Metal Gear Solid 5 News: Phantom Pain Gameplay Video From Gamescom Highlights Variety Within A Mission, Multiplayer

The 20-minute Gamescom demo for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was posted on the IGN YouTube page, and it showcases many new single player and multiplayer features – cool and absurd alike, in true Kojima fashion – that players can look forward to when the game finally launches.

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In the first chunk of the video, the narrator replays the same mission that was demoed back at E3. He uses this opportunity to show off many of the game's unique features, such as telling his horse to poop on the road via a – and I kid you not – "defecate" button. He nonchalantly states that it's a perfectly strategic decision.

Mostly, though, this level replay demonstrates how a typical level in MGS V can be completed in many different ways and how even the same level will provide different challenges on different playthroughs. Guard patrol routes and enemy actions can change between mission attempts. The game's enemy factions learn from the player, making repeat missions much more interesting. Because Snake scored too many headshots the last time around, the base's security forces were all equipped with helmets, protecting them from a well aimed tranquilizer dart. The demo also emphasized the importance the time of day has on strategy. During the day, guards are spread out through the base, making it hard to enter the area at all. By taking a smoke break, though, Snake can speed up the game until sunset, when the enemy is more concentrated around the objective but less attentive to the rest of the base. The narrator takes that as his cue to move.

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The video also shows off more gameplay from the multiplayer base attack/defense mode. This time, the narrator is doing the infiltrating, stealing resources from an unaware player's base. The video highlights all of the different security decisions a player can make to defend his home turf. Players can place armed guards on patrol or take out the element of human error and invest in some automated gun cameras and drones. The narrator is soon caught by the player whose base he's trying to invade, but not before pilfering some boxes full of supplies.

If the video is anything to go by, The Phantom Pain is set to be just as deep and mildly bizarre as fans have come to expect from the franchise. In the same run, players can blow up enemy aircraft by airlifting cars full of C4 into its flight path and steal a goat that you had shot with a tranquilizer just outside the enemy base. For those wondering, yes, both of those happen in the video.