We thought of quite a few titles that were developed since 2020, but ultimately decided that remakes of older titles would be a great way to showcase the manner in which modern graphics enhance the games that they aim to recreate. Without further ado, let’s dive right into our picks for games that demonstrate just how much graphics in video games have evolved over the years.

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Konami’s decision to give a modern makeover to Naked Snake’s original adventure was a decision we wholeheartedly supported after seeing the end result. While the original game did have its charms, its graphics did show their age after several replays over the years.

However, the remake did a great job of giving the experience a complete overhaul on the graphical front. Naked Snake and his fellow cast of memorable characters looked better than before with improved character models, while the world his adventure takes place in was blessed with a sheen of immersion that had us glued to our screens for every second of it.

This one was an excellent showcase of the point we’re trying to make, and a lovely way to enjoy a source of many fond memories over the years.

2. Resident Evil 2

This last-gen remake was an already solid take on the original adventure, its improvements pushing the title into a new era of relevance among gamers who may not have had the chance to try it out back in the day. But it was the current-gen updates that truly brought Leon and Claire’s efforts to escape Racoon City to life, with improved resolutions and ray-traced graphics that made every area in the game feel fresh yet familiar.

The nostalgia was well backed up by the graphical marvels that this one brought to us, making the entire experience hit harder as a result. This one certainly wasn’t afraid to punch up, and continues to be a beacon for modern-day graphics in gaming.

3. Silent Hill 2

The Bloober Team sure hit gold with this one. It was everything a remake of the original experience should have been, and the graphical overhaul it received made it surpass even the original experience.

The very air around James seemed to shimmer with malevolence as he made his way through the painstakingly crafted levels of the game, each of which is a lovely argument in favor of evolved graphics, lending a fresh layer of realism to a title that’s probably been played too many times to count among its loyal fans.

Silent Hill 2 is as good as they come on the graphical front, and is another great game made even better with a graphical overhaul.

4. Shadow of the Colossus

Allow us to level with you. We approached this 2018 PS4 remake with a fair bit of trepidation. It isn’t easy to forget the many hours of frustration that a game that’s designed to be as opaque as it can be gives you. Each of the mighty colossi we took on back in the day had us feeling despair and frustration, considering the fact that we were quite young when we tried it out.

But Bluepoint’s efforts to invigorate the experience with a graphical overhaul are nothing short of spectacular. We soon found ourselves in the thick of the action, our muscle memories prompting our intentions against the giants we were taking on. It wasn’t a coincidence that this one sold approximately 70% over its original release. Bluepoint probably used a lot of the lessons it learned with this one to make its take on Demon’s Souls be as awesome as it was.

5. Dead Space

Although EA wasn’t too happy with how this remake performed in 2023, that doesn’t take away from the fact that rebuilding the game from the ground up while letting the Frostbite Engine show off its chops was a smart choice. Dynamic lighting and blazing fast loading times ensured that Isaac’s fight against the Necrormorphs and his own psychosis were given a new layer of immersion and engagement.

With levels seamlessly loading into each other and each one popping out with incredible detail and a level of polish that the original game could not achieve due to the limitations of the systems it was meant to run on. But all of that’s in the past, as Dead Space is now a beacon for current-gen focused remakes that make use of the tech to make an experience that feels brand new.

6. Final Fantasy 7

Both the remake and intergrade really did a number on the original experience, making Midgar feel like a new world entirely. Cloud Strife’s adventure was made even better thanks to a more streamlined story and an improved combat system that benefited from buttery smooth framerates on current-gen consoles while also bringing all the bells and whistles of modern hardware to the table.

As a game that aims to recapture the magic of the original, this one did quite well to be more than just a fresh coat of paint, a feat made possible by the improvements that modern gaming hardware is able to enable.

7. Mafia: Definitive Edition

The Mafia franchise is already famous for its cinematic quality and presentation, but the first entry in the franchise was limited by what the PS2 could achieve at the time. But two generations of consoles later, Tommy Angelo’s rise to prominence within the ranks of the Salieri crime family is now an adventure that looks good and plays so well it’s hard to remember what the original game felt like.

Hangar 13’s effort to rebuild things from the ground up paid off, and the first Mafia title is now a great introduction to the franchise, given a new lease of life by graphical improvements that were facilitated by upgraded tech.

