Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is an action-adventure stealth game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 in 2001. It is the fourth Metal Gear game written and directed by Hideo Kojima and serves as the direct sequel to the original Metal Gear Solid. An expanded edition, titled Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, was released the following year for Xbox and Microsoft Windows in addition to the PlayStation 2.
The story revolves around the "Big Shell", a massive offshore clean-up facility that has been seized by a group of terrorists who call themselves the "Sons of Liberty". They demand a massive ransom in exchange for the life of the President of the United States and threaten to destroy the facility and create a cataclysmic environmental disaster if their demands are not met. The motives and identities of many of the antagonists and allies change throughout the course of the game, as the protagonists discover a world-shaking conspiracy constructed by a powerful organization known as the Patriots.
While the game received acclaim for its gameplay, graphics, and its attention to detail, critics were initially divided on the protagonist and the philosophical nature and execution of the game's storyline, which explores themes such as memetics, social engineering, political conspiracies, censorship, artificial intelligence, existentialism, postmodernism and post-truth politics. Metal Gear Solid 2 has since been considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, as well as a leading example of artistic expression in video games. By 2003, the game had sold over seven million copies worldwide.
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