Mixed feelings on this one. I went into this having seen the trailers and not having played any previous Metal Gear games, so I thought this was going to be, more or less, a dark and unsparing examination of the nature of war and private military companies and the grey zone they operate in. It's not. In actuality, it's a basic revenge plot with a bunch of anime tropes thrown in, like the giant mech, skimpy-dressed woman motivated entirely by her love for the main character, and annoying child who doesn't serve the story at all. All the hype cutscenes are completely unearned and held together by the thinnest threads of non-animated exposition. I get it's a Japanese game so some whimsy is to be expected, but you cannot go into this thinking it has something meaningful to say like it wants you to believe. It doesn't. It has no interest in exploring the actual background conflict of 1980s Afghanistan, child soldiers, or the human cost of war even though all these things should be front and center. And as someone who took a few courses on linguistics in college, the game's discussion of language and its purpose and composition is so shallow that it's clear whoever wrote this did maybe 30 minutes of research on the subject total. It comes close to having something to say about how obsession with revenge breeds paranoia and distrust, but then makes the main characters justified all along. So the writing was a big letdown and kind of deceiving.
All that being said, this game has probably the best gameplay I've ever encountered. The progression is so excellently designed on a moment to moment level and the amount of choice you have in approaching a situation is so in depth that it is just so satisfying. It takes a bit of time to figure out as with all stealth games, but it is well worth getting through the learning curve. I actually liked the barrenness of the maps and I think it added to that feeling that you're operating in a no man's land. The art design is great and the characters look great too. It's immersive and the presentation is immaculate. I don't think this game is incomplete because it just plays so well. MGS5 is a great video game with a bad story. Normally, this wouldn't be anything noteworthy, but I feel the need to point it out because it tries so hard to buck the trend and doesn't quite get there. It's fun and thought-provoking! Just maybe not in the way intended.