8. System Shock 1

We can’t help but wonder if the folks over at Nightdive Studios saw something we didn’t that prompted the idea to remake a 1994 classic that might have slipped under the radar of the modern gamer, considering the many years that had passed since its release.

However, your character’s attempts to stop the malevolent AI program SHODAN in its tracks were made all the better by a remake that feels oddly relevant today. That makes System Shock a game that was ahead of its time, made even better by its modernization and graphical overhaul. The seven years it took to develop this one were definitely worth it.

9. Yakuza Kiwami 2

This one certainly earned the Kiwami in its title. A Japanese word meaning “ultimate”, the last and current-gen versions of this game are a great display of how video game graphics have evolved.

There’s a reason this one won the awards it did, bringing a revival of the original experience that brought a lot of graphical improvement while also elevating the experience through them, Kazuma Kiryu’s adventure becoming all the more immersive alongside a very welcome additional chapter focused on Goro Majima.

10. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy

Colorful, charming, and confident. Those are the sentiments that were foremost during our time with the original games. But the N. Sane Trilogy took things up a notch with a visual overhaul of a largely faithful recreation of all three games that made this one truly stand out amongst a sea of remakes.

Hi-res textures, dynamic lighting, improved draw distances, and reworked animations did a very good job at giving the OG trilogy a new lease of life. Besides, Coco Banidicot being a playable character was just the icing on the cake. We’d go so far as to say that the improvements on this one were “N.Sane” enough to make us sit up and take notice of the painstaking effort that went into it.

And that’s a wrap on games that had a graphical leap that showcased just how far the gaming world has come, and the manner in which the experiences it brings to us year after year have now been elevated, thanks to how realistic the worlds they take us to have become.

With that, the nominees for the best PS5 games of 2025 are:

Lost Soul Aside

What originally began as a one-man tech demo eventually blossomed into a competent action RPG with Revengeance-like combat and tons of style to spare. You’re not alone in thinking it looks a bit like Final Fantasy given the crystal theming and character design. Still, Lost Soul Aside carves its own identity with its combo-laden combat and varied boss mechanics. The game may have some growing pains as a debut indie effort (especially in its story), but the kernels of greatness are there in its gameplay systems.

The Midnight Walk

If you’re looking for a short-but-sweet adventure game with some uncanny claymation visuals, it’s impossible not to recommend The Midnight Walk. What struck me most as I reviewed the game was the strong atmosphere created by inventive environments, Burton-esque character designs, and a stirring musical score. It’s a game with a remarkably strong sense of place , and the experience lingers long after you’ve completed it.  And for horror fans, there’s plenty to enjoy too, the stealth sections are legitimately nightmarish despite the game’s demure appearance.

Dying Light: The Beast

You don’t need to have played any other Dying Light to have fun with this one. This standalone entry flips the bright, colorful world design of Dying Light 2 on its head with an all-new wooded region infested with infected zombies. In short, it nails the horror vibe fans have been begging for since the first game. Kyle Crane returns with new beast powers that feel great to use on the horrific denizens of Caster Woods, and the skill tree is the best the franchise has seen to date.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Hollow Knight: Silksong finally came out this year and its been well worth the long wait. It earns the perfect 10 we gave it due to its exhilarating boss fights and fun platforming. The level design and progression system add tons of replayability and substance to the game as well, providing well over 30 hours of tough-as-nails content for fans to enjoy. Even newcomers will find plenty to appreciate through the lush soundtrack and charming hand-drawn art

Where Winds Meet

Free to play games have come a long way in offering top-tier experiences without requiring players to spend a dime, and Where Winds Meet might be the most impressive leap yet. The sheer abundance of genres it fuses together is remarkable. You’re getting a vast, gorgeous open world with a meaty single-player campaign, tons of boss battles, minigames, and immersive sim mechanics. If you’ve ever wanted to explore 10^th Century China with some side quests reminiscent of The Witcher 3, and you don’t mind a mostly non-invasive F2P structure plus a few glitches, Where Winds Meet delivers in spades..

