There’s no easy way to venture into the world of Metal Gear because, on top of being overly complicated and convoluted, the series is also rife with retcons.
The good news is that you can approach this mission in a number of ways, so feel free to pick the one that feels like it’ll suit you best.
Route 3: Metal Gear Chronos
People who’ve never engaged with the series might feel like it could be a great idea to go about it in chronological order. That’s an option that longtime fans never had since Kojima at some point decided to go the prequel route.
This is your play order should you choose the chronological route:
- 1964 – Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater / Delta
- 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
- 2007/09 – Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- 2014 – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
- 2018 – Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (optional)
“This is how Kojima would’ve wanted you to play it,” they might think. They may be right, but that’s not necessarily the best way to experience the series.
Pros: You get to start with the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater — Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker — Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain trilogy. That’s likely the strongest three-game run in the history of the series.
Cons: Many might feel like it’s all downhill from then on.
The chronological approach doesn’t make the overarching plot any less convoluted, as games that came out earlier but take place later in the timeline don’t really connect with the stuff that Kojima injected via later prequels.
Another problem is how the series will culminate with either Metal Gear Solid 4, or Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance — depending on how mainline-focused your run will be — and both serve as extremely underwhelming conclusions to the series from a story standpoint.
Note: In this route, I’m ignoring the Metal Gear Acid series, Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, and Portable Ops. Acid is more of a novelty, and the other two aren’t canon.
Route 2: Metal Gear Release
This is your play order should you choose the release route:
- 1987 – Metal Gear
- 1990 – Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
- 1998 – Metal Gear Solid 1
- 2000 – Metal Gear: Ghost Babel (optional)
- 2001 – Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- 2004 – Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Metal Gear Acid, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
- 2005 – Metal Gear Acid 2, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (both optional)
- 2008 – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
- 2010 – Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
- 2013 – Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
- 2014 – Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
- 2015 – Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
- 2018 – Metal Gear Survive (optional)
- TBA: MGS3 Snake Eater Delta
Pros: Hideo Kojima is the clear creative force behind the series, so I’d argue we get more from following his evolution as a writer and creator than from following the series’ official chronology.
I don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll just vaguely say that many things just makes more sense this way. A good example is the Sahelanthropus. It kind of makes sense that the Sahelanthropus, the Metal Gear unit in MGSV, is much more powerful than any of the other Metal Gears in the franchise despite it being a chronologically ancient model. Longtime fans know that it doesn’t make sense, but this was the culmination of the Metal Gear Solid series, not the culmination of the timeline. We wanted to face off against the definitive Metal Gear, and that’s what we got.
Cons: The series will conclude with MGSV, which marks the series at its best gameplay-wise, but it won’t provide the fulfilling closure you’d expect after so many games. Sadly, the development of MGSV went through many issues, including the later departure of Kojima, and that resulted in the game never getting a proper ending.
Alternatively, players can risk concluding their run with Metal Gear Survive, as it is the latest release with the Metal Gear name in it. Just be warned that A) it features no story per se; and B) it’s disowned by many fans and Konami devs alike. That’s because Konami made it without the supervision of Kojima, and also because most people just think it’s not very good.
Route 1: Metal Gear Personal
Okay, I have already presented you with both mainstream options to play the series, so now I finally feel entitled to share my own.
I’d argue that the best way to experience the series is by engaging with it in release order, but you must also replace some of the unnecessary stuff with some cool secret stuff. I understand that this might feel disrespectful towards the series at first, but I believe that even most fans stand with me when I say that the series’ grandeur is its own greatest enemy. This series stands to achieve so much more by giving us less.
- 1 – Check out the plot of the two Metal Gear games on YouTube
- 2 – Metal Gear Solid (check out the game’s Briefing before venturing into Shadow Moses!)
- 3 – Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- 4 – Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
- 5 – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
- 6 – Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
- 7 – Rising: Revengeance (optional)
- 8 – Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
- 9 – Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
- 10 – Check out MGSV cut content on YouTube.
Then, finish it off by watching the hidden cutscene below.
Pros: You won’t miss out on any of the best moments that the series has to offer, and you’ll miss out on as much of the filler as you possibly can.
Cons: 100% of the completionists who take this route will go through great pain.
