Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is a 2014 action-adventure stealth game developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami. It is the eighth game in the Metal Gear series directed, written, and produced by Hideo Kojima, and serves as a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which was released the following year. Set in 1975, a few months after the events of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the story follows Snake as he infiltrates an American black site in Cuba called Camp Omega, attempting to rescue Cipher agent Paz Ortega Andrade and former Sandinista child soldier Ricardo "Chico" Valenciano Libre.

Ground Zeroes offers new sneaking and traversal methods compared to its predecessors, as well as the choice in what order the story events take place by selecting missions in any order they chose. The game was originally developed as a mission for The Phantom Pain, but an extended development time resulted in Kojima splitting that portion of the game off into a stand-alone product so that players could get early access to Metal Gear Solid V.

Ground Zeroes was released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One in March 2014, and for Windows in December 2014. Critical reception was generally positive, with praise for its mechanics and graphics, while the majority of the criticism concerned its short length. The game was met with some controversy for its handling of themes of sexual violence. It shipped a million units by April 2014.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience, a bundle that includes both Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, along with all additional content for both games, was released in October 2016.