Blue Prince

Blue Prince is easily in the discussion for best puzzle game of the year. Heck, it’s arguably one of the best rougelikes of the year as well, especially since it got me, a rougelike denier, to enjoy it. What I love is how simple it is to jump in and immediately understand. You explore a mansion with randomly generated rooms, with the twist being that you’re the one choosing which rooms get “drawn.” The goal is to unlock and enter the mysterious 46th room by selecting the right rooms and solving puzzles along the way. Don’t sleep on Blue Prince. Even if you’re not a fan of puzzle games or roguelikes, its deceptive simplicity has a way of hooking you.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

The original Death Stranding was an amazing game, but it had noticeable issues. Then came the Director’s Cut and it added some new content which made an already great game even better. But Kojima has learned his lessons and after working on the sequel for more than five years, we finally got Death Stranding 2:On the Beach back in June. And, by all accounts this is a stellar achievement. Featuring exceptional gameplay that takes the strand mechanics to newer heights, a story that will capure your attention and visuals that will stun you, this sequel has all the makings of a game of the year.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur is a turn-based RPG that lets players time parries and manually aim for enemy weak spots. This real-time element really adds a lot of dynamism to the classic turn-based formula, complemented by a variety of enemy types to strategize against. Besides the remarkable combat,  genre-specific staples such as story and progression are also exceptional. The cast of characters grapple with mortality and grief throughout the adventure in earnest and thought-provoking ways. You just can’t help but want to solve the ever-dwindling lifespan dilemma The Paintress has concocted. Turn-based RPG fans are eating well this year thanks to Clair Obscur’s stellar story and gameplay.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 expands the grounded medieval immersive sim elements of the first game into a masterful AAA-like experience. You can still get knocked out by common bandits late into the game, but combat is tuned to  be more fun and intuitive. The world design is breathtaking, with the realism of towns like Troskowitz and the bustling Kuttenberg leaving my jaw on the floor. But it’s the story and side quests where the game truly shines. With enhanced cinematography, stellar voice acting, and historically accurate details, KCD2 is as much a narrative powerhouse as it is a medieval simulation.

Silent Hill f

Capturing the essence of the best Silent Hill games isn’t easy. There’s a lot of subtle detail involved. And despite its change in location, Silent Hill f has that essence down. In fact, the rural Japanese town nails that Silent Hill feel perfectly. The environments are grade A spooky, with that characteristic fog enveloping looming threats in ways that feel natural for the rural countryside. Combat is spicier than usual, encouraging you to engage enemies rather than simply retreating. If the monster designs don’t scare you, the camera work and music probably will. There’s just a lot to love with the new Silent Hill and thankfully, there’s five endings to elongate the playtime as much as you want.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

MGS Delta is arguably the ideal remake. The 1:1 cutscenes, 4K visuals, and quality of life features make this the best way to play Metal Gear Solid 3 today. But what impresses me even more than the way the rising sun glints off of Snake’s visor in that opening scene is the new stuff sprinkled in. Snake’s wear and tear over the course of the game is shown through dynamic cosmetic scraps and clothing rips. There’s also the ability to crouch walk (finally) and an over the shoulder perspective, adding some much-wanted gameplay features to the classic. This remake has it all.

Ghost of Yotei

If you’ve played Ghost of Tsushima, you know what to expect with Ghost of Yotei. Yet the game still manages to surprise and impress. The instant load times and silky smooth framerates are particularly impressive. Being built solely with the PS5 in mind allows the game to run flawlessly and then some. The open world here is one of the most beautiful we’ve seen in a game, thanks in part to sweeping draw distances not detracting from foreground detail. Storywise, the Yotei Six serve as a fun, motivating target throughout the story due to how well the narrative frames their actions. Ghost of Yotei is the premier PS5 showcase game at the moment and it doesn’t look like it’s being supplanted any time soon.

Days Gone Remastered

Sure, Sony Bend hasn’t added much new story content to Days Gone in this remaster, but the current-gen tech has given the game a much-needed boost. It finally feels like it’s living up to its potential, story aside. Fighting through hundreds of Freaker zombies is super smooth in this remaster, with the game very rarely dipping below 60 FPS in such chaotic moments. The result is a dynamic open world zombie game with fun combat similar to The Last of Us. If you can tolerate Deacon talking to himself every five minutes, Days Gone Remastered will put you in zombie madness for many hours to come.

