Highlights
- Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes is the shortest Metal Gear game, with a main story completion time of 2 hours and a completionist time of 20 hours. Despite its brevity, its gameplay is highly praised.
- Metal Gear boasts a total of roughly 18 games in the franchise, excluding expansions and compilations. The series has evolved over the years, with different platforms and gameplay variations.
- Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is the longest Metal Gear game, with a main story completion time of 46 hours and a completionist time of 161 hours. Despite some unfinished elements, the game offers extensive replay value and is considered one of the best action-adventure games of its generation.
Hideo Kojima became known to the world through his Metal Gear franchise, which started in 1987. The auteur game designer stayed with his creation until 2015 when he parted ways with Konami, the company he worked with for almost thirty years. He went on to form his own studio and release the highly acclaimed Death Stranding, and the franchise he created was left in the dust with an uncertain future.
Fortunately, there is a lot of content to sift through from the stealth-action series, and not every title was worked on by Kojima. The Metal Gear games also vary greatly in terms of length, with some lasting for a few hours while others are designed to keep players engaged for weeks. Which is the longest Metal Gear game? Which is the shortest?
HowLongToBeat was used as a source.
Updated on September 2, 2023, by Mark Sammut: In October 2023, Konami will release Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 for the Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, and Xbos Series X/S. The compilation contains seven games from the franchise, alongside a plethora of other goodies. Overall, this package should be able to keep someone engaged for more than 50+ hours, and that primarily only takes into account the titles' main campaigns.
Every Metal Gear Game
Metal Gear has produced roughly 18 games over the years, and that does not even include all the expanded versions and compilations. The following table chronicles all the entries in the franchise.
Click on a game to view its average length.
|
Game |
Release Year |
Original Platforms |
|---|---|---|
|
1987 |
MSX2, NES |
|
|
1990 |
NES |
|
|
1990 |
MSX2 |
|
|
1998 |
PS1 |
|
|
1999 |
PS1 |
|
|
2000 |
Game Boy Color |
|
|
2001 |
PS2 |
|
|
2004 |
GameCube |
|
|
2004 |
PS2 |
|
|
2004 |
PSP |
|
|
2005 |
PSP |
|
|
2006 |
PSP |
|
|
2008 |
PS3 |
|
|
2010 |
PSP |
|
|
2013 |
PC, PS3, Xbox 360 |
|
|
2014 |
PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One |
|
|
2015 |
PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One |
|
|
2018 |
PC, PS4, Xbox One |
18 Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes
- Main Story: 2 Hours
- Completionist: 20 Hours
Ground Zeroes served as a playable prologue to Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Despite its short length, it was still packaged and sold as a separate product. Some were less than thrilled by the game's format, but no one can argue against the gameplay, which finally perfected the stealth action formula.
Going through the main game takes less than two hours, but completing everything it has to offer will extend the game time to literally ten times that. Once players know what to do, the story portion can be completed in literally 15 minutes. The bonus missions and collectibles force fans to remember every inch of the map and become closely acquainted with enemy patrols.
17 Metal Gear
- Main Story: 4 Hours
- Completionist: 5 Hours
The franchise's debut entry wasn't a massive hit at first, but it has garnered respect in hindsight for establishing a new genre. Metal Gear may take four hours to run through from start to finish, but it will take far longer if one is going in without a strategy guide. Figuring out what to do on one's own is a monumental task due to the obtuse hints given to the player.
Given the game's age, there is not a lot to do after beating the campaign. Metal Gear can be considered completed after reaching the credits for the first time. It came out in 1987 on weak hardware (MSX2), so don't expect the level of environmental interaction present in later entries.
The NES version has quite a few differences from the original Metal Gear, but it is roughly the same length.
16 Snake's Revenge
- Main Story: 5 Hours
- Completionist: 6 Hours
The second game crafted under the Metal Gear banner is an unofficial sequel made without Kojima's involvement. Reportedly, the series' creator wasn't even aware of its existence until after it came out. The game still has its fans, but it is irrelevant to the timeline and can be skipped without missing anything.
If there is one plus to come from its release, Kojima's discovery of it led to him starting work on a true sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Similar to the debut entry, there are no bonuses keeping players coming back for more.
