Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is the first major entry in the Metal Gear franchise since the release of Metal Gear Survive in 2018, when Konami stopped publishing AAA third-party console games in favor of budget and mobile titles. Their internal studio, Konami Digital Entertainment, developed the game, with Metal Gear Survive and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (2006) producer Noriaki Okamura and Metal Gear Solid V creative producer Yuji Korekado supervising the project, and with Singaporean studio Virtuos contributing additional development. The game was announced in May 2023. Snake Eater was chosen to be remade over other entries due to its status as an origin story for the franchise and its pivotal characters. Delta's titling emerged from the development team's desires to faithfully reproduce Snake Eater's gameplay and story with modern graphics and enhancements, but without significant deviations to its original structure.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater retains the core gameplay mechanics first implemented in Metal Gear Solid 3 and refined from the foundation of previous Metal Gear titles, involving Snake having to be controlled by the player as he traverses a variety of environments both in tropical and industrial settings while evading hostile enemies, traps and other methods of surveillance that can expose his cover over the course of the game's overarching infiltration mission, all while procuring an assortment of melee weapons, firearms and gadgetry that aid him while sneaking and confronting threats.[3] Gameplay additions from prior iterations of the title include abilities such as crouch-walking and using firearms in third-person, first featured in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008) and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010) before being incorporated into Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D.[4][5] The remake introduces a variety of adjustments both with regards to visuals and existing systems that compliment modern gaming sensibilities and quality-of-life improvements from subsequent games in the series. Any physical damage such as cuts and bruises inflicted on Snake are now reflected permanently in real time across his body throughout the game's duration, with the intent of illustrating each player's individual playthrough and journey with the character.[6] Object permanence will also apply to the revamped camouflage system, where leaves falling from trees can stick onto Naked Snake's gear, crawling across mud and dirt patches will leave stains on his clothing, and said clothing will have tears and bullet holes after the player takes damage. The Survival Viewer mechanic has also been updated to reflect this feature, with scars persisting on Snake's body even after treating wounds by applying bandages or certain ointments.[7]Delta will also offer two distinct styles of gameplay and presentation. The "New Style" enables a control scheme based on contemporary action titles and the more recent Metal Gear entries, while also incorporating a third-person, free-moving camera similar to Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence and HD Edition. "Legacy Style" meanwhile, reproduces the classic controls and gameplay systems, as well as an overhead view with a fixed camera much like the original version of Snake Eater.[8]
After the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima publicly split with Konami. In October 2015, Konami's head of gaming Hideki Hayakawa said that the company would pull out of developing and publishing major third-party games for consoles and PC, and that they would instead focus on mobile gaming and arcades.[9] Despite this, in 2018 Konami released the spin-off game Metal Gear Survive without Kojima, which was commercially unsuccessful.[10]
In October 2021, Video Games Chronicle writer Andy Robinson reported that Konami was returning to the mainstream video game industry and beginning production on multiple new projects in older Konami console game franchises that had been dormant, including Metal Gear as well as Castlevania and Silent Hill.[11]
The remake is a co-production between the Konami's internal developer Konami Digital Entertainment (KDE), who developed several previous Metal Gear games, and Virtuos as a support studio.[1] Konami's choice to remake Snake Eater over other Metal Gear titles was due to its nature as an origin story for the franchise and specifically for Big Boss. Konami confirmed that neither Hideo Kojima or original artist Yoji Shinkawa were involved in the remake, but that the development team wanted to produce a faithful adaptation and would not add anything new to the story.[12]
According to the Metal Gear Twitter account, the delta symbol in the game's title "fits the concept of the remake project. Delta means 'change' or 'difference' without changing structure."[13] apparently referring to the symbol's use in math and science to mean a change in quantity. Following the reveal, fans jokingly started to call the game "Metal Gear Solid Triangle".[2][14] The remake will reuse the voice actors' audio from the original release of Snake Eater.[15][16] The game uses the Unreal Engine 5, making it the first Metal Gear title since Kojima Productions' dissolution to not use the publisher's proprietary Fox Engine technology that previously was used for Metal Gear Survive.[17]
Marketing and release
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater was announced for PlayStation 5 on May 24, 2023, at PlayStation Showcase 2023, alongside the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 compilation, which includes the original version of Snake Eater. Following the presentation, the game was confirmed for Windows and Xbox Series X/S.[18][19] An in-engine gameplay trailer was presented on October 25, 2023, during Microsoft's Xbox Partner Preview digital presentation.[20] A PlayStation promotional video published online at the start of the year confirmed the game as targeting a 2024 launch window.[21][22] A full trailer was previewed during Microsoft's Xbox Games Showcase on June 9, 2024, that also featured brief looks at supporting characters such as Major Zero, Para-Medic, Ocelot and The Boss.[23] The following day, Konami released a video installment of their Metal Gear Solid Legacy webseries featuring Snake voice actor David Hayter and Metal Gear producer Noriaki Okamura that divulged further details on the remake's gameplay and graphical enhancements.[24] Okamura additionally discussed Delta: Snake Eater during a roundtable on the Official Xbox Podcast on June 11.[25][26]
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is scheduled to release for PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S in 2024 tentatively. Alongside the standard edition of the title, a Deluxe Edition and Collector's Edition for PS5 and Xbox Series X are set to be distributed. Both editions will come with a special steelbook case with the original Japanese key art for Snake Eater featuring Naked Snake and The Boss drawn by Yoji Shinkawa, as well as a custom FOX patch and vouchers for additional downloadable content (DLC). The Deluxe Edition also comes with a custom metal and enamel keychain and a clamshell case with special art cards. The Collector's Edition is bundled with a second patch referencing Snake's HALO jump in the game's opening sequence, a replica key card based on the ones used to access new areas in the game, and a "Terrarium Diorama" of the tree in the Dremuchij region with Snake's backpack.[27][28] A separate Collector's Edition is set for release in EMEA regions.[24]
