth franchise directed by its creator, Hideo Kojima. A lot happened in that time for Kojima: he founded his own independent studio, released in 2019 death strandedhe watched a ton of movies and pretty much did whatever he wanted, not to mention all the celebrities he befriended and digitally scanned their fictional worlds along the way.
But there's still something Kojima hasn't accomplished yet: making a real horror game. Your next game overdoseAnnounced last year, it appears to be just that: a psychological horror game starring Hunter Schafer, with written contributions from Hollywood horror auteur Jordan Peele, no less! However, it doesn't look like we'll be seeing much of that game in the near future, or at least not before. Death Stranding 2: On the beach will be released sometime next year. Meanwhile, if you've ever wondered what it would be like if Kojima In fact applied his sensibility as a game designer to the horror genre, I highly recommend that you replay the initial mission of The phantom pain“Prologue: Awakening.”
Image: Konami
If you're reading this, you're probably already familiar with the opening moments of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. It's also likely that, given the aforementioned time since the game was released, you haven't played it in a while. So here's some background on the level's premise before we get into the reasons why I think you should play it.
The phantom pain takes place after the events of 2014 Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zero. Players take on the role of Snake, a former CIA agent turned mercenary for hire, who wakes up in a hospital bed in Cyprus nine years after surviving a near-fatal helicopter crash. He has lost his left arm and his body is riddled with human bone fragments and shrapnel, so it is understandable that he is a little worse for wear, not to mention the fact that he suffers from a minor case of amnesia and his muscles have deteriorated after almost a decade. involuntary bed rest.
Things quickly go from bad to worse when the hospital is attacked by an army of soldiers who proceed to indiscriminately massacre both staff and civilian patients, presumably as part of a mission to exterminate their real target: you. After being rescued from the brink of death by Ishmael, a mysterious patient with a heavily bandaged face, the two of you are forced to work together to find a way to escape the hospital alive.
Image: Konami
If you're a die-hard Metal Gear fan, you'll know that there are actually shape There is more behind this whole situation than meets the eye. As interesting (and downright baffling) as all those details are and how they fit into the broader Metal Gear universe, they're beside the point of why I think you should play this particular Metal Gear mission. The phantom pain this Halloween. And that reason, pure and simple, is because it's a fucking terrifying experience that blurs the line between implicitly psychological horror and outright supernatural horror.
For starters, you begin the mission with extremely limited mobility, crawling on your belly and dragging your limp right arm behind you as you lean against walls and objects, slipping off surfaces and crashing to the ground as your body betrays you. It's a frustrating and demoralizing experience, deliberately designed to place the player in the role of a man practically fighting against the inertia of his own body to survive. This is not the legendary soldier that fans of the series have come to know and love over the years. Or at least not yet.
As the mission progresses, Snake gradually regains control of his motor skills. As a result, the player slowly learns the basic mechanics of walking, running, crouching, and covertly sneaking around roving squads of heavily armed wet workers. As if that weren't enough, you're also stalked by what appears to be a red-haired psychic child wearing a straitjacket and a gas mask, as well as a terrifying flaming man hell-bent on finding and killing you. , to the Resident Evil 3The Nemesis.
Image: Konami
When playing for the first time, it seems impossible to understand what is real and what is not in this situation. Did Snake really survive the helicopter crash or is it hell? Is Ishmael really helping you escape, or is he simply a fabrication conjured from Snake's fractured psyche? Then there's the climactic horseback sequence of Snake and a mustachioed cowboy named Ocelot being chased by the Burning Man on a flaming horse. This may not be hell, but it sure seems like it.
Oh, and did I mention the scene where an attack helicopter gets swallowed by a whale dropped by that psychic kid? Again, it's best not to worry too much about what this all means within the broader scope of the Metal Gear universe. Simply enjoy the experience for what it is: a bewildering, terrifying and exhilarating fight for survival in a world that is both fantastical and macabre.
Image: Konami
Even after having described what happens in the game's initial mission, I wholeheartedly recommend that you play it yourself firsthand, if only to experience what I feel to this day remains one of the most memorable levels. and gruesome things that Hideo Kojima has created in a game. to date. As someone who loves the Metal Gear franchise, who loves survival horror games, and who loves Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom PainI wish there were more moments in The phantom pain That resembled the tense survival horror vibe of their initial mission.
It is important to mention that in 2014, in the middle of The phantom painDuring production, Kojima announced that his next project was supposed to be a Silent Hill game. silent hillswith Norman Reedus as the game's protagonist and Kojima's friend, director Guillermo del Toro, as co-director alongside him. As part of that game, Kojima Productions released a well-received “Playable Teaser” game, aptly named P.T.which was removed from the list almost immediately along with silent hills' cancellation in the wake of Konami's bitter year-long departure from Kojima following the release of The phantom pain.
Image: Konami
Reviewing the first mission of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain In 2024 it almost feels like looking into an alternate dimension, one in which Kojima's career took a completely different direction and death stranded It never happened. Team Bloober silent hill 2 Has the remake still existed in a world where Kojima had the chance to try his hand at the series? Would Kojima still have accomplished at least a fraction of what he's done since the release of The phantom pain If he hadn't left Konami? The answer is, of course, who knows? silent hills it never happened, and as a result, the course of the Silent Hill franchise and Kojima's career diverged in completely different directions.
The initial moments of The phantom pain I feel like Kojima was trying out ideas that he could have perfected later in a horror game like silent hillsif he had had the opportunity to bring that game to fruition. As bittersweet as it may seem, the fact is that Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Painhis first mission in particular, is a lasting testament to what Kojima can achieve when he truly puts his mind and talent to the challenge of creating an interactive experience that prioritizes psychological tension and horror over mere action spectacle. For all of those reasons and more, I think it's the perfect type of game to play during this year's spookiest season.