Cronos: The New Dawn

Bloober Team has been knocking it out of the survival horror park lately. Between Silent Hill 2 Remake and Cronos, they’re capturing what makes the genre so compelling. Cronos has an atmosphere so tense that it actively rattles you into missing your shots. The claustrophobic journey is made more limiting by The Traveler’s (that’s you) slow traversal speed. Every bullet is prized in this game, and you’ll be seeing the game over-screen quite a bit. But it’s all worth it to experience the unconventional Polish setting and tight gameplay.

Sword of the Sea

Sword of the Sea is an instantly inviting experience. The colorful art style, mesmerizing soundtrack, and seamlessly smooth control scheme are as intuitive and irresistible as it gets in gaming. It’s a journey as magnetic as, well, their previous game The Pathless. Despite minor performance issues, even on PS5, Sword of the Sea flawlessly delivers on what the studio does best, and that’s something to celebrate.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl (PS5)

Stalker 2 is finally out on PS5 and what a port it is. PlayStation users get to experience the exclusion zone and all its bizarre anomalies and creatures with smooth performance and impressive visual fidelity. The DualSense haptics shine here, enhancing the act of probing for anomalies with immersive rumble and trigger resistance. Stalker 2’s strong horror atmosphere blends with compelling immersive sim gameplay to create an unforgettable experience, made even more personal via PS5-exclusive features.

And The Best PS5 Game of 2025 Goes to:

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach

I don’t know how he did it, but Kojima actually managed to make a game even more zany and compelling than the first Death Stranding. The sequel has so many iconic moments it’s hard to know where to begin. Characters have more fleshed-out backstories and quirks in general, which makes sense given the Hollywood talent Kojima brought along for the sequel. But the game does far more than expand its story and presentation: the delivery sim aspects also see tremendous improvement. Those jaw-dropping moments stumbling atop a cliffside overlooking a gorgeous vista are alive and well, and even more striking thanks to the new day/night cycle. Weather plays a massive role too. Earthquakes, dust devils, downpours, sandstorms, you name it, appear while trekking across the brand-new Mexico and Australia environments. There’s no denying it: Death Stranding 2 is a premier PS5 experience that embodies everything PlayStation strives for in its first-party titles. It’s our best PS5 game of 2025 and one of the greatest first-party games PlayStation has even had.

With this feature, we will be diving into the graphical aspect of the experience – comparing the original with the remake in an effort to see how wide the generation gap is. We will be diving deep into each element of the presentation, so let’s jump right into it.

Character Models

The original Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was a graphical achievement of its time with best-in-class character models. The polycounts on each model were a lot higher than contemporaries of the time, and there was plenty of detail in each aspect. Techniques like skin softening and rudimentary hair textures were commonly used at the time, and you can find it in the original release as well – but the end result strikes a great balance between performance and quality.

For the remake, Konami and Virtuous are using Unreal Engine 5 which completely rewrites the character rendering pipeline into something that’s leaps and bounds ahead of the base release. Starting with the skin mesh, we get to see a rather geometrically complex rendition of the skin meshing with great attention to detail and exponentially higher polycounts – resulting in superb details on models like Snake or Revolver Ocelot.

The same story continues over in the other elements of the rendering pipeline, where we see a physically based material system being used in the clothes similar to the solutions that we saw in late last-gen games and current-gen releases.

Overall, there is obviously a stark difference in how Metal Gear Solid 3’s remake looks as compared to the original – but what makes the job so commendable that the improvements feel like they stemmed from the original and pay due homage to what came before. Of course, Konami went ahead and built all of these models from scratch – but the concept art and drawings seem to be taken directly from the base material.

Enhanced Cutscenes

Thanks to several improvements in the character rendering department, cutscenes also look a lot better than the base release. Konami hasn’t taken much liberty in re-directing these cutscenes, so the remake has each scene recreated shot-for-shot – which might be questionable on some level but has been done to preserve the spirit of the original.

Taking a look at any cutscene from the remake alongside the base version gives us a good overview of the changes, ranging from cinematic lights help alleviate the mood of a scene through additional lights and shadows where the original version could only make do with a rudimentary baked-lighting solution.

Now that facial models can feature a lot more detail than before, these improvements are used to better express the state of these characters. You can see pupils dilating, facial muscles moving, and so on and so forth which help in achieving the grand cinematic vision that the team originally dreamt of.

