Kojima’s New Spy Game Means Metal Gear Solid Can’t Play It Safe Anymore

Hideo Kojima’s next espionage-action game, Physint, is going to be intentionally distinct from Metal Gear Solid, despite what fantasies some fans may harbor. This change in direction isn’t exactly hard to predict—Kojima’s first post-MGS game was Death Stranding, which is wildly different from Metal Gear in every way. But the famed game-maker said as much himself on a recent episode of his KOJI10 podcast. In reference to Physint and Metal Gear, Kojima had this to say about the former: “It’s about spies, but I want plenty of new ideas and a different kind of spy action. It’s quite different.”

It will certainly be interesting to see how Physint differs from the Metal Gear games, especially now that we know ever so slightly more about it. For example, we know that it stars Don Lee, Bill Skarsgard, and Charlee Fraser, and that it could have something to do with physical sensation or emotion (the game’s enigmatic key art is paired with the phrase “here comes the feeling.” As always, Kojima’s work remains exciting to watch unfold. But it’s also worth thinking about how Physint, with all of its likely departures from Metal Gear convention, will impact the Metal Gear Solid franchise itself, whether Kojima returns to it or not.

Metal Gear Solid Still Has to Define Itself Post-Kojima

At the time of writing, Konami has yet to officially confirm another Metal Gear Solid game, but I’ll eat my hat if it doesn’t come eventually. Metal Gear is simply too valuable a property for Konami to ignore, and while remakes like Snake Eater can get players in the door, a proper step forward is what will actually reinvigorate the IP and prolong its profitability. This is why Resident Evil‘s approach has been so successful: the Resident Evil remakes revise the series’ older work, while the new mainline entries continue to push the narrative and gameplay forward.

Physint might serve as extra motivation in this respect. As Kojima returns to the broader espionage genre, questions and discussions about Metal Gear are basically inevitable, and Konami will have to respond. And sure, releases like Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and the Legacy Collection tide fans over, but they also send a clear message that more Metal Gear is on the way. With the Metal Gear creator himself circling back to his roots, demand and discussion around Metal Gear will continue to grow.

This will leave Konami with a few important decisions to make, since any new Metal Gear game is going to naturally be compared to Physint, whether that’s fair or not. On the one hand, the company could take this opportunity to return to Metal Gear‘s fundamentals—if Kojima is trying something notably different with Physint, then Konami has an easy opportunity to provide a “classic” Metal Gear experience in response. This is arguably the most elegant outcome, since it would basically allow for distinct “pockets” within the stealth genre. Kojima could continue making weird, experimental spy thrillers, whereas Konami could double-down on Metal Gear‘s action-movie antics, learning from the almost two decades of Metal Gear games released before Kojima’s departure. In theory, this would make everyone happy.

But Metal Gear has never been about simplicity or predictability, as just about any long-time fan will tell you. Metal Gear reinvents itself with every entry, and while a return to [insert your favorite Metal Gear entry here]’s gameplay could work well, it would also be unfortunately pedestrian for a franchise that’s prided itself on bold ingenuity for so long. If Konami and Kojima are going to well and truly compete in the stealth-action space, Konami is going to need to bring out the big guns.

I’m far from the first person to point out that Konami is going to have a hard time continuing Metal Gear without Kojima. There’s the lack of his creative influence, of course, but also the social and professional aspects: many former Metal Gear alumni will more than likely not return to the franchise unless Kojima were involved in some way. This is to say nothing of the Kojima fanbase, which I can very easily see boycotting a non-Kojima Metal Gear. Some of us still remember Metal Gear Survive, after all.

You can analyze Metal Gear to death if you want, identifying all of its greatest mechanical and narrative strengths and reverse-engineering them for a technically original project, but this would be an exceedingly boring next chapter in a historically eccentric series. There’s also the very real possibility that Konami won’t be able to live up to the legacy of Metal Gear Solid, and trying to emulate previous entries would only highlight that. Basically, if the next Metal Gear game feels in any way like the Snake Eater remake, it will be pretty disappointing, to the extent that it could actually have a negative impact on the franchise’s commercial success.

Konami’s best option might be to step out of the Kojima-san arena entirely. This doesn’t mean never touching Metal Gear—Konami owns the franchise rights and can do whatever it wants with them—but it could mean striving for a genuinely new or experimental take on the series. It would be relatively easy to plop Metal Gear Solid 5‘s incredible gameplay into a new map and story, but it would be all the more impressive, and send a better message, if Konami were able to recreate the surprising and forward-thinking design that Kojima has become so prized for.

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Xbox Game Studios