Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a faithful remake of the action espionage classic, and a statement of intent for Konami's stewardship of the series - hands-on preview

Konami is back in a big way lately, and a lot of the world's newly recharged notice of the Japanese publisher comes down to the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. My time with Konami's other modern trilpe-A title, Silent Hill 2, was a hit, and while my time with MGS: Delta was short but sweet, it also did not disappoint.

While no release date has been penciled in as of yet, the original game’s 20th anniversary rolls around on November 17, so fans can only hope that Delta is in their hands by then. In anticipation of the release, Konami invited me to play 90 minutes of the Snake Eater remake, and so far, it looks like a faithful remake of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater with even more Hollywood flair, intended for new and old audiences alike.

My preview began with the grand opening of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, concluding not longer after you meet with The Boss. This segment sees Snake baptised as Naked Snake as he descends — in a more epic fashion than ever before — into the USSR in an attempt to complete the Virtuous Mission.

Virtual Mission? You guessed it, that — and much of the other amusing, oft bizarre dialogue — is still present. Naked Snake is still David Hayter. Major Tom, The Boss, and Para-Medic have had literal facelifts, as has the jungle that Snake first HALO dives into at the beginning of my preview. It's all very cinematic, very pleasing to the eye, and of course, no longer covered in that brown-green filter that seemed to proliferate during the early 2000s. In the Silent Hill 2 remake, Konami lets you apply a 90s filter if you fancy it, in aid of tapping into that nostalgia. I didn't see the option to do this in Delta, but that doens't mean it definitely won't be there at launch.

Keeping old and new fans alike in mind, there was a legacy control scheme available to those who wanted it, accompanied by the choice of an all-new control system that feels a little more intuitive to use. And unlike Silent Hill 2, which has been expanded, enhanced and built upon, MGS: Delta has not been so roundly updated — at least in the small portion that I experienced.

In conversation with Noriaki Okamura, via translator, I asked how important it was to the team that they preserve the multitude of goofy easter eggs that can be found throughout the original game. Think back to The End dying of old age if you change the system clock, or tricking The Fear into eating expired food, and so on.

Okamura stated that “there will be no change, in terms of those features,” before explaining that the developer has attempted to keep the game as faithful as possible to the originals.

This shows. The settings alone felt indistinguishable from the original game, but splahsed with a new coat of paint and trees with climbable vines that actually resemble vines rather than some sticks glued to a tree. The suspenseful music present throughout the Virtuous Mission — the music that makes you feel as though you’re going prone through the jungle of a Bond movie — remains. The iconic enemy markers — the ping of the exclamation mark that appears when they’re alerted — are still here, as well as your array of camouflage options, more than I can remember, to play dress-up with.

Okamura, when asked about why the developer chose to remake Snake Eater of all the games in the series (why not start from the first game released, right?) claimed: “We found that lots of the younger generation do not know the Metal Gear Solid series at all. These are games that are really important to us and we'd like them to be able to play [Delta]. We don't want the flame to go out and the Metal Gear Solid series to just vanish into nothingness.

“It's a well-loved and highly-respected game, as well. And I think that that would also be a huge factor in drawing in new fans because it's such a great game. And personally, if someone - a friend, or someone younger - came to me and asked which Metal Gear Solid game should I start from... There's so many. I would definitely recommend [Snake Eater] on a personal note ], since it is the first in the chronological series.”

If Konami wants to reach entirely new audiences, it’s definitely going in the right direction by rejuvenating Snake Eater while preserving exactly what made it so enjoyable to audiences in the first place. Starting from the story's genesis, rather than the first game in the series... it might just be a brilliant move, it turns out.

Ultimately, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is in solid shape so far. I'm eager to see more. If the rest of the game proves as faithful and as quality as the short mission that I got to play, Konami may be on to hit a home run for fans of the espionage action series, and newcomers to Metal Gear Solid alike.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater was played on PS5. It is set to release on PS5, Xbox, and PC via Steam, though a release date has not yet been revealed.