As game development costs balloon beyond figures that mere mortals can comprehend, studios look at their existing libraries for surefire ways to guarantee game sales. For Konami, returning to one of the best games of all time in Metal Gear Solid 3, and giving it a new coat of paint as Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is its way to bring in gaming gold from both new players and those steeped in nostalgia. That is, if the studio can stick the landing.
Hideo Kojima is famously no longer with Konami, but his original cinematic vision for a Metal Gear Solid prequel is maintained in this remake. Aside from the visuals, most aspects are here for better and for worse. The UI has been reworked for larger screens and is clearer in some places, but more fiddly in others. The opening screen asking you for your favorite entry has been updated to include 3, 4, and 5, with new starting items to go with your preferences.
However, the quality-of-life changes that we expect from remakes are lacking in Metal Gear Solid Delta. There is a new control scheme, which is a great option, but Snake still feels like he’s flailing about when laying prone in tight spots. Controls also don’t feel as responsive as they used to. In particular, the D-pad menus would sometimes fail to open, and I’d have to enter the Survival Menu and back out before it would work again. In a game that relies so heavily on responsiveness to ensure the player feels in control, these are big missteps.
Bugs, or what feel like bugs, also remain. Leaving arrows in a little too long will see them lodged into Snake for the rest of the game. They are seen while sneaking, in cutscenes, and until the final moments. This is in the original, but it completely breaks immersion. The remake could’ve made a tongue-in-cheek nod to the issue before allowing Snake to take them out, maintaining the tone of Kojima’s writing. Ideas like this elevate a remake, but this is a shiny imitation.
While scathing, a shiny imitation of one of the best games of all time still makes for an incredible experience. Kojima was clearly inspired by film. Metal Gear Solid Delta is full of long cinematic cutscenes and gaming moments like the infamous ladder climb set to the theme song. These are paired with the surprising mechanics the series is known for like clues found by looking through Snake’s eyes in cutscenes or the ability to revive Snake during the “Game Over” screen.
Metal Gear Solid Delta includes some of the most interesting characters, innovative boss fights, and tense survival-stealth sections in gaming even today. The jungle setting, complete with its need to hunt and gather, is a fantastic step forward for MGS. The variety of difficulty options that allow you to choose everything from a single alert ending your game to walking up to guards and stopping them with unlimited tranquilizer darts are still here from the original. When a game is this good, it can feel pointless trying to improve it.
Extra modes, like the Guy Savage dream sequence and Snake vs. Monkey return. If any part of the original experience could have been added to and adapted without backlash, these two are it. Guy Savage has been hugely expanded and is exceptionally fun with beautifully smooth movement. The Ape Escape crossover is mostly the same with some extra apes and cute capture cutscenes.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater doesn’t make all of the changes it should have, but it’s hard to strike the balance between quality of life improvements, and weakening the original. Konami has drawn this line at the toes of the original without addressing a few areas that were in need of improvement. Delta is still a version of the best games of all time, but without desired improvements it might not be the definitive one.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater launches on August 28, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam.
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