Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater: First-Day Impressions & Everything New

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is officially here, a grand remake of the original game released in 2004, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

It’s no surprise that the fresh remake is highly anticipated, but many may not know what Metal Gear Solid Delta has to offer. So today, we’re getting down in the trenches, checking out all the new stuff in the remake.

We’ll show you what’s there from the original game, and what they’ve updated to bring the game up to modern standards.

The Biggest Change in the Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Remake’

The core of the Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater remake is a complete overhaul of the game, especially when it comes to the visuals. The game was fully rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5, which ‘breathes new life into every cutscene’ and ‘every corner of the world’.

What this means is you’re getting much higher-fidelity graphics than the original game with highly detailed environments; incredibly realistic flowing water, crisp lighting using ‘Lumen’ lighting technology, lifelike shadows, and more.

Not to mention the upgrades to character models that make them incredibly expressive and detailed. You can count the wrinkles on a character and see the literal pores on their face. EVA has never looked better on a 2K monitor, than she does in Metal Gear Solid Delta.

Plus, characters also have incredibly detailed facial expressions and even separate eye and iris movements, allowing emotive, rich facial animations.

The entire game gets this treatment; the way Naked Snake’s armor and hair flutters in the wind, crinkles in the pant leg, enemy soldier hoods flap around, and much more. Speaking of clothes, the game has an improved ‘battle damage system’.

What this means in practice is that Snake’s clothes will develop natural wear-and-tear as you progress through the game, depending on the situations you find yourself in. This also applies to bruises, wounds, gunshots, and cuts, which all leave a permanent mark on Snake’s body.

It’s not game-breaking, but it brings the ‘immersion’ factor to a whole new level, making every playthrough feel unique, tailored to your playstyle.

In essence, the game gets an incredibly comprehensive visual upgrade throughout, making Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater the definitive way to experience the iconic story and characters.  

But aside from these upgrades to the game’s graphics, there isn’t too much new. This has caused players to call the new remake a ‘safe’ bet, faithfully replicating a 1-for-1 experience of the game’s feel, story, and characters.

Which isn’t a bad thing at all, and some of the new mechanics and gameplay features in the Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater remake are incredibly welcome features, bringing the game to a more ‘modern’ level.

The New “Updated” Features in the Metal Gear Solid Delta Remake

Aside from the visual fidelity upgrades, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater brings quite a few fantastic QoL changes that bring the game up to the modern standard of gaming:

New Selectable Control Schemes

Metal Gear Solid Delta brings a more ‘modern’ control scheme that can affect how you play. This is better suited for players who might be new to Metal Gear Solid, or if you prefer more fine-tuned, intuitive controls like more modern titles.

Buttons do different things, and it’s easier to make Snake do what you actually want him to do.

But if you prefer to bask in all of the game’s nostalgic goodness, you could opt for the classic control scheme, which feels closer to the original. Though you can remap buttons regardless of which mode you choose.

Two Camera Angles to Play Through

Another big change is the two new ‘camera views’ available in the game. First, alongside the modern control scheme, we have the ‘New Style’, which gives an entirely new feel to MGS3, with a freely controllable 3rd-person camera and perspective.

Playing in this mode also allows you to move and fire weapons at the same time, now aiming with an over-the-shoulder perspective. While this gives you a level of freedom to survey your surroundings, there is a slight downside to this mode.

Mainly, your shots now have bullet drop, which can affect your aim, requiring you to adapt to your weapon’s range/aiming.

Alternatively, you could also play in ‘Legacy Style’, which uses the classic, original top-down camera perspective with fixed camera angles. You do lack in FOV, but it’s the original experience and is worth trying, at least through one playthrough.

Plus, aiming in Legacy Style is in first-person view and is ‘hitscan’, so you don’t have to deal with bullet drop.

Convenient Camo Changing System

There is an absurd amount of camo and outfits Naked Snake can don to become “Non-Naked Snake”. In the original, changing into different camos was quite a pain in the bum, but now Metal Gear Solid Delta features an on-the-fly camo changing system.

You can change to any available camo using the D-Pad and select one that blends you into your surroundings. Camo is integral to sneakily crawling around, so you’ll want to make sure your camo matches lest you find yourself surrounded by guards gunning you down.

This does make the game a ‘little’ easier, but it’s otherwise a fantastic change that keeps the game fast-paced and less tied down to menus.

Now with Auto Save!

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater had a pretty unique ‘save’ mechanic. You needed to radio in on the right Codec frequency to ‘Para-Medic’ to make a save. Metal Gear Solid Delta has the same system to make manual saves, but now, the remake has also added in autosaves. Perfect for on-the-go gaming with a portable gaming monitor!

Autosaves are a core functionality of most modern games.

But the original MGS3 didn’t have it, which made reloading after failed encounters a pain. In Metal Gear Solid Delta, the game autosaves every time you go into a new area, so even if you messed up your stealth run, just load back to the start of the area and try again! Movement and Animation Changes

One of the last new ‘feature’ updates in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is the movement and animation changes. Movement feels “solid” (pun intended), and little changes, like having ‘crouch walking’ and alternating between stances, like going prone much smoother.

