Hideo Kojima and Konami’s epic spy thriller collection Steel Gear is house to a few of gaming’s most iconic moments, together with Snake’s elevator ascent onto the wet cliffs in Shadow Moses and the climactic battle between pupil and mentor within the ultimate moments of Snake Eater. Telling a narrative that spanned a number of console generations and pushing the boundaries of online game creativity, the adventures of Strong Snake and Large Boss are legendary, with many claiming that they’re among the many most vital releases the medium has ever produced.
Again in 2015, with Steel Gear Strong V: The Phantom Ache seemingly ending the collection for good, Kojima left Konami and the Steel Gear Strong IP to kind his personal studio. Nevertheless, Konami is beginning to revive the collection by way of re-releases and remakes, resembling Steel Gear Strong Delta: Snake Eater, which can be launched later this yr. With so many new gamers experiencing this world of secret espionage operations, shady authorities conspiracies, and gruff-voiced males with cool eye patches for the primary time, we have laid out the chronological order of the Steel Gear Strong collection to assist new gamers and longtime followers catch up.
There are a complete of 17 Steel Gear video games, not counting remakes, ports, and remasters. There are 11 mainline video games, 5 for handheld units, and 1 for cell. It is a very giant recreation, however a good portion of it’s thought-about non-canon, with its story overwriting the occasions of the principle narrative and spinning off into its personal worldview.
2018’s Steel Gear Survive departs from canon, as it’s set in a post-apocalyptic actuality the place a zombie virus has swept the world. As for Steel Gear: Acid and Steel Gear: Acid 2 on the PSP, they deviate from the timeline to inform a brand new story and are spin-offs in an alternate timeline. Then there’s Steel Gear: Ghost Babel on the Sport Boy Shade. That is an alternate universe Steel Gear sequel that erases the occasions of Steel Gear 2: Strong Snake and removes it from the timeline. And eventually, Steel Gear Cellular and Snake’s Revenge have since been deemed non-canon by Kojima himself in the neighborhood and in interviews.
it stays 11 video games inside the principle story. Every recreation is taken into account a part of the true Steel Gear saga, which depicts a fictional alternate historical past from the Sixties to the late 2010s. So let’s introduce all of the video games in that story.
I like to recommend two as a place to begin for Steel Gear. For these within the full saga, we advocate 2023’s Steel Gear Strong: Grasp Assortment Vol. 2. 1 comprises the perfect accessible variations of Steel Gear Strong 1-3. Alternatively, for individuals who merely need to check out the collection (and have a low tolerance for older video games), we advocate beginning with Steel Gear Strong V: The Phantom Ache, essentially the most fashionable model of the collection.
Organize Steel Gear video games in chronological order
These blurbs include delicate spoilers for every recreation, together with characters, settings, and story beats.
1. Steel Gear Strong 3: Snake Eater
The primary slot within the saga timeline and the newest fashionable remake, Snake Eater follows a Chilly Battle-era US Particular Forces operative codenamed Bare Snake. Snake is distributed to find and extract a Russian scientist from the Soviet Union so as to stop the manufacturing of a weapon of mass destruction generally known as the Shagohod, however is shocked to study that his former chief, The Boss, has betrayed the US authorities and sided with the Soviet Union.
After a heated battle, Bare Snake is defeated and left alone within the jungle. Surviving this encounter, he’s ordered by his superior, Zero, to return to Russia, discover its chief and kill her, in addition to monitor down Shagohod so as to stop nuclear warfare. By the tip of the story, Bare Snake adopts the nickname Large Boss and turns into a legend amongst U.S. Particular Forces. Nevertheless, his battle with The Boss and the secrets and techniques he uncovers all through his adventures go away him disillusioned along with his obligation and the federal government he serves.
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2. Steel Gear Strong Moveable Ops
Set six years after the climactic battle between Large Boss and his former grasp, Steel Gear Strong Moveable Ops tells the story of a legendary soldier going through off towards his former unit, the FOX Pressure. The sport begins with Large Boss studying that FOX has gone rogue, betrayed the CIA, and began a rebel.
After being captured and tortured by FOX troops on the Columbia base, Boss escapes, solely to study that he has been accused of treason. To clear his title, he decides to seek out his former allies and go after their ruthless chief, Gene. By the tip of the sport, Large Boss learns of Gene’s want to create a mercenary nation generally known as Military’s Haven, and acquires a big amount of cash and tools he has saved up for the undertaking. Returning to america, he shaped an organization of particular operations troopers that later turned generally known as FOXHOUND.
