The Phantom Pain, announced at last year’s Video Game Awards as a new game by Moby Dick Studios, put together with the previously announced Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, is in fact Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain by Kojima Productions, studio boss Hideo Kojima revealed at his Game Developers Conference panel today.
Kojima entered the stage as Joakim Mogren, wearing bandages around his head, just as the man in The Phantom Pain trailer.
“The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes put together is Metal Gear Solid V,” said Kojima.
A lengthy trailer was shown, featuring scenes of Snake in his Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain attire.
“The trailer itself is all real time. And since today our session is about the FOX Engine, I’d like to show you a little something that’s actually moving,” he added. “The Phantom Pain is an open-world game, but in the beginning, as an introduction and tutorial, it’s more of an on-rails game in order to understand the controls and system overall.
“The tutorial itself is a sequence where Snake wakes up from a coma after nine years and is all of a sudden attacked by an unknown enemy, and has to escape the hospital. So since he’s been in a coma for nine years, Snake has lost many of his movement capabilities. So you start off crawling, standing up to gain composure, and that’s the on-rails game we’re showing today. And everything’s running on PC right now.”
Kojima proceeded to show the gameplay demo, where Snake and the bandaged man named Ishmael attempt to escape the hospital. Watch it below.
“From thereon out, Snake will be able to walk free in the open world wherever he wants to,” concluded Kojima.
In a tweet following the event, Kojima attempted to clear any confusion that may still be surrounding the title.
“Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is a prologue of Metal Gear Solid V,” he said. “Nine years after that event will be The Phantom Pain. Metal Gear Solid V is constructed with a prologue [Ground Zeroes] and the main game The Phantom Pain. The gameplay demo I presented today is the opening of The Phantom Pain, which is a tutorial that starts from crawling.”
To put it clearly: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has a prologue called Ground Zeroes and a main game called The Phantom Pain.
In related news, it appears David Hayter, the voice of Solid Snake since Metal Gear Solid, will not be reprising his role in Metal Gear Solid V.
Metal Gear Solid V is planned for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Visit the game’s official website here. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery.
