Metal Gear Timeline, Explained

One of the longest-running franchises in gaming history is stealth spy thriller Metal Gear, with the first game being released in 1987, and the latest in 2025. In between, the Kojima and Konami series has spanned console generations, launching 17 games, including 11 mainline titles, five handheld games, one mobile game, spin-offs, re-releases, and remakes. 

As a newcomer, you can always play the titles in the order they were released. However, putting together the timeline of events can be confusing, given the franchise has a habit of jumping from the mainline era to the prequels and tossing in bizarre plot twists and wild espionage conspiracies in the mix. A few titles even override the mainline events with their own, unique stories, or spin off different versions of the main events. 

In case you’re looking to play the games in chronological order, then this article explaining the Metal Gear timeline is for you. That way, you can make better sense of the story from the beginning in the early 13th century to the latest events in the early 21st century. Please note that we’re only listing the mainline canon games that contribute to the main timeline, leaving out the titles that override the main events or spin off into alternate timelines.

11. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)

The first game in the timeline is the 2004 release of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The time period here is clear, with the story taking place in the 1960s during the Cold War era. 

Sokolov Defection

We begin with the Sokolov Defection mission taking place in 1962. It entails rescuing a Soviet Union weapons scientist, Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov, who grows fearful of the Soviets tampering with his work and decides to defect to the United States. 

In response, a United States CIA special forces commander, codenamed Major Zero, authorizes an operation to transport Sokolov and his family from the Soviet Union to the United States. 

While the family makes it to the United States, Sokolov only makes it as far as West Berlin before exhaustion from the travel sees him checked into a hospital.

Cuban Missile Crisis

A week later, the Cuban Missile Crisis brews. The Soviets deploy missiles in Cuba, an Amercian ally. This leads to President John F. Kennedy demanding that the Soviets disarm and dismantle the missiles. But the Soviets refuse to back down. 

Several negotiations take place, alongside shooting down spy planes that spark further worry over an all-out nuclear war. Eventually, the Soviet Union agrees to remove the missiles from Cuba. But only on the condition that Sokolov returns to the Soviet Union. 

Major Zero agrees but promises Sokolov to rescue him later on. He forms an unofficial unit called FOX and recruits an American operative, codenamed Naked Snake, to rescue Sokolov.

Virtuous Mission

In 1964, a mole at the Soviet Union discovers that Sokolov is nearly completing a new, powerful weapon. The CIA, as a result, orders Naked Snake to rescue Sokolov in under four hours. 

Naked Snake succeeds in recovering Sokolov, who explains that the new weapon called Shagohod, is a nuclear missile that was capable of ending the Cold War and beginning a new World War. He further says that the only way to stop its launch is for Sokolov to defect to the US. 

Before you can make it out with Sokolov, though, you run into your former mentor, codenamed The Boss, who to your surprise, says they’ve defected to the Soviet Union. The Boss recaptures Sokolov and throws you off a bridge. When you resurface, you witness a Soviet GRU colonel, Volgin, launching Shagohod at Shagohod’s research facility, completely wiping out the building. 

The Soviet Union suspects the US for the attack. Meanwhile, Naked Snake is detained for suspicion of defecting to the Soviet Union as The Boss did. 

Operation Snake Eater

The Soviet Union demands that the US prove their innocence by assassinating The Boss themselves. This initiates Operation Snake Eater, where Naked Snake is ordered to once again complete so he can clear his name. But the mission had more objectives, including eliminating Volgin, rescuing Sokolov, and neutralizing the Shagahod nuclear threat. 

During the mission, another objective comes up: to retrieve the Philosophers’ Legacy. Now, a little backstory. In 1918, superpowers China, the United States, and the Soviet Union formed a secret group that controls the world from the shadows. They created a cache, the Philosophers’ Legacy, that contains their identities as well as access to untraceable money amounting to one hundred million dollars. Over the years, the superpowers lost trust in one another. By 1964, the Soviet Union got its hands on the Philosophers’ Legacy.  

Anyway, Naked Snake is successful. However, toward the end, he realizes that The Boss was, in fact, a double agent, sacrificing themselves for the greater good. After The Boss’ death, Naked Snake becomes the Big Boss. However, The Boss’ sacrifice and discoveries Naked Snake makes along the way leave his duty and his service to his government blurred. 

10. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (2006)

With the foundation of the Metal Gear timeline lain in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (2006) gives us the next connecting piece. 

San Hieronymo Peninsula Incident

It takes place in 1970, with the FOX unit going rogue and hunting Naked Snake, aka Big Boss. The FOX unit eventually captures Big Boss and detains him at the San Hieronymo Peninsula prison cell in Colombia. 

FOX member Lieutenant Cunningham then interrogates and tortures Big Boss, demanding information on the Philosophers’ Legacy. But Big Boss escapes and hunts down his former FOX unit members and its leader. 

Big Boss later embarks on other missions, including finding the Philosophers’ Legacy and recovering a Metal Gear blueprint. He then forms his own new unit of special ops soldiers called FOXHOUND. 

9. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010)

The next event in the Metal Gear timeline takes place in 1974 in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. By this time, Big Boss has moved on from the FOXHOUND and has formed a new unit of mercenary soldiers called Militaires Sans Frontières (or MSF).