15 Metal Gear Solid On Game Boy Color
- Main Story: 5 Hours
- Completionist: 8 Hours
This title was released in Japan as Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel. Portable adventures are few and far between for the series, and this was the first one. Five hours is not extremely short for the hardware either.
It is not canon, but the gameplay very closely resembles Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, but with aesthetic similarities to 1998's Metal Gear Solid. The developers did a great job of translating the console gameplay to the portable device.
Adding on to the replay value are the 90 VR missions packed into the cartridge. It is fairly impressive to find a narrative-driven campaign and an extensive bonus round all in a Game Boy Color game.
14 Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
- Main Story: 6 Hours
- Completionist: 7 Hours
The first official sequel significantly expanded upon the stealth concept of its predecessor. Solid Snake had more tools in his possession and the story upped the complexity. Unfortunately, North American gamers were left out of the fun for about fifteen years, since Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake didn't see a release in the States until 2006 when Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence came to the West.
By then, many of its innovations had become quaint, but Metal Gear 2 is still worth playing as a curiosity. Ultimately, however, 1998's Metal Gear Solid reused many of the same ideas to far better effect. With the talk of remakes always looming in the modern gaming landscape, it would be most interesting to see a re-imagining of Metal Gear 2 and the debut entry. It could take into account the plot elements from future games.
13 Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
- Main Story: 7 Hours
- Completionist: 37 Hours
In terms of canon, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is the furthest into the future players get to see of the franchise. PlatinumGames took the reins for this stylish action game spin-off, and it stands side by side with the best games the developer has to offer, such as Bayonetta.
The plot continues and expands upon themes familiar to fans, looking at them from a different perspective. While seven hours is short, the new game plus feature increases replay value by quite a bit, and it is a standard element for the genre. Even though Metal Gear Rising is a short experience, there is so much to do after rolling credits for the first time. Like Bayonetta and other Platinum titles, there are numerous unlocks to earn and use in future playthroughs.
12 Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
- Main Story: 10 Hours
- Completionist: 18 Hours
The Twin Snakes is a GameCube exclusive remake of 1998's Metal Gear Solid. It takes the same level design and lets players sneak through Shadow Moses with all the gameplay enhancements from Metal Gear Solid 2. While the narrative remains identical, some fans took issue with the ridiculous action sequences portrayed in the cinematics.
Additionally, the levels from the PlayStation game do not always lend themselves to mechanics like hanging over railings or holding up guards at gunpoint. The unlocks here are mostly the same as in the original Metal Gear Solid. If players know what they are doing, they can unlock all the bonus goodies after just two playthroughs.
11 Metal Gear Solid
- Main Story: 11 Hours
- Completionist: 16 Hours
The 1998 title was the franchise's first foray into 3D. Metal Gear Solid blew up upon release, making both the series and its creator household names. Playing it today, it is easy to see why Metal Gear Solid was such a phenomenon. Even without the advancements brought to the table by the sequels, sneaking around Shadow Moses as Snake feels just as good as it did over twenty years ago.
Metal Gear Solid has two endings and players are encouraged to go through both of them before putting the game down. It all comes down to surpassing one button-mashing minigame halfway through the story. Only one ending is obviously canon since a character either lives or dies depending on the player's actions.
10 Portable Ops
- Main Story: 11 Hours
- Completionist: 29 Hours
Portable Ops was the appetizer fans had to hold themselves over between Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4. The PSP's lack of dual analog support made for some cutbacks in gameplay, but the developers managed to make it work.
Anything lacking in the core gameplay was made up for by the mechanic of recruiting soldiers and developing new equipment, something which would be heavily expanded upon in Peace Walker and The Phantom Pain. The multiplayer was also a fun diversion and particularly impressive for the forward-thinking PSP.
9 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty
- Main Story: 13 Hours
- Completionist: 26 Hours
While not a launch title, Metal Gear Solid 2 was one of the first titles to truly show off the PS2's capabilities. Not only were the gameplay and graphics outstanding, but its narrative told a story unlike anything else the medium had seen before. Those around at the time of release will remember one of the industry's greatest shockers when it came to light that Snake was not the primary playable protagonist. Eventually, players came to love Raiden just as much as the legendary grizzled soldier they controlled for the three prior games.
Fully completing Sons of Liberty requires getting all the dog tags from enemy soldiers. Enemies have different dog tags on different difficulties, so a player has to go through the game five times if they want to get them all.
