I get it. Konami hasn’t done much recently to endear themselves to gamers. The company has actually done the opposite; they’ve become an easy target, especially because of the messy break-up with the legend that is Hideo Kojima. So it came as no surprise when most gamers scoffed at the thought of a Metal Gear game without Kojima-san at the helm. When a Metal Gear title with zombies was announced, well… let’s jut say the announcement went about as well as you’d expect it to. But I’m here to tell you that Metal Gear Survive‘s multiplayer (the only aspect that was playable at E3) horde-esque mode is 100% unadulterated fun.

For the uninitiated, this title is a spin-off that takes place in an alternate universe. It will still feature a single-player campaign (with a co-op option) that utilizes the stealth and action mechanics we’ve come to expect from the franchise. How well it will be implemented and how interesting the narrative will be is up in the air at the moment, because of course, Kojima was the mastermind behind the series. Not having him at the helm is worrisome.

Now on to the good stuff. During the four-player mode we got our hands on, we each chose a character with unique weapons and gear. When the game launches, you’ll have the ability to create your own avatar and deck them out in the gear you get online. But for the E3 hands-on opportunity, the team already had characters ready to go.

Once we picked our avatars, we were dropped into an outpost with zombies and weird looking monsters spawning in waves while we had to protect our base, and more importantly a random wormhole generator (weird, I know). It worked a lot like most horde modes we’ve seen in other games, but the gameplay mechanics are very similar–if not the same–as the ones we saw in Metal Gear Solid V. Of course, stealth wasn’t necessary any more since we were just fending off hordes of creatures, but theoretically you could utilize it.

The first two waves were straightforward, and fairly simple: vanquish the horde attacking our barricades. It wasn’t until the third-and-final wave that things took off. Exploding zombies started to spawn in hordes and our defenses crumbled. That’s when our team really started shouting instructions at each other and worked together to get it done. We survived all three waves. The final one in particular proved that the game has the potential to be a total blast when more stuff is constantly trying to level our base.

One of the interesting twists Konami added was more side quests that can be completed for loot, like ammo or even Walker Gears. The quests in our demo involved simple tasks like killing a few enemies etc. I’m hoping there will be more variety in the final build.

If you’re expecting a standard Metal Gear experience, you’re looking in the wrong place, as this is different in almost every way possible; however, that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. I don’t know how the game is going to turn out when it finally launches in early 2018, but this was a surprisingly fun demo. What do you guys think about this game? Are you at least going to give it a shot? Sneak your thoughts into the comments below.

Image: Konami