Metal Gear Survive | |
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Developer(s) | Konami Digital Entertainment |
Publisher(s) | Konami |
Director(s) | Yota Tsutsumizaki |
Producer(s) |
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Designer(s) |
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Programmer(s) | Kazuhide Hatsuyama |
Artist(s) |
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Writer(s) |
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Series | Metal Gear |
Engine | Fox Engine |
Platform(s) | |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Survival |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Metal Gear Survive is a 2018 survival game developed by Konami Digital Entertainment and published by Konami. The game was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in February 2018. It is the first Metal Gear game to be developed following the series' creator Hideo Kojima's departure from Konami in late 2015, and the first since 1990's Snake's Revenge to be made without Kojima's input. [1] [2] Survive takes place between the events of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain , and follows the Captain, an MSF soldier who enters a parallel dimension and establishes a local command center to unravel the mysteries of a strange virus that turns people into zombie-like creatures.
Pre-release reception of Metal Gear Survive was generally negative, in response to its design and recent business decisions from Konami. Upon release, the game received mixed reviews from critics. Due to its low sales within the Metal Gear series, the game was considered to have underperformed commercially.
Metal Gear Survive is a survival action-adventure game with tower defense elements and minor stealth mechanics, played from a third-person perspective. It features a cooperative multiplayer mode, in which the player can be joined by up to three other players to complete missions.
A large portion of the gameplay consists of the player exploring the world which is mostly covered by "The Dust", a mysterious toxic cloud that obstructs vision, disables the in-game map, and requires the player to monitor their oxygen level. Players venture out to gather resources such as food and crafting materials as well as to activate the various portal generators scattered throughout the map. These generators serve as the game's fast-travel system and are each unlocked by completing a tower-defence segment. Metal Gear Survive tasks players with managing thirst and hunger by scavenging for water and hunting animals for food. Players can then return to base camp in order to cook food and later purify water for safe drinking. There is also an injury system, which requires players to use different medical supplies to heal ailments such as bleeding or food poisoning.
The main enemies of Survive are crystalline zombie-like creatures called "Wanderers", with many variants introduced as the story progresses. The enemies in Survive can be overcome using either stealth or a large variety of weapons and gadgets earned gradually through finding crafting recipes or broken weapons. Players begin with access to melee weapons such as spears, machetes, and shock-batons. Eventually, bows with several kinds of arrows and firearms such as pistols, shotguns, and sniper rifles are acquired. Due to the difficulty of attacking enemies head-on, players are encouraged to use a device that allows them to erect various fences, barricades and other structures. Available gadgets include grenades, Molotov cocktails, decoys, automated gun turrets, and a plethora of traps. Killing enemies earns players "Kuban Energy", the game's currency that can be used to level up and acquire new skills. After completing the main story, four additional "sub-classes" are unlocked which have their own set of skills gained by leveling up. Class skills range from straight stat bonuses, special attacks, mobility skills, and even stealth camouflage.
Players are able to upgrade their base camp by building defences, advanced crafting stations, farms, animal cages, and rainwater collectors. Other survivors can be rescued from The Dust to provide the base camp with support staff. Base staff can also be organized into an exploration team and sent out to automatically acquire resources. Eventually, players can initiate a tower defence segment at base camp, allowing them to defend against attacks and earn rewards. Players are able to purchase "Survive Coins" which can be used to unlock various features such as a resource booster, base defender, emotes, additional exploration teams and additional load-out slots beyond the initial four. Players can unlock character slots which act as the game's New Game Plus mode. Survive Coins can be earned as in-game rewards and login bonuses as well.
Following the Ground Zeroes Incident, the surviving MSF members bury their dead, aided by the UN. A UN member takes the body of a soldier, who had avoided being sucked into a wormhole that had opened above Mother Base shortly after the incident but had severed their arm when it closed.
Months later, the soldier awakens in a Wardenclyffe Section facility, a government research group investigating organisms and wormholes. The UN member, Goodluck, a chief researcher, enlists the soldier to enter a wormhole to Dite, another dimension. The soldier was chosen due to the Mother Base wormhole infecting him with an organism from Dite, restoring their arm but putting them at risk of becoming a zombie-like Wanderer. Goodluck dubs the soldier "Captain", and instructs them to find a cure and to rescue others transported to Dite through wormholes.
In Dite, the Captain makes their way to Base Camp, allying with Reeve, an XOF soldier sucked into the Mother Base wormhole. They find Base Camp abandoned except for Virgil AT-9, an artificial intelligence from the Charon Corps, an investigation team previously sent to Dite. Following an emergency shutdown upon their disappearance, Virgil remained dormant and its memory was partially lost. The Captain rescues several human survivors, including a boy called Chris.
