10 Years Later, Hideo Kojima’s Unfinished Masterpiece Is Still Influencing Games Today

The brain’s map of the body remembers a limb, even if the person has long lost it, according to a recent peer-reviewed study from the University of Pittsburgh. That might help explain why the vast majority of amputees still experience a phenomenon called phantom limb pain. In video games, famous auteur Hideo Kojima took things one step further by creating a compelling experience that comes just short of feeling complete, leaving players longing for more, a decade later.

I’m referring, of course, to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, one of the most divisive masterpieces in gaming history. When it launched on September 1, 2015, the game was expected to be another hit, but ultimately left part of its ending on the cutting floor. The bad blood between its creator Kojima and his former company Konami led to a public falling out during the game’s development. But despite its incomplete form, MGSV still ended up inspiring tons of games that followed, and ultimately influencing the future of open-world games.

By most metrics, on paper, Metal Gear Solid V was a success. By 2015, it had already hit 6 million copies shipped, and in sum total, it’s the best-selling entry in the whole series. Even at launch, it pulled in about $179 million globally, which is on par with some Hollywood blockbusters’ opening weekends, for context. Still, those impressive numbers don’t tell the whole story — unlike previous games in the series that were building up to a greater narrative, this final game felt like it lacked something. You can think of it almost like the eighth season of Game of Thrones. It’s really hard to write an ending, when the creator isn’t around to finish it.

Kojima may have invented the idea of hiding and sneaking around in games through the Metal Gear series, but the final game was more about the idea of player choice. The game was a sandbox built on systems that would change the outcomes, depending on how you decided to play. So split decisions could lead to extremely amusing situations, like failing a stealth takedown escalating into helicopters swarming you, or a sandstorm to bombard the area, or a snoozing guard posing an obstacle.

Taken as a whole, MGSV felt fresh and innovative because it made a battlefield feel more immersive and potentially hilarious. It’s an idea that has also been explored by games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and by The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Even though MGSV hasn’t been cited as the direct inspiration for either of those games, all of these seemed to usher in a new era of the open-world genre. In the modern age, games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Ghost of Tsushima continue the trend, combining the linear missions of yesteryear with plenty of chances to explore the environs and improvise some bouts of mischief.

These changes brought MGSV closer to the immersive simulation genre, and more of a departure from the more simplistic, get a quest and hand in it style of older role-playing games. And the innovation was coupled by deep stealth mechanics that continue to inspire games to this day.

In 2025, Konami just remade MGS3 and it’s clear that the franchise is not anywhere close to fading from our collective consciousness quite yet, even if Kojima has expressed regrets for not owning the rights to his baby. But the fallout seems increasingly in the past for both parties. In the recent Death Stranding 2, there are still the marks of the Metal Gear legacy, especially in sudden stealth mission moments and in the general world exploration. And the developers of the remake have expressed that they wish Kojima would try their game.

Ten years later, looking back at the legacy of Phantom Pain, it’s clear that it was a crystal ball into the general direction that open world games have been heading ever since.