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3. Steel Gear Strong Peace Walker
4 years after the occasions of Moveable Ops, we caught up with Large Boss, who left FOXHOUND and the Patriots. After his retirement, he and Kazuhira Miller shaped a brand new mercenary group generally known as Militia With out Borders (MSF). After invading Costa Rica, Large Boss and Miller use their newfound navy to guard a rustic with out the troops or means to defend itself, and wage warfare towards an armed militia generally known as the Peace Sentinels.
Throughout his investigation, Large Boss rapidly realizes that his former chief, The Boss, is in some way concerned within the Peace Observers’ plans. To make issues worse, they’ve acquired nuclear weapons and are piloting extraordinarily highly effective mechs referred to as Peace Walkers. Converging on an offshore oil rig generally known as Mom Base, Snake and Militia With out Borders tackle the Peace Observers and try to uncover their true motives and secrets and techniques. The sport ends with Large Boss preventing his former ally Paz. Paz seems to be a undercover agent for Zero’s shady authorities group Cipher.
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4. Steel Gear Strong V: Floor Zeroes
Set a number of months after the occasions of Peace Walker, Floor Zeroes serves as a prologue to the fifth installment of the Steel Gear Strong collection, Steel Gear Strong V: The Phantom Ache. On this story, Large Boss embarks on a brand new mission after Paz survives the climactic battle in Peace Walker’s ultimate moments and finds himself being interrogated by Cypher at a mysterious navy base generally known as Camp Omega. Realizing that she has vital details about Cypher and will reveal secrets and techniques about MSF to the shadowy group, he decides to take her out rapidly.
Whereas infiltrating the bottom, he discovers a mysterious code cell generally known as XOF, led by a sadistic and severely burned commander referred to as Cranium Face. The prologue ends with Snake taking out Paz, solely to seek out that his allies are being attacked by XOF at Mom Base. The onslaught destroys the oil rig, annihilates Militia With out Borders, and places Large Boss getting ready to dying.
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5. Steel Gear Strong V: Phantom Ache
9 years later, Steel Gear Strong V: The Phantom Ache begins with a severely injured Large Boss waking up in a hospital in Cyprus. After evading an assassination try by a person lined in flames, a telekinetic soldier, and a talented sniper, Boss is rescued by Revolver Ocelot and returns to motion with a brand new group of mercenaries generally known as the Diamond Canines.
Vowing to cease XOF, which destroyed the Militia With out Borders group, he takes the code title “Venom Snake” and heads to Africa to comply with of their footsteps, the place he learns {that a} group previously affiliated with Cipher has engaged in fraudulent actions. Their chief, Skullface, is as an alternative engaged on growing a harmful parasitic weapon with the facility to eradicate the Western world. The sport ends with Large Boss placing his plan into motion to create a navy state generally known as Outer Heaven. There, the troopers can stay freely with out additional publicity to shady authorities schemes.
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6. Steel Gear
Eleven years later, the story catches up with the primary installment within the collection, Steel Gear. The sport follows Strong Snake, a rookie soldier who’s a member of FOXHOUND. FOXHOUND is as soon as once more run by Large Boss, who serves as Snake’s mentor and commander. On his first mission, Strong Snake is distributed to trace down a weapon of mass destruction being manufactured by a navy nation generally known as Outer Heaven.
Through the mission, he found one other agent codenamed Grey Fox, who was additionally despatched to trace down the weapon. Grey Fox reveals that the mysterious weapon is a mecha codenamed “Steel Gear” that has the facility to launch nuclear bombs. The sport ends with Strong Snake and Large Boss clashing, revealing that Large Boss was behind Outer Heaven’s plan.
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7. Steel Gear 2 Strong Snake
4 years later, Strong Snake returns to motion after studying that Large Boss has survived the occasions of the earlier movie and is at present constructing a brand new Steel Gear for the fictional nation of Zanzibar Land.
Teaming up with numerous characters, Snake infiltrates Zanzibar Land and makes an attempt to destroy a weapon of mass destruction, battling Large Boss and his military of troopers alongside the way in which.
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8. Steel Gear Strong
Six years after Steel Gear 2, Strong Snake returns with a brand new mission. This time, he’s despatched to battle his former unit, FOXHOUND, who has gone rogue and rebelled towards america, taking up a mysterious authorities facility on an island generally known as Shadow Moses. Shadow Moses is alleged to be a secret Steel Gear testing website, and FOXHOUND threatens to make use of nuclear weapons except Large Boss’ corpse and a big sum of cash are offered.
