Sony’s latest State of Play has come and gone, bringing new announcements, updates, and surprises (like Nioh 3). Silent Hill f received a September release date and even more disturbing sights alongside gameplay. Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls appears to be pure joy for ArcSys and Marvel vs. Capcom fans. Even Ghost of Yotei, despite lacking a larger presence, will at least have a deep dive in July.
The showcase also featured new gameplay for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Konami’s upcoming (and long-awaited) remake of Metal Gear Solid 3, out on August 28th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. At less than one minute and 50 seconds, it offered a fine balance of gameplay, teases and cinematic moments. The motorcycle chase scene through the forest looked thrilling, as did the CQC combat with Colonel Volgin. And for a game that’s showcased so much over the past several months, it’s impressive that there are still teases, like Raikov’s brief appearance and what seemed to be Metal Gear Online. The fact that it’s out in less than three months is almost unbelievable, especially a month before Silent Hill f and its freakiness.
But it can never be so cut and dry for Konami, especially when it comes to Metal Gear Solid in the post-Kojima era. Amid all the impressive animations, like that sweet takedown on Volgin, there were some odd standouts. It’s somewhat noticeable in the start when Snake is walking around crouched. At first, it doesn’t really register until you notice his knees reaching way up to his shoulders while his back remains unmoving. Which doesn’t seem that immersion-breaking – just more odd than anything else.
However, then we arrive at Ocelot’s reload animation, which pairs bizarrely with his unchanging expression. You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s some clever edit to the music done for humorous effect, but no, that’s the actual animation. Even his running animation while shooting looks a bit stiff. Beyond that, one other noticeable quirk is The Fury. Jetting through a tight hallway, twirling around and emitting flames? Not bad, but the flames casting almost no light or shadows on the surroundings felt odd.
Even with how visually sharp its textures and character models look or the thrill of chase sequences, there’s just a rough vibe to this trailer. There are some theories as to why the animation isn’t quite up to snuff, such as the animations carrying over directly from the original and not meshing well with the revamped, realistic visuals. Konami, of course, wouldn’t change anything because it would go against its goal, which is to retain everything that made Metal Gear Solid 3, simply updating the visuals (and throwing in a few quality-of-life improvements for those who want them).
However, Konami did touch up the animations. Producer and veteran Noriaki Okamura told Famitsu back in October 2024 that the team only intended to update the visuals. “As long as the backgrounds and character models were cleaned up, we decided to leave the rest of the game as it was,” he said, and that a prototype was created with the animations as they were. The results were less than satisfactory.
“We couldn’t help but feel a sense of discomfort,” said Okamura. “The graphics had been improved, but if the system, viewpoint and character animations had not evolved to match the current hardware performance, the game would not play as well as it could. I had this concern, but I was convinced of it when I started making the game.”
Konami thus reworked and updated “almost all” the animations for the remake. The development team even went as far as to utilize video data from a training course on knife motions for the original and used the “current technology to express them while looking at the correct knowledge again,” said Okamura. So the team had the same reaction way back when – of the original animations looking off when paired with the new visuals – and went about improving things.
How much they’ve improved is unknown, and unfortunately, a trailer that’s cutting between shots is no substitute for longer, extensive gameplay, where players can see how it all plays out. The concerns are slowly but surely growing. On the one hand, you have those who feel like the charm and ambience of the original have been lost, if not heavily diminished (and giving them a visual filter doesn’t seem to be enough). On the other hand, some are holding it to the standard of other remakes, especially in the Resident Evil series, and that it doesn’t look as polished in comparison. You could even argue that it’s comparable to Silent Hill f, whose animations also seemed like they require some more polish, except NeoBards Entertainment doesn’t have similar expectations as a remake of one of the greatest games of all time, that too with Konami personally in charge (and Virtuous assisting).
Of course, we’ve seen similar criticisms and concerns before for another Konami-published remake – Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2. Remember that one trailer full of action that even the studio called out for not being the best presentation of the experience, never mind the rough performance and iffy animations? By the time it launched, the overall experience felt incredibly polished and just genuinely incredible, becoming one of the best games of last year.
You could argue that Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater has even less time than Silent Hill 2 remake to polish and correct things. However, it may be a case, as with Silent Hill 2 remake, that Konami is showcasing footage running on an older build. It would certainly help explain those odd shifts between the animation looking smooth – the fight with Volgin, the chase sequence, etc. – and oddly underwhelming, as with Ocelot. This is a common occurrence for video game trailers debuting months before launch, though there’s no way of knowing if this is the case for Delta: Snake Eater.
Does that mean it’s time to panic and proclaim the remake as a complete and utter failure on Konami’s part? A misfire in trying to appease fans, a lack of concise vision, and so on? Well, no, because there are too many variables at play, that too with a few months left before launch. However, even if the development team is aware of these issues and any complaints seem superfluous, some skepticism and pointing out places where things don’t seem to be clicking are important. Perhaps that feedback will further improve the experience, maybe even add that ambience that some believe is so desperately missing. We can always hope.
You could chalk everything up to this being a less-than-amazing trailer, especially since it has not one but two additional endings to tease extra content, and wouldn’t be too far off. Sometimes great games get bad trailers, as seen with Silent Hill 2 remake. It happens more often than not.
Nevertheless, like many others, we’re still looking forward to the remake, diving back into the jungle and stealthily dismantling security detail before going up against the Cobra Unit and The Boss. We’re still keen on hearing “Snake Eater,” especially with Cynthia Harrell singing an updated version and sounding as incredible as ever. There’s time for improvement, and hopefully, Konami will make the most of it.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.