Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain isn’t the latest installment of the Metal Gear franchise. However, it is the last Metal Gear game that was directed, written, and designed by Hideo Kojima as he parted ways with Konami in 2015. The action-adventure stealth video game is widely regarded as one of the franchise’s best games, but it was Kojima’s efforts that made it special.
In one of his past interviews, Kojima made it clear that the game never encouraged violence as players can choose what they want to do. In terms of visual violence, Kojima explained that he never wanted to portray violence. Instead, he wanted to portray ‘what violence is.’
Hideo Kojima cleared this misconception about the violence in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
In a 2014 interview with Time, Hideo Kojima was asked how he balanced between realism and gratuitousness in terms of violence while working on the visuals of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Kojima replied,
“I’m not sure this will completely answer your question, but it’s not about the engine, it’s not about the graphical fidelity, because I’m not trying to portray violence. I’m trying to portray what is violence itself. So the relationship with the graphics isn’t too strong, I’m just trying to pose the question to the player through an interactive medium, ‘What is violence?'”
Kojima focused more on the events of the game rather than the violence itself. He explained that many games feature high-fidelity graphics, but they don’t acknowledge why the events are happening. He made it clear that his goal was to make the players question things while playing the game.
Hideo Kojima explained that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was never a violent game
In the interview, Kojima also added that violence is a part of the game but it is not necessary to progress in the game as the player chooses what to do,
“Metal Gear Solid is for the most part an infiltration game. You go somewhere, you execute your mission, then you go back. Those are your actions as the player. You choose what to do – things that question your morality and your values.”
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was Kojima’s last Metal Gear game as he left Konami in 2015. The game was praised for its gameplay, open world, graphics, themes, and performances. However, some users claimed that the game felt unfinished. Nonetheless, the game won several awards and is considered to be one of the greatest stealth games of all time.
