The Insidious Secrets of Metal Gear Solid: Unveiling the Most Bone-Chilling Enigmas, Ranked

Highlights

Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear series is known for its groundbreaking and innovative gameplay, as well as its weird and creepy moments.

The series highlights terrifying moments, with encounters with supernatural beings like Psycho Mantis and the Man on Fire being some of the most chilling. Additionally, the game presents disturbing scenarios and missions, including vivisections, horrifying surgeries, and unsettling encounters with eerie bosses like Laughing Octopus.

Hideo Kojima’s acclaimed Metal Gear series has been hailed as groundbreaking, innovative, and unconventional. Its significant impact on the stealth-action genre is evident in the game-changing entries it has produced, as well as the numerous unforgettable moments and scenarios it is renowned for.

Kojima is known for seamlessly blending different genres in his works, including horror. Dedicated fans can attest to the multitude of eerie elements that have appeared throughout the series, from peculiar, fourth-wall-breaking dialogue to unsettling missions involving evading vengeful spirits.

10 Psycho Mantis - Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid

Platform(s) PS1, PCReleased October 20, 1998Developer(s) Konami Computer Entertainment Japan

One of the most memorable moments in the series occurs in the classic Metal Gear Solid. Solid Snake's encounter with Psycho Mantis delves deeper into the realm of supernatural, as he assesses the player's progress based on their number of captures, deaths, and game saves. Additionally, Psycho Mantis reads the memory card for other Konami-made games that are currently installed (a scene also present in the Gamecube remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes).

During their boss battle, Psycho Mantis momentarily turns the screen black, creating the illusion of a malfunctioning TV or someone tampering with the remote control. This added an eerie element to the game, especially considering its release in 1999.

9 The Man On Fire - Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Platform(s) PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PCReleased September 1, 2015Developer(s) Kojima Productions See at Steam

Venom Snake arrives at a so-called "hospital" in North Africa during his journey in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. The sight of blood-covered corpses, strange growths, and headphones placed in their throats is unnerving. To make matters worse, the Man on Fire, who was encountered at the beginning of the game, reappears.

A boss battle ensues, and it is incredibly tense and nerve-wracking on the first attempt. Bullets and explosives seem ineffective against the Man on Fire, who can easily summon powerful infernos. The appearance of a floating boy in a gas mask adds to the strangeness. The choice to confront the burning figure or escape in a panic is both thrilling and chilling.

8 Guy Savage - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Platform(s) PS2, PS3, PS Vita, Xbox 360, 3DSReleased November 17, 2004Developer(s) Konami

In the original release of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for PlayStation 2, Naked Snake (also known as Solid Snake’s father and the future Big Boss), is eventually captured and imprisoned. True to the series, there is a thrilling prison escape section!

If the player saves their progress, closes the game, and returns to it later, they will be treated to a short demo of a hack-and-slash game where they battle swarms of monsters. There is no background music, only a mysterious figure wearing a hood and wielding blades. Apparently, this demo was an unrealized game idea by Kojima. Afterwards, Snake wakes up in shock, gasping for breath, from what he describes as a "nightmare." It's genuinely eerie stuff!

7 Vamp’s Reveal - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Platform(s) PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS VitaReleased November 13, 2001Developer(s) Konami

In Metal Gear Solid 2's Plant chapter, the character Vamp makes a terrifying entrance. A team of SEAL Team 10 members are exploring the Strut B Transformer Room when Vamp, known as the "blood-sucking freak," attacks. He effortlessly throws daggers into the throats of two soldiers hanging from the pipes above.

But those soldiers were lucky compared to the third member who desperately fires his assault rifle, achieving no success. Vamp mercilessly butchers him with rapid swings of his knife, ultimately finishing him off with a single slit to the throat.

Just as Raiden and the not-so-mysterious Iroquois Pliskin sneak into the room, they witness Vamp feeding on the blood of one of the fallen soldiers and marking his skin as a symbol of his kill count.