Also helping the case of cutscenes is a more robust post-processing pipeline that adds the cinematic flair to the experience. We get to see a per-object motion blur in the cutscenes alongside quality depth-of-field implementation, and much better and denser particle effects than what we saw in the base version. Crude implementations of light shafts, bloom effects, and strobe lighting are now replaced with higher quality current-gen implementations, and the end result is nothing short of breathtaking at times.

Lighting, Shadows, and Atmosphere

Let’s now move over to the lighting side of things, where we get to see plenty of radical changes. The base release might not have the pompous light-shadow rendering that defined the original Splinter Cell, but the implementation was certainly impressive – holding a fair amount of direct lighting detail with some level of accuracy.

For the remake however, Konami has used Unreal Engine 5 which practically guarantees a best-in-class global illumination system thanks to the Lumen technology. The improvements in technology have enabled the system to capture a lot more lighting data in a more accurate fashion – both from direct and indirect lighting sources complete with support for bounce lighting.

As such, a lot of detail that felt lacking in the original rendition can be seen in the remake. Areas that are hidden from the enemy’s line of sight are more clear to understand thanks to an enhanced lighting pipeline, and that also helps in refining the core sneaking aspect of the experience.

Having a detailed lighting system also helps with rendering better shadows, and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is no different in this regard. Plenty of improvements are in store including but not limited to self-shadows, soft contact shadows, and higher-resolution shadows with little to no artifacting present around the edges. Shadows are also cast at longer distances, giving the world a more uniform look.

Assets are also rebuilt from the ground-up which have more geometric detail this time around. As mentioned in the character models, the polycount has also increased thanks to the excellent use of Nanite – and all of that just comes around to make the world feel alive. Different assets have different materials which reflect light differently now, and that helps in giving the world a lot more character and authenticity that just wasn’t possible with the base release and the technological constraints that came with it.

Add to that a pretty smooth world streaming system where level-of-detail swapping happens pretty smoothly, and you get a rather solid world rendering pipeline. Of course, the art direction also plays a huge role in achieving that vision, but the technological work is quite commendable. You can crawl through long grass where each follicle reacts to your movements, climb on trees with high geometric density barks or leaves, and swim through water with great reflections and caustic rendering.

The true essence of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater’s gameplay was to become one with the jungle, and the improved asset details and lighting systems make the playground feel a lot more real and in turn helps in achieving the original goal in a more efficient manner.

Loading Times And Performance Impressions

One of the biggest improvements that have happened between the PS2 and the PS5 generation has been in terms of the loading times, but unfortunately Konami hasn’t made any significant strides in alleviating the frustration that came with a map divided into multiple zones separated by loading screens. Yes, the high read-write speeds of the PS5’s SSD does help in reducing load times to a minimum (in our experience on the PS5 Pro, it was just a couple of seconds at maximum) – but they are still there. Of course, the reasoning behind preserving this functionality is to stay as close to the original experience as possible – but it does feel pointless.

Taking a brief moment to talk about the performance, we tested the game out on the PS5 Pro – and our experience was really good. The visuals looked crisp at 4K likely using PSSR and performance was largely fine, though there were a few drops and slowdowns here and there. But considering the immaculate visuals and Unreal Engine 5’s computational demands, it’s a pleasant surprise to see the game at decent level.

According to reports, for base PS5 owners, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater offers two graphical modes – a Fidelity mode that runs at 4K with 30fps and a performance mode that ups the frame-rate to a full fat 60fps but drops the resolution down. While the jury is still out on how these two modes perform, we would recommend opting for the latter option, as having a smoother gameplay experience is more important than chasing higher resolution

Conclusion

In conclusion, Konami has done a rather amazing job with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. It’s equal parts a glorious homage to the past and a confident step forward that’s catered to the modern crowd, and honestly speaking this is the best place to be for a game that’s so closely associated with a creator who isn’t a part of this project anymore.

Speaking solely in graphical terms, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater makes great use of the tools provided by Unreal Engine 5 and makes it a lot more convenient for audiences accustomed to modern games try out this masterpiece. There are a few shortcomings that are almost a byproduct of sticking too close to the script, but it’s a fantastic start.

