Ten years on from the purpose the place it seemed just like the Metallic Gear franchise would by no means return, it’s about to return. Getting back from a decade-long hiatus (sure, I’m intentionally erasing Metallic Gear Survive from my reminiscence), the legendary stealth collection is gearing as much as take centerstage once more with Metallic Gear Stable Delta: Snake Eater, a remake of Metallic Gear Stable 3 that’s completely positioned to show past doubt (but once more) that the 2004 sport stays a stealth masterclass to at the present time with the type of timeless design and excellence that few video games within the style have been in a position to match as much as within the two-plus many years because it launched.
After all, this isn’t the primary Konami franchise to return from a hiatus of late, and never the primary to do it with a remake of arguably its most generally beloved sport. Lower than a 12 months in the past, Konami and Bloober crew wowed every body with a remake of Silent Hill 2, a survival horror spectacle that turned out to be a much better sport than Bloober Group’s beforehand spotty monitor document had led many – ourselves included – to imagine it will be. Although Metallic Gear Stable Delta isn’t essentially taking the identical method. Silent Hill 2 struck a fantastic stability between sticking to the unique script and bringing its personal concepts to the desk, serving as a remarkably expanded and overhauled remake that saved the unique’s core intact.
However the place Silent Hill 2 straddled the road between these two paths, Metallic Gear Stable Delta: Snake Eater is committing itself virtually completely to only one- that of trustworthy recreation, relatively than radical reimagination. On one hand, you need to admit that that may increase some points that, for a lot of, won’t be minor by any means. Take, for example, the truth that Metallic Gear Stable Delta will, identical to the unique, separate screens and areas from one another, relatively than making your complete play area seamless the way in which you’d think about issues to be in a AAA sport releasing in 2025. For many who had been hoping for a Metallic Gear Stable 3 remake that will not solely recreate, however improve its gameplay expertise, that’s possible a irritating choice on Konami’s half, and it’s a place that I do have sympathy for.
On the similar time, I can’t assist however take some solace from the truth that Konami is selecting to not mess with perfection. As a result of, actually, in so some ways, that’s what Metallic Gear Stable 3: Snake Eater achieves from a sport design and stealth gameplay perspective- perfection. Taking part in the unique basic in the present day even in its unique kind, it’s arduous to not be blown away by how good and enjoyable it feels to play. It’s a tightly designed, compact expertise that wastes none of itself on something that doesn’t contribute to its unbelievable gameplay core. Purely as a stealth expertise, Metallic Gear Stable 3 remains to be proper up there as probably the greatest video games within the style even today- not simply due to its legacy (which is unimpeachable, to say the least), but additionally due to its astonishing enduring high quality.
So sure, it is considerably of a bummer that Konami isn’t taking the chance with Metallic Gear Stable Delta: Snake Eater to do some actually formidable gameplay reworks, and that the remake is, from a gameplay and design perspective, going to play issues fairly secure. However a) taking part in it secure is strictly what Konami must do proper now with Metallic Gear, given the state that the franchise has been in (because of Konami) this previous decade, and b) the sport that we’re going to get remains to be Metallic Gear Stable 3, and Metallic Gear Stable 3 is – I can’t stress this sufficient – an absolute blast.
There are clearly components of the unique MGS3 that do want updating. As nice as it’s, it’s not an ideal sport, and particularly by in the present day’s requirements, there are components of it which can be fairly tough and janky. However fortunately, these components of the sport are getting the facelift that they require. Metallic Gear Stable Delta: Snake Eater’s centerpiece goes to be its large, radical visible and technical overhaul, which, from all that we’ve seen to date, is respiration new life into the sport. Overhauling the visuals, modernizing the expertise with quality-of-life upgrades, and sanding out its tough edges with passes of polish won’t be probably the most thrilling technique to cope with a serious, flagship remake- however the place MGS3 is anxious, it’s a wise method. Replace the components of the sport that want it probably the most, and the components which can be nonetheless nice – the gameplay and the design (to not point out the unforgettable story, in fact, however that’s a special subject) – will be capable of shine brighter than ever earlier than.
“However take a look at Metallic Gear Stable 5!” you say, and you recognize what? It’s arduous to not agree with that no less than just a little bit. For all of its flaws and inconsistencies, Metallic Gear Stable 5: Phantom Ache is a fully spectacular stealth sport – one of many best ever made – and it does so with fully seamless open world design. A Metallic Gear Stable 3 remake that constructed on these foundations (however, you recognize, with a extra densely populated world that didn’t have the hammer introduced down on it partway by improvement) was the dream for a lot of, and indisputably, if completed nicely, that will have been an thrilling technique to deliver Metallic Gear again.
However once more, that’s not one thing that anybody is able to belief Konami with simply yet- and that clearly contains Konami itself, too. And if the choice to a trustworthy Metallic Gear Stable 3 remake was no Metallic Gear sport in any respect, I’ll gladly take the previous, as a result of, on the threat of repeating myself MGS3 remains to be an unbelievable stealth game- one that may stand as much as the largest and AAAest fashionable video games on the market, and barring some very uncommon exceptions, come out on prime each single time.
If Konami continues remaking extra Metallic Gear Stable video games – which, let’s face it, they in all probability will if Delta proves to be a essential and business success – expectations can be excessive that they’d be extra formidable with their remaking efforts. However as their first mainline Kojima-less Metallic Gear outing after the franchise was given a swift and bitter (and public) execution years in the past, Metallic Gear Stable Delta: Snake Eater is well taking part in to its supply materials’s strengths, which is permitting it to take the most secure attainable route. That route is likely to be a bit too unexciting for a lot of, particularly given how profitable the much less typical remakes like Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill 2 have been lately, however it is nonetheless a route that’s going to allow us to play by a stealth masterpiece.
After all, that’s all contingent on the truth that Konami doesn’t royally mess issues up with Metallic Gear Stable Delta. However then once more, that’s the point- that first by choosing Metallic Gear Stable 3 as the sport to remake, after which by selecting to stay as near the supply materials as attainable, the corporate is, no less than on paper, giving itself the absolute best probability of success. Whether or not issues will pan out that approach stays to be seen, however we’re cautiously optimistic, on the very least.
Observe: The views expressed on this article are these of the writer and don’t essentially characterize the views of, and shouldn’t be attributed to, GamingBolt as a corporation.