8 Metal Gear AC!D 2
- Main Story: 14 Hours
- Completionist: 42 Hours
Before Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, the PSP received a wild card game spin-off of the franchise called Metal Gear AC!D. The sequel manages to be significantly shorter on the main path, but extra goodies manage to extend the runtime.
The game came with a pair of 3D glasses, allowing the whole game to be played this way. Additional cinematics were unlocked throughout the campaign for viewing in 3D, including cutscenes from Metal Gear Solid 3 and steamier videos of models.
7 Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions
- Main Story: 16 Hours
- Completionist: 27 Hours
In Japan, these missions came packaged in with the re-release Metal Gear Solid: Integral. This upgrade never came out in the West, so the VR missions were sold as a separate game. About 300 exist in all. Unfortunately, this game is considered to be one of the weaker entries in the series overall.
The stealth certainly holds up, but the shooting in the 1998 title was never particularly smooth, and its flaws show when there is no story pushing the player forward. Players are better off doing the missions from Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance.
6 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
- Main Story: 16 Hours
- Completionist: 24 Hours
Metal Gear Solid 2's cliffhanger begged for a resolution. In classic Kojima fashion, the next title was a prequel where none of the prior game's burning questions were answered. Instead, players explored Big Boss's origins on a fateful mission way back in 1964.
The setting helps make Metal Gear Solid 3 a great introduction for newcomers while giving hardcore fans a new perspective on the lore. Finding all the camouflage suits throughout the world and shooting the kerotan frogs found in each room will extend the gameplay time to almost 30 hours. It also helps that the game is replayable just from being so good.
5 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots
- Main Story: 18 Hours
- Completionist: 35 Hours
The grand finale proved not to be the end of the series, but it was Solid Snake's last journey. Seeing him as an old man was heartbreaking, but he went out with a bang. Some of Metal Gear Solid 4's plot twists and resolutions were disappointing to longtime fans, but the gameplay was great and the drama was still filled with hard-hitting emotional moments.
One small drawback is the lack of post-game content. Besides the now-defunct Metal Gear Online, there are no bonus missions. All the same, some might have fun just buying all the weapons and playing with the AI. The first two acts are particularly immersive and open.
4 Peace Walker
- Main Story: 18 Hours
- Completionist: 92 Hours
This 2010 portable title rearranged the series' formula to work better on the PSP. Levels were made into digestible bite-sized chunks that could be completed in ten minutes or so, and a slew of bonus missions gave gameplay options for gaming on the go.
While 18 hours may be the average for the main campaign, getting all the mileage out of Peace Walker takes closer to 100 hours. There are tons of bonus missions that significantly increase the difficulty, some of which almost require cooperative play to beat.
3 Metal Gear AC!D
- Main Story: 20 Hours
- Completionist: 50 Hours
The first entry of this spin-off series is aesthetically way different than the sequel. It lacks the cartoonish look the second entry would eventually embrace. Making a turn-based spin-off with cards was an interesting move, but it makes sense.
A real-time stealth game requires undivided attention, which is not always easy to have when someone is playing on a train or bus. 21 hours is also a beefy runtime for a portable adventure.
2 Metal Gear Survive
- Main Story: 23 Hours
- Completionist: 60 Hours
The most recent entry in the series is one most would like to forget. Kojima had already long since left the company, and the zombie survival title resembles the series in only its name and a few aesthetic touches.
As sad as it is to see the series reduced to this level, at least Hideo Kojima's most recent title, Death Stranding, carries the torch, delivering a unique narrative-driven experience unlike any other in the AAA gaming space.
1 Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
- Main Story: 46 Hours
- Completionist: 161 Hours
The Phantom Pain is noticeably unfinished. One comes to a point in the narrative where the story beelines towards a conclusion and tons of exposition is dumped on the player at once. Despite this, the game still manages to keep players occupied for almost 50 hours.
Additionally, it is one of the best action-adventure games of its console generation. The series may never reach the same heights, but few franchises ever get this fantastic, so fans should be thankful for what they got from the series instead of mourning what never came to be.
The Phantom Pain offers almost limitless replay value. So, how long is Metal Gear Solid 5 for completionists? Well, the game should require over 150 hours. It is a shame fans might not receive a Metal Gear game on a similar scale ever again.