It wasn’t that long ago that the vast majority of us were dead certain that the Metal Gear franchise had no future, but not only is the series set to return with a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater – arguably its best entry – that remake is also looking increasingly promising. Since its announcement last year, Konami has showcased new footage and revealed new details on Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater at a regular clip, and for the majority, the prognosis has been a surprisingly positive one.
There’s no question that the company’s recent history certainly warrants a healthy amount of skepticism, of which there’s certainly been no shortage in the cases of both Metal Gear Solid Delta and the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake. Meanwhile, even in terms of what has been shown and said, some aspects of the MGS3 remake haven’t appealed to everyone- like how little its deviating from the original, to the extent of still having areas separated by loading screens, rather than the entire game being a single, seamless experience.
By and large, however, impressions on Delta have been quite positive (including from hands-on previews not too long ago). The original Metal Gear Solid 3’s core design and mechanics still remain excellent to this day (for the most part), so the prospect of a remake that polishes up the controls and adds some quality-of-life features is an undeniably exciting experience. At the same time, the visual and technical enhancements that the game is making have also looked consistently remarkable. On the narrative side of things, meanwhile, Delta is making little to no changes- which, frankly, is exactly how we would have liked it for an MGS3 remake, especially with Hideo Kojima not involved. Konami hasn’t earned the trust yet to be messing about with the story of a beloved Metal Gear game.
The question, then, is this- when exactly is Metal Gear Solid Delta going to come out? What is perhaps an even bigger question for some, however, is why Konami hasn’t revealed its release date (or even window) yet. Clearly, the game is quite far along in development- we keep seeing it at regular intervals, and every time we do see it, it looks impressively pristine and polished. There were certainly some who assumed that at Tokyo Game Show, we would be getting more information on when the game will be coming out. At the very least, we’d be getting a release window, right?
Unfortunately, Konami chose not to divulge that information. We did get plenty of MGS Delta at TGS- we got a new Production Hotline episode, a hefty amount of new gameplay footage has been shown off, and a new trailer was showcased as well, all of which is continuing to look promising. We did not, however, get a release date or window announcement, and for some, that has become a source of at least minor frustration (or perhaps concern).
It’s not hard to understand that position, to be truthful. Earlier this year, PlayStation let slip that Metal Gear Solid Delta was targeting a 2024 release, and though that isn’t something that Konami itself has officially confirmed (or even hinted at) to date, given how close to release the game has seemed each time it has been shown off, and how frequently it has been shown off, the belief that it may very well actually end up releasing this year has grown stronger for many. And if it was indeed releasing this year, Tokyo Game Show was going to be the place to announce the launch date.
Then again, it’s worth keeping in mind that, as mentioned above, officially, Metal Gear Solid Delta has never been given a release date or window. Sure, that may be frustrating for some, but Konami has consistently shown quite a bit of the game and remained communicative regarding its development, which is more than we can say for so, so many major upcoming officially announced titles. Just look at the likes of, say, the Splinter Cell remake, or Marvel’s Wolverine, or The Elder Scrolls 6, all of which are games we have seen next to nothing of ever since their respective announcements years ago.
With all of that in mind then, when exactly are we going to get a release date announcement for Metal Gear Solid Delta? Clearly, the game isn’t going to come out in 2024- that started looking unlikely the moment that Konami announced that Silent Hill 2 would be releasing in October. The company is likely going to want to space out its biggest releases, which means a 2025 launch is looking quite likely for the MGS3 remake. So if a 2025 release date is indeed likely, what does that mean for when Konami will officially announce that?
Well, maybe we can look to the aforementioned Silent Hill 2 to get at least a hint of an idea on that front. The survival horror remake was announced in late 2022, and even at the time, Konami and developer Bloober Team said that the game was in the final stages of development. Though it wasn’t given a release date or window, most assumed that it wasn’t too far away from launch. However, it wasn’t until May earlier this year that Konami finally announced a release date for the game. Given the fact that Silent Hill 2 is Konami’s first major AAA release in several years, it’s probably safe to assume that that is the pattern that the company will follow with other AAA titles as well.
Of course, we have seen way more of Delta than we did of Silent Hill 2 following its reveal with the latter going MIA for extended periods after it was first announced, but it does look like Konami doesn’t want to announce release date information for a game too far ahead of time. With Silent Hill 2, its release date was announced roughly five months ahead of launch, and we wouldn’t be surprised if a similar pattern were to be followed with Metal Gear.
It’s safe to assume that Konami won’t be much involved in The Game Awards this December, given producer and host Geoff Keighley’s patchy history with the company, which means Metal Gear’s release date announcement will happen either at a PlayStation or Xbox event, or maybe on Konami’s own terms (perhaps even with a Production Hotline episode). Xbox will presumably doing its third annual Developer Direct presentation in January. Maybe that’s where we finally get a release date announcement for Delta? Of course, Konami may very well also choose to hold off on that information further still, especially if the game isn’t due out until the latter half of the year.
Either way, we can, at the very least, take solace in the fact that Konami does keep showing more of Metal Gear Solid Delta at regular intervals, and that every time we do see it, it continues to look like it’s taking solid shape. Yes, knowing more about when the game is coming out would have been great, especially to go along with the recent dump of new footage coming out of TGS, but for now, we’re just going to have to focus our attention on Silent Hill 2 instead. That’s pretty exciting too, right?
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