Is More Metal Gear A Good Thing?

With the release of Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater, there’s been a renewed discussion about the future of the franchise. While we’ve had the Master Collection Vol. 1 (with Vol. 2 on the horizon) for a while, it never felt like it perpetuated the series, more so keeping up with the modern trend of remasters and rereleases. Since the release of Snake Eater, though, there’s been discussion on a potential future for the franchise, and I want to talk about whether or not this is a good idea.

The main point everyone brings up against the thought of new Metal Gear games is the lack of Hideo Kojima, and a couple of years ago, I’d have said the same thing. Kojima brings a very distinct style to his games, seen in both the Metal Gear titles under his direction and Death Stranding, and losing this would be a pretty big loss. I say this, but we’ve already had some solid Metal Gear games without Hideo Kojima behind the wheel. Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel, Portable Ops, Acid 1 and 2, and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance are all games not led by Kojima and manage to be genuinely interesting and solid entries to the franchise. While it’s obviously missing the directorial flair many have come to love, they’re interesting entries to the franchise nonetheless.

Ghost Babel takes the classic Metal Gear structure as seen in the MSX titles and translates it into a format more suitable for the Game Boy. It’s surprisingly playable, and while I’m not a huge fan of the classic games’ gameplay, it’s hard to deny that it feels at home here. The story manages to be pretty engaging despite its implied simplicity. Characters and themes remain consistent with those from the prior games. It’s a really impressive title, and one that’s often ignored due to Kojima not being in the director’s chair.

The Metal Gear Acid duology are some of the more interesting and inventive titles, but they do fall flat on some execution. Acid and Acid 2 are both turn-based strategy games, with heavy stealth elements. It’s a weird direction to take the series, but isn’t that exactly what a spinoff should be? It explores some unique gameplay ideas, while putting forth a story which keeps a surprising amount of Kojima’s trademark weird ideas and flair.

Kojima wasn’t completely uninvolved with these, being on board as a producer, but Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has Kojima nowhere to be seen in the credits, and I think it understands the DNA of Metal Gear better than most. It’s a genuinely fantastic follow-up to the themes and ideas that Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty presented, and it takes Raiden’s character in a direction that I find far more fitting than what happened throughout Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

What I want to highlight is the idea that Kojima isn’t the glue that holds the franchise together; while I love his style, there are so many more people involved in the development of these games. Not all games without Kojima landed well: Metal Gear Survive is a pretty awful time, but even while he was still at Konami, Metal Gear Solid 4 was incredibly divisive, and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has some severe issues in the storytelling department.

Metal Gear has always been a wildly varied franchise, and Kojima may have been the key player in the mainline series; there have always been underdogs working to create some interesting titles in the series, even if they never found as much appeal to wider audiences. I think more Metal Gear is absolutely a good thing as long as they try to make something new and interesting that carries on the themes and ideas of Metal Gear (or even a couple more remakes).