There’s been a lot of carefully controlled hype around Konami’s remake of one of modern gaming’s cult classics, with Konami releasing excellent trailers for the remake that showcase its enhanced visuals and its ultimate goal of being a remake that stays faithful to the original title that inspired it. The origin story of one of gaming’s most badass antagonists is certainly a great choice for Konami’s mission to bring its older games to a new generation of gamers.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was among the PlayStation 2’s most iconic titles, stripping away all of the then-modern conveniences that Solid Snake was used to while introducing Naked Snake, putting him on the path to becoming Big Boss. It was a title with top-notch stealth mechanics and an insightful look into how the former soldier became disillusioned enough to begin questioning his ideals. 

It’s perhaps the most obvious choice for a remake considering how Big Boss has been present in some form in nearly every other title in the iconic franchise. However, while Konami has been quite enthusiastic about showcasing its work on the upcoming remake, it has remained largely silent on a very important aspect of the game: a comprehensive overview of how its new features blend with what the studio has advertised as a largely faithful recreation of its original gameplay systems. Sure, we have seen bits of gameplay here and there but what we are desperately lacking is a deep-dive. 

For fans of the original title’s emphasis on striking from the shadows, and for those players curious to see how the remake could integrate the many improvements, this lack of gameplay footage can be quite concerning. It also goes against the strategy that Konami is following with its other games, making the lack of a deep dive footage for Delta stand out by its absence.

In the run up to a remake that could very well be the catalyst for similar ones of other games in an IP that has held Konami in good standing over the years, there’s one major question on fans’ minds—where the hell is the actual gameplay for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater?

A Game That Needs No Introduction

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for nearly two decades, the Metal Gear Solid franchise is one that is kind of a household name for gamers. Konami clearly knew what it was doing when it decided to relaunch its iconic franchise on current-gen systems, allowing it to add fresh visuals and improvements to its core gameplay loop that could very well turn out to be the definitive way to play it. 

While hand-on previews of the game from various publications highlighted its similarities to the original title ahead of the Tokyo Game Show 2024, there was apparently no gameplay footage accompanying those impressions, which could have indicated how the visual overhaul and other changes actually impacted the gameplay loop on offer. To be fair, Konami did showcase some snippets of gameplay at TGS 2024 and there was a public demo for fans to try the game out, but an in-depth look at how the various systems were running together was still lacking. Even the trailer that Konami revealed at the event conspicuously lacked a look at how the remake would feel like in players’ hands – a situation that remains unchanged even as we inch closer to the game’s eagerly awaited release date. 

Further promotional content, a very brief gameplay trailer at the most recent State of Play notwithstanding, have also failed to showcase a lot of gameplay footage. It’s a rather baffling omission from Konami considering how on point the rest of its attempts to bring its modern take on an age old classic have been. 

Each of these trailers has certainly done a great job of showcasing just how much the revamped visuals of the game bring a new layer of photorealism that was just not possible in previous iterations while also shedding light on how Konami has managed to stay true to the original game’s thrilling story and memorable cast of characters. There were official overviews of the game from Konami, each of which was a perfect opportunity to show us in-depth gameplay but failed to do so. 

Konami’s enthusiasm to showcase its attempt to recreate a classic title from its library is definitely commendable. The new visuals, the addition of The Secret Theatre collectibles, a Fox Hunt  multiplayer mode, a better way to apply camouflage, and so much more, are all fine additions to the game that can bring a lot of fond memories back for hardcore fans of Metal Gear Solid. 

However, for a remake that claims to be as faithful to the original title as it possibly can, there’s no real replacement for true, uninterrupted, unedited gameplay as a way to lay emphasis on that promise. Just take a look at how CD Projekt Red recently showcased gameplay for a game that’s probably years away from release as an example! 

That lack of actual gameplay footage is even more puzzling when Konami’s approach to its other remakes and upcoming titles is considered. 

When Stealth and Secrecy Become Counterproductive

Consider the run up to Konami’s very well-received remake of Silent Hill 2 which it developed cooperatively with The Bloober Team. We were quite enthusiastic about the gameplay it showcased back then, when Bloober showcased early sections of the new game in comparison to the original. It was a clever way to demonstrate how the new visuals and quality of life changes would perhaps necessitate a new approach from players who may have been quite good at handling whatever threats they encountered in it. 

It’s significant that Konami chose to show off its improvements on Silent Hill 2, while it hasn’t done the same for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. What makes this even more concerning is the fact that Silent Hill f has also received similar treatment, with a lot of its gameplay features being brought to its potential players well ahead of its September 2025 release.

