Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - Everything We Know So Far

6. The Plot

In a move to shine more of a light on the drastically underplayed Peace Walker, both MGS: Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain rely very heavily on the events and characters established therein. Ground Zeroes took the relationship mentioned in PW between young boy Chico and double-agent Paz, and made it into an actually rather disturbing tale of forced rape and abuse. So following Peace Walker, Big Boss has reconciled the events of that game and of Snake Eater and Ground Zeroes, realising that some of the worst atrocities he's seen so far are all happening relatively closely to one another in his life, having a big effect on how he carries and handles himself. Following an explosion caused by a seemingly rescued Paz jumping out of a helicopter to avoid taking everyone else with her, Boss wakes up from the aforementioned coma into a world where his best friend Kazuhira Miller has been taken hostage by enemy forces. In addition to this it would appear from what we've seen in the trailers that Boss doesn't take the news of his amputated arm or shrapnel-infused head very lightly, instead retreating into himself and barely uttering a word to anyone. Almost everyone he knows has been killed or has betrayed him (or is about to betray him in Miller's case, thanks to an easter egg in Peace Walker alluding to him working for the shadowy Patriots), instead it appears that he slightly loses touch on his place in the world as a decorated soldier, and instead focusses on establishing his own private army. P.S. The Metal Gear lore is very complicated, and Kojima himself has said he's having trouble writing an instalment that takes place in between other games, so please feel free to clarify points in the comments below.