Metal Gear Solid 5 Adding Non-Linear Replay Value

When you hear Metal Gear Solid, “open world” and “non-linear” aren’t exactly terms that come to mind. The massively popular stealth series has leaned on its powerful narrative flourishes and close-quarters tactics to remain relevant over time, but Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is going for something a bit different on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A new interview with series creator Hideo Kojima from Inside Games (via DualShockers) explains the new features of this sequel.

“In some missions there are ‘No Kill, No Alert’ challenges, and all those challenges are connected by social [rankings] and can be played any number of times,” Kojima said. “In addition to that, even in the same mission there will be different situations, like different ways to attack and different weather conditions.

“Everything you do will eventually be evaluated at the base. For example, if you bring back the wrong target in a hostage rescue and you should do it again to improve your result. That’s the (non-linear) replay value due to the freedom enhanced by an open world.”

Metal Gear Solid 5 might have similar jokes and characters from what we’ve seen in the past, but this latest adventure is taking at least a few chances. The voice actor for the protagonist has been changed (much to the chagrin of the fanbase) and as stated above, there will be plenty of reply value for the missions. The Phantom Pain is a Metal Gear game by name, but don’t expect the same old tricks when the project launches down the road.