Delta launches nearly a month earlier than Silent Hill f but has not received the same treatment. Is there more to Konami’s silence that meets the eye?

Should We Just Let Konami Cook?

The gameplay trailer for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater was barely two minutes long but we did find a lot left to be desired in its animations that did not seem to work as well as they did back in the day thanks to the game’s visual overhaul. We did consider the possibility that Konami was probably using an old build of the upcoming remake and would perhaps address those shortcomings in the final release. 

It’s more than likely that the Japanese studio is doing just that, polishing and fine-tuning its remake to ensure that it does justice to the original while also being enough to pull in a new generation of gamers and get them hooked on its iconic franchise. With remakes of other Metal Gear Solid titles already on the cards, that would certainly be an excellent strategy to ensure Delta’s success.

However, with only two months to go, Konami would be better served if it were to bring a comprehensive gameplay showcase to the table in the near future. That’s because all of the excellent work it has already showcased must be backed up by the assertion that Delta plays as well as it did in the original game, if not better. 

The lack of gameplay footage is sure to have fans questioning the remake’s quality which would be a downright shame for Konami considering how amazing its remake looks, while its purported quality of life features are set to bring a layer of convenience that was lacking in the original game. Showcasing how it plays at this point would reassure potential buyers, ensuring a smooth launch by earning the trust of hardcores fans that may be prone to finding reasons to dislike a new release. 

It’s especially significant to build trust considering that Konami and Kojima have since parted ways, which could be a major drawback to fans of the director’s work and a possible reason for them to give Delta a pass citing that his absence has caused Konami to falter in how it has handled the remake of his work. 

The stakes could not be higher for Konami considering the legacy it is trying to live up to. But thankfully, the solution to its current predicament is rather simple and straightforward. 

A Peek Behind the Curtain

Let’s put it this way. Konami has two months for somebody from its development team to sit in front of a screen, boot up a working build of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, hit record on their system of choice, and go to town on a few soldiers who are unfortunate enough to be in the way of their objective. Once that’s out of the way, the studio simply has to follow a very effective marketing playbook and bring that footage to the rest of the world. 

Perhaps the same developer could give us their two cents on how the remake measures up against its inspiration. It would validate everything the studio has been telling us up until this point and reassure eager fans that the new game is everything they’re hoping to be (us included). 

That isn’t too much of an ask by any count. All it would take is just 10 solid minutes of gameplay to reassure fans and newcomers to the franchise that this remake is as tactical and thrilling as the original. We just hope that Konami is already gearing up to give us just that.

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.

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.

What immediately stands out in the gameplay trailer is just how faithful MGS Delta is to the original source material. David Hayter’s recognizable gravelly tones echo from Naked Snake’s mouth like it’s 2004 all over again. Yes, all voice lines in MGS Delta are reused from the original game, as confirmed by Konami rep Tommy Williams. Speaking of sound, we can likely expect a lightly arranged version of the original soundtrack, if the trailers are anything to go by. The odds are pretty good that we’ll be able to switch between classic and MGS Delta soundtracks just like we are with the camera angles and control scheme, as we discuss further in the article.

And then there’s how the trailer is shot and framed. There are nearly a dozen 1-to-1 shots you can compare with the original, and it all looks so faithfully captured and enhanced. The cockpit inside the helicopter looks particularly stunning in MGS Delta. Just look at that dimly lit center console topped with oodles of dials and switches; it really does put the original shot to shame despite how good it looked back in the day. Slow panning shots make for great sun flare moments, and that’s exactly what the MGS Delta trailer showcases with its recreation of Snake shimmying across the bridge edge as the sun glimmers through the ropes.

The most interesting shot comparison to me is when Snake sneaks across the scaffolding above the broken wall. The original had a cloud of mist enveloping the surroundings, which provided lower visibility and a unique atmosphere. MGS Delta’s version of this scene clearly shows every bush and cranny with remarkable detail and narry a cloud to be seen overhead. I’ve heard some say they prefer the foggy atmosphere and color filter of the original, but the clarity of MGS Delta retains the classic MGS3 look with added realism giving a slightly different vibe.

