Metal Gear Solid 5 Trailer Features Boxes and Sexism

Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima graced gamescom 2014 with his presence during Sony’s big presentation at the event, featuring the likes of his upcoming title, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.

The trailer showcased the game’s cardboard box mechanic, in which the game’s protagonist can hide in and perform a wide range of tricks to deceive his opponents. In the trailer below, you can watch as the box, which itself is an iconic part of the long-running stealth series, is upgraded with a host of new abilities that allows Snake to get more use out of. 

Players can pop in and out of the box and take down opponents in slow motion as they do so. They can also use items from within the box and slip out of the box, leaving it there as a decoy for the enemy AI to investigate.

Notably, the box displays a picture of a soldier which can trick enemies into thinking that the box is an ally, luring them close by until the player kills them at close range. The decoy ability also turns the box into a picture of a half-naked woman, which sends enemies sprinting towards the box, distracted by the view and allowing Snake to sneak past them.

Needless to say, the presentation is bound to ruffle a few feathers in its depiction of men as sex-crazed maniacs and women as objects to be ogled at. 

Watch the trailer below.