Metal Gear Survive

Platform(s)

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC^[1]

Release date(s)

Early 2018^[2]

Genre(s)

Survival action

Mode(s)

Single-player, multiplayer^[3]

Release chronology
Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience

Metal Gear Survive is an upcoming co-op survival action game by Konami Digital Entertainment. It is the first Metal Gear game to be developed since Hideo Kojima's departure from Konami in late 2015,^[1]^[4] as well as the second Metal Gear-related project to be conducted since the same time period (the first being a pachislot adaptation of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater).^[5]

Plot

Following the evacuation of Big Boss and Kazuhira Miller from the besieged Mother Base, a wormhole opens in the sky and absorbs the offshore plant as well the remaining MSF soldiers. The soldiers are transported to an alternate reality along with the remains of Mother Base, to find the world full of hostile, crystalline zombie-like entities known simply as "creatures."^[1] Their goal is to find materials and do anything they can to just go back to their own world. In order to find these materials, the survivors must work together to kill the "creatures" and explore around their surroundings.

Development

Metal Gear Survive was first announced on August 16, 2016 during the Gamescom 2016 event.^[1] However, this was not the first time the concept of a zombie game was toyed with, as Hideo Kojima admitted on April 29, 2013 that he always wanted to make one during Metal Gear Solid V's development,^[6] and Kojima reportedly requested to PlatinumGames that the sequel to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance have Gray Fox fighting against nanomachine-empowered zombies.^[7] The game's development was first hinted at on December 17, 2015 when Konami started recruiting for a new Metal Gear development staff.^[8]

Konami Europe president Tomotada Tashiro described Metal Gear Survive as a "fresh take on the series' famed stealth elements", all with a "unique co-op setting that is designed for a truly engrossing multiplayer experience."^[1]

Konami USA replied to a fan on Reddit, in which they stated that Metal Gear Survive would have an option for those who prefer to play solo. They continued, stating that the game's story "should be considered as a parallel story." They also stated the same team that worked on Metal Gear Solid V was working on Metal Gear Survive.^[3]

In an interview with Dengeki PlayStation, the development staff stated that the player would be able to customize their character, use several weapons, and develop their own equipment to suit their play style. They also stated that while it would be possible to stealthly maneuver around enemies when playing solo, it would be much more difficult taking on waves of them compared to co-op play.^[9]

On September 14, 2016, it was announced that Metal Gear Survive would be given a stage demo showing at Tokyo Game Show 2016, specifically on Saturday, September 17, at 16:15 JST (9:15 CET, 00:15 PST, 3:15 EST), and that there would be a new announcement from Konami relating to the game. It was also announced that the demo would be livestreamed during the event.^[10]^[11] The demo revealed that the Fulton Cannon would make an appearance, that the player could optionally retrieve the creatures for resource building, they could acquire resource building, that they could heal themselves on the main menu, and that the player could develop various things from collected resources, from defensive measures to offensive measures. Finally, players could also split up.^[12]

During a stage presentation at TGS 2016, Hideo Kojima was asked if he had anything to do with Metal Gear Survive. He stated that the game had "nothing to do with [him]," the Metal Gear series is about "political fiction and espionage,” and zombies don't fit into his vision of the series. Yoji Shinkawa also stated that he wasn't involved with the game. He jokingly said that Metal Gear Survive would have mechs if he worked on it.^[13]

There was little information since TGS 2016 revealed about Metal Gear Survive. However, on April 4, 2017, Konami revealed that they would showcase a new trailer and playable demo of the game at E3 2017.^[14] On May 23, IGN indicated that new information might be revealed at the event.^[15] In addition, the fiscal year review made it clear that the game was still in development.^[16] On June 10, the Metal Gear Twitter account posted that they were going to be holding a showing for Survive,^[17] On June 13, it announced that set up for the gameplay area was nearly complete, and that they would cover new details to the press the next day.^[18]^[19] Leaked screenshots for the E3 showing revealed that Walker Gears were to make a comeback, the loadout screen, using the creatures as Fulton balloon traps to pin them down and take them out easily, the return of supply boxes, and life-sized versions of the in-game cobbled-together weapons, including a large machete, a bow quiver, a spear, what approximately resembled a war hammer, a shotgun, and what was presumably a flamethrower. It also revealed some new enemies such as a grey humanoid enemy with a massively swollen head.^[20] Konami revealed that its release date was moved to Early 2018.^[2]