Here’s some good news for Metal Gear fans: a free Metal Gear Survive beta is now available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Clear out your weekend if you want to play it, though. It’s only available Thursday through Sunday, Jan. 21.
Metal Gear Survive is the first game in the series to be developed after creator Hideo Kojima left Konami. It’s a spinoff that takes place between Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain. But instead of sneaking into bases to attack enemies like you do in those games, you’re more concerned with survival.
You play as a member of Big Boss’s army who falls into a wormhole and finds himself in an alternate dimension filled with zombie-like creatures. Your goal is to work with teammates and craft defenses in order to survive long enough to find a way back home. To that end, you’ll have to find food and scavenge for supplies to turn into barricades and traps. Then you can collect weapons to stab and shoot your way through the zombie hordes as they approach.
The controls and physics are pulled directly from Metal Gear Solid V, so it should feel familiar to anyone who played Phantom Pain or Ground Zeroes. The one thing Survive doesn’t have is stealth.
Once you complete a mission, you get new supplies and schematics you can bring into the next round. Over time, your defenses become more robust as you earn better gear. It’s a solid gameplay loop that should remain fun at least through the weekend.
The Metal Gear Survive beta comes with two maps, three missions, and an unspecified number of live events. If you play the beta and end up buying the full game after it launches on Feb. 20, you’ll receive in-game bonuses. These include a FOXHOUND nameplate, a Metal Gear REX head accessory, and a bandana.
Konami hasn’t exactly been busy making video game space in recent years. A gaming powerhouse in the 1980s and ‘90s, the company’s game development began drying up by 2010 as it turned its business focus elsewhere. Metal Gear Survive struck many as a quick cash-in when Konami first announced it. Now you can try it for free to see what you think.