Snake heads to the power and battles numerous members of FOXHOUND, together with Revolver Ocelot, Psycho Mantis, and a cyborg model of his former ally Grey Fox. He additionally meets Liquid Snake, the eccentric chief of FOXHOUND. The sport ends with Snake being declared killed in motion by Colonel Campbell and presumed useless as a result of the federal government meant to double-cross him. He escapes alive from Shadow Moses.
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9. Steel Gear Strong 2: Sons of Liberty
Steel Gear Strong 2: Sons of Liberty picks up two years later, with the now villainous Strong Snake infiltrating an oil tanker and monitoring down the brand new Steel Gear as it’s being transported to america. There he discovers a prototype Steel Gear generally known as Steel Gear Ray, which is then stolen by Revolver Ocelot. Ocelot sinks the tanker and escapes, however Snake is held liable for destroying the tanker.
Two years later, we transfer on to a brand new protagonist: Raiden. Raiden, a FOXHOUND agent, is distributed on a mission to an offshore decontamination facility generally known as the Large Shell. The power was constructed to scrub up an oil spill brought on by the destruction of a tanker throughout Strong Snake’s mission. The Large Shell has been taken over by an extremist group generally known as the Sons of Liberty, who’ve taken the President of america hostage.
Infiltrating the power, Raiden investigates the Large Shell’s secrets and techniques, meets a second lieutenant named Iroquois Plissken who is seemingly hiding a grave secret, and rapidly realizes that issues should not as they appear. By the tip of the sport, Strong Snake joins Raiden on his mission, telling him he’ll go after Ocelot (who’s revealed to be possessed by Liquid Snake’s will) and the Patriots.
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10. Steel Gear Strong 4: Weapons of the Patriots
Marking the tip of the principle story and Strong Snake’s ultimate mission, Steel Gear Strong 4: Weapons of the Patriots picks up Snake three years after the occasions of Sons of Liberty. As a result of cloning course of used to create Snake and the rampant FOXDIE virus nonetheless coursing by way of his veins, we uncover that his physique is quickly growing old and the protagonist is instructed he solely has a yr left to stay. He returns for one ultimate mission with a brand new nickname: Outdated Snake.
He’s tasked with assassinating Liquid Ocelot, who now runs a brand new model of Outer Heaven consisting of among the largest non-public armies within the Center East. Snake equips himself with nanomachines and units out to defeat Ocelot, solely to study that his nemesis has as soon as once more discovered Large Boss’ corpse and intends to hold out a mysterious plan. As Snake battles his age and the ever-mutating FOXDIE, he makes his approach in the direction of a ultimate showdown along with his most ruthless enemy.
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11. Steel Gear Rising Revengeance
The ultimate story within the present Steel Gear timeline, Steel Gear Rising: Revengeance focuses on Raiden, who has been remodeled right into a cyborg, as we realized in Weapons of the Patriots. The story begins 4 years after the occasions of Steel Gear Strong 4 and divulges that Raiden is now working with a non-public navy firm referred to as Maverick Safety Consulting.
Throughout an operation in Africa, Raiden comes beneath assault from a rival non-public navy group generally known as Desperado Enforcement. Wounded and left for useless by chief Jet Stream Sam, Raiden continues to research Desperado and learns some sinister secrets and techniques in regards to the group and their allies. As revelations in regards to the non-public military deepen, Raiden vows to defeat them and units out on his personal to actual violent justice.
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What’s subsequent for Steel Gear?
Now that we have got a remake of Snake Eater, the query stays as to what we’ll see subsequent within the stealth collection. Konami has not confirmed whether or not there are any plans to make an unique Steel Gear recreation with out Hideo Kojima. What we all know for certain is that the unique recreation’s message in regards to the digital age is as poignant in 2025 as ever.
That mentioned, Steel Gear Strong Delta: Snake Eater developer Virtuous Studios has hinted that remakes of different Steel Gear video games aren’t off the desk. In response to an interview with videogameaddicted, the crew said, “For remakes of previous video games within the collection aside from Steel Gear Strong 3: Snake Eater, we are going to hearken to participant requests and contemplate them accordingly.” True to their claims, the studio is rumored to be distributing a ballot after the Tokyo Sport Present the place followers can vote on which Steel Gear recreation to remake subsequent.
You too can learn extra in regards to the recreation’s timeline right here. Murderer’s Creed recreation order and listing It is the flip of the Far Cry recreation.
Callum Williams is a contract media author with a few years of expertise as a video games critic, information reporter, information author and options author.