It is rare for any video game franchise to even survive for over 30 years, let alone maintain any level of continuity. The Metal Gear games set the standard for the best stealth games ever made, but creator Hideo Kojima also wanted to push the medium forward by introducing a level of storytelling previously unheard of in games. Like playing the Call of Duty games in order, each Metal Gear game can be tracked along our real-world timeline, though with plenty of liberties taken in terms of technology and historical events. With so many spinoffs and remakes that change the title, like Metal Gear Delta: Snake Eater, this is one of the toughest series to know how to approach as a newcomer. Thankfully, we’ve been following Snake’s adventures since the beginning and can easily tell you how to play the games in both release order and chronologically.
All Metal Gear games in release order
Release order is typically the best way to enjoy the Metal Gear games, but isn’t as smooth of a progression as it once was since several remakes have come out. This will still preserve the narrative throughline, complete with surprise reveals and shifting back and forth in the timeline to slowly piece together the complex web of events Kojima spun. If you want the same experience we had playing the games as they came out, this is the order to play the series.
Note that we will mention the remakes here but list the original game’s release first.
- Metal Gear (1987)
- Snake’s Revenge (1990)
- Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990)
- Metal Gear Solid (1998)/ Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004)
- Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel (2000)
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001)
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)/ Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (2025)
- Metal Gear Solid: Acid (2004)
- Metal Gear Solid: Acid 2 (2005)
- Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (2006)
- Metal Gear Solid: Mobile (2008)
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010)
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2013)
- Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014)
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015)
- Metal Gear Survive (2018)
All Metal Gear games in chronological order
The Metal Gear chronology is notoriously confusing and murky. Even longtime fans have trouble putting all the pieces in order, but there is a very clear timeline the series follows. If you prefer your storytelling to be more linear and don’t mind some whiplash between entries in terms of graphics and mechanics, then playing the games chronologically is the way to go. Since the franchise wasn’t intended to be played this way, we don’t suggest it given the choice since many of the reveals and twists won’t be as impactful without past or future context from the games, but it won’t ruin the experience by any means.
This is the full Metal Gear chronology, leaving out any games that are non-cannon or set in alternate timelines.
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater/ Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (1964)
- Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (1970)
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (1974)
- Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes (1975)
- Metal Gear Survive (1975)
- Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (1984)
- Metal Gear (1995)
- Snake’s Revenge (1998)
- Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1999)
- Metal Gear Solid / Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2005)
- Metal Gear Mobile (2005-2007)
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2007-2009)
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2014)
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2018)