There’s no escaping the oddness of Metal Gear, even if you run into the craggy hills of Afghanistan. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain seems set up for contemporary burnout - a formerly narrow stealth game adopting an open-world format - but somehow comes out as true to its stealthy heart as it’s ever been. It’s undeniably a bigger-than-ever piece of Metal Gear, balancing its overwrought philosophy with cutting-edge technology and extravagantly detailed game systems that govern movement, enemies and subterfuge.
Despite its sprawling freedom, Metal Gear Solid 5 is especially good at creating a tight loop of sneaking in and getting out of a million missions - leaving plenty of room for things to go right or oh-so-wrong in-between. The more cycles you complete and the more you build up your home base, the more you see the ways in which each run can splinter into different scenarios and challenges. The devil is in the details, and he goes by the name of Hideo Kojima.