Confident the Metal Gear franchise has a future without Hideo Kojima at the helm – who departed late last year under questionable circumstances to form his own studio, Kojima Productions – Konami has formally lifted the lid on Metal Gear Survive, a co-op survival game that warps the stealth series into another dimension.
Due to hit PS4, Xbox One and PC in 2017, Survive takes place shortly after the explosive finale to Ground Zeroes, where Big Boss’ Mother Base is sent plunging into the depths of the sea by Cipher. It’s here that Konami’s Resident Evil-esque spinoff splits onto an alternate timeline, sending soldiers of the Militaires Sans Frontières – Snake’s private army – into a dystopian universe riddled with flesh-munching zombies.
Here’s the official pitch:
METAL GEAR SURVIVE picks up from the ending of METAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES, to an alternate timeline caused by unexplained wormholes forming in the sky. Players find themselves on distorted desert landscapes full of massive half-formed structures, living biological threats, and the remains of a once strong military force now litter the landscape.
In a struggle to stay alive on this harsh terrain filled with deadly creatures, soldiers who were previously on Mother Base now must work cooperatively in order to survive. METAL GEAR SURVIVE continues the pedigree of METAL GEAR SOLID V’s highly praised gameplay design, with a unique blend of stealth and co-op play mechanics. Players can strategically manage massive threats with the help of 4-player online cooperative play. New weaponry will also be introduced to combat charging creatures and lethal environments as well.
Konami is facing an uphill battle if it’s to do good on the Metal Gear license sans Kojima, and we aren’t so sure Metal Gear Survive is the right way to ensure the beloved franchise remains relevant. Hopefully we’re proved wrong, though we won’t know until the undead offshoot bows in 2017.
