‘Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes’ to be released on March 18th

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will launch on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 3 on March 18th 2014 in North America, and on March 20th in Europe and Japan. The game, available for $30 on the new consoles, and $20 on last generation hardware, follows an aging Big Boss as he infiltrates a Cuban prison camp. Two pieces of console-specific DLC will also launch with the game: PlayStation owners will be able to download the “Deja Vu” mission, in which they control Metal Gear Solid’s original Solid Snake; Xbox players will have access to the “Jamais Vu” mission, in which players will control blonde cyborg Raiden, as detailed in Ground Zeroes’ latest trailer.

Ground Zeroes will act as a shorter prequel to the events of the Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Both titles are set to feature open-world elements, but Ground Zeroes will be the appetizer to The Phantom Pain’s larger and more free-form experience. Don’t expect that second course of Metal Gear Solid V too soon: earlier this month series creator Hideo Kojima told Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu that due to The Phantom Pain’s “enormous volume,” it will “require much more time” before release.