The MSF go to war against the Peace Sentinels invading Costa Rica. The MSF’s objective was to disrupt the Peace Sentinel’s Peace Walker Project, preventing its completion. If completed, the Peace Walker project would develop AI weapons with destructive power. 

8. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014)

In 1975, shortly after the events of the Peace Walker project, the MSF takes on various contracts that further grows its reach. 

Eliminate the Renegade Threat

Big Boss, still a part of the MSF, takes up a KGB contract to assassinate Glaz and Palitz for committing horrific acts against Soviet Union officials and their families. 

Intel Operative Rescue

The next Side Ops the MSF takes is a rescue one. They infiltrate an American black site in Cuba called Camp Omega to rescue two prisoners: Paz Ortega Andrade and Ricardo “Chico” Valenciano. 

Classified Intel Acquisition

Next up is the Classified Intel Acquisition Side Ops. it involves classified intel that an undercover agent at a prison in Cuba retrieved. 

Destroy the Anti-Air Emplacements

The fourth Side Ops the MSF takes is from the United States military’s Joint Chief of Staff. It entails destroying several anti-aircraft emplacements. 

Ground Zeroes Incident

The MSF grows rapidly in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, its spies infiltrating various locations across the globe. As a result, Cipher’s strike force called XOF led a Trojan Horse operation on MSF’s Mother Base in 1975, causing a devastating attack called the Ground Zeroes Incident that kills many MSF members and leaves Big Boss comatose.

7. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015)

In Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Big Boss awakens from his coma to embark on a quest for revenge. 

Phantom Pain Incident

Big Boss forms the Diamond Dogs. On the other hand, XOF’s commander, Skull Face, seeks control over the global military power. However, Big Boss goes up against Skull Face, derailing his plans across Afghanistan and Central Africa.

6. Metal Gear (1987)

And now, the first Metal Gear game in the series, taking place in 1995. 

Outer Heaven Uprising

A mercenary group called Outer Heaven develops the ultimate weapon, Metal Gear. This would give them control over the global military power. But Solid Snake goes up against Outer Heaven, as part of the FOXHOUND unit.

5. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990)

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake then takes us to the early 1990s, during the fall of the Soviet Union.

Mercenary War

Solid Snake infiltrates Zanzibar Land, a heavily guarded territory in Central Asia, to rescue a kidnapped scientist and destroy a new Metal Gear weapon. 

Zanzibar Land Disturbance

While Zanzibar Land sought to achieve dominance using nuclear weapons, famed mercenary, Solid Snake, stops their plans in their tracks. 

4. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004)

Later in 2005, Solid Snake comes out of retirement to help infiltrate a nuclear weapons facility on Shadow Moses Island in Alaska. 

Shadow Moses Incident

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes sees the United States carrying out a training mission at a nuclear weapons research facility in Shadow Moses. However, Liquid Snake of the FOXHOUND unit leads a rebellion against the US. 

FOXHOUND also seeks to retrieve the body of Big Boss. They intend to use gene therapy on his body to create an army of ultimate soldiers. 

3. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001)

A new saga begins in the Metal Gear franchise, with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty taking us to 2007. 

Tanker Incident

Here, the Patriots, formerly the Cipher, get their hands on the nuclear weapons at Shadow Moses. They then frame Solid Snake for stealing the Metal Gear prototype, marking him a terrorist.

Big Shell Incident

Two years later, Solid Snake is confirmed dead. A new FOXHOUND recruit takes over, codenamed Snake, and later Raiden. When a terrorist group called Sons of Liberty sieze control of a decontamination facility called Big Shell, Raiden is sent to infiltrate. During the mission, you uncover more conspiracies that tie to the Patriots. 

Raiden’s Capture

Later, between 2012 and 2013, The Patriots capture Raiden, as he attempts to retrieve the comatose body of Big Boss.

2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots takes place in 2014, when private military companies (PMCs) are at the center of global conflicts. Liquid Ocelot, who’s both the consciousness of Liquid Snake and the body of Revolver Ocelot, seeks control over the PMCs. He combines the companies under the umbrella of the Outer Heaven.

Guns of the Patriots Incident

Liquid Ocelot also takes over an AI network called the Sons of the Patriots. In turn, Solid Snake, now Old Snake, returns to embark on one last mission to stop Liquid Ocelot and the Patriots.  

1. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2013)

And finally, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance takes you to 2018. Here, you play as a cybernetically enhanced Raiden. 

World Marshall Incident

Raiden embarks on a new mission to hunt down the killers of the prime minister of a country in Africa. He uncovers Colorado’s senator, Steven Armstrong’s, plans to start a war between the United States and Pakistan, to aid him in winning the presidential elections. 

It turns out that Armstrong leads a private military company called Desperado that destabilizes peaceful nations for profit. Armstrong also runs the Sears Program, which extracts children’s brains to implant them in cybernetically enhanced soldiers. 

Raiden himself was a child soldier, exploited too young. Thus, you embark on missions to fulfill several objectives, including stopping Senator Armstrong and bringing down his organization, Desperado.