Metal Gear is back, sans Hideo Kojima. During the first day of Gamescom 2016 on Wednesday, Konami took the wraps off Metal Gear Survive, a brand new stealth co-op survival game wherein four players can team up online and fight zombies through a wormhole. Yes, really.
The game takes place just after Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, with an alternate timeline to follow-up The Phantom Pain. The members of Militaires Sans Frontières who survived Ground Zeroes are sucked up into strange wormholes that have formed in the sky. They are transported to a desert landscape with half-formed buildings, where the soldiers must use brand new weapons to fight off hordes of enemies. The landscape is also said to contain the remnants of a once-strong military force.
“Metal Gear Survive will offer a fresh take on the series famed stealth elements, but within a unique co-op setting that is designed for a truly engrossing multiplayer experience,” Konami European president, Tomotada Tashiro, told IGN. Despite the change in tone to something that more resembles a horror shooter, Konami added that it is definitely “a new addition to the Metal Gear Solid V experience.”
It’s bold new territory for Konami. Series creator Kojima gave Metal Gear its unique blend of weirdness and awe, leaving big shoes to fill for any continuations. Since his bitter public divorce from Konami, Kojima’s been keeping busy, launching a new HideoTube YouTube channel and releasing a trailer for the now-independent Kojima Productions’ first game: Death Stranding, a bizarre gothic action game for PS4.
In many ways, Metal Gear Survive will be the proof that Konami doesn’t need Kojima to produce a good Metal Gear game. If it’s a success, that is. The game is coming to Xbox One, PC and PS4 in 2017.
