It took years, nearly an entire other console generation, in fact. But the PlayStation 3 player base -- or whatever's left of it -- for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain appears to have achieved the game's highly cooperative and long elusive milestone: global nuclear disarmament.
On Monday, YouTube user Steff uploaded the secret ending from The Phantom Pain's PS3 version that unlocks once the last nuclear warhead has been deactivated, a gift "brought to you by anti nuke gang."
It's been a long time since The Phantom Pain released, so here's a quick refresher on what exactly is going on here:
Metal Gear Solid V was developed with an online component where players have the ability to construct one or multiple Forward Operating Bases (F.O.B.s) for resource gathering and production. You can use these bases to develop new equipment, with one of the eventual options being the ability to develop nuclear weapons.
Players have ability to dismantle the nukes they create on their own terms, but there's a catch: other players can infiltrate your base (and vice versa) at any moment to disarm or even steal them, unless you can put a stop to it in time.
The real-world political parallels are obvious, but yeah, possession of nuclear arms in The Phantom Pain is extremely hazardous territory, and one that, in the long run, doesn't reflect too kindly on Snake for keeping them around.
However, the game did come with a reward for players who banded together to rid its world of every last nuke, only unlocked if they all met the following conditions on their respective platform as laid out by Konami in November 2015:
- You must have completed Mission 31.
- You must not own or be currently developing a nuclear weapon. If you have any nukes in stock, you must dismantle them.
- Certain conditions related to nuclear proliferation must be met on the regional server for your corresponding gaming platform (PlayStation®4, PlayStation®3, Xbox One, Xbox 360®, PC(Steam®)).
- All nuclear weapons on the regional server corresponding to your console or platform must have been dismantled. In other words, the amount of nukes on your platform’s server must be equal to 0.
So to sum it up: get through the game, work together, and get your region down to zero.
The secret ending isn't exactly new information. It was discovered shortly after The Phantom Pain launched in September 2015 when players dug through the game's files, and the ending actually triggered for PC players three years later, despite the nuke count having never reached zero.
Still, on the PS3 at least, it looks like the mission has finally been accomplished.
>>FROM THE ARCHIVES: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Review – Tactical Espionage Open World