Back when it was first announced, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater drew some criticism from longtime Metal Gear Solid fans over fears that it would fail to honor the game's legacy or Hideo Kojima's original vision. But now that Metal Gear Solid Delta is out and has been met with plenty of praise from longtime fans, it seems as if those fears were entirely unwarranted. In actuality, Virtuos and Konami have done a commendable job of honoring the original Metal Gear Solid 3 by only updating the essentials for Metal Gear Solid Delta, and in doing so, they've carved a path forward for the series without Kojima's involvement.
In an ideal world, players would get to see Kojima return to the Metal Gear franchise for a more fitting swansong than the partially unfinished Metal Gear Solid 5, or even provide work as a producer and consultant on remakes or remasters of beloved past entries. But the realities of Kojima and Konami's bitter split make that all but impossible. Thankfully, Virtuos has stepped up to the plate and proven that it has what it takes to move the Metal Gear Solid franchise forward by adhering to one simple rule: don't try to fix what isn't already broken.
Virtuos' Work on Metal Gear Solid Delta Tees Up an Entire Remake Trilogy
As great as a new game in the Metal Gear Solid series would be, there's simply not much material to work with that hasn't already been covered. Solid Snake's story came to a cathartic and satisfying conclusion with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and the same can be said for Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain's filling in some hugely important gaps in the legacy of Big Boss. So rather than keeping the franchise alive with new games not spearheaded by series creator Hideo Kojima, Konami can and should look to Virtuos to continue its work on Metal Gear Solid Delta with remakes of both Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
One of Metal Gear Solid Delta's greatest successes is that it retains the same audio and cutscene direction that helped make Metal Gear Solid 3 one of the 6th generation's best games and a high point of the series, freeing Virtuos up to craft an impressive visual backdrop that brought the game into the modern era. Both Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 hold up in a modern context, just like the original Metal Gear Solid 3 still does, which cements Metal Gear Solid Delta as the perfect template for how remakes of those first two entries in the series should be handled. And given Delta's level of quality and adherence to the original, it would be great to see the same internal team at Konami and Virtuos partner up again for both.
Remakes of Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 Should Take the Same Approach as Delta
As far as how Virtuos and Konami should approach potential remakes of the first two Metal Gear Solid games, Metal Gear Solid Delta again sets the perfect example by being incredibly faithful to the original. Aside from a new control scheme and some subtle, yet effective, quality of life updates, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is as close to the original Metal Gear Solid 3 as one could hope for, albeit with the benefit of greatly improved visuals. Rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater, Virtuos and Konami could simply take the design document used for Metal Gear Solid Delta and apply it to both Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2.
That said, the original Metal Gear Solid would likely require more significant resources to get the Metal Gear Solid Delta treatment, owing to its place as an almost 30-year-old game, but taking the care to not alter Kojima's original vision and honoring the legacy of one of the PlayStation's most important games would go a long way toward pleasing series fans. Thanks to the Metal Gear Solid series' prescient narratives and cutting-edge presentation, these games still feel relevant decades later, priming them for visual updates and not much else to have them reach a brand-new audience and potentially cement the series' importance for another 30 years.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 85 /100 Critics Rec: 89%
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Genre(s)
- Shooter, Adventure, Stealth
