When Does "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty" (2001) Take Place?
"Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty" is a spy video game written by Hideo Kojima with Tomokazu Fukushima, designed for the PlayStation 2 system, and released November 13th, 2001.
It takes place on the fictional Metal Gear timeline in the year:
We know this because at the beginning of the main action of the game, as Raiden is first arriving at the Big Shell, his commander says an enemy solider must be from “the Shadow Moses takeover group, 4 years ago”. This refers to the events of the previous game, “Metal Gear Solid” (1998), which takes place in 2005 AD.
2009 AD
We know this because at the beginning of the main action of the game, as Raiden is first arriving at the Big Shell, his commander says an enemy solider must be from “the Shadow Moses takeover group, 4 years ago”. This refers to the events of the previous game, “Metal Gear Solid” (1998), which takes place in 2005 AD.
2005 + 4 = 2009.
Additionally, the game's extended prologue is clearly set in 2007 AD because the very first words spoken in the entire game are: "The Hudson River, 2 years ago..." and it's later implied that this is Solid Snake's narration explaining the events of the prologue to Raiden at some point during the main action of the game. Raiden’s commander also references the events of the prologue as “2 years ago”.
2009 - 2 = 2007.
It is a chronologically late game in the Metal Gear universe and can be played at its timeline point or fourth [after “Metal Gear Solid” (1998)] as part of a retro release order experience or entirely separately.
