With a Definitive Edition Coming, MGS5: The Phantom Pain's Mission 51 Won't Be Completed

Konami ruffled some feathers last year when a key mission from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was cut from the game, leaving video of it to be included with the collector's edition. A complete edition of the game, known as the Definitive Experience, is now on the way, but don't expect to see anything from the excised Mission 51 to come with it.

Since the confirmation of the rumored Definitive Experience version, Konami has been asked repeatedly about Mission 51. Without spoiling the specifics, the mission features some closure regarding certain storylines that otherwise go unaddressed in The Phantom Pain. We only know what was meant to happen in it because video of unfinished cutscenes and storyboards are included on a Blu-ray that comes with the game's collector's edition.

The official Metal Gear Twitter account has responded to many of these requests for information on Mission 51, and it's not the news many were hoping for. "I'm afraid we have no current plans to further develop for Mission 51," one tweet reads. Asked why it doesn't finish the ending, it replied, "[B]ecause it's already finished and released last year Sep 1." Other tweets express the same sentiment.

When one tweet pointed out that the video is the only closure offered for certain characters, the official account pointed out, "[B]oth of those characters appear in later Metal Gear games, and provide additional story and plot to them." While that is true, it is understandably not the answer people want.

Maybe worse is the fact that the Mission 51 video won't be included with this new edition of the game, despite ostensibly being the definitive version.

Even with Mission 51 missing (and portions of the game devolving into repeated missions), The Phantom Pain is an excellent game, as evidenced by GameSpot's review. A new, much different sort of Metal Gear game is on the way next year in the form of Metal Gear Survive, which doesn't feature the involvement of creator Hideo Kojima. It's a co-op, seemingly more action-centric spinoff that takes place after Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.