I apologise to all Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory fans out there, but Metal Gear Solid 5 is the greatest stealth game ever made. I’ve been on a bit of a nostalgic bender in recent weeks when it comes to Hideo Kojima’s beloved series. I started by waxing lyrical about Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and how it is in desperate need of a modern remaster, and now here I am prepared to sing the praises of what will always be an unfinished masterpiece.

The Phantom Pain is a strange game. It was initially revealed as a completely different title from the fictional Moby Dick Studios, with Hideo Kojima taking us all for a fairly obvious ride after claiming he had left this property behind for good. The creative genius saw one final gap in the timeline he needed to fill, but the project ultimately proved too ambitious for its own good and saw Kojima’s relationship with Konami fall apart before its completion.

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Leaks would reveal entire regions and chapters cut from the final product, which would have explained lingering plot threads and an original ending which came out of nowhere. Metal Gear Solid 5 was set to be much grander, hiding an adventure set far beyond the plains of Africa and deserts of Afghanistan. But it wasn’t meant to be, and the game we all fell in love with was achieving a mere fragment of its full potential. Yet it still slaps so fucking hard.

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Hideo Kojima was dealing with a hostile publisher who was pulling his team’s game apart at the seams in order to launch in some form of finished state, and it’s still downright masterful. Everything about it is mechanically focused and aesthetically nuanced, and not a single thing feels out of place or without purpose. Big Boss moves about each environment with a pace that provides the perfect cadence to use all manner of gadgets in whatever ways you like.

Given how The Phantom Pain opens, the versatility of its open world and mission design is something that comes as quite a surprise. After the events of Ground Zeroes, Big Boss finds himself in a coma for a number of years in a mysterious European hospital. He is for some reason in the same room as Kiefer Sutherland, who is around to help us escape as an army of mercenaries storms the facility and start murdering everyone in cold blood. It’s unsettling, with the opening taking its time to showcase myriad morbid sights as we hide amidst piles of corpses and struggle to regain our footing after years trapped in bed. We feel unsafe and unable to defend ourselves, a far cry from the hardened supersoldier we will soon become.

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The opening hours are slow and melodic, dripping with all the overwrought exposition and melodrama we’ve all come to expect from Hideo Kojima. References across the series are thrown out constantly, with newcomers left confused in the dust. A new baddie is introduced, giant mechs are teased, and it’s all absolute nonsense. It’s wonderful, and sold with a level of seriousness that you can’t help but feel invested in. Kojima’s approach to cutscene direction and comedic style is also masterful, even if Quiet’s ‘breathing through her skin’ nudity bullshit still makes me roll my eyes. Everything else works though, and once you’re out in the open world, its true brilliance rears its head.

It takes a while to gather all the necessary equipment that incentivise freedom, and some earlier missions are short, sweet, and designed to teach you the ropes, but once the training wheels are off there still isn’t an open world quite like Metal Gear Solid 5. Big Boss controls beautifully and can switch between weapons and gadgets so seamlessly that setting up chaotic situations to take advantage of never gets old. I can decide to plant some C4 beneath a watch tower, causing it to explode and land on a patrolling jeep as it kills everyone inside. Meanwhile, a fellow soldier has seen this tragedy unfold, but I’ve set another trap to prevent him from alerting his friends and calling for reinforcements. I’m already in a small bunker filled with unconscious guards, having forced information out of them regarding my objective. Every decision I make is a piece moving across the board, a symphony that can adapt to the situation if I’m caught, require new equipment, or have to make a quick escape.

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This isn’t a situation where I’ve gone out of my way to utilise some of the game’s systems, almost every encounter unfolds with a similar level of mechanical freedom where toying with equipment both new and familiar is endlessly satisfying. Metal Gear Solid 5 has an extensive selection of weapons and gadgets for the player to make use of - many of which you never will - but all of them can play an important role in each mission depending on what loadout you opt for and how exactly that might fold into the coming destruction. Or stealth, but to be honest I’m the sort of superspy who relishes being caught because I get to kill everyone.

But that’s where the slow motion aiming response comes in. The game understands that being caught and having everything go to shit is a natural part of trying to be stealthy. As we learn, some guard will inevitably catch wind of our shenanigans or walk around the corner at the wrong time as we’re throwing his mate’s corpse onto a landmine. These things happen, and whenever you’re caught the action will enter a brief bout of slow motion, giving you a chance to respond with a swift headshot, hurling a grenade, or engaging in a cheeky bit of CQC (that’s close quarters combat for you non-gamers out there) before getting the hell out of dodge. Metal Gear Solid has always catered to this discordant pace, but The Phantom Pain is the first time the series has ever really embraced. It is so good.

My favourite thing is to launch into a simple retrieval mission but instead spend hours roaming the open world in search of patrolling enemies and random outposts. You won’t find many built-up settlements outside the main campaign, but there is still so much joy to be found in formulating slaughter with a selection of tools or sneaking into a hostile camp to retrieve valuable loot without harming a soul. Any and all approaches work, and you’re never punished for trying something new or thinking outside the cardboard box.

I could be here for hours recounting memories or cheering about the beauty of everything Metal Gear Solid 5 manages to achieve, but that would be a disservice to the moments that are still yet to play out. No single person will play this game the same way, opting to take a different approach as they come to love certain weapons and equipment that they take with them everywhere. You might opt for a horse, or become a nomadic sniper with nothing but a trusty canine by your side. I seldom took companions into battle and never took prisoners, instead morphing into a ruthless killer when the situation called for bloodshed. So often it devolves into unintentional hilarity too, with ample slapstick and infantile humour folded into an action blockbuster that is otherwise very serious. I’m not sure if we will ever get a stealth game like this again, so I’m glad the series’ ended with a flawed masterpiece like no other.

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