Konami with their infinite wisdom, decided to show up to the 2016 Gamescon with what one can only surmise, their latest attempt at squeezing out one more “great one” before they finally move on to greener pastures to the wild, wild world of Pachinko gambling machines. Bringing to the table with them the next installment of the once proud, Kojima headed ‘Metal Gear’ series, of course, lacking their star player and coming to the party with stale potato chips and flat soda. This bastard of a once strong franchise is bringing some new elements with it, mixing stealth action, co-op gameplay and…yep…Zombies, taking a huge step away from the typical Metal Gear craziness and switching things up, quite a bit, probably too much in fact. Hoping to breathe new life into the series with unique gameplay mechanics and offering a “truly fresh, engrossing multiplayer experience”.

Metal Gear Survive will take place in an alternate timeline/universe, right after the final moments of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, as “Big Boss” and Co. are leaving via escape chopper from their doomed base. An unnamed soldier watches his only hope for survival flying off in the distance, only to turn around to see a giant portal opening up and swallowing the remnants of Mother Base and him along with it. Players find themselves thrust into a harsh new world filled with horrific and grotesque biological threats and utter destruction all around. After being saved by three zombie ass-kicking elite warriors, our nameless soldier and his new companions march off to find more survivors to help fend off the monstrous horde, and hopefully find a way back home. Metal Gear Survive is currently slated to release sometime in 2017.

One would think that I’d be extremely excited for something like this, mixing together two things I adore, my morbid fascination with zombies since the age of 4 and a lover of all things Kojima and Metal Gear since 1989. I really couldn’t care more for this game, that’s not to say it’s going to be horrible (high probability) or that I won’t play it, just that I have very little faith something like this will end up being anything more than the generic, stale zombie survival multiplayer title that oversaturates the market already. It seems I’m not the only one who feels that this bizarre, unnecessary spin off will be nothing more than a hilarious flop, similarly to Capcom’s past attempt of bridging co-op survival horror multiplayer with Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City, and the more recent foray with Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps. Don’t believe me, just take a gander at the like/dislike ratio on YouTube. Konami have quite the uphill battle ahead of them, even with a lower priced game. I would wish them good luck, but frankly, the asinine decisions they’ve made in the last few years just makes me not care for a company like them anymore. It is what it is.