Strong prologue linking Peace Walker and TPP
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews
“a really solid experience to prepare us for Phantom Pain.”
Steam review · 18.1 h played ↗
METAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 85%Very Positive · 85%KONAMI2014Stealth · Action · Adventure
$19.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 5 h ago
The verdict
A polished, tight stealth sandbox and prologue to The Phantom Pain, but it's one mission on one map that most players call a demo. Skip it at full price.
Great for
Metal Gear fans and stealth players who want a tight, replayable prologue before The Phantom Pain, bought cheap
Main risk
Paying full price for about two hours of main story on a single map
What changed in the last 30 days
49 recent reviews
Recent positive reviews still note the short length but recommend it on sale or in bundles, and praise how well it holds up in 2026. Evidence is modest.
49 recent reviews
What players love
Excellent stealth gameplay and freedom
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews
“The gameplay is arguably the smoothest of any Metal gear game (And in any action game ever Imo) and gives you so much freedom to find your own way to complete the missions.”
Steam review · 3.6 h played ↗
Great replayability and side ops
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“inside these missions there is a massive size of details and ways to complete them, including the main/side objectives that make replayability much more fun.”
Steam review · 27.9 h played ↗
Cinematic intro, atmosphere and graphics
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews
“the opening Intro is easily one of the most cinematic and chilling of All-Time in Gaming.”
Steam review · 3.6 h played ↗
Runs well and is well optimized
Mentioned in ~1 in 19 positive reviews
“Performance-wise, the game ran without issues on modern hardware and it still feels great at a steady 60 FPS.”
Steam review · 9.4 h played ↗
What players complain about
Overpriced for a paid demo
Mentioned in ~1 in 2 negative reviews
“Comically overpriced. You're paying $30 usd for a demo of MGSV. Only buy if it's on sale.”
Steam review · 2.6 h played ↗
Only one short mission on a single map
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews
“This game is literally one mission. One pretty good mission, in the best stealth action engine of all time, but still one mission.”
Steam review · 6.3 h played ↗
Should have been part of Phantom Pain
Mentioned in ~1 in 11 negative reviews
“its content could have seamlessly integrated into Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.”
Steam review · 12.1 h played ↗
Poor PC port: no audio settings, bad mouse support
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 negative reviews
“NO Audio Settings: You literally cannot adjust game volume inside the menu.”
Steam review · 2 h played ↗
Crashes and bugs after first mission
Mentioned in ~1 in 19 negative reviews
“I am unable to access any of this content due to the game crashing at the very last second at the end of the credits of the first mission”
Steam review · 7.6 h played ↗
Frustrating S-rank and achievement grind
Mentioned in ~1 in 21 negative reviews
“to get some of the trials you need to mark all of the enemies in all of the missions, but the count of enemies present changes all the time”
Steam review · 29.1 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: VerifiedController support4 GB
Minimum
OSWindows Vista SP2 x64, Windows 7 x64, Windows 8 x64 (64-bit OS Required)
ProcessorCore i5-4460 (3.20GHz) or better *Quad-Core or better
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 (2GB) or better (DirectX 11 graphics card required)
Storage4 GB available space
Recommended
OSWindows 7 x64, Windows 8 x64 (64-bit OS Required)
ProcessorCore i7-4790 (3.60GHz) or better *Quad-Core or better
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 (DirectX 11 graphics card required)
Storage4 GB available space
OSWindows Vista SP2 x64, Windows 7 x64, Windows 8 x64 (64-bit OS Required)
ProcessorCore i5-4460 (3.20GHz) or better *Quad-Core or better
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 (2GB) or better (DirectX 11 graphics card required)
Storage4 GB available space
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