Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes (メタルギアソリッドグラウンドゼロ) is an upcoming canonical installment in the Metal Gear series. Being developed by Kojima Productions, Ground Zeroes is the first game running on the Fox Engine and will be published by Konami. Hideo Kojima is writing, directing and doing the game design for the game, as well as producing it. Ground Zeroes is currently in development for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. However, job listings for the game suggest that it would be developed for the PC as well, but it hasn't been officially confirmed yet.

This game is an interquel set between the events of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid 5 with several characters and gameplay mechanics from Peace Walker being back in Ground Zeroes. Big Boss is the protagonist of the game. Contrary to the previous Metal Gear titles being more cinematic, Ground Zeroes has open world structure.

Synopsis
Characters
 * Big Boss
 * Kazuhira Miller
 * Chico
 * Paz Ortega Andrade

Groups and organizations
 * FOX
 * Militaires Sans Frontières
 * Diamond Dogs
 * XOF
 * Cipher

Gameplay
Ground Zeroes features a massive open world for players to interact with, as well as stealing vehicles at various points. The game has no loading screens to slow players down. Loading always is done in the background, except for instances when traveling by helicopter. The helicopter transport is used to travel between open world areas, but once in an area, there's no loading. Players can use a flare to call in a helicopter at any time to travel to different missions and countries, and they'll even be able to listen to some tunes, the "Ride of the Valkyries" by default. The music that plays in the helicopter is customizable and louder music would give up the player's location a lot easier. The game includes loading screens as players sneak about its open world map. The game also offers a day and night cycle, something that boosts replayability. Players will see differences throughout the world depending on the time of day, such as changes in enemy troop patterns. Also depending on how players travel between one stage to the next, the travel time affects the time of day when they arrive at the destination.

Ground Zeroes has a twist to the stealth genre, namely that even if caught, the player can use all the resources at their disposal to escape rather than automatically getting a game over. Also the item/weapon equiping system has been particularly changed in this game.

The Mother Base gameplay mechanic is back in Ground Zeroes, and it also has a new interactive element. Snake has a home base in the open world that can be fortified and managed, and there is option for players to manage bases from smartphones. Changes made will be updated in the core game, and players will be able to walk around the base in realtime, upgrade it and more. Also back for the game is weapon R&D from Peace Walker. The concept of developing weapons at Mother Base is also back.

Development
In late 2011, Kojima announced that the new Metal Gear is on its way. He said that his new game will be running on Fox Engine and would support Transfarring, be multiplatform and be designed with a global audience in mind. Kojima went on to describe the game as set in an open world rather than being cinematic, in which players are free to explore. He expects players to be able to find content even after 100 hours.

On February 21, 2012, a site named Development Without Borders owned by Kojima Productions was uploaded promoting a new MGS for recruiting staff at the Game Developers Conference pavillion between March 6th and March 9th including "Project engineers for the latest Metal Gear Solid targeted for high-end consoles and PC", "Engineers to help develop next-gen engine technology for use with the FOX Engine" and "Kojima Productions Brand Manager."

On March 19, 2012, Kojima stated that he couldn’t say too much about his new game, but “this year, next year, I am working on something that I think will become the shining moment” for his career and the Metal Gear series. He also said that he’ll be 50 next year and that he wants to create that moment now. Kojima also stated "The game I'm working on right now is dealing with quite a few issues that are pretty delicate and taboo." Kojima added "I'm not sure if they'll end up being in the final product or not, but that's something that I want to continue to strive for" and it's his goal to "bring those real-life issues to the forefront," but he has to temper that with making the game fun to play. He said that as a creator who constantly sees the flaws in his own work after it's finished, he always feels that "what I'm making right now, in my mind, is the best -- though I can't really talk about that right now." Kojima also mentioned visiting a military base in San Diego to test a shooting simulator, but again mentioned that he couldn't talk about the trip in detail.

A trailer of Ground Zeroes (which is actually the opening cutscene of the game) plus a short time gameplay was shown at the Metal Gear 25th Anniversary and PAX Prime 2012, demonstrating Fox Engine's abilities. The demo was running on a PC and played using an Xbox 360 controller. While the game and engine are designed with both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in mind, Kojima stated the engine will cater to next-gen consoles. Kojima called the Ground Zeroes "a beginning" rather than an end for the series. Also two promotional posters were released on the Metal Gear 25th Anniversary site.

The open world nature of this game has taken a toll on the visuals, but the lighting has not been impacted.