You could say it’s “Metal Gear Solid Vception” because we’re playing MGS V in MGS V.
MGS V consists of two very disproportionate parts. The short but replayable prologue, Ground Zeroes, was released over a year before the full game, The Phantom Pain. Before Ground Zeroes‘ release, Hideo Kojima said he chose to separate the prologue because he wanted fans to have something to play. However, pressure from Konami likely played a significant role as well, especially since The Phantom Pain was noticeably unfinished at release and Kojima left Konami shortly after the game’s release. Many of us wondered if the two games would ever be connected, especially after Konami renewed its interest in game development. This has now happened, but without Kojima and Konami.
A mod created by RLC and uploaded to Nexus Mods by CapLagRobin integrates Ground Zeroes into The Phantom Pain as a standalone prologue mission. To install it, you need the Snakebite Mod Manager program and the latest version of Infinite Heaven, a location and mission add-on system. You also need to download the US Naval Prison Facility map and own both games. After downloading and installing the mod, the Ground Zeroes mission will be added to the iDroid mission list in the helicopter. The mission starts automatically after players complete Episode 1 of The Phantom Pain, suggesting that it functions more as a flashback than a prologue.
Somehow, Ground Zeroes even supports Fulton, which was obviously difficult to implement because it has ceiling collision issues that don’t exist in The Phantom Pain. The mod comes with a complete list of known issues, most of which are relatively minor. For instance, shaders don’t work properly in cutscenes or audio is missing. Hopefully, these issues will be fixed over time. Of course, with a mod like this, guesswork also plays a role. We know Ground Zeroes was always supposed to be part of The Phantom Pain, but Kojima never discussed exactly how it would be implemented or if we would play the existing prologue, then return to GZ and finally return to TPP.
This has led some members of the MGS community to speculate about a mod featuring the legendary Mission 51 for The Phantom Pain. Mission 51 was briefly mentioned in the extras for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and there is an unfinished scene. However, there is nothing else modders could use, so Mission 51 will always remain a true Phantom Pain.
Source: PCGamer, Nexus Mods
