How Long Does It Take To Beat Metal Gear Solid 5?

Since the series' initial inception in 1987, each of the "Metal Gear Solid" games have largely expanded on the length of the last, with some variation in-between installments. For instance, while "Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes" was released in 2014, six years after "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots," the game's main mission only takes about two hours to complete according to How Long to Beat. This pales in comparison to its successor, "Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain."

Released about a year and a half after "Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes," which was ultimately a prologue of sorts, "Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain" provided a far lengthier, more complete "Metal Gear Solid" iteration at a 45.5 hour-long campaign, per How Long to Beat. It executed and expanded upon the same basic gameplay ideas that were the spotlight of "Ground Zeroes," which was a "pure gameplay-driven experience," aside from some minor story beats, according to GameSpot's review of the game. For instance, "The Phantom Pain" included the ability to use a prosthetic arm as an added tool for Snake to use while using stealthy approaches.

Of course, while the campaign of "Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain" stands at nearly 46 hours long, doing more than just completing the main missions will be far more time-consuming. How Long to Beat details that, out of 1,100 players polled, the average length for completing the main story and some extras takes nearly 84 hours. 310 Completionists polled reported, on average, that the game could take above 165 hours to totally finish. Averaged together, out of about 2,000 respondents, the game's average length is about 86 hours.

"Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain" has yet to be outdone in length by new "Metal Gear Solid" installments, as the series has been more or less of a standstill since 2018's "Metal Gear Survive." While the "Metal Gear Solid" movie does have its Snake, according to gamesradar,there have been no official announcements regarding a "Metal Gear Solid 6." Further, series director Hideo Kojima has since moved on to other projects, including the review-bombed "Death Stranding." In the meantime, "Metal Gear Solid" fans will have to devote their "Metal Gear" itches toward replaying past games in the series.