see deal Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PC) $19.99 on Humble Bundle

We only got a glimpse of Kojima Productions' first attempt at an open-world stealth game in Metal Gear Solid 5:

Open World Stealth

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I could choose the time of day before I deploy on any mission (6:00 AM, 6:00 PM, or ASAP).

A Konami rep told me soldier reinforcements come from nearby bases.

I found a deadly bear roaming around along with sheep and other wildlife.

Destroying anti-air defenses at a base allows me to call in chopper for extraction.

You can complete Side Ops consecutively and don't have to return to Mother Base after every mission.

Build a Better Mother Base

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“ ...every completed mission and resource gathered contributes to the bigger whole, since you re-build Snake's world one piece at a time.

Gadget Man

Buddy Ops

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The explosive ending of MGS: Ground Zeroes sets up the destruction of Big Boss's home turf, so it makes sense that the opening hours of The Phantom Pain center around his rebirth. Without saying too much about the prologue, the hospital section is filled with the kind of crazy, elaborate, wacky, action-heavy cinematics series director Hideo Kojima is known for. But MGS5 is like an episodic TV series -- right down to a special end credits sequence at the end of each episode -- and hour two gets straight to the heart of The Phantom Pain, as it sends Snake on an adventure that starts in the open desert of Afghanistan and shifts over to the lush jungles of Africa.Afghanistan and Africa are impressive sandboxes on their own terms, despite not having the hustle and bustle of a GTA-level metropolis. The canyons and jungles stretch for miles in every direction with lots of soldiers, wildlife, and other surprises to discover. Enemy soldiers follow different patrols during the day versus the night, and you can find them holed up in the many installations scattered across the desert landscape. Daytime stealth is harder than it looks, too. So if you're a better stealth agent at night, a few pulls of the Phantom Cigar will initiate a time-lapse that changes the time of day.Enemy A.I. is better than ever, with tenacious soldiers who will investigate the first signs of an intrusion. It’s not impossible to sneak by thanks to a nifty feature on Snake’s binoculars that marks nearby threats. Using it, I ended up with a handful of sneaky trips through the enemy camp where no one knew I was there, and a few that turned sour and became a smash and grab job. Here’s a few other surprises I discovered during my playtime:These dynamic switches in such a big, open space with multiple entry and exit points made my adventures (and failures) feel unique and unlike anything Metal Gear has done before. Real-time weather patterns, like blinding sandstorms and torrential rain, sweeten the experience by providing potential cover that can help me sneak by a squad of enemy vehicles.In a lot of ways, Metal Gear Solid 5 is the perfect union of the exterior areas born in Metal Gear Solid 3 and the tight, episodic mission-based structure of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.There's a lot to do, from securing valuable intel and resources to kidnapping soldiers using the Fulton Recovery System -- a hilarious gag that results in a cool payoff: Manpower that you can use to build a bigger, better army. Taken soldiers can be turned to recruits, split up into teams like Weapon R&D, Medical, and Intel -- each one plays a vital role in elevating Snake’s base from under construction installation to military super-power. Just be careful when you choose to airlift someone out of a battle: An injured soldiers could die during the trip, or a Fulton could be lost entirely if the weather is bad enough.Once you’ve gathered enough men and resources, you can build additional wings and add defenses for your Forward Operating Base, an area that other players can invade and steal resources from their friends. We still don’t know how these losses affect Snake’s goal to rebuild Mother Base, but it sounds like a fun way to compete in an unfriendly arms race.Regardless of which side you choose, the most important function to wrap your brain around is the iDroid -- a device that Snake uses to summon supplies, manage weapon and base development, listen to detailed briefing cassettes, or call in a chopper pick up at the end of a play session. It's a major piece of equipment that plays a central role in making Snake and his army stronger. Expansions like this sonic pulse that can detect nearby targets or the upgraded Fulton recovery balloon,that allows you to steal anything that's not nailed to the ground, are locked behind building up Mother Base.It’s a worthwhile investment, too. This installment has some of the most fun tools I’ve seen in a Metal Gear yet. From inflatable dummies that can push a soldier clear off a ledge to Stun Arm upgrades that can shock an enemy senseless. But, as with Metal Gear, it’s not what tools you have in battle, but the myriad of creative ways you use it.As painfully detailed as Metal Gear games tend to be, they wouldn’t be memorable to fans without wacky easter eggs. In the Phantom Pain, you can hear ‘80s pop music playing inside some of the enemy bases, snatch up these tapes from boomboxes, and then play it as background music through your iDroid. That not enough? Well, a fashionable helicopter upgrade will outfit your chopper with a set of speakers, so you can set these tunes to blare out of them when the cavalry comes to airlift you out of danger.Perhaps the most exciting piece of Metal Gear Solid 5 we didn't get a ton of time to play with is the buddy system, where Snake can bring along an AI driven companion to help him accomplish missions in the field. At TGS we saw Quiet in action, as the controversial sniper covered Snake's movements with suppressing fire. And who could forget the jaw-dropping sequence involving shooting a grenade out of the air next to a chopper. Sequences like this might appear scripted for a good demo, but in what we played of MGS5, they're possible to pull off.Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is shaping up to be the most polished open world stealth game I’ve played, with lots of missions to complete, resources to gather, and equipment to develop. Most importantly, it tucks all of it behind the freedom to choose and develop your tools and resources to suit the way you play. If the rest of the game is as impressive, it might be one of the best stealth action games yet made.

Jose Otero is an Editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat. After playing Metal Gear Solid 5 for 12 hours(!), he can assure you that there's plenty to talk about. Keep up with his special codec transmissions on Twitter.