There are few video game developers who can be referred to accurately as visionaries, but Hideo Kojima is one of them. A prominent presence in the gaming industry for 40 years, Kojima has created several popular franchises, including “Metal Gear.” Bringing a keen eye for detail to his projects, a Kojima game often features a cinematic presentation, plenty of pop culture influence, and memorably quirky characters. Even after Kojima broke up with Konami, his longtime publisher, he has maintained a visible role in the industry running his independent studio Kojima Productions.
Whenever a new Hideo Kojima game gets released, it feels like an event, which is a rare distinction in the industry these days. In his own way, Kojima has rethought what’s possible from the video game medium itself while delivering wholly entertaining experiences. More than just creating tactical espionage action, Kojima has spread out creatively to more meditative sci-fi and horror, and we’re highlighting our favorite projects that he personally oversaw.
These are the five best Hideo Kojima games of all time ranked, encapsulating why he’s such a singular creative voice in the industry.
5. P.T.
The fact that the final fate of this project still stings so much is a testament to how good its playable teaser was. Stealthily released in 2014 on the PlayStation 4, “P.T.” was essentially a public proof of concept for Kojima’s planned “Silent Hill” project, ominously titled “Silent Hills.” The game has players caught in an apparent loop as they walk through the same domestic hallway only to discover disturbing clues about their surroundings. As the paranormal activity escalates, it becomes clear that something terrifyingly supernatural is stalking the player, trying to prevent them from escaping.
While it’s really just a short game, as its acronym suggests, “P.T.” still is an entire game with a clear beginning and ending. Unfortunately, after parting ways with Kojima, Konami killed “P.T.,” and the planned “Silent Hills” project before the latter saw the light of day. If you’re lucky enough to have played it, “P.T.” is a genuinely frightening experience and influential in its own right, making us wish Kojima would return to horror. With Kojima Productions reportedly working on the horror project “OD” for Xbox, we may just have that wish fulfilled.
4. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Hideo Kojima’s inadvertent swan song to “Metal Gear,” the series that he created, was 2015’s “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.” Set in the ’80s, the game follows mercenary Venom Snake as he seeks revenge on those who nearly killed him in the standalone prologue “Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.” This vendetta is achieved by Snake taking missions across an open-world map, steadily rebuilding his forces and his operational headquarters, Mother Base. Along the way, Snake learns about his true identity and about the motivations of the colorful characters he encounters on his adventure.
Honestly, “Metal Gear Solid V” would probably rank higher if it wasn’t for its unfortunate legacy of Kojima and Konami’s longstanding partnership rupturing towards the end of its production. Knowing that, one gets the feeling that the ending of “Metal Gear Solid V” wasn’t quite what Kojima fully envisioned for the project. But regardless of its troubled production and behind-the-scenes drama, the game is an absolute marvel to play, with the amount of missions and level of detail unmatched in the series. While the game unintentionally marks the fall of “Metal Gear Solid,” the experience itself remains intact and fun to play, with a tremendous amount of depth.
3. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
After turning Kojima Productions into an independent studio from Konami, Kojima’s first released project was “Death Stranding” in 2019. This was followed up by “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach” in 2025, which is an all-around improvement from the first game. The story opens with returning protagonist Sam Bridges brought back into action, only to believe his daughter Lou was killed. As Sam contends with both his grief and his old enemy Higgs, he experiences spectral battles against a mysterious soldier.
With its greater emphasis on conventional action, “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach” visibly bridges the gap between the first game and Kojima’s past work on the “Metal Gear” franchise. The game still is more contemplative and with a strong focus on traveling by foot, like its predecessor, but there is more of a fiery edge this time around. More than anything, the game feels like what Kojima was attempting to accomplish all along, cinematic in its presentation and with a rich balance in tones and gameplay variation. If you were wondering where all the excitement and hype is surrounding “Death Stranding,” its 2025 sequel is where the fun really is.
2. Metal Gear Solid
While the original 1987 “Metal Gear” was advanced for its time, its 3D revival “Metal Gear Solid” revolutionized what the series, and tactical stealth games overall, could be. The 1998 PlayStation game has special forces operator Solid Snake sent to infiltrate a remote nuclear weapon facility seized by terrorists. No longer played from a conventional top-down perspective, outside of occasional sequences, the 1998 game moves to a third-person view. Snake evades enemy soldiers patrolling the base while learning about his own connection to their mysterious leader Liquid Snake.
“Metal Gear Solid” is one of those games that proved 1998 was the best year in gaming history, bringing a much more cinematic presentation compared to its contemporaries. The sheer level of gameplay mechanics that players could employ was relatively unrivaled, at least on consoles, and the rest of the series has been chasing that high ever since. The game also cemented an eerie prescience that Kojima brings to his projects, with “Metal Gear Solid” predicting the future of high-tech military stealth capabilities. Action games like “Splinter Cell” and “Syphon Filter” speak to Kojima’s influence and that really took shape with “Metal Gear Solid.”
1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The earliest game in the “Metal Gear” timeline is “Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater,” exploring the origins of Big Boss in the 1960s. Known as Naked Snake during this time period, the man who would become Big Boss infiltrates the Soviet Union to take down a trusted ally turned defector. The 2004 game has Snake brave the elements, living off local wildlife while avoiding detection by Soviet troops in the region. This is punctuated by some of the best boss fights in the entire franchise, including a sniper duel against an adversary simply known as The End.
“Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater” is the ultimate realization of the series’ core ethos, with heavier emphasis on stealth and unmatched level of immersion. The original game received an enhanced version the following year, adding the subtitle “Subsistence” and bringing an online multiplayer mode to the experience. The 2004 game has since received a remake in 2025 with “Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater,” albeit without Hideo Kojima’s involvement. With that glaring absence, we can’t put “Delta” on this list, but the original “Snake Eater” and how it elevated “Metal Gear Solid” takes the top spot.
