Metal Gear Solid 5 Bloody Snake Header

The best Metal Gear Solid players usually make it a point to get through the game with as little enemy contact as possible. By using stealth skills, perfect timing, and cardboard boxes, the pros sneak by guards without ever setting off an alarm. No matter how careful players are though, it looks like Snake is bound to take a beating or two in the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.

Hideo Kojima, the iconic game designer behind the Metal Gear franchise has been teasing fans this week with a few new screenshots from the upcoming game (which still does not have a release date), and the images are brutal. In them, Snake looks to have taken a serious beating, and is left covered in blood.

The first three images focus on Snake, who looks to have survived a tumultuous battle. The captions for the image set read "Taking a break," but they don't explain who or what had caused the massacre.

[gallery columns="1" link="file" ids="252848,252849,252850"]

Perhaps the most interesting, though, was the final image Kojima shared. The last image is a bit of a wider shot of the same scene, and brings Quiet, one of the new characters, into view. The caption explains that he had to change his buddy (referencing the new team mechanics) from Diamond Dog to Quiet, but that she is still keeping her distance. Perhaps the distance has something to do with the bizarre horn that is growing out of Snake's forehead?

Metal Gear Solid 5 Quiet

Kojima explained that during development he has been using Diamond Dog as his buddy most of the time, but he recently made the switch to Quiet.

"I’ve been putting the game together while using DD as a buddy all the time. From this week, I have changed to Quiet. However, Quiet has been injured during a mission and transported to the medical facility. So, with the pilot, only two people are sitting in the helicopter. The seat is empty. I feel somewhat lonely.”

It's certainly exciting to get a behind the scenes look at the development of the highly-anticipated game, but after all the trailers, teasers, and previously released screenshots, many fans are getting tired of the wait. The replies to Kojima's tweets were full of people begging and pleading for a release date. The community knows the game looks great and, at this point, just want to know when they will be able to play it.

Are you excited to see new screenshots for the game or are you just annoyed that there isn't a release date yet? Let us know in the comments.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is officially set for a 2015 release on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.

Source: Twitter