Welcome to the our walkthrough for Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. This guide is intended to help you successfully complete the prologue with ease. In an effort to avoid spoilers, we will spare you the details on the cut scenes and story. The prologue is meant to get you acquainted with the game mechanics, and should be fairly straightforward. Let’s get started.
The early part of the prologue consists of a few simple interactive cut scenes involving head movements and avatar customization. You’ll be mobile in a bit, but for now get acquainted with the story. Prepare to crawl as you follow Ishmael through the hospital corridors.
As a smoke grenade is thrown down the hall, follow Ishmael through the door. Crouch and go prone as you continue to follow closely behind him. Stay prone through a brief cut scene, and then crawl under the bed, making your way towards the open door.
Continue down the hallway with Ishmael as a couple people get taken down by the helicopter. Follow the on-screen instructions to sprint to safety, leading you to the hospital stairwell. Descend the stairs until you reach a blocked corridor with several dozen people grouped together. Move any further and you’ll run into more enemies.
Next, you’ll find yourself in a room with six curtained beds. Note the enemy soldiers on the opposite side of the room, with Ishmael across and to the right. Prepare for some sneaky maneuvering as you attempt to avoid detection.
This part is really just a matter of proper timing. Crawl forward and underneath one of the beds as the enemy checks the beds on the left. Once the enemy finishes checking the bed next to yours, quickly crawl forward to evade being seen. Retrace your steps (well, crawls) to the hallway you just came from. Go prone once again to camouflage yourself amongst the dead bodies on the floor, and wait there until the next cut scene.
Afterwards, head back to the stairwell. As you make your way down, pass through a door before flames block you. Keep close to Ishmael as he takes down the guard, offering you a suppressed pistol in the process.
Don’t get too trigger happy yet. Before shooting any bad guys, you’ll first need to put out the fire by shooting the fire extinguisher in the hallway. Return to Ishmael and prepare to execute a pair of soldiers around the corner. Grant yourself a couple early headshots before getting separated from Ishmael once again.
Prepare to put your stealthiness to the test. Drop down off the balcony to the right. Lay flat to crawl beneath the debris while moving further to the right. We opted to open fire on the soldiers rather than attempt to sneak past them. If you choose to practice your shooting skills like we did, keep in mind many of the downed enemies are merely wounded, not dead. Thus, you should opt to utilize Rule #2 – The Double Tap to finish off foes when necessary to avoid detection.
After an extensive cut scene, prepare for a riveting escape on horseback, using the shotgun to keep your pursuer at bay. Make sure to give them a few shotgun blasts before they get close enough to attack you. This leads you to one last cut scene as the prologue concludes.
Continue to Episode 1: Phantom Limbs, or return to Prima’s guide hub for Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.
