War has changed, and so has Solid Snake. He's old now, though none of his comrades are -- and rumor has it that he has just six months left before his rapidly aging body gives out. Endless conflict has spread across the world as a self-sustaining economic force, Liquid Snake (now Liquid Ocelot) has his own military force that is as large as any nation's, invincible robo-women rule the battlefield, and little baby Metal Gears are an inexorable battlefield presence capable of annihilating entire platoons in an instant.