I have so much to say about this game, but for now, I'll just say that, while my recent playthrough of MGS 4 made me like it a little bit less, replaying The Phantom Pain for the first time since it came out, far removed from all the hype and my own expectations for what I thought the game would be, made me enjoy it more and appreciate some of the elements that maybe I overlooked before, especially while contrasting it with the rest of the series and Kojima's games in general. It obviously has flaws, some really apparent, but I feel it also manages to convey its themes and messages through its story and mechanics in a very efficient way.