Metal Gear Solid (1998)
Metal Gear Solid is a 1998 shooter video game made by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and Konami.
Shadow Moses is a snowbound weapons facility off the coast of Alaska, and the government wants one man to walk into it unseen. Solid Snake, a retired operative, is pulled back to infiltrate the base after a rogue special-forces unit seizes it. Hideo Kojima builds the whole thing around patience: you crawl through vents, hug walls, and read guard patrols instead of shooting your way through. Codec calls fill the quiet with long talks about weapons, ethics, and the people on the other end of the radio. Getting spotted turns a careful plan into a scramble.
Quick answers
What is Metal Gear Solid about?
Shadow Moses is a snowbound weapons facility off the coast of Alaska, and the government wants one man to walk into it unseen. Solid Snake, a retired operative, is pulled back to infiltrate the base after a rogue special-forces unit seizes it. Hideo Kojima builds the whole thing around patience: you crawl through vents, hug walls, and read guard patrols instead of shooting your way through. Codec calls fill the quiet with long talks about weapons, ethics, and the people on the other end of the radio. Getting spotted turns a careful plan into a scramble.
When was Metal Gear Solid released?
Metal Gear Solid was released on 3 September 1998.
Who made Metal Gear Solid?
Metal Gear Solid was made by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and Konami.
Similar games
Explore Metal Gear Solid guides
Metal Gear Solid in our writing
- Companion guide: Conspiracy Thrillers
- Companion guide: Genetic Engineering & Designer Humans
- Companion guide: Mercenaries & Soldiers of Fortune
- Companion guide: Spies & Espionage
A few thoughts on Metal Gear Solid
The story kept spilling into other formats. Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel retells Snake's mission as motion-comic panels, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Existence cuts the series' cinematics into a feature. Both suit anyone who came to these games for their dialogue and cold-war paranoia as much as the stealth itself.
Cinematic action games that put story first
Metal Gear Solid stops the sneaking for long Codec conversations about war and loyalty, treating its cutscenes as the reason you play. These games lead with narrative the same way, building characters you follow through set-pieces that feel authored rather than random, with acting and staging that carry real weight.
Sci-fi shooters with ideas on their mind
Metal Gear Solid buries arguments about nukes and genetics inside a stealth thriller. These first-person games do the shooting while asking bigger questions, dropping you into constructed worlds that keep debating control, free will, and who built the place you are trapped in.
Sprawling open worlds to disappear into
Metal Gear Solid is a tight, scripted crawl, which makes its opposite a good palate cleanser: open games you simply wander. These hand you a huge map and let you set your own pace, from a witcher's continent to a wide-open Hyrule to sun-baked crime cities.
