Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain hasn’t evaded the public eye since first being teased in 2012, mostly in part to the tumultuous relations between series creator Hideo Kojima and publisher Konami. With Kojima’s name being removed from box art to the dissolution of his studio Kojima Productions into Konami altogether, we’re left with a lot of unanswered questions. Putting the bad stuff aside, however, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has done nothing but wow the community, even during those moments of uncertainty for Kojima. This year, The Phantom Pain will launch, Kojima’s current-gen evolution of this venerable series. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain might very well be the last great Metal Gear game, but the planets are aligned to make it a fitting finale to one of gaming’s most legendary series.

If you played Ground Zeroes, you’ll know what to expect with The Phantom Pain…just expect much, much more. Ground Zeroes was a fleeting look at what Metal Gear Solid could do in an open world, and with The Phantom Pain, the scope is only opened further. From the skyline alone, complex after complex is open. The possibilities for stealth are no longer restricted by linear level geometry; you have a world, not just a level. The day-to-night cycle will also open up alternative situations; using the cover of night to sneak around has its advantages, but the dynamic world means that opportunities are time-sensitive. The game will change as you play it and you’ll need to keep pace.

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But Snake isn’t going to do it alone. With an expansive arsenal of items and weapons, along with various teammates that can assist in fights, Snake’s repertoire is extensive. This is a game that is sure to offer new things with every new playthrough. You can even use the Fulton balloon to drop in or drop out essential items, weapons, or even living creatures. With the entire world opened up, you’ll need every bit of help you can get. The Phantom Pain is a test of wit in addition to stealth, and Kojima Productions are offering so much awesome tech to use when scouring the huge world for targets.

And we can’t forget the multiplayer. Metal Gear Online is getting an enormous makeover for The Phantom Pain. Stealth is the name of the game, with all of the bells and whistles you’d expect from a single-player Metal Gear, but with friends and rivals. Use toy dogs as distractions. Target enemies with a Fulton balloon, then shoot them out of the sky. The open world delivers so much more to work with than past incarnations of Metal Gear Online, so expect the same opportunity of single-player to be richly crafted for the brand new multiplayer. Don’t forget to snap a selfie when you can, of course.

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Kojima’s brainchild has moved from a chapter to a volume in gaming’s history books, and hearing of his departure from Konami doesn’t leave too much confidence for the series. If things continue to go this way, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain could be the last Metal Gear game, as least as we know it. So it’s only fitting that this installment delivers upon a promise decades in the making: that Metal Gear will always be something special. From an ambitious reach into the open world to its next-generation technology at work to being that potential missing link where Big Boss moved from hero to villain, everything is set in place for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain to be the bang that the series will go out with. This could be Kojima’s true farewell to this series, and if this quality stays true, there won’t be a trace of disappointment left standing. Bring it on.