Issue 08 – 2019 19 Luca Papale & Russelline François https://www.gamejournal.it/?p=3920 Critical Notes “I am Big Boss, and you are, too…” Player identity and agency in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain A screenshot from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions, 2015). ABSTRACT 1 From its very first entry, the Metal Gear video game series has shown a knack for breaking the fourth wall, sometimes with the intent to shock and surprise the player with gimmicks, at other times to create plot twists aimed to chal- lenge the players’ role in the unfolding of the story. This paper aims to examine how, through the narrative and the gameplay of the final chapter of the ca- nonical Metal Gear series, Hideo Kojima delivers his closing statement on the saga by elevating the empirical player as its ultimate protagonist, while at the same time reaffirming his role as demiurge toying around with the concepts of agency, identity and self. KEYWORDS: metal gear, avatar, identity, agency, meta-narrative LUCA PAPALE & RUSSELLINE FRANÇOIS Independent Researcher russe.francois@gmail.com Independent Researcher lucapapale88@gmail.com 1. Parts of this paper are an updated and translated reworking of excerpts from a previous publication co-authored by the first author (Papale & Fazio, 2018).