Virgil eventually generates a wormhole to transport the group back to Earth, but cannot maintain it without Iris, a source of energy. They are contacted by Joseph Gruen, head of Wardenclyffe Section, claiming that Goodluck acted against orders in orchestrating the Captain's mission, before committing suicide. A black box within Virgil supports this, but Gruen vows to bring the group home. With enough Iris energy, the wormhole is opened but Gruen demands maximum energy output, attracting the Lord of Dust, a huge creature. The group is forced to enter and close the wormhole before it can follow. They are transported to a forested area of Dite instead of Earth and deduce Gruen desired the Lord of Dust to use for its vast source of energy. Goodluck instructs them to find a weapon to destroy the creature.
The Captain rescues an MSF soldier, Seth, from a Corps survivor, Dan. The group assumes Dan caused the Corps' disappearance. The Captain locates the weapon, a Metal Gear, but is confronted by Dan, who allies himself with the group. Seth betrays them, revealing that after being sucked into the Mother Base wormhole, he was taken in by the Charon Corps. He then allowed himself to become infected by the Dust, causing their dissolution. Seth transforms into a Wanderer, forcing the Captain to kill him.
Virgil reveals that he had become infected whilst Seth was with the Corps and quarantined its programming with the emergency shutdown. However, contact with Seth reversed these countermeasures, giving Virgil access to its data. He reveals that Dite is Earth in the 22nd century, caused by the Lord of Dust. Formed from energy and self-replicating nanomachines, the Lord of Dust feeds off of Iris energy and creates wormholes to transport matter to consume. Once Dite is ravaged, the Lord of Dust transports itself back in time to start the process again, causing a time loop.
Securing the Metal Gear, the group remains to destroy the Lord of Dust, but Chris is chosen to be the one to return to Earth. Attracting the Lord of Dust, the survivors use the Metal Gear to trap it, while Chris goes through the wormhole, promising to rescue them. From here, the story has two endings depending on the player's actions. If the player follows Chris, the Captain abandons the survivors and goes through the wormhole. The Lord of Dust escapes the trap and the remaining survivors are presumed dead. The Captain re-emerges in a desert dressed in their MSF uniform, picks up a photograph that appeared next to them, and wanders off. [lower-alpha 1] If the player stays, the Captain fires on the Lord of Dust using the Metal Gear, but only maims it before it reforms. A final message from Goodluck explains that he failed them; he is revealed to be Chris, having gone through the wormhole and ending up in 1943. Having worked his way into Wardenclyffe Section, he made his recordings for the Charon Corps and potential survivors to receive in the hope they could destroy the Lord of Dust.
Having no notion of death, the Lord of Dust is unable to be killed. Virgil enters the creature and introduces it to the concept, having created its own understanding from experience. The Captain uses the Metal Gear to destroy the Lord of Dust.
An after-credits scene shows a damaged Virgil launching from the Lord of Dust's body and returning to Base Camp, explaining to the Captain that it is still functional and will be able to continue assisting them in their mission.
In an alternate timeline, Gruen reprimands Goodluck for his mistake that the next wormhole was predicted to open above Mother Base. Goodluck deduces that the survivors have destroyed the Lord of Dust and reaffirms his vows to bring them home.
Metal Gear Survive was announced on 16 August 2016 during Gamescom 2016. [1] It was not the first time the concept of a zombie game was toyed with, as Hideo Kojima said on 29 April 2013 that he always wanted to make one during Metal Gear Solid V's development, [4] and Kojima reportedly requested to Platinum Games that the sequel to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance have Gray Fox fighting against nanomachine-empowered zombies. [5] The game's development was hinted at on 17 December 2015, when Konami started recruiting for a new Metal Gear development staff. [6] The game uses the Fox Engine. [1]
Konami Europe president Tomotada Tashiro described Metal Gear Survive as a "fresh take on the series' famed stealth elements", with a "unique co-op setting that is designed for a truly engrossing multiplayer experience." [1]
In an interview with Dengeki PlayStation , the development staff stated that the player is able to customize their character, use several weapons, and develop their own equipment to suit their play style. They also stated that while it is possible to stealthily maneuver around enemies when playing solo, it is much more difficult taking on waves of them compared to co-op play. [7]
At Tokyo Game Show (TGS) in September 2016, a demo revealed that the Fulton Cannon would make an appearance. The player can optionally retrieve the creatures for resource building, acquire resource building, heal themselves on the main menu, and the player can develop various things from collected resources, from defensive measures to offensive measures. The players can also split up. [8]
During a stage presentation at TGS 2016, Hideo Kojima was asked if he had anything to do with Metal Gear Survive. He stated that the game had "nothing to do with [him]," the Metal Gear series is about "political fiction and espionage", and zombies do not fit into his vision of the series, despite his previous remarks concerning a sequel to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance with zombies. Yoji Shinkawa also stated that he was not involved with the game. He jokingly said that Metal Gear Survive would even have mechs if he worked on it. [9]
Metal Gear Survive was released on 20 February 2018 in North America, 21 February 2018 in Japan, and 22 February 2018 in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. [10] [11]
Aggregator | Score |
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Metacritic | (PC) 54/100 [12] (PS4) 60/100 [13] (XONE) 62/100 [14] |
Publication | Score |
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Destructoid | 5/10 [15] |
Electronic Gaming Monthly | 7/10 [16] |
Famitsu | 34/40 [17] |
Game Informer | 6/10 [18] |
GameRevolution | [19] |
GameSpot | 5/10 [20] |
Giant Bomb | [21] |
