Action-stealth game “Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater” gets reborn next week in remake “Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater,” a modernized remake that adheres so closely to the original there’s really just three big differences separating them: 20-years of video game VFX improvements, a new control system, and creator Hideo Kojima.
When “Metal Gear” studio Konami announced it was remaking the game created by Kojima, who famously struck out on his own in 2015 after being let go by the game maker, it was largely understood there would be no involvement from Kojima himself. That was confirmed directly by the “Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater” developers themselves in an interview earlier this month.
“So we didn’t really consult Kojima-san on this. Through this, it was just the current Konami staff,” “Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater” lead producer Noriaki Okamura told reporters during an interview via translator at a Konami-hosted press event for the game in New York City on Aug. 5.
In a recent interview published by Canadian fashion retailer Ssense, “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach” creator Kojima said, “No, I won’t,” when asked if he’d be playing through the new version of “Metal Gear Solid 3” when it releases Aug. 28.
Sitting alongside “Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater” creative producer Yuji Korekado during the Aug. 5 press event, Okamura said “we can’t really say for ourselves” if the team hopes Kojima reconsiders.
“We’re not sure what he would want to do, but we want to deliver this game whilst being very respectful of all the people that we previously worked with as well, and we would love for them to see it, too,” Okamura said. “So we’re hoping that we can deliver a great game that people can enjoy, but we’re not too sure.”
The dialogue for “Metal Gear Solid Delta” has been rerecorded by the original “Metal Gear Solid 3” cast in an effort to keep the game as close to the original Cold War-era story of FOX operative Naked Snake (voiced by David Hayter) as possible, while modernizing other aspects of the experience, like the controls, which are offered in a new format, as well as the “legacy” style from the original game.
“The main thing we have changed, if you like, is that we have kept in mind that there are both going to be old fans who already love the series and new users,” Okamura said. “And because we want new users to smoothly pick up this game without feeling that it’s old or the controls look strange to them, we have decided to implement a new style to make that easier for them.”
Korekado added: “Through the new style, we’ll be able to share what was so amazing about the original game to a new audience.”
However, the developers would also like to see new users get the authentic, original experience themselves.
“It’s not just that we’ve implemented the legacy style just for the users that already liked the game and played it before, we also want the new users to, once they’ve played the game in new style, if they would then go back and play it in legacy style and be able to experience it in a slightly different way,” Korekado said.