In recent years Konami has remembered it owns a series called Metal Gear, and last month saw the release of the (pretty good) Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. This UE5 remake of MGS3 was as faithful as they come, possibly too faithful if anything, but it at least shows Konami is capable of producing a great Metal Gear game and, for now, I'll take it.
The future of the series will also depend on how the audience takes to the likes of Delta, though in a recent chat with PC Gamer, David Hayter, voice actor for both Solid and Naked Snake, reckons a future without longtime series steward Hideo Kojima is "absolutely possible" even if "there's no way to replicate his exact genius, his exact weirdness, his specific personality."
Any player of the games will know what Hayter means: the appeal of these things is very much in that weirdness, the absurd level of research that goes into every entry, and some of the most spectacular rug-pulls in gaming history. It turns out that one of these, in fact, was even a surprise to Hayter.
"The funniest question that I get," says Hayter, "so many people are like 'what was it like working with Kojima?' And I'm like, I have no idea. I never worked with him, you know, he would direct the Japanese versions of the games, and then Kris Zimmerman Salter would be the director that all the English actors would work with.
"So I've met Mr. Kojima a few times. He's a very nice man, obviously a brilliant, brilliant game maker. But I didn't feel much impact from his input, except for the game which obviously speaks for itself."
Hayter goes on to give an example of how this process could throw up surprises, but it probably needs some preamble for those not immersed in the series' history.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was probably the most-anticipated game in the world back in the runup to its 2001 release, and it managed to keep one massive reveal hidden from players until the game was in their hands. All of the pre-release marketing and coverage focused on Solid Snake, the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid (as well as the MSX games), as did the game's opening tanker sequence. But in a move that angered some, delighted others, and left many wondering just what the hell was going on, the game's main protagonist was a newbie: Raiden.
"I love Metal Gear Solid 2," says Hayter. "I think it's an astounding game. But I was surprised as anybody that Snake wasn't going to be the protagonist. I found out in the booth while we were recording. And I'm like, 'What the hell?' And they were like, 'No, no, it's gonna be Raiden as the player character.
"I was like: 'Wow. Okay… well, we'll see how people feel about that.' The game came out and was amazing but there was understandable conversation about that. And then, yeah, Metal Gear Solid 3 really came back home again, my favorite game in the series. It just really dialled-down into what Snake is about, what Metal Gear is about."
The Raiden twist was core to MGS2's themes, and has a particular payoff for the player towards the end of the game (which, to be clear, also features considerable screentime for Solid Snake throughout). It's one of those moments in gaming that really catch the player off-guard and leaves them confused: looking back after all these years, it's pretty funny to think it did exactly the same thing to Snake himself.
It's this kind of thing that any future Metal Gears will struggle to find an equivalent to, because it takes a special kind of thinking to want to almost prank your own fanbase. As Hayter himself says: "I've been a working screenwriter for 26 straight years and written on countless pieces, and I think I'm pretty good at it. But I look at the Metal Gear scripts, and I'm like, 'I could never do this.'"
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