Hideo Kojimas complex saga starring the iconic Snake returns with more open-world exploration and online multiplayer action in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Set in 1984, nine years after the events of Ground Zeroes, the action finds Snake in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan attempting to track down the mysterious Cipher intelligence network that sent him into a coma, and rescue his friend Kazuhira Miller from Soviet forces. Metal Gear Online 3 is also included in The Phantom Pain to let up to 16 gamers compete in a variety of multiplayer modes on large, open maps.

The Phantom Pain continues the franchises signature stealth-action gameplay, with players possessing maps, binoculars, and the beloved cardboard box to avoid detection, and non-lethal weapons like tranquilizer darts to end conflicts quietly. Of course, some encounters require a more violent resolution, and Snake is once again equipped with powerful weapons, grenades, and close-quarters combat skills. The expanded open-world environments open up new gameplay options, including traveling on horseback, scaling rock faces, requesting helicopter support, and getting help from new AI allies like Quiet the sniper, and the trained wolf D.D.

Realistic day/night cycles and weather patterns have been introduced to give the action more variety, and several features from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker have been resurrected and upgraded in The Phantom Pain. Players can once again build a home base and use resources they collect while exploring to upgrade Snakes weapons and abilities, and the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system returns to let gamers transport items, animals, vehicles, and captured foes back to the base.