The Metal Gear franchise is known for its incredibly convoluted plot that involves several layers of conspiracies, cyborgs, AIs, and soldiers. Iconic voice actor for protagonist Snake—David Hayter—has revealed that even he has a hard time keeping track of the story sometimes. In an interview with Fall Damage, Hayter revealed that, while he understands the story at a basic level, there’s a lot about it he still doesn’t get.
“Do I understand the story of Metal Gear Solid?” he said. “Uh, basically, I do. Do I understand all of it? Absolutely not.” This was especially true while he was recording lines for the games, and he would even have to frequently ask the developers what some lines might mean. It is worth remembering that, in the past, games didn’t make use of motion capture for faces, which meant that voice acting work was often done in isolated booths.
“I’d be like, ‘What does this mean?’” he recalled. “And they’d say, ‘just say it.” He went on to note that the complexity of Metal Gear‘s story is “what makes Metal Gear, Metal Gear“.
He also spoke about how, just about every time you experience the story of a Metal Gear game, there is often quite a bit more under the surface. This can range from details about the plot itself to the motivations of certain characters.
“There’s more information,” he said. “There’s more character development. There’s more detail to the story than you can ever possibly absorb, no matter how many times you play it. That’s what makes the world feel real and rich and lovable.”
Hayter became the voice for Snake with 1998’s Metal Gear Solid on the original PlayStation and PC. He would continue to play the character in 2001’s Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, 2004’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, 2008’s Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and 2010’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. While he reprised the role for many spin-offs and remakes between the mainline releases, Hayter would be replaced as the voice of Snake with 2014’s Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes and 2015’s Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Most recently, Hayter reprised the role of Naked Snake in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater—a remake of the 2004 classic.
His thoughts on the story of the Metal Gear franchise comes as Konami is getting ready for the August 27th release date of Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2. The collection will include Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The former was originally released on PS3, and serves as the end of the story for Solid Snake. The latter, on the other hand, picks up a few years after where Snake Eater left off, and revolves around Big Boss’s slow turn into the villain he would become by the time the original Metal Gear‘s plot is kicked off.
For more on Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2, check out the Threat Ring for Guns of the Patriots, which was showcased with a video last week. The collection is coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and the Switch 2.