For those new to the Metal Gear Solid franchise, it may take some getting used to its very specific controls and actions you can take within the world. Healing works differently compared to other games, and it may not be easy to understand how to recover from the many wounds Snake can endure during his mission. This page will cover the different ways you can regain health in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.
Healing Slowly Through Stamina
The first thing you’ll probably notice is that there are two bars under Snake’s name. Depending on the difficulty you’ve chosen, there will be a shorter bar for Snake’s health, and a much longer bar for Snake’s stamina.
Whenever you take damage, the stamina bar will constantly pulse, and in doing so slowly diminish (it will do this anyway over time), while converting your stamina into health regeneration. Because of this, if you wait long enough, you can also slowly recover from your wounds as long as you are consistently restoring your stamina.
However, if you aren’t taking care of Snake by eating either food rations, or animals you can hunt and kill, low stamina will mean Snake is unable to regenerate health, and will need to find other sources.
You’ll also want to cure any major wounds that Snake has endured, as things like bullet wounds, broken bones, and poisoning can all reduce your stamina, and lower your health regeneration until they are fixed. Look for medical supplies in buildings, by shaking down guards, or looking for herbs you can cut with a knife to gain home remedies.
Healing Quickly With Items
Healing slowly is fine when sneaking through areas, but it’s usually not enough to save you during a boss fight or an extended battle sequence. In these scenarios, you’ll need something a lot quicker.
Luckily, you can find certain health items on the ground called LIFE Medicine (or LF MED), both by exploring, or by shaking down guards. You can carry up to 10 at a time, and they will appear in your Items Menu.
To use the Life Medicine, equip it to your active Items, and then use the Left D-Pad Button to cycle through until you’ve selected the item. Press the Confirmation button (A on Xbox, X on PlayStation) to use it and recover your health.
Remember, LIFE Medicine is pretty rare to come by, so you’ll want to save it for situations where hiding and healing up using stamina isn’t an option!
The Healing Radio Frequency
A secret third option can be used in case of an emergency, but it’s a little bit of a secret.
If you sneak up to CQC guards and hold them for interrogation, you may find that some will share certain Radio Frequencies with you. Some of these will include “relaxing” radio stations that you can manually input when selecting your Codec Radio Frequency.
Listening to any of these tracks will replenish much of Snake’s stamina without needing to eat any food — which can be invaluable when wounded and unable to find food to hunt nearby. It’s not exactly a full heal, but it can help you get back on your feet if Snake is starving!