Hideo Kojima has become one of the most renowned video game developers over the last few decades. Between his hit Metal Gear Solid series and newer work under Kojima Productions, the legendary auteur turns just about everything he touches to gold. With such a beloved catalog of hit games, it’s tough to narrow down his five best games. That said, there’s going to be quite a few MGS games on the list. It is, after all, an exceptional, long-running series that has a near-complete lack of duds. Thankfully, a few other great games have also pushed their way onto the list.
Here are the five best Hideo Kojima games.
To spoil the list slightly, many fans would put Metal Gear Solid in this spot (or push it higher); however, I think those people are forgetting how perfect the gameplay in The Phantom Pain is. Most of Kojima’s MGS games take some getting used to. The team is trying to give you so many stealth and combat options, but doesn’t have enough buttons on the controller to make it happen.
Somehow, Metal Gear Solid V finally solved that problem, giving fans a Kojima game that you want to keep diving into just for the combat. Sure, the campaign is unfinished, and the ending isn’t exactly satisfying, but if you value gameplay, MGSV might just be the best of the series.
4) Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
The first Death Stranding could sometimes be a slog to play through. Trudging around the vast open world with a teetering stack of crates on your back never felt smooth, but that was kind of the point. Kojima and his team decided to move the focus away from stealth combat, but still needed a way to provide the players with friction.
On the Beach took that formula and expanded it to give you so many new options. Add in more action-packed combat, an evolving open world that wants to throw you off track, and some of the best story moments of 2025, and you have one of Kojima’s best.
3) P.T.
Is P.T. a finished video game? No. Does that matter when something is this effective? I don’t think so. Look, Kojima and his team never got to finish their take on Silent Hill, but this playable teaser was a tantalizing peek into what the developer could do in the horror genre.
Hopefully, we get to see it realized with OD, but either way, P.T. stands out as not just the best demo that’s ever been released, but somehow one of the best horror games of all time. What it lacks in length and story pay-off, it makes up for with the most haunting corridor we’ve seen in the digital world.
Playing Sons of Liberty at the time was a trip. First, you found out that Solid Snake wasn’t going to be the star. Instead, Raiden was taking over for this sneaking mission. That made a lot of players angry, but if they kept playing, they realized that their anger was completely misplaced.
Raiden’s journey introduces some of the series’s best villains. Dead Cell is filled with great boss fights that lived up to the bar set by MGS‘s Foxhound squad. Sons of Liberty is a cinematic masterpiece that nearly sets a new high bar for the series. Unfortunately, one more game exists.
Metal Gear Solid 3 took everything players loved about the first two MGS games and made it better. Do you love stealth? Well, Snake Eater added an entire camouflage system to help you blend in with the jungle. Sure, it looks silly to put on an Alligator hat, but when you use it to sneak up on an enemy through the swamp, you’ll realize that Kojima and his team have perfectly walked that line between ridiculous and useful.
Toss in CQC combat to give you more combat options and a survival mechanic that made exploring the jungle more harrowing than any of Snake’s other escapades. On top of all that, you have some of the best boss fights of the series and arguably Metal Gear Solid’s most captivating story. The twisting tale explaining the origins of Big Boss and his relationship with The Boss is a must-play game from Kojima’s catalog.
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