PS5's Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Is a Fiercely Loyal Remake | Push Square

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There are faithful remakes, and then there's Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. A full one-to-one re-release of the PS2 stealth masterpiece from 2004, Konami and co-developer Virtuos are going so far as to re-use the original voice lines in their visual refresh 20 years later. It's an example of how the two companies are remaining intensely loyal to the source text; a move that could be considered bucking the trend as a lot of modern remakes allow new creative input. For better or worse, then, the final result is exactly what you expect: this is Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater with PS5-level visuals.

It feels like a strangely anti-climactic statement to open the Preview with, given that Snake Eater is considered by many to be the best entry in what is widely touted as one of the greatest gaming franchises of all time. However, it's a thought we could not quite shake as we spent 90 minutes playing the opening Virtuous Mission at a recent Konami press event.

The game — and now in turn the PS5 remake — is still outstanding, but you more than likely already knew that. In its first act at least, the surprises are kept to an absolute minimum. It's all about letting the graphics shine in the Soviet Union.

And, well, they absolutely do on PS5. Snake Eater has already received one facelift within the PS3's Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, handled by the now first-party Sony developer Bluepoint Games. It was a fairly basic remaster for today's standards, meaning the PS5's completely new Delta version is far and away the most amount of work that has been put into the third mainline entry since its original development. The effort is most obvious in the visuals, which breathe new life into Big Boss as well as the jungle around him.

Having played the opening Virtuous Mission, we were able to see the leading stealth specialist alongside his supporting crew in Major Zero and Para-Medic, but also enemies like Colonel Volgin and those stuck in the middle of it all (Sokolov and The