Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a remake of the beloved PS2 espionage game that aims to modernize the look and feel of the original while preserving its quirky humor and charm. Based on the first batch of actual hands-on previews with the new Metal Gear Solid 3, it sounds like publisher Konami has so far succeeded.
Originally revealed at Sony’s May 2023 PlayStation Showcase, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater has been shown off in snippets here and there which show its advanced Unreal Engine graphical overhaul of the base game, but not much else. And although the remake doesn’t have a release date on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, or PC yet, new previews from the first 90 minutes of the game describe a pretty faithful and fan-pleasing revival of the Hideo Kojima-directed classic.
While the graphical overhaul is the big draw, a series of quality-of-life updates seem to go a long way to improving the overall experience. “Delta’s modernized controls share more in common with Metal Gear Solid V,” Giant Bomb’s Dan Ryckert wrote for GameSpot. Handy tooltips show how close quarters combat works in real-time, with hints about all of your action options in other scenarios as well.
“This is one of my favorite titles as well, and since the game was already good, to begin with, we didn’t want to mess around the original creative direction of the game,” Konami veteran Noriaki Okamura told VGC, which also confirmed that the game will run in 4K at 30fps for its quality mode, and a higher target framerate in its performance mode.
“The look of Delta blows me away because, honestly, I didn’t know if Konami still had it in them,” wrote Rich Stanton for PC Gamer. “But the jungle environments here are visually some of the best I’ve ever seen, no matter the map layout underpinning them, with the air so moist at points you can almost feel it on your skin.”
Others, like IGN’s Matt Purslow, were less impressed with just how closely the remake sticks to the original. Cutscenes are almost identical but with better graphics, while original voice acting and even loading screens are preserved from the PS2 game, although they now are much shorter. Some purists will probably be overjoyed to hear that Konami isn’t taking any real artistic license with Metal Gear Solid Delta, while some might be a little let down by just how similar it plays to a game they already know by heart.