Phantom Pain has just turned 10 years since its initial launch in Japan on September 2, 2015. In the ever-changing world of gaming, a decade can easily be categorized as ‘ancient history’. Thus, it is intriguing to note that titles like these remain relevant for such a long period. While reminiscing about MSI memory, the official Metal Gear Twitter account brought a nostalgic reminder to fandom.
The anniversary tweet featured some fire and salute emojis, marking the event attempt in the simplest way. Yet, the rejoinders speak volumes. These replies are a cocktail of overwhelming optimism, a pinch of exasperation, and an ocean of begging for… something.
To begin with, players are admiring the game. This is evident from ITK5’s simple expression “still love this game” and Dalorian’s slightly elaborate “Love this game so much. Even today.” These statements are in alignment with the majority’s positive opinion towards the game. While the game is unfinished, it still captivates countless players, likely due to its gameplay. This, however, is where the challenges begin.
For the most part, people seem to be organizing complaints. A lot of people have something to say, that something has to do with the next-generation patch. “PATCH NEXT GEN, PLEASE” by JOΔBy is the comment that kicks off the disturbing conversation, followed by an equally disturbing and pointless debate regarding the existence of the patch. The general consensus, along with zipiol’s (Sebastian) “what for? game already runs in 60FPS.”, is aligned. This cause Oesterlen to respond describing 4K, 120fps, max settings on PC, and modding. The mark for the client dispute on PC and consoles, happening underneath the tweet anniversary. The true gamer culture indeed.
But the big thing, the real elephant in the room that everyone is shouting about? The cut content. The infamous ‘Kojima cut’ that probably doesn’t exist but everyone dreams about. ‘Can you please make a remaster of this game where you tie everything together including the missing parts’ pleads L0ne W0lf. ‘Make remake/remaster including cut content. We want real ending’ says Liquidoon. Even Ferdinand just straight up asks ‘When are we getting the Kojima cut?’ and tags Hideo Kojima himself.
People are still focused on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain content that is missing after ten years. I think people still wonder what was left behind after all the conflict involving Kojima and Konami. Apparently, the community has not moved on from it.
Along with that, there are people who are wondering about the next Metal Gear Collection. ‘Is Metal Gear Solid Collection Vol. 2 coming in soon?’ asks Nahuel Carreti. ‘Time for a uprez and re-release with Master Collection V.2’ states Drogo. Cory Connatser is already looking past V, saying ‘Now we just need a re-release/remaster of MGS4.’ It seems as though everyone is waiting for Konami to say something related to this collection, and that this celebration is the perfect reason for it.
Dave’s comment might be one of the few that does not lean toward positivity. ‘One of the worst Metal Gear games with some of the best gameplay.’ Keep it real with the most accurate take he can give out. The irony is he said it all right there. The game has a mess of a story but the gameplay loop of sneaking around outposts and liberating bases? That’s still arguably the best gameplay loop the stealth genre has ever produced. It’s a game of extremes.
Even that issue has drawn attention to a persistent bug. Ten years in, Italian Joe brings up the “Permanent Phantom Nukes” bug, which he claims has been undermining the game’s secret nuclear disarmament event. With hope, he calls out to Konami’s Noriaki Okamura and Yuji Korekado to fix the issue once and for all. Talk about holding onto hope.
So what can be learnt from this mess of tweets? Phantom Pain is a game that has left its mark. It’s a gameplay masterpiece for a title that is missing its core. And a decade later, players are still mesmerised by it, and obsessed with what it could have been. They are not just celebrating the anniversary, they are using the occasion as a call-out for more. For patches, for collections, for the complete mythical version. This clearly shows the franchise is still alive and the passion still burning strong for it, even after all this time. By the looks of it, Konami has to be listening to all the noise. The real question is, will they do anything about it? Or will we be having this same conversation again in another ten years. Probably.
