Konami Finally Reveals Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake: Details

Metal Gear Solid 3 remake, one of Konami’s worst-kept secrets, has finally been confirmed. During the PlayStation Showcase event, held early Thursday, publisher Konami dropped a cinematic trailer revealing the new title ‘Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater,’ promising a faithful recreation of the original Hideo Kojima game, while evolving the gameplay with modern visuals and a ‘seamless user experience.’ The kicker here is that, despite being a franchise that was strongly tied to Sony, the MGS3 will be available on PC (via Steam) and Xbox Series S/X as well. This marks the first actual entry to the franchise since Metal Gear Solid 5, which also marked Kojima’s departure from the company.

The trailer is a fully CGI-driven affair, featuring protagonist Naked Snake creeping about in the swamps and observing a deadly battle between an alligator and a massive serpent. Every other detail on the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remake was revealed in subsequent tweets from Konami, starting with the promise of faithfully sticking to the original narrative, which served as an origin arc for Naked Snake. A developer name was never mentioned, but a VGC report from 2021 claimed that external studio Virtuous — best known for support work on Horizon Zero Dawn and Uncharted 4 — was in charge. It’s strange that Konami simply refers to the studio as ‘Development Team’ instead of its actual name — wonder what that’s about.

As stated before, the remake is called Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater — pronounced Delta — denoting change or some difference without changing the core structure. “The Delta symbol (Δ) was chosen because its meaning fits the concept of the remake project.” The original PS2 game followed FOX operative Naked Snake, who was on a one-man sneaky mission to rescue a Russian weapon designer Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov and sabotage an experimental, tank-like superweapon called the Shagohod. Gameplay largely revolved around stealth, introducing a camouflage ability that’s quite handy during the forest segments, and a hand-to-hand combat system called CQC (close-quarters combat).

In addition to co-writing the story, Kojima also served as the director of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, though it’s highly unlikely that he would be involved with the remake, following his bitter departure from Konami. The exit also ensured that his name was removed from all of the Metal Gear series’ marketing material, after which he re-established Kojima Productions as an independent studio. It will be interesting to see whether Kojima’s name is mentioned in any upcoming promo for the game, given Konami claims to be doing a ‘faithful’ reproduction. It’s his story, after all.

Additionally, Konami is also launching the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, which includes the first three original games — Metal Gear: Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and the aforementioned Snake Eater. It is slated to release this fall/ autumn and marks the series’ return to the latest platforms (unspecified).

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater will launch across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X.