Hideo Kojima's stories are not known for their grounded nature. His most recent work, the open-world adventure title Death Stranding, continues this trend, being more nonsensical than his past legendary franchise Metal Gear Solid. When comparing the two, once ridiculous concepts from the latter now seem coherent, as the following list will show.
This isn't meant as a dig towards Death Stranding, either. The game deals with themes regarding the afterlife and the fate of the Universe. Leaps in logic are required in order for a plot like this to be told. At the end of the day, the story still showcases its message about connections brilliantly, just not in a way that makes sense.
10 Peace Walker As A Nuclear Deterrent
Peace Walker saw Snake in Costa Rica fighting the CIA as they planned to enact their plan for peace which involved the world being at the mercy of nuclear annihilation. This scheme isn't far off from what went down in history.
Some theorize the only thing which prevented the United States and the Soviet Union from engaging in an all out war with each other was the threat of nuclear war. The game argues, however, that this was not real peace. Considering the amount of proxy wars and the culture of fear permeating the United States at the time, it's easy to agree.
9 The Patriots
The idea of an Illuminati controlling society from behind the scenes isn't unique to the franchise. Metal Gear Solid 2 also implies such a group's existence as unavoidable when a world gets big and complex enough.
This entry came out in 2001, right as the Internet was making its way into everyone's homes. The government's ability to store a user's data and check all their information makes a group like the Patriots sound all the more believable every day. It's no wonder the title stands the test of time as one of the best games of the last twenty years.
8 Outer Heaven
One principle thematic difference between Metal Gear and Death Stranding is the characters in the former constantly trying to escape a system, while the latter is about bringing people back together.
With Outer Heaven in Metal Gear, Big Boss wished to establish independence from the rest of the world using nuclear superiority. At this time in the lore, nuclear weapons had been effaced from the planet.
7 The Sons/Clones Of Big Boss
Back in 1998 when Metal Gear Solid first came out, cloning animals was already done. The Extinction Entity from Death Stranding cannot even explain its own existence or even its own motivation.
At least cloning is a possibility. With the way tech is going, it seems more possible to get synthetic humans like replicants in Blade Runner before true genetic copies.
6 Vocal Cord Parasites
Some bemoaned Metal Gear Solid V's plot twists, including this vocal cord parasite. While such a creature may not exist, it is not so far fetched considering the types of bizarre parasites and ailments floating out in the world.
If a bug which eats and replaces a fish's tongue exists, why does something which kills people when they speak a certain feel ridiculous? Illnesses and viruses change behaviors and personalities, there's no telling exactly what any type of sickness can do to a person. Additionally, Viruses have been weaponized in the past.
5 The Philosophers
The Philosophers are the earliest thing in the Metal Gear lore which deviates it from our world history. After World War I, all the world powers formed this secret group to ensure a conflict of that magnitude wouldn't break out again.
Obviously the group fell apart. With groups like the United Nations and the League of Nations prior, something like this is certainly in the realm of reality. The secrecy is the only principle difference.
4 Skull Face's Opposition To The Patriots
Skull Face is far too evil to be sympathetic, but he makes some good points. As the world gets closer together, cultures, customs, and languages disappear. How many first generation Americans know their ancestral homeland's language?
Throughout modern history, many nations around the world strove for independence from foreign powers and influence, to varying degrees of success. It's not a strictly western phenomenon, either. Territories within the Soviet Union fought for their own freedom several times.
3 The Boss's Mission In Snake Eater
Tensions between the east and west during the Cold War were constantly at a breaking point. It's easy to believe a mission like the Boss's occurring in the early 1960s. After Volgin set off the Davy Crockett missile in the jungle, the United States was forced to prove their innocence in the matter, lest war break out between the two nations.
The Boss went undercover as a scapegoat, knowing full well she wouldn't make it out alive. MGS 3 is often seen as a highlight of the series because of its connection to world history and accessibility for newcomers to the series. Its plot doesn't rely on the pre-established lore.
2 Venom Snake
The protagonist of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain isn't the Big Boss everybody played as in the other prequels. He is an MSF nurse made to look like the legendary soldier. The character believes this as well, and doesn't find out until the end of the game.
Themes about identity stretch all the way back to Metal Gear Solid 2. Some decry this twist and the heavy foreshadowing, but it's more believable than a random explosion dooming humanity or the utilization of unborn children to detect monsters roaming the uninhabitable plains between cities and doomsday shelters.
1 Solid Snake's Advanced Aging
The biggest twist of Metal Gear Solid 4's trailers was the revelation of Old Snake. The game goes on to explain this not as an unintended result of the cloning process, but as a feature done to prevent the clone from falling into the wrong hands; an insurance policy.
Snake was made as a weapon, and his creators weren't concerned with his humanity. It makes sense for an organization producing cutting edge technology to install fail-safes in the event of a security breach.