Whether you’re revisiting Shadow Moses out of nostalgia or a newcomer diving into Solid Snake’s mission for the first time, our guide will ensure your journey is as seamless as a Codec call with this Metal Gear Solid 1 walkthrough. Docks is the first area in Metal Gear Solid. It’s Solid Snake’s infiltration point for his mission in Shadow Moses Island.
As Snake goes out of the water, he gets contacted by Roy Campbell who oversees the mission and Snake’s commander. He quickly briefs you about the current status of the mission.
Before heading further, you’ll notice that there’s an elevator up ahead and your only way to reach the surface. There are also guards patrolling the docks. These guards will pursue you and shoot you down on sight. Since you don’t have much equipment on you yet, you’ll have to avoid detection for now.
Survival Basics
Rations
From the stairs that you came from is a Ration which you can use to heal yourself from any sustained injuries. There are also a couple more Rations in the southeast and northeast parts of the area, but you can only take 2 for now.
Detection and Minimap
Pay attention to the radar or minimap on the top right corner of the screen. This minimap provides vital information about the current map or level that you are on, as well as any guards or surveillance cameras that are in the area. It can also show a cone of vision which shows the current line of sight of the units, but it will only show the cones for the units that are on the same level where you are currently at. If you get yourself within these cones, you will be detected.
Avoiding detection can be tricky as the guards also have a heightened sense of hearing, so you can be detected if you are running close to them. You can safely approach and slip past them by crawling outside of their sight or by hugging a flat wall as you move by.
The guards have a certain patrol path, but they can break from it if they detect you. Once detected, you’ll need to either engage them or shake them off. The minimap will be disabled during detection and replaced by a detection countdown. If the countdown is still red and not moving, the enemies still have you on their sights. Once they lose track of you, the countdown starts moving and gradually turns to yellow. During this state, guards are still on high alert and will be looking for you. You’ll need so stay out of anyone’s sights until the yellow countdown reaches zero and the minimap goes back online.
Docks Level Guide
For this level, simply evade the detection of the guards and use the containers as cover. You will have to wait for the elevator to come down, so try to find a safe area or stay hidden. Once the elevator is at your level, wait for the guard that is in it to get off, then you can slip through and ride the elevator up to the heliport.
See next: Heliport Walkthrough