Kojima had thought of Metal Gear Solid V as an episodic game

In a recent series of messages, Hideo Kojima reflected —on his official Twitter account— about the experience of launching Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes in 2014. Kojima commented that he was trying to “experiment” with a new episodic format. This similar to a drama on any video-on-demand platform like Netflix. This when seeing the way in which each mission and episode of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain It makes a lot of sense. However, after the release, many fans seemed to expect that Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes it was a complete game and they didn’t understand its original intent.

The Japanese director explained that the development of a complete game takes four to five years, and times change during production. In this sense, Kojima thought that an episodic format could work well to tell the story of him. However, after the release of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground ZeroesHideo Kojima decided to abandon the idea and just launch The Phantom Pain to continue.

In the end Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes ended up relegated to being the prologue of The Phantom Pain and some of the mechanics, models, conversations were lost in time. Fortunately, a group of users on Reddit have been given the task of collecting the elements that were never used in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.

What elements were cut from the original release of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes?

This is the list of items that were not included by Hideo Kojima and his development team in the game. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes:

Maps:

• MSF Mother Base: At one point the map was meant to be playable rather than just a scene item, due to the attack on the MB being meant to be part of the game, but it was removed.
• Cyprus: The Cyprus Hospital was to appear at some point. This is due to the cut segment of the Hospital being recycled for TPP instead.
• Afghanistan: It was also supposed to appear in the game at some point.
• DD Mother Base: Was going to be playable, but was recycled for TPP.

Mechanics:

• Unused Weather: The game originally had six weather options, however only four were used. For example, Rainy/Torrential/Cloudy/Sunny were present, but Fog and Sandstorm did not appear in the game.
• Prison Dogs: The enemy was going to have the ability to use attack dogs against Boss, and they were going to guard the prison cells as well.
• Enemy Mortars: The enemy was going to be able to use mortars against Boss during alert phases.
• Solid Eye: Very early in development, Boss was going to somehow use the Solid Eye in-game as a gadget. This could simply be a bug in the files and not meant to be taken literally.

Weapons:

• Machete: At some point, Boss was going to be able to use a machete. It was probably removed because it is unusual.
• AK-102: It was going to appear in the game at some point, but it was removed because there was no AK in the prison facility and due to the artificial switching of firearms.
• M4: Same as AK-102, removed due to firearms.
• Mosin-Nagant: The classic rifle in the series was going to make a comeback, but it was removed.
• SCAR: It was going to come back, but it was removed due to the fireworks.
• Quiet’s Special Sniper: Quiet’s special sniper rifle was going to appear in the game. Removed because Quiet is not in GZ.

Objects:

• Chaff’s Grenades: They were going to appear in GZ but have been removed.
• Rations: Rations were going to be in the game somehow, but were removed due to a lack of health bars.
• Cardboard Box: The iconic cardboard box that has appeared in almost every title was going to return in GZ, but it was cut. It was later reused for TPP.
• Bandana: The iconic bandana was also coming back. It was later reused for TPP.
• Dog Skin: An object that suggests as its name indicates that Snake was going to be able to skin animals. It is unknown what his purpose was.

Models:

• Quiet: Has a complete raw model on file, which suggests it was going to show up in GZ at some point.
• Bandana: The Bandana exists in the code, but was never used in any way. It was later reused for TPP.
• Horn: Venom’s horn was going to appear during the helicopter crash, but it was cut to avoid spoilers. It was later reused for TPP.

Animations:

• Unused First Aid Spray: Some animations for the First Aid Spray were not used.
• Kick Combo: The punch and kick combo was going to be included in the game. It was later reused for TPP.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain it also had a lot of content that was not used and another that never even started development. However, Kojima and his team left small clues that the community has managed to collect. But that is another story.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes It is available on Steam for only $4,000 COP. This is a great price for a very solid short adventure.