Obviously it's stupid and just downright disgraceful that this was sold on its own for such a high price. It should have been shipped with The Phantom Pain because it's the perfect opening, it's the tanker section of Metal Gear Solid 2 but better in every way. The design of Camp Omega is still incredible and so fun to navigate almost a decade later, I could play this five times over and have a wildly different experience each time depending on how I decided to proceed. The gameplay is so much fun and gives you a small taste of the freedom of gameplay that makes The Phantom Pain so great.

I can't imagine you'd get much out of this narratively if you haven't played Peace Walker, which I think is a lot of people's issues with the story in The Phantom Pain as well. Ground Zeroes is dark and depressing, the darkest the franchise has ever went. Most of it works to great effect, but some of it is a little too shocking for the series (at least to me personally.) For what it is, it's a great set up for the wider conflict of Metal Gear Solid V, and serves as an incredibly sad conclusion to the Peace Walker era.