When Konami made the infamous Metal Gear Solid 3 pachislot a year after parting ways with Kojima, one thing caught the attention of MG fans: the cutscenes. The machine featured scenes from MGS3, but completely remade with beautiful, modern graphics — and, most importantly, recreated frame by frame from the originals. This served as a proof that if Konami ever attempted an MGS3 remake, they would treat the source material with the utmost care, keeping everything born of another’s creative genius intact while improving it everywhere else. With that thought in mind, fans began asking for a full remake.

And Konami delivered. Metal Gear Solid Delta is a near-perfect remake.
There’s the usual Unreal Engine 5 performance issue — just like in most other UE5 games — nothing more. Also, one particular boss fight isn’t dark enough, though that’s mostly fixed by using the Action Movie filter.

Beyond that, this remake addresses nearly every concern fans could have had.
The main game features two modes: New Style, with Metal Gear Solid V-like camera, new controls and improved enemy AI, and Legacy Style, with the pre-Subsistence overhead camera, original controls and classic AI. New Style includes a new jungle flyby start screen, a freshly recorded version of “Snake Eater” performed once again by the amazing Cynthia Harrell, and a remade intro animation. Legacy Style restores the good old CQC demonstration start screen along with the original song and intro.

Snake's movement animations are now extremely smooth and feel similar to MGSV. The multichannel sound mix is impressive. The game offers a selection of visual filters, including the greenish tone from the PS2 version, which is applied by default in Legacy Style. It's possible to switch between Japanese and English voices and even choose regional variants of the gaming magazine covers that appear throughout the game. The fact that some guards still give out codes for Metal Gear Ac!d when interrogated is a perfect example of how faithful this remake truly is. And what if I told you that the posters of models from the original have been replaced with their current photographs in New Style mode, while in Legacy Style they remain the originals from 20 years ago?

Guy Savage, cut from the HD remasters, returns at last with a remade version developed by none other than PlatinumGames. Snake vs. Monkeys also makes a comeback. The only omission is the Duel Mode, though its unlockables (a camo and a face paint) are present. Some players might also miss the Subsistence free camera, but that version was never the original to begin with.

Overall, aside from UE5 quirks and a few minor issues, this was the only proper way to remake MGS3. Both Konami and Kojima — had he worked on it — might have changed too much. I’m really glad they didn’t. It’s the same incredible game, just more beautiful. And that’s exactly what we asked for.