Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 gathers on Xbox Series X and S the key entries in Konami's stealth series – Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater – along with related documents, artbooks, and development materials. Playing as agent Snake, the player sneaks through enemy bases, avoids patrols and cameras, resolves situations without unnecessary violence, and gradually uncovers the intricate story of genetics, war, and manipulation the series is famous for. Stealth mechanics, hiding in shadows, knocking on walls, communicating with the support team via codec, and using the environment and disguises remain the core of gameplay across all titles in the collection, even as they are gradually refined with each entry.

On Xbox Series, the collection offers the option to switch between the original aspect ratio and modern widescreen display, along with a stable frame rate and fast loading, even though the games themselves remain graphically faithful to the originals without any major rework of textures and models. The iconic Metal Gear Solid music, full of tension and pathos, and the distinctive alert sound when the player is spotted work just as powerfully as they did on first release, as do the long, cinematically staged cutscenes with elaborate direction that made the series famous and set it apart from the rest of the genre back in the PlayStation era.

In the nineties, Metal Gear Solid fundamentally shaped the perception of stealth action and cinematic storytelling in games as a whole, and the PlayStation 2 entries then raised the bar for audiovisual production and narrative ambition across the entire genre. The Master Collection thus serves primarily as a historically important archive, giving players on modern consoles the chance to experience Hideo Kojima's original stories in their authentic form, albeit without control modernization to the level of later entries such as Metal Gear Solid V, which may initially feel less comfortable for newcomers to the series.

Why play it: For players wanting to experience Hideo Kojima's original stealth classics in their authentic form, even at the cost of less comfortable controls compared to later entries in the series.