5 Easter Eggs You Have To Uncover In Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

“It’s easy to forget what an Easter egg is in the middle of a battlefield.”

There’s enough fun to go around in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain without hidden surprises, but what would a Metal Gear game be without Easter eggs? As you make your way through the sprawling addition to the excellent Metal Gear Solid series, you can stumble upon some very interesting secrets if you know where to look (and even if you don’t.)

Here are five to watch out for and how to find them. Be forewarned, spoilers abound here if you haven’t yet completed the game yet!

Happy Birthday, Big Boss!

You can share a touching moment with Snake on your birthday, including a special birthday cake, candles, and a song from all of your crew stationed at Mother Base. If you enter your correct birth date when beginning a new game, you’ll be treated to this scene on your birthday, but if you have to see the scene for yourself, you can skip forward by starting a new game, entering your birthday as the next calendar day, and heading to Mother Base. There’s even a gift cigar waiting there for you, which Kaz summarily yanks away from you, shaking his head. Smoking’s bad for your health, after all.

The Name’s Kojima. Hideo Kojima.

In The Phantom Pain, you’re able to recruit several soldiers to do your bidding back at Mother Base, and they range from experts at diplomacy (keeping your crew from butting heads) to language specialists and more. But there’s one very familiar face you can recruit who’s a little more hidden than others: Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear himself.

Kojima can be found within Side Op 112 Intel Agent Extraction. Snake must rescue a VIP from the old Mother Base, and surprise! It’s Kojima. Completing this mission will allow you to recruit him for your very own, though unfortunately you can’t play through the game again as Hideo, as he’s non-deployable. Still, seeing him as part of your crew is totally priceless.

Keep It Clean

While traipsing around the battlefield, you’re going to get disgusting and bloody. It’s only natural that you get covered in the blood of your slain enemies. That’s why you can always go back to Mother Base to take a quick shower, while your clothes are still on, of course.

But if you go too long without bathing, you’re going to start to smell. If you stay out in the field too long without going back to base for a shower, you begin attracting flies. That’s when you trigger a special scene back at the base where you’re told about your, well, unique scent. Clean yourself up, Snake!

A Mysterious Broadcast

Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro’s now-defunct horror video game project P.T. featured some terrifying radio chatter that could be heard as you made your way through the demo, and one of them is actually included in The Phantom Pain. You can listen to the recording in Mission 20: Voices, after you’ve traveled to Africa. Find a radio playing the eerie broadcast hidden in a small tent in the Ngumba Industrial Zone. It’s not possible the two games are linked, just more likely Kojima found it funny to include the broadcast to spook players.

Going Retro

This is less of a “true” Easter egg than a cool surprise you’ll encounter, but you can unlock a special skin for Snake that’s straight from the original Metal Gear Solid game for PlayStation. All you need to do is complete the Deja Vu mission from Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, and you’ll be privy to a number of R&D goodies. The blocky, retro MGS Snake skin will be yours! And trust us, you want to pick it up. You’ll be a legend among those who live on the battlefield.

Have you found any Easter eggs in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain? Have any theories you’d like to share? We’re still reeling from the ending. These Easter eggs definitely make it worth a replay or two.