Metal Gear Solid Is Completely Free Until July 27

Published Jul 24, 2026, 12:06 PM EDT Kyle Gratton is an editor and writer based out of Kansas City. He received a bachelor's degree, dual majoring in English and History with a minor in Film and Media Studies, and has been a senior staff writer and reviewer for Screen Rant's Gaming section since 2021, with roles in editorial, and various freelance projects. A terminal Midwesterner who graduated from the University of Kansas, Kyle also has knowledge and interest in literature, film, film adaptions of literature, and history. Find Kyle on Bluesky: kwg.bsky.social and Letterboxd: KyleG5 You've got three days to play Metal Gear Solid for free. One of Hideo Kojima's earlier masterworks, MGS is one of the best stealth action games ever developed, as are many of its sequels. Following the original two Metal Gear games, the first installment of the Solid series brought Solid Snake into full 3D on the PlayStation in 1998, and made a more recent comeback with its Master Collection version in 2023. Metal Gear Solid - Master Collection Version is currently free on Steam until July 27. The version included in the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is effectively the same as the original on PlayStation, since it's running on an emulator, but a few changes have been made to support the medium—PCs don't have PlayStation memory cards, so the Psycho Mantis fight has a workaround, for instance. MGS being free on Steam seems to be a promotion for a franchise sale that is ongoing; Metal Gear Solid and Master Collection Vol. 1 are both 50% off, with other franchise bundles also discounted. Because it's the Master Collection version of Metal Gear Solid, you also get access to Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, and a special set of VR Missions (they're not actually in virtual reality, they're like training simulations in-game). This is all probably too much to play through in the three days MGS is available for free, but it's a great opportunity to try out all these classics if you haven't. The two Metal Gear games may be a bit harder to get into since they're older and 2D, but Metal Gear Solid still holds up really well. Even this bundle is still only a sampler of the full Master Collection Vol. 1, which comprises the three aforementioned games, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (not the Delta remake), and two early Kojima-less entries: Snake's Revenge, a sequel to Metal Gear, and the Nintendo Entertainment System port of Metal Gear. If you're new to the series, Metal Gear Solid - Master Collection Version is a great place to start while it's free. It's generally recommended to play in release order, though starting with MGS is fine if you don't particularly care about the 2D predecessors. Fans of the series have been hoping that Konami's Master Collection ventures would lead to a new entry (without Kojima, who had a famous falling out with the company and is now running the independent Kojima Productions), but there has yet to be any such announcement. MGS3 got its aforementioned remake, and Master Collection Vol. 2 is on the way, which will finally free Metal Gear Solid 4 from the PS3, but the series is otherwise stagnant. Kojima Productions is working on a new covert ops game, called Physint, but it still appears to be a long way off—very little is known about the project. Konami making the whole series more widely available with the Master Collection is at least keeping MGS afloat, and a free promotion of the original game is likely to draw in even more new fans. Metal Gear Solid is a must-play, so if you haven't given it a shot, and you have a PC, now's your chance before it stops being free on July 27.