For all the fervent hatred of Konami that forms the current gaming-hate-bandwagon of choice, based on its own merits, Metal Gear Survive isn’t a terrible game. It’s not a great one for sure, and certainly not near the pedigree we expect from a Metal Gear product, but it’s a serviceable enough survival game that benefits greatly from layering in a few of The Phantom Pain’s systems. It won’t scratch that same itch of sneaky badassery that has made Snake a household name, and it’s almost certainly not worth the full $40 / £35 asking price, but there’s definitely fun to be had here even if it doesn’t come close to troubling the series’ heights.

The concept of Metal Gear Survive works, but some annoying mechanics and the soullessness diminish the fun.

The single player, oddly, is the best part of Metal Gear Survive. I say “oddly” because it’s billed as a co-op game primarily. But the online multiplayer is just sort of “Horde Mode”, and we’ve all done that again and again for a decade now.

Survive rather than a full-featured Metal Gear reminds of a fanfiction, which wants to honour the series. Unfortunately, it gets repetitive very quickly and certainly does not take the right example from its predecessors. [Issue#284]

All of the issues that I’ve outlined with Metal Gear Survive essentially boil down to one thing: the vast majority of the game feels boring. It takes quite a long time for certain aspects of the game to stop feeling tedious, and its very easy to feel discouraged from playing altogether as it takes so long for the game to feel like its actually going somewhere. If you can be bothered to sit through hours of hunting, completing repetitive missions and accumulating skill points at a painfully slow rate, you’ll eventually feel comfortable enough to focus on the crazy story. If exploration and survival is your cup of tea, this one may be for you. If not, this is not worth your time.

Metal Gear Survive’s underlying concept is not bad and the game has a couple of good moments, but I can’t recommend it to anyone. It’s best to steer clear of it. [04/2018, p.54]

Using The Phantom Pain’s engine, its models, animations and other assets, Metal Gear Survive looks like a shoddy fan modification.