The Metal Gear series’ stories are hard to sum up. Sometimes they can be silly, or even reductive. Other times it can be genuinely deep and insightful. It’s convoluted, insane, and entertaining. Without its approach to storytelling, it just wouldn’t feel like Metal Gear. Each character in the series has their own journey to travel too.
There's Otacon’s path from sheltered nerd to finding his spine in Metal Gear Solid. Meryl’s conflicted familial relationship to Colonel Campbell in Metal Gear Solid 4. Quiet finding her voice in Metal Gear Solid 5. But these are the best arcs across the Metal Gear series. There will be spoilers from here on out, so proceed with caution.
7 “It Still Won’t Bring Me Back”
Metal Gear Solid 5 has narrative issues, thanks to the game's troubled development. The story often feels undercooked or even unfinished in places. Yet while Venom Snake’s arc with Paz managed to be bittersweet. The former undercover CIPHER agent died at the end of Ground Zeroes. Except she miraculously survived! Miller and Ocelot said she was found, but suffering from a form of amnesia, thinking her old schoolgirl cover identity was real.
Venom Snake would have to save old MSF soldiers and show her the photos he found on them. Her taped recollections would get more uncertain as she recalled more of her past. Turns out Paz never survived. She wasn’t rescued, and Miller & Ocelot didn’t explain a thing. She was a figment borne out of Venom Snake’s guilt of failing to save her. He relives her death one more time, then receives one last message from her telling him to let her go.
6 “You Should Be In This Boat!”
Not everyone who gets an arc is a hero. In Peace Walker, Huey Emmerich was a lovelorn, disabled nerd conned into working for Coldman’s Peace Sentinels. But then he joins Big Boss’ Militaire Sans Frontieres and finds a new purpose. Only to sell them out and leave Big Boss in a coma as he goes off with Skull Face. Or does he? MGS5 made him a much more slippery character.
He may have been abducted and forced to work against his will, or he may have joined willingly. Maybe he killed his wife, Dr. Strangelove. Or perhaps it was Skull Face (despite evidence pointing towards Huey). What is certain is that he became a slimier character who calls out others on their crimes, while coming up with weak excuses for his own. Since Big Boss and co can’t deliver a concrete verdict, Huey is exiled without his prosthetic legs, and left to his fate.
5 “C’mon, Let’s Enjoy Life”
There’s still room for happy endings in Metal Gear. The most famous entry, the original Metal Gear Solid on the PS1, re-introduced players to Solid Snake. In the original MSX games, he was a rookie FOXHOUND agent ground down by life. He learned his former CO Big Boss was the leader of the terrorist nation Outer Heaven. Then discovered he was his father, and that he had to kill him to save the world.
As such, he starts off MGS1 a bitter, isolated figure who’d rather drink whiskey and mush dogs in Alaska than integrate back into society. He wasn’t a hero, just a killer who could only feel alive in battle. But in shutting down his old FOXHOUND unit, stopping Metal Gear REX, and saving rookie soldier Meryl, Snake discovers he can use what he knows to do good. Even if players get the bad ending, he finds the will to live life to the fullest and help others.
4 “No, Never Heard The Name Before”
It’s in following this goal that Snake comes across Raiden, a new special operative ordered by his superiors to stop a terrorist attack on New York City. Their leader turns out to be George Sears, aka Solidus Snake, the other brother between Solid and MGS1’s Liquid. Solidus vaguely recognizes Raiden but can’t pinpoint why until he's captured. He reveals Raiden used to be a child soldier in Africa under his command until he was liberated.
Then his superiors turn out to be the Patriots, the true power running the US. He was sent in to test their plan to run society by controlling information. They waved away any conflicting details, and Raiden went along with their ruse. All because they told him what he wanted to hear and kept him from reliving his traumatic past. With Snake’s help, he was able to face his past, reject his fantasies, and start making his own path through life.
3 “Is Your Cause Just, Or Is That ‘Just’ What You Tell Yourself?”
In MGS4, Raiden’s life got worse as he split from his family, became a drunk, got caught by the Patriots during a mission, and turned into an experimental cyborg. With the Patriots destroyed, he reunites with his family and cleans up his act. He becomes a bodyguard for Maverick Security, delivering justice to those who prey on the weak. Like the PMC World Marshall, who are abducting impoverished children to use as child soldiers. Just like Raiden was.
However, their grunts aren’t faceless villains. They’re normal people turned into fodder for Marshall’s goals, and as weak as those Raiden claims to fight for. Yet Raiden chops them up happily because his past left him with a bloodlust he needs to satiate. Like World Marshall and their boss Senator Armstrong, he’s forcing his will on others. He saved the kids, but not without getting innocent blood on his hands. Was he right to kill those soldiers to rescue them? The answer isn't so clear-cut.
2 “Till We Meet Again, John!”
In the opening section of Metal Gear Solid 3, FOX Unit agent Naked Snake comes across a cocky young Russian major called Ocelot. He had talent and potential, but made mistakes Snake could capitalize on. Instead of killing him, Snake complimented him and gave him some advice like switching to revolvers instead of handguns. Ocelot ends up impressed with the man, and becomes driven to take him down while also getting his approval.
He kept getting beaten by Snake, but he got better with each fight. By their final battle, Ocelot managed to stay toe-to-toe with Snake. The two respect each other’s skill enough for one last duel with six-shooters. Who wins out? That’s up to the player to decide as they pick which gun to use. Either way, the enemies would become friends from then on. The ending reveals he was always a sneaky double agent. However, he wasn’t truly Revolver Ocelot until he met Snake.
1 “Finish Your Mission! Prove Your Loyalty!”
But Ocelot’s arc works well because it runs parallel with MGS3’s main arc: the relationship between Naked Snake and The Boss. While Snake and Ocelot’s arc is about Ocelot finding a mentor, the Boss and Snake’s arc is about losing one. He had to kill her in retribution for her defection to the USSR, but can he really kill someone he admires? Just as Ocelot is under him, he is under the Boss, including getting beaten in each face-off with her.
He improves with each encounter up to their final fight. She expressed her ambition to end the Cold War, and then her feelings. Without a child to call her own, she felt Snake became like a son to her. She passed down all she knew to him. Now he could finish his mission and finish her off. It’s not until after he does so that her defection was part of her own mission. She didn’t betray the US. The US betrayed her by sending her to die at Snake's hands. Now dubbed Big Boss, he would try to achieve the Boss' dream of peace...by eventually becoming a terrorist himself.