Metal Gear Solid's sprawling timeline can feel daunting to newcomers and returning fans alike. This guide lays out a practical path through the canonical mainline saga, plus options for experiencing the broader series in release order. It also clarifies which entries are considered core to the story and which sit outside the main timeline.
Across its long history, the Metal Gear series has expanded beyond a single story to include remakes, ports, and spin-offs. Not including remakes, ports, or remasters, there are 17 total games: 11 mainline entries, five on handheld devices, and one on mobile. A sizeable chunk of these are non-canon or alternate-timeline experiences. Metal Gear Survive (2018) sits outside the main timeline, while the PSP entries Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Acid, and Acid 2 veer into their own narrative lanes. Metal Gear: Ghost Babel on Game Boy Color is an alternate-universe sequel that erases the events of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, removing it from the canonical timeline. Additionally, Metal Gear Mobile and Snake’s Revenge have since been deemed non-canon by Kojima and the community. Taken together, 11 games form the core Metal Gear saga, spanning a fictional alternate-history 1960s to the late 2010s.
For players weighing where to start, there are two sensible entry points depending on preference. Those seeking the full saga should consider 2023's Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, which includes updated versions of Metal Gear Solid 1–3 in the best available forms. If a more approachable entry is preferred, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain stands out as the most contemporary, accessible gateway while still delivering the series’ signature sneaking, story beats, and mechanical evolution.
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With that context in mind, here is the canonical chronological order of the mainline Metal Gear games, followed by notes on where remakes or spin-offs fit in. The list below reflects the in-universe timeline, not the order of release, and it includes the core arc from Naked Snake through Raiden to the late-2010s era of Solid and cyborg soldiers.
First in the chronology is Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which is set during the Cold War. Naked Snake is sent to extract a Russian scientist and prevent a weapon known as the Shagohod from triggering a nuclear crisis. The Boss betrays the US government, and after a brutal jungle confrontation, Naked Snake survives, returns to Russia, and adopts the moniker Big Boss, emerging as a legend within the US Special Forces.
Next comes Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, which picks up six years after Snake Eater. Big Boss confronts FOX Unit, learns of their rogue activities, and ultimately begins the path that leads to the formation of FOXHOUND.
Four years after Portable Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker follows Big Boss as he forms Militaires Sans Frontières and battles a nuclear-armed threat on a distant offshore rig, culminating in revelations about Cipher and Paz that reshape his outlook on the organization behind the shadows.
Ground Zeroes acts as a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, taking place a few months after Peace Walker. Paz survives the events of Peace Walker and is interrogated at Camp Omega, triggering a cascade of events that wipe out Militaires Sans Frontières and leave Big Boss on the edge of death.
Nine years later, The Phantom Pain opens with a severely injured Big Boss waking up in Cyprus. Under the codename Venom Snake, he rebuilds a mercenary force and chases the threat posed by Skull Face, whose plot centers on a devastating parasite weapon and a plan to forge a new nation for soldiers: Outer Heaven.
The saga then returns to the original era with Metal Gear, which follows Solid Snake, a rookie FOXHOUND operative. On a mission to stop a nation from building a weapon called Metal Gear, Snake discovers his mentor Big Boss’s broader designs and fights to thwart a weapon whose power could reshape global geopolitics.
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake continues the thread years later as Snake infiltrates Zanzibar Land, confronts Big Boss once more, and destroys a new Metal Gear while unraveling the web of conspiracies that connect to Outer Heaven.
Six years after Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid brings the narrative to Shadow Moses Island. Solid Snake confronts a rogue FOXHOUND leading a mission to use a new Metal Gear as leverage, with twists involving Liquid Snake and a dramatic revelation about the world’s covert power structure—and Snake is presumed dead before escaping.
Two years after that, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty splits the action. Solid Snake infiltrates a tanker to uncover a prototype Metal Gear, while a new protagonist, Raiden, is drawn into a crisis at the offshore facility Big Shell. By the end, the underying influence of the Patriots and the body-swap-like control exerted over events is exposed.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots closes the main arc. Old Snake is aging rapidly due to cloning and the lingering FOXDIE virus. His mission to end the Patriots’ control system leads to a final, decisive confrontation with Liquid Ocelot and the unearthing of the truth behind Outer Heaven.
Finally, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance centers on Raiden, now a cyborg operating separately from the mainline timeline. Four years after MGS4, Raiden confronts a private military company and a shadowy conspiracy with far-reaching consequences for the future of weapons and warfare.
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What’s next for Metal Gear? The release cadence has cooled since Solid Snake’s era, and Konami has not confirmed any new mainline titles. However, the publisher has kept the possibility of remakes alive. Virtuous Studios, which is handling Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, has hinted that remakes of other games are not off the table and will depend on player demand. A Tokyo Game Show poll circulated by the studio suggested fans could influence the next remake pick, keeping the door open for another revisit of beloved entries.
For players who want an organized access path through the series’ expansive catalog, there is also a complete playlist offer for standalone games and spin-offs, arranged by release date, to help pace a marathon viewing of the franchise’s evolution. This can be useful for anyone cataloging the series for a stream, guide, or retrospective edit.
Callum Williams is a freelance media writer with years of experience as a game critic, news reporter, guides writer, and features writer. Originally posted: Dec 29, 2025 6:52 pm
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