I see why people keep saying Kojima didn't want to make any more MGS games. You can see some elements of the series getting a little bit too repetitive here. And he pushed the perception of this series with a bold statement in MGS2. I keep wondering how I'd feel about this game If I didn't play the first two MGSs.But that doesn't take away from the revolutionary gameplay of this game. It sets a bar that even recently released stealth games miss. Although the main themes of the story were basically shared by the last 2 games. Kojima manages to make it hit even harder in this one. With a more personal journey for this game's Snake.

The culmination of 20+ years of experience finally pays off with this masterpiece. I couldn't wait until my replay of Hitman 1 and 2 to come here and mention how great this game is. They finessed the mechanics of this franchise down to perfection and I enjoyed every second of it. They loosened the mission story guide and put some hidden one and it's amazing fun to discover it on your own throught listening to npc conversationg or finding clues in the map. I know people dwell on the always online thing but to be fair they have great live service support for this game and keep adding missions and contracts if you haven't had enough of the main content. Def going back to 1 and 2 and replaying 3 again to put this whole trilogy into perspective.
But so far I believe this trilogy is the best stealth game of the last decade