Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It offers players new sneaking and traversal methods compared to its predecessors, as well as the choice in what order…

79 18 March 2014

Adventure Shooter Tactical Action Open world Science fiction Stealth

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is an adventure developed by Kojima Productions, released 18 March 2014 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The main story takes about 3.1 hrs to finish.

Verified 21 Aug 2026 Sources: IGDB , Steam , Wikipedia

What Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is an adventure game developed by Kojima Productions and released in 2014. It was published by Konami. It is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC (Microsoft Windows). It runs on Fox Engine.

The premise, in the publisher's words

The year is 1975, the age of détente. The Vietnam conflict is drawing to a close and the world is thawing in the wake of the Cold War. However, as tension among the world's giant superpowers eased, a tiny military force quietly took root in the Caribbean. A new type of military - an army without a nation, or any land to call home. Lead by an enigmatic man known as "Snake," the clandestine group operated in the shadows as elite guns-for-hire, servicing various governments around the world. As their reputation grew, so did their funding and military might. Eventually, rumors began to spread that the group had attained nuclear weapons capability. The alarming prospect of a nuclear-equipped…

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a first person perspective. Its themes are action, open world, science fiction and stealth. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component. There are 16 achievements to unlock.

Where it sits in the Metal Gear series

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is the 54th of 70 entries we hold in the Metal Gear series. It arrived 8 months after Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection. The next entry was Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain in 2015. Its critic score of 79 is almost exactly the series average of 81. The highest-rated entry is Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence at 98.

See all 70 Metal Gear games in release order →

How it was received

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes holds a critic score of 79 out of 100. That places it above 62% of the 7,525 rated adventure games in our database, which average 72. Games released in 2014 averaged 69, so it scored 10 points above the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 77, across 494 votes.

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 3.1 hrs. Completing everything takes closer to 28 hrs, roughly 9 times the length of the critical path.

What you need to run it

The minimum specification calls for Core i5-4460 (3.20GHz) or better *Quad-Core or better, 4 GB RAM and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 (2GB) or better (DirectX 11 graphics card required). At 4GB of RAM, it will run on essentially any working PC — that is below what a budget laptop ships with today. Install size is roughly 4GB. Both tiers are compared side by side on the requirements page, and you can check your own parts against them without installing anything.

Full requirements and PC checker →

What it launched against

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes launched on 18 March 2014, within three weeks of South Park: The Stick of Truth, Dark Souls II, Hearthstone and Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. All of them reviewed better. It arrived 1 year into the PlayStation 4's life, so it was built for hardware developers already knew well.

Released around the same time: South Park: The Stick of Truth, Dark Souls II, Hearthstone, Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

Know one? Send it in and we will test it →

Official trailer

Sourced from the publisher’s YouTube channel. See all 3 videos →

Screenshots

All media

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes gameplay screenshot

Parents

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

1 September 2015

Quick answers

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes — frequently asked questions

When did Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes come out?

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was released on 18 March 2014 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC (Microsoft Windows).

What are the minimum PC requirements for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes?

At minimum, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes needs Core i5-4460 (3.20GHz) or better *Quad-Core or better, 4 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 (2GB) or better (DirectX 11 graphics card required) graphics, 4 GB available space of storage.

How long does it take to beat Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes?

The main story of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes takes around 3.1 hrs, or 28 hrs for 100% completion.

How many GB is Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes?

The PC version needs about 4 GB of storage, going by the storage line in the system requirements ("4 GB available space"). Updates can add to that, and console versions have their own sizes, which are not listed here.

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