IGN | 6.5/10 [22] |
PC Gamer (UK) | 59/100 [23] |
Polygon | 5.5/10 [24] |
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (February 2018) |
Metal Gear Survive received a generally negative response following its announcement, in part due to the controversies surrounding Konami's recent business decisions and Kojima's departure from the company. Complaints focused on the game's genre and theme (being branded as "generic" as it revolved around fighting zombie-like enemies through co-op and multiplayer), recycled assets from Metal Gear Solid V, microtransactions, constant internet connection requirement and the departure from the general feel of previous Metal Gear games. [25] [26] [27] [28]
Metal Gear Survive received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. [12] [13] [14]
In Japan, the PlayStation 4 version of Metal Gear Survive sold 31,359 units within its first week on sale, placing it at number three on the all format sales chart, [29] and number one on the digital sales charts. [30] In the United Kingdom, the game debuted at sixth place in the all format sales chart, selling 85% fewer units than Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance , and 95% fewer units than Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain . [31]
As of 2018, Konami's earnings report did not mention Survive's total sales, unlike the previous entries in the series and other games made by the company. [32] [33] [34] Critics ultimately deemed the game as having underperformed in sales. [35] [36] [37]
Metal Gear Solid is an action-adventure stealth video game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation in 1998. It was directed, produced, and written by Hideo Kojima, and follows the MSX2 video games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, which Kojima also worked on. It was unveiled at the 1996 Tokyo Game Show and then demonstrated at trade shows including the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo; its Japanese release was originally planned for late 1997, before being delayed to 1998.
Konami Group Corporation, commonly known as Konami, is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. It has casinos around the world, and operates health and physical fitness clubs across Japan.
Hideo Kojima is a Japanese video game designer. He is regarded as an auteur of video games. He developed a strong passion for film and literature during his childhood and adolescence. In 1986, he was hired by Konami, for which he designed and wrote Metal Gear (1987) for the MSX2, a game that laid the foundations for stealth games and the Metal Gear series, his best known and most appreciated works. At Konami, he also produced the Zone of the Enders series, as well as wrote and designed Snatcher (1988) and Policenauts (1994), graphic adventure games regarded for their cinematic presentation.
Metal Gear is a franchise of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, Metal Gear, was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operative, who is assigned the task of finding the titular superweapon, "Metal Gear", a bipedal walking tank with the ability to launch nuclear weapons.
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is a 1990 action-adventure stealth video game developed and published by Konami for the MSX2 computer platform. It serves as a sequel to the MSX2 version of the original Metal Gear, written and designed by series's creator Hideo Kojima, who conceived the game in response to Snake's Revenge, a separately-produced sequel that was being developed at the time for the NES specifically for the North American and European markets. The MSX2 version of Solid Snake was only released in Japan, although Kojima would later direct another sequel titled Metal Gear Solid, which was released worldwide for the PlayStation in 1998 to critical acclaim. This later led to Solid Snake being re-released alongside the original Metal Gear as additional content in the Subsistence version of Metal Gear Solid 3 for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. It was also included in the HD remastered ports of Metal Gear Solid 3 released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and Xbox 360, and was given a standalone re-release in Japan as a downloadable game for mobile phones and the Wii Virtual Console.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is a 2001 action-adventure stealth video game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2. Originally released on November 13, it is the fourth Metal Gear game produced by Hideo Kojima, the seventh overall game in the series and is a sequel to Metal Gear Solid (1998). An expanded edition, titled Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, was released the following year for Xbox and Windows in addition to the PlayStation 2. A remastered version of the game, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - HD Edition, was later included in the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PlayStation Vita. The HD Edition of the game was included in the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 compilation for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S, which was released on October 24, 2023.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is a 2004 action-adventure stealth video game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2. It was released in late 2004 in North America and Japan, and in early 2005 in Europe and Australia. It was the fifth Metal Gear game written and directed by Hideo Kojima and serves as a prequel to the entire Metal Gear series. An expanded edition, titled Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, was released in Japan in late 2005, then in North America, Europe and Australia in 2006. A remastered version of the game, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - HD Edition, was later included in the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PlayStation Vita, while a reworked version, titled Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2012. The HD Edition of the game was included on the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 compilation for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on October 24, 2023. The same year, Konami announced a remake, entitled Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, set to release for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S in 2024.
