Board game publisher Cool Mini or Not dropped an enigmatic Tweet on Tuesday that strongly hints a Metal Gear Solid board game is coming. The tweet is just an image of a cardboard box and the order “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL TOMORROW” – suggesting we’ll get to see the goods soon.
What can we expect? Well, from a CMON production, probably a lot of plastic. CMON produces the Game of Thrones wargame A Song of Ice and Fire, the schlocky horror board game Zombicide, the chibi-styled Marvel board game Marvel United, and Viking mythology-fest Blood Rage; all of them packed with minis.
IMPORTANT: DO NOT OPEN UNTIL TOMORROW pic.twitter.com/O2hy46LrWh
— CMON (@CMONGames) May 23, 2023
CMON’s best board games do a good job of justifying their mountain of miniatures with compelling rules, or at least a good thematic fit; Zombicide wouldn’t really be about a zombie apocalypse if it didn’t have scores of walkers shambling across the board. It will be interesting to see what they can do with Metal Gear Solid, which has no shortage of weird and wonderful character designs.
The Metal Gear Solid videogame franchise focuses on stealth and absurd sci-fi; the cardboard box is a recurring gag and important piece of equipment that provides protagonist Solid Snake somewhere to hide in a pinch. Using it in a teaser may just be a coy way of letting fans know what’s coming without saying it out loud, but it could also suggest the game will focus on the stealth side of the franchise rather than its bombastic boss-fights.
It’s been a very busy time for videogame-licensed board game news recently, between Mythic Games’ cash problems impacting on Rainbow Six: Siege board game backers, and Kickstarter being inundated with licensed board game projects including Apex Legends, Dead Cells, and Monster Hunter: Iceborne.