6 Paz’s Emergency Surgery - Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes

Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes

Platform(s) PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PCReleased March 18, 2014Developer(s) Kojima Productions

In Ground Zeroes, despite its brevity, there was a particular scene that deeply affected fans. The mission to extract Paz from an illicit detention facility led by Big Boss resulted in a catastrophic outcome. It was discovered that Paz had been rigged with explosives, leaving the medic aboard the evacuation helicopter with no alternative but to perform a surgery on her without the aid of anesthesia.

What follows is a horrifying depiction of Paz's agonizing screams as the medic frantically attempts to disarm the bomb. The game does not shy away from displaying the gruesome reality, capturing every graphic detail of her exposed organs through the camera lens.

5 Laughing Octopus - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Platform(s) PS3Released June 12, 2008Developer(s) Kojima Productions See at Amazon

This encounter in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has everything. Abundant unsettling laughter. The game introduces its first boss, Laughing Octopus, as she dramatically slithers onto the scene and prepares to fight Old Snake. Engaging in a game of hide-and-seek for ambushes, she even vomits out a large pool of blood. Each creepy aspect follows one after another.

After the intense battle, Laughing Octopus begins to gradually break down. She repeatedly apologizes for her laughter but only ends up laughing even more. The slow and seemingly harmless walk she adopts after shedding her mechanical tentacles (she may even crawl towards the player if they are low to the ground) adds an extra layer of discomfort to the whole experience.

4 The Sorrow - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Platform(s) PS2, PS3, PS Vita, Xbox 360, 3DSReleased November 17, 2004Developer(s) Konami

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In Metal Gear Solid 3, the boss encounter with The Sorrow is rather unconventional. It can be described more as a psychological experience rather than an actual fight. After escaping from prison, Naked Snake finds himself wading through a shallow river, haunted by the apparitions of those he has killed and narrowly avoiding The Sorrow's powerful psychic attacks. Surprisingly, The Sorrow is revealed to be a ghost.

Attempting to communicate via Codec is futile, as all voices scream at Snake as if he were already dead. Unexpectedly, at the end of this intense experience, Snake suddenly perishes and the Game Over screen appears. Who would have thought that the solution was as simple as using the Fake Death Pill?

3 Sneaking Past Ghosts - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Platform(s) PS3, Xbox 360, PSPReleased June 8, 2010Developer(s) Kojima Productions

Big Boss can participate in a terrifying mission in Peace Walker, known as 'Dead Man's Treasure' side-ops. This mission requires collecting items from fallen comrades under the cover of darkness. These deceased soldiers become hostile if detected, but they can be neutralized by providing emergency CPR before they transform into specters.

Nevertheless, constantly contacting Mother Base will result in distorted and eerie responses. Persevering players will eventually encounter a chilling Easter egg where The End, defeated by Snake in a sniper duel in the third game, speaks from beyond the grave.

2 Mother Base Quarantine - Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Platform(s) PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PCReleased September 1, 2015Developer(s) Kojima Productions See at Steam

During the game, there is a sudden outbreak of a highly contagious disease at Mother Base. Venom Snake walks solemnly through a darkened quarantine bay, observing the infected soldiers who are locked inside. As he reaches the end, he discovers a device created by an R&D specialist that can identify the infected personnel. Shockingly, it reveals that everyone is infected.

The player is compelled to carry out the execution of each soldier. Some display fear, others attempt to resist, and a few even salute Venom Snake in a final act of respect. Throughout this harrowing sequence, Huey continues to interject through the communication, repeatedly criticizing and manipulating the player with feelings of guilt. The situation feels deeply unsettling, yet undeniably captivating.

1 Crazy Colonel - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Platform(s) PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS VitaReleased November 13, 2001Developer(s) Konami

Raiden's capture and imprisonment within Arsenal Gear contains an iconic moment. The Colonel delves into a flurry of nonsense, even going as far as instructing Raiden to shut off the game console, speaking in Japanese, demanding 61 pairs of scissors, referencing quotes from previous Metal Gear games, and more.

When it is revealed that Raiden's handler is an artificial intelligence and not the real Colonel who aided Snake, the imposter proceeds to deliver a lengthy monologue about The Patriots' objective: the control of digital information. Although the erratic dialogue is disturbing on its own, the dialogue that fans have deemed prophetic solidifies this as one of the most unsettling moments in the entire series.