Metal Gear Solid 5 finally cements itself as Peace Walker 2 as a co-op mod brings back the PSP game's best feature

Less than a month away from its 10-year anniversary, Metal Gear Solid fans have modded co-op into The Phantom Pain.

Metal Gear Solid – outside of the Metal Gear Online expansions – is pretty firmly a single-player game. But the series took a turn into becoming a Monster Hunter game with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker where it changed into a mission-based formula and the base-building mechanic created a lore-reason for co-op to be integrated into the series. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is effectively Peace Walker 2, but never brought back the co-op, leaving one of Peace Walker's best features in the dirt.

But now that we're weeks away from The Phantom Pain's 10th anniversary on September 1st, 2025, Metal Gear fans have taken matters into their own hands, with a co-op mod for the game being released. Unknown321 – who has been modding the game since its release in 2015 – released a making-of doc explaining the process behind the mod and why it was released now.

"I decided to ship the mod in semi-working state with some features missing and game-breaking bugs for a simple reason: I am running out of money and not in the position to fully commit to development." However, "the development won't stop completely" as they added, "I believe that I've built a good foundation for a new generation of MGSV mods - co-op missions focused on two (or more) players like in Peace Walker."

It's wild to think we're going to hit 10 years without a new Metal Gear Solid game, but at least Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater arrives a couple of days before The Phantom Pain's anniversary.