Hideo Kojima’s departure from Konami has left a massive hole in the stealth game genre. Although Assassin’s Creed, especially Mirage, exists, the Tactical Espionage franchise (yes, that’s the term Kojima prefers to be used to describe Metal Gear’s genre), is still the frontrunner of video games that specialize in seeing an armed-to-the-teeth genetically enhanced soldier sneak around and clear out entire bases with nothing but a knife, a camo suit, and a SOCOM Mark 23 variant.
So, you can imagine the size of the exclamation point that appeared on top of every fan’s head when Konami confirmed that it’s bringing back Metal Gear in a big way.
Last year, Konami announced the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1, which bundles seven Metal Gear games in a single package, including the updated HD versions of the first three Metal Gear Solid games. Additionally, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater was confirmed for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X. The long-rumored remake of what’s arguably Hideo Kojima’s best game has been in development for quite some time and is scheduled to be released later this year, as per Sony.
Between the upcoming release of the Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake and the presumed Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2, a rumored bundle that could finally bring Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot outside of the PlayStation 3, Metal Gear fans already have plenty to cheer for, right?
Apparently, if you believe the recent rumors, Konami still has one project brewing in their R&D department.
According to the Spanish website, Areajugones, while Metal Gear Solid Delta is still a “priority in the studio”, there’s still a remake of Metal Gear Solid that’s coming out after.
Chronologically, the Metal Gear timeline is as follows:
- 1964 – Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater / Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
- 1970 – Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
- 1974 – Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
- 1975 – Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
- 1984 – Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
- 1995 – Metal Gear
- 1999 – Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
- 2005 – Metal Gear Solid / Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
- 2007-2009 – Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- 2014 – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot
- 2018 – Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
The way that we see things playing out is that Konami is reviving Metal Gear from the start, with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. This way, new audiences aren’t immediately bombarded with decades’ worth of convoluted and politically spliced meta lore if Konami released a sequel instead. At the same time, it’s technically giving hardcore fans exactly what they want after the backlash that the Pachinko versions of Metal Gear Solid received a while back.
If we assume that Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2 is coming out in 2025, Konami will have made both Portable Ops and Peace Walker more accessible to newer and older fans alike.
This then leaves us with Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, which, to no one’s surprise, holds up extremely well on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Ideally, Konami would re-release it under a “Director’s Cut” edition for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X. Even if Konami removes the surprisingly good multiplayer feature, most wouldn’t mind hanging out with the Diamond Dogs again if it means a chance to finally find out what the fuss about Mission 51 is all about.
Even if Kojima is gone, the datamined files prove that there’s enough left in the game to create a couple of hours’ worth of new content.
By staggering the aforementioned releases every year, Konami would’ve bought itself more time to work on the remake of the first Metal Gear Solid, which it could then follow-up with Metal Gear Solid 2 and, hopefully, Metal Gear Solid 4.
The ending to Guns of the Patriot closed the chapter on the Metal Gear franchise, specifically, the story of the Big Boss. Thus, Konami doesn’t need to do a lot of heavy-lifting, at least narratively, by going this route. All it needs is to invest in giving the remakes of the first four Metal Gear Solid games a fresh coat of paint and watch as the money comes flowing in. As one of the best-selling video game franchises ever, Metal Gear still has a lot of pull among audiences, even without Kojima.
Of course, this is purely speculation, and only Konami knows what its plans are for Metal Gear going forward.
