Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is likely going to go down as Hideo Kojima’s final-ever MGS title. The director has since moved on to create Kojima Productions, but an interesting social media post from him seemingly reaffirms a long-standing theory.
The Phantom Pain is still an unbelievable Metal Gear Solid game. Its open nature and complete freedom and flexibility to complete MGS missions in all-new ways were another evolutionary step forward for the series. If you’ve played it, though, you’ll know the game’s final official moments are abrupt and, dare I say, unfinished?
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain Is An “Unfinished Masterpiece”
Hideo Kojima has been quick to distance himself from his former work in recent times—he won’t play Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. After all, why wouldn’t he? Death Stranding 2 is another acclaimed piece of media, and Kojima is busy working on OD and Physint.
But a September 3 post from Kojima seems to highlight and double down on the notion that Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain was incomplete when it was released. Kojima natively posted an article by Inverse to his X account: “10 Years Later, Hideo Kojima’s Unfinished Masterpiece Is Still Influencing Games Today.”
This is likely Kojima hinting at the theory that a whole chapter was missing at the end of The Phantom Pain. Kojima and Konami infamously fell out toward the end of The Phantom Pain’s development, and necessary missions and storytelling ended up on the cutting-room floor.
The Phantom Pain’s original Collector’s Edition notoriously featured concept art and footage of the unfinished episode, which supposedly wrapped up the game’s story. To this day, The Phantom Pain is considered an incomplete and unfinished game, which is unfortunate, as it’s probably the last piece of Kojima-created MGS content we’ll ever get.
10 Years Later, Hideo Kojima’s Unfinished Masterpiece Is Still Influencing Games Today inverse.com/gaming/metal-g…
Do you still enjoy The Phantom Pain even with its missing content? Are you still hoping and praying that Kojima makes another MGS title one day? Let us know through the Insider Gaming forum.
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Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
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