Raiden, real name Jack, is a character and one of the protagonists of Konami's Metal Gear series of action-adventure stealth video games. Created by Hideo Kojima and designed by Yoji Shinkawa, Raiden was introduced in the series as the main player character of the 2001 game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. In Metal Gear Solid 2, he appears to be a member of the U.S. special operations unit FOXHOUND and is participating in his first mission against terrorists. Despite coming across as a young rookie, he is later revealed to have been a child soldier in his native Liberia. Raiden also appears as a supporting character in the 2008 game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, in which he is assisting the series' main protagonist Solid Snake in his fight against Revolver Ocelot's forces. He is also the main character of the 2013 game Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, in which he is dealing with his past and his present life as a combatant who faces enemies from private military companies.
Policenauts is a graphic adventure game developed and published by Konami. It was written and directed by Hideo Kojima, and originally released for the PC-9821 in 1994. A hard science fiction story, Policenauts is set in the mid 21st century and follows Jonathan Ingram, an astronaut recently recovered floating in space in cryosleep after an accident at a space colony sent him drifting into space for 24 years. Now a detective in Los Angeles, Ingram travels back to the colony to investigate the murder of his ex-wife and her husband's disappearance. As he begins his investigation, he starts to uncover an illegal organ trafficking ring.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a 2008 action-adventure stealth video game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 3. It is the sixth Metal Gear game directed by Hideo Kojima. Set five years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the story centers around a prematurely aged Solid Snake, now known as Old Snake, as he goes on one last mission to assassinate his nemesis Liquid Snake, who now inhabits the body of his former henchman Revolver Ocelot under the guise of Liquid Ocelot, before he takes control of the Sons of the Patriots, an A.I. system that controls the activities of PMCs worldwide. The game was released on June 12, 2008.
Kojima Productions Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game development studio founded in 2015 by Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series. It is the spiritual successor to a production team inside Konami also known as Kojima Productions originally founded in 2005. The independent Kojima Productions has a slightly altered Japanese name and is based in Shinagawa, Tokyo.
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, officially abbreviated MPO, is a 2006 action-adventure stealth video game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation Portable. The game was directed by Masahiro Yamamoto and written by Gakuto Mikumo, with series creator Hideo Kojima acting as producer.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Konami. It was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in February 2013, Windows and OS X in January and September 2014, and Nvidia Shield TV in January 2016. It is a spin-off in the Metal Gear series, set four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It features returning Metal Gear character Raiden as he confronts a private military company that intends to destabilize peaceful nations for profit. The gameplay focuses on fighting enemies using a sword and other weapons to perform combos and counterattacks. Through the use of "Blade Mode", Raiden can dismember enemies in slow motion and steal health items from their bodies. The series' usual stealth elements are also optional, serving as a means to avoid combat. Two downloadable content chapters were also released set before the games' beginning centered around Raiden's enemies.
Metal Gear is an action-adventure stealth video game developed and published by Konami for the MSX2. It was released for the system in Japan and parts of Europe in 1987. Considered to have popularized the stealth game genre, it was the first video game to be fully developed by Hideo Kojima, who would go on to direct most of the games that followed in the Metal Gear series. A reworked port of the game was released for the Famicom a few months later, which later saw release in international markets for the NES over the following two years; this version was developed without Kojima's involvement and features drastically altered level designs, among other changes.
The Fox Engine was a proprietary game engine by Konami. The engine's development began with Hideo Kojima after the completion of 2008's Metal Gear Solid 4, with the goal of making the "best engine in the world." The first commercially released title to use the Fox Engine was Pro Evolution Soccer 2014.
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Snatcher is a cyberpunk graphic adventure game developed and published by Konami. It was written and designed by Hideo Kojima and first released in 1988 for the PC-8801 and MSX2 in Japan. Snatcher is set in a future East Asian metropolis where humanoid robots dubbed "Snatchers" have been discovered killing humans and replacing them in society. The game follows Gillian Seed, an amnesiac who joins an anti-Snatcher agency in search of his past. Gameplay takes place primarily through a menu-based interface through which the player can choose to examine items, search rooms, speak to characters, explore a semi-open world, and perform other actions.