There are also a few new animations that make the gameplay feel much more varied.

In the original, CQC takedowns used the same animation. But now, the game takes into account how you approached the enemy and the direction you come from, giving more ‘uniqueness’ to CQC, along with more refined animation updates.

New Game Modes to Try in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

Snake VS Monkey’s Return!

Snake VS Monkey is a beloved and widely recognized mini-game, and it’s back in higher fidelity than ever. While the mini-game was available in the original release, other re-releases of MGS3 omitted the mode.

All you need to do is round up all the frantically running apes in each level. Plus, a sweet cameo from PlayStation’s latest mascot, ASTRO BOT! Snake VS Monkey is available on the Steam and PS5 versions of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.

A New Exclusive Snake VS Bomberman Mini-Game

Xbox fans may be disappointed to hear Snake VS Monkey isn’t available for them, but they’ve got a new exclusive game mode, Snake VS Bomberman. It’s pretty similar to Snake VS Monkey, but instead, you’re using grenades to defeat the pesky bombermen.

Bombermen will also chuck explosives at you to defend themselves, and some levels will bring you into the top-down style of class Bomberman games! It’s got enough to differentiate itself from Snake VS Monkey, but, unfortunately, it’s exclusive to Xbox consoles.

The Upcoming Multiplayer Mode – Fox Hunt

Lastly, we’re also getting a brand-new online multiplayer game mode, ‘Fox Hunt’. This has yet to release, but we should expect it sometime in Fall 2025. We don’t have too many details yet, but we do know that the game mode will take place across the same world as the main story.

It’ll feature a style of hide-and-seek gameplay with “stealth and survival elements”. Only time will tell what this entails, but we expect it’ll be a solid addition to make the game far more worth it, replayability-wise.

Reimagined Hidden Easter Eggs in Metal Gear Solid Delta

Secret Theater

In Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, we’ve got a brand-new ‘mode’, ‘Secret Theater’.

Secret Theater is basically fun, hilarity-inducing cutscenes that replace original cutscenes you’ve come to know and love, with hilarious new takes. This includes the original Secret Theater scenes and a few more newly created ones exclusive to MGSD.

Secret Theater was initially a ‘secret’ easter egg that wasn’t in the original game. You could only view Secret Theater scenes online. But now, it’s available in-game, but to unlock scenes, you’ll need to find 8mm film canisters scattered around the game world.

You will only be able to watch Secret Theater scenes (that look phenomenal on an HDR gaming monitor!) once you’ve completed the game, but you can find film canisters even in your first playthrough.

Guy Savage Delta

The most highly anticipated easter egg making a return to MGSD, is Guy Savage Delta. This was included as a dream sequence in Metal Gear Solid 3, but was omitted from other re-releases of the game.

In the new version, Guy Savage Delta, Snake transforms into a broody, hooded figure, battling against ghastly abominations with dual greatswords in hand, in a dark and dreary haunted forest.

The mini-game was developed by PlatinumGames, most known for the Bayonetta franchise and NieR: Automata, and has a similar action-packed gameplay.

To unlock the mini-game, you have to need to make a new save in an empty slot after the Groznyj Grad Torture scene, but before you leave the jail. If you reload the game, you’ll start the Guy Savage Delta mini-game.

Alternatively, if you beat the game once, you’ll unlock Guy Savage Delta so you can play it whenever!

Some Shortcomings of the Remake

All that said, not everything is smooth tidings for the remake.

For one, many are arguing that Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater was a ‘safe’ remake, and didn’t do much to revolutionize the formula.

In its defense, we think this was warranted, since the remake was intentionally positioned as a 1-for-1 version of the original, with new mechanics and a fresh coat of paint, unlike the Resident Evil remakes we’ve seen.

Players have also mentioned that the game has a few disappointing performance issues. In particular, PC players noticed the game is hardlocked to a 60FPS and a few missing customization settings, like no ultra-wide display support.

But possibly the most damning issue is the price. While Metal Gear Solid 3 is indeed a cult-classic with a lot of fans, the game is pretty short and doesn’t do much differently from a game released 20 years ago.

Yet, it’s priced at a costly $70 for the base version of the game. Whether this justifies the price really depends on whether you’re a fan of Metal Gear Solid or want to try your hand at the game. Our advice? Consider waiting for a sale.

Verdict: Is It Worth Getting Metal Gear Solid Delta Remake?

All that said, is it worth getting Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater? This is a pretty nuanced answer, but overall, yes, it’s still very worth getting.

Metal Gear Solid 3 was such a phenomenal, genre-defining game at launch. It was almost ‘revolutionary’, and far ahead of its time in terms of storytelling and game design. And surprisingly, it holds up really well in 2025, even with a remake that doesn’t make too many changes.

It keeps the game with its core identity, while upgrading its systems and graphics to modern standards.

It’s a fantastic game to pick up for seasoned veterans and die-hard fans of the franchise, but we think it’s also a great starting point for first-time players who want to see what the hype around Metal Gear Solid is all about.