Hideo Kojima doesn’t work at Konami anymore, but the publisher is still making Metal Gear games. And that unprecedented dynamic has led to a new video for the upcoming Metal Gear Survive that reveals a mutated version of the Kojima style. It doesn’t really work — although it’s kinda bizarrely fascinating in its own way.
The trailer is up on YouTube courtesy of IGN, and you can watch it right here:
Metal Gear Survive takes the mechanics (and some of the areas) from Metal Gear Solid 5 and adds zombies, because that’s what the kids like. It also introduces base-building and new crafting elements. You can see in the video that players can use stealth to get around threats, set traps, or lure the zombies off of cliffs.
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But while we’re learning more about what the gameplay is like in Metal Gear Survive, we’re also learning how Konami plans to position this game for long-time fans. And the answer to that is no obvious Solid Snake/Big Boss characters in the marketing and possibly a thinly veiled reference to Konami cutting ties with Kojima.
The opening minute of the video is the most Kojima-like, and it features some government or military official apologizing to someone in a coffin.
“Forgive me for what I’m about to do,” says the Laurence Fishburne-looking dude before his troops shove the coffin into the ocean.
Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but this almost seems like Konami referencing its split with Kojima and ending his relationship with the Metal Gear series. Kojima loves to put obvious metaphors in his trailers. Check out some of his recent clips from Death Stranding to see his feelings about having his creation taken away from him by Konami. And now, maybe, it seems like Konami — or the current leaders of the Metal Gear franchise — are answering him through his favorite form of communication: the game trailer.
Of course, Konami’s effort doesn’t work quite as well. It comes off like a cheap knockoff of the original. That doesn’t mean that Metal Gear Survive can’t be a good game, but it may struggle to find a new voice for the series.
