No, Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes is Not Linear

Just because you might be able to complete Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes in two hours, doesn’t mean that the game is linear like past entries in the series. The upcoming downloadable prequel to The Phantom Pain is an open-world experience that breaks away from what we’ve seen from past tactical espionage games, and series creator Hideo Kojima recently took to Twitter to stress that fact in light of recent fan concern over the game’s length.

“Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes includes the main mission alongside five side ops,” he said in a statement. “All missions include elements such as Trial Records, where players can compete against each other online.

“This is not a linear game like [in] the past. Ground Zeroes offers freedom of approach and play style, which we hope players will enjoy over and over again without boring [them].

“I believe people will be satisfied with the play time of Ground Zeroes and will not stress the Clear Time, which is a standard for linear games.”

You might be able to see the end of the main campaign of Ground Zeroes in a short period of time, but Kojima is at least arguing that there’s plenty more to see in the soon-to-be-released appetizer.