Unlike other recent remake projects (I’m looking at you, Silent Hill 2), the redone characters look amazing without any instances of uncanny valley plaguing character faces. Snake looks exactly how we’d expect him to look with the modern fidelity treatment and I wouldn’t change a thing about his new design. Augmenting Snake’s facial design are his characteristic animations, which the trailer captures perfectly. I especially like Snake’s eyes scanning the environment with separate iris movement. MGS Delta’s character animations manage to look natural while fitting the mannerisms and familiar motions from the original. And you know what defined MGS3 back in the day? Rain. The rain looks spectacular in the Metal Gear Solid Delta trailer, with little dapples of drops flitting about in between the jungle branches. My goodness, it all looks so good. Konami is clearly putting that Unreal Engine 5 shadow technology and Lumen lighting to good use here.

The visual tone seems too good to be true, but what about the unique Kojima aspects? Kojima’s quirky tone even seems untouched in Metal Gear Solid Delta. For example, that classic Rambo Snake scream when firing the LMG is alive and well, along with the iconic exclamation mark visual cue and sound. Based on the trailer, we have little reason to doubt that Konami will keep all the zany Kojima aspects from the original into MGS Delta. Everything the trailer showcased has been an enhancement of the original game with little altercation to the intent or artistry of the original, so we’re hopeful the full experience delivers a full-blown modern enhancement of the classic.

This is exactly what fans want, and if the final game can stick the landing of what the trailer showed, how can Metal Gear Solid Delta not be a beloved remake? The original game wasn’t perfect though; certain gameplay elements are rough to return to, defining the janky controls of games from the era. Thankfully, MGS Delta is giving us a new control scheme that addresses many of the original’s shortcomings. Konami calls this modern control scheme, ‘New Style’ and will also include a classic ‘Legacy’ control scheme to compliment it. The New Style control scheme incorporates a dynamic over-the-shoulder camera and updated third-person shooter controls.

You can already see some of this control scheme in action with Snake smoothly going prone and aiming the gun while crawling backward in the trailer. And please, please give us finely tuned gradient aiming this time. The finicky sensitivity of the previous versions’ aiming is notoriously clunky. The Legacy controls feature the classic overhead camera and, in the words of Konami, “the original controls from the original Metal Gear Solid 3”. It’s such an awesome package having both control schemes in one, and it gives us hope that the original soundtrack will be an option as well.

We have yet to see or hear any details on how menus are implemented in Metal Gear Solid Delta. Based on all the improvements shown so far, it would be shocking if they didn’t fix the unintuitive menu hopping of the original. Remember having to manually update camouflage and refill stamina every time you stepped into some new terrain? That constant in-and-out of menus was a flow-breaker, but thankfully patching up wounds has been updated in a big way in MGS Delta, giving us confirmation that they’re overhauling healing.

Metal Gear Solid Delta is going all-out on the wound healing system, now making wounds permanently visible on Snake even after healing them. Footage shows just how detailed Snake’s wounds look. Bullet wounds and deep scars remain on Snake’s body even after healing him, resulting in a dynamic real-time wound system that adds even more player connection to Snake based on how we perform in the game. There’s plenty of other gameplay details that we don’t have info on. Like, are they overhauling the Survival Viewer? Is the Tranq Gun better balanced so it isn’t as game-breaking this time around? Only time will tell! I’m curious about boss fights. Konami has an excellent opportunity to fix the shoddy CQC mechanics of the Volgin fight, in particular. Some of the boss arenas were too open for stealth to function prominently in the fight, so hopefully we’ll get some enhanced stealth boss mechanics.

Lastly, MGS Delta also marks the first time we’ll likely have a version of MGS3 that is well-optimized for PC. The Master Collection is tied to the internal game speed making the game feel fast-forwarded and clunky when playing it above 30 fps on PC. MGS Delta is likely giving us that consistent 60 FPS PC release we’ve been waiting for. The unanimous fan approval the recent trailers have received is a clear sign that Metal Gear Solid Delta is shaping up to be a solid (pun intended) remake. Think about it, It’s not an easy task to satisfy fans for a game as sacred and beloved as MGS3, yet the latest MGS Delta showing did just that. Konami just needs to fulfill what the trailers have promised and we’ll have one of the best remakes we’ve ever had. MGS Delta hits all the requirements for a great remake: faithfulness, enhancement, and fixing archaic design. We’ll have to wait and see if Konami nails this one, but it already looks like it has the potential to be one of the best remakes of all time with what we were shown.

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.