Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a stealth game in which players take the role of Punished "Venom" Snake from a third-person perspective in an open world.

[1] Gameplay elements are largely unchanged from Ground Zeroes, meaning that players must stealthily traverse several areas in the game world, avoiding enemy guards and remaining undetected.

The Fulton surface-to-air recovery system, an item introduced into gameplay in Peace Walker, returns as well, with players able to transport captured soldiers and other objects such as animals and vehicles back to Mother Base.

[13] An in-game currency called GMP is used for upgrading Mother Base's defenses and technology, and can be collected from objects found all over the map, such as rough diamonds, shipping containers, and special blueprint boxes,[9] as well as sending recruited soldiers on combat missions around the world.

The Forward Operating Base feature is a separate multiplayer experience to Metal Gear Online 3[24] and is needed to increase the number of combat units the player can deploy.

While he and Kazuhira Miller (Robin Atkin Downes/Tomokazu Sugita) are initially driven to exact revenge, Snake unearths a plot by the Cipher organization to develop a new model of the Metal Gear system known as the ST-84 "Sahelanthropus".

"[38] Other members of the voice cast include Troy Baker as Ocelot,[39] Jay Tavare as Code Talker,[40] James Horan as Skull Face, Robin Atkin Downes as Kazuhira Miller, Christopher Randolph as Dr. Emmerich,[41] and Piers Stubbs as Eli.

Big Boss loses Ishmael, but is recovered by Revolver Ocelot and brought aboard Diamond Dogs, a new mercenary group founded by Kazuhira Miller on an offshore platform near Seychelles.

He recruits the superhuman mute sniper Quiet; scientist and MSF associate Dr. "Huey" Emmerich; and Code Talker, a Navajo expert on parasites forced to work for Cipher.

XOF's leader Skull Face considers Cipher's plan for world peace akin to making it culturally American, and intends to release a parasite that kills anyone who speaks English.

Alongside suspicion of his role in MSF's destruction and evidence that he murdered his wife Dr. Strangelove for preventing him from using their son Hal in experiments, Snake exiles him from Diamond Dogs.

The site was recruiting staff for the 2012 GDC pavilion in March, and requested applications for several positions for the latest Metal Gear Solid targeted for "high-end consoles" and a "next-gen Fox engine".

[83] Alongside the new trailer, the website for Metal Gear Solid V was updated and included new information and images such as the developmental progress of the in-game map and the evolution of Snake's design across all games in the series.

[93] The music of The Phantom Pain was produced by Harry Gregson-Williams, making it his fourth Metal Gear title, and composed by Ludvig Forssell, Justin Burnett, and Daniel James.

Japanese toy company Sentinel, which previously made an iDroid casing for the iPhone 5 and 5S, produced a transformable figure of the Sahelanthropus,[102] while Kotobukiya readied a 1/100 scale kit of the unit.

[118][119] The game's producer Kenichiro Imaizumi refused to comment on fans' enquiries,[120] while Metal Gear Solid community manager Robert Allen Peeler refuted the possibility of story downloadable content.

"[122][126] On February 2, 2018, the completion of the Nuclear Disarmament Event was triggered prematurely on the Steam version of the game, despite there being over 9000 player nukes in existence at the time, resulting in the release of the aforementioned cutscene.

[138] In 2021, PC Gamer's Jorge Jimenez and Collider's Ernesto Valenzuela expressed the desire for a director's cut of the game with the removed content, though feeling that the possibility of one would be very unlikely.

[139][140][141] It was praised for its varied gameplay mechanics, level of player freedom, open world design, visual fidelity, mature themes, and cast performances, though critics were divided on its narrative and certain changes to the series formula.

"[143] GameSpot's Peter Brown wrote that there had never been a Metal Gear game "so consistent in tone, daring in subject matter, and so captivating in presentation [...] with such depth to its gameplay, or so much volume in content.

[149] Stanton of Eurogamer commended how the open world felt alive through "density and intimacy" over scale, making tasks like crossing a guarded bridge "thrilling".

[144] Writing for Time, Matt Peckham described the world as an "unparalleled tactical toybox", a sentiment echoed by other critics;[160] Game Informer's Joe Juba likened each mission to a playground that encouraged players to experiment with tools.

[154] The action set pieces were praised as "exhilarating" by PC Gamer's Jorge Jimenez,[3] and "terrifying" for their consequences by Eurogamer's Stanton,[144] though some voiced frustration at encounters with the Skulls.

[149] Other critics echoed praise of the latter aspect;[143][148] Eurogamer's Stanton commended how the theme of war was used to explore subject matter, contrasting with other game series "in thrall to the military".

[109] Jimenez of PC Gamer called the story "aimless" and the worst in the series, due in part for its "mostly dry" script and the opening and ending sequence for feeling extraneous.

[166] GamesRadar+'s Roberts called a player-created avatar for Big Boss as "purely and distinctly Metal Gear", but felt that the reveal lacked closure and caused the story to feel "hollow" because of the "slapped in" ending and repeated missions.

[154] Jimenez of PC Gamer described the boss fights as being "pretty dull" to previous installments, but appreciated the lack of an "overbearing mythos" in the story;[3] Polygon's Michael McWhertor and Eurogamer's Stanton praised the shorter length of the cutscenes.

[144] Some expressed bemusement at Venom Snake's minimal dialogue;[109][153] Kotaku's Schreier and IGN's Ingenito wrote that his silence during emotional cutscenes was "jarring", the latter feeling it went beyond "mere stoicism".

"[153] GamesRadar+'s David Roberts described Quiet as "one of the most complex and conflicted characters in MGS5", but that her depiction was an example of a "juvenile approach to sexuality" that typifies Kojima's work and the Metal Gear series as a whole.

"[151] Conversely, GameZone's James Wynne felt that the game's story explanation was a valid enough reason for her scantily-clad appearance and succeeds in Kojima's aim to make Quiet "a true antithesis to sexy-just-because female characters."