Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is a standalone prologue for the main entry of the series, Phantom Pain. As Snake now is the Big Boss, Ground Zeroes follows Peace Walker entry some little time after it. Considering that Paz Ortega Andrade has died, MSF starts to work in different ways when suddenly there is information that Paz is being detained by Camp Omega on Cuba. The situation becomes even worse when Ricardo "Chico" Libre is sent for rescue and being captured as well. Snake is now headed to Cuba to save them or confirm their deaths.

Still being a stealth action game, spotting system has been changed in Ground Zeroes, as now there is now meters, and the player must navigate through his eyes and ears to understand if he's been spotted. Reflex Mode is also added to the game. When the player is spotted, there is a little gap of time in slow-motion to kill the enemy before he alarms everyone around him. As well now the iDroid system in the game can be connected to your phones in order to have a look at an in-game map.