Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain

🎮 Steam ⏳ 135 hours ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

Bold Open-World Reinvention #

This Metal Gear Solid entry stands as both a technical marvel and a divisive milestone in this legendary stealth series. It marked a bold leap into open-world design, moving away from the series’ traditionally linear structure. Set during the Cold War era in the mid-1980s, players assume the role of Venom Snake as he rebuilds the private army “Diamond Dogs” and seeks revenge against those who destroyed his previous base. The story begins with an explosive hospital escape sequence, setting a dramatic tone that gradually gives way to a more player-driven, sandbox-style experience.

Unmatched Tactical Freedom #

What immediately sets this title apart is its incredible gameplay freedom. Every mission unfolds like a tactical puzzle with countless possible solutions. You can infiltrate outposts at night using tranquilizers and stealth camouflage, or storm enemy camps with air support and heavy weapons. The tools at your disposal, from Fulton extraction devices and decoy dummies to vehicles, companions, and custom-built weapons, encourage experimentation. The AI responds dynamically to your tactics: use too many headshots, and enemies start wearing helmets; rely on night missions, and they’ll deploy flashlights and night-vision gear.

Adaptive Systems & Progression #

This adaptive challenge keeps the experience fresh and constantly evolving, and this was an impressive feat at the time, especially because of the saturated stealth mechanics of the triple A titles at the time, this ended up setting new standards for this genre. The Mother Base system adds another layer of depth, connecting the your fieldwork to broader management gameplay. And personally speaking, I’m not a big fan of base-building mechanics in general, but this didn’t get in m way in any way, so if you also don’t like those, I don’t think you’ll get bothered by it. Soldiers captured in the field can be recruited, resources gathered can be used to expand facilities, and new technologies can be developed to enhance your arsenal.

Stunning World Design #

This sense of progression gives real purpose to exploration and side operations, making even smaller missions feel rewarding. Combined with the game’s smooth, responsive controls and top-tier stealth mechanics, this videogame delivers one of the most refined gameplay loops ever seen in the genre. Visually, the game is stunning, the Fox Engine enables beautiful lighting, realistic animations, and seamless transitions between environments. Whether sneaking through the rocky deserts of Afghanistan or the humid jungles of Central Africa, each location feels alive and detailed.

Strong Gameplay, Weak Story #

The inclusion of licensed 1980s music, which you can play from a Walkman during missions, adds nostalgic personality and helps lighten the often serious tone. However, the game’s narrative doesn’t live up to its mechanical brilliance. While the early chapters are filled with intrigue, emotional moments, and classic Metal Gear eccentricity, the story loses focus toward the end. Many plotlines feel unfinished, and some key revelations are delivered abruptly or through optional cassette tapes rather than cinematic cutscenes. Particularly, the worst example is the Liquid Snake side-mission, which presents us with this iconic character in the franchise, just to not finish it’s story-line.

Cut Content & Repetition #

A lot of people were particularly disappointed by the lack of a proper ending and the omission of certain missions that were reportedly cut before release. This results in a lingering sense that The Phantom Pain was never truly completed, despite its remarkable polish elsewhere. Repetition is another issue that surfaces in the later stages. As the narrative pacing slows, you are often asked to replay earlier missions with new conditions or higher difficulty settings. While this does highlight the game’s flexible mission design, it can also feel like artificial padding.

Masterclass in Stealth Design #

Nevertheless, even repeated missions remain engaging thanks to the depth of the underlying systems and the sheer number of ways each encounter can play out. Despite these shortcomings, this game remains a masterclass in open-world game design. It successfully blends stealth, strategy, and action into a cohesive, highly replayable experience that rewards your creativity at every turn. Its mechanics are so refined that many consider it one of the best stealth-action games ever made, even if its narrative doesn’t provide the emotional or thematic closure fans hoped for.

Bittersweet Mechanical Masterpiece #

A lot of people, including myself, consider this to be the ultimate stealth and espionage game of all time, there is little to no game that can even come close to the depth of the mechanics this title introduced, it is simply the ultimate sandbox of this genre. Ultimately, this MGS entry is a bittersweet masterpiece, an unfinished epic whose gameplay excellence overshadows its incomplete story. It represents both the peak of mechanical design and the limits of creative freedom within a major studio production. It still remains as one of the best games of all time, through almost all of it’s mechanics and the story it is trying to convey, this is truly a must-play masterpiece in gaming.