Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Review (PC) – Still The Boss Of Stealth-Action Games

In 2004, Konami, alongside legendary game creator Hideo Kojima, released Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. A game that would go on to not only be one of my favourites of all-time, but a game that has shaped my tastes even to this day. That’s why when a remake/remaster of MGS3 titled Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater was revealed back in 2023, I was both excited and sceptical. What would they do to one of my favourites? Could they recapture the magic of its original release? How would a Metal Gear Solid game fare without the legendary Hideo Kojima involved? I will answer all these questions and more in this, The Outerhaven’s review of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.

Game Name: Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
Platform(s): PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (reviewed)
Publisher(s): Konami
Developer(s): Konami (supported by Virtuos)
Release Date: August 28th, 2025

A Virtuous Mission

We should start by explaining what exactly Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is, because some people will call it a remaster and others will say it’s a remake. In truth, MGS Delta sits somewhere in between; it’s not just a simple remaster with a new coat of paint over an old game, but it’s also not a full remake that makes changes to the story either.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a complete retelling of the original Metal Gear Solid 3 story written by Hideo Kojima, and he’s credited multiple times for his work on the original here in Metal Gear Solid Delta. Honestly, I’d find it odd if he wasn’t accredited.

Following the original story beat for beat means that the game still begins with the Virtuous Mission in the 1960s, making it chronologically the starting point of the entire franchise. I won’t spoil the story for those who haven’t played the original, but just as before, your mission later becomes Operation Snake Eater, complete with all its twists and turns.

Snake Eater, being a prequel to all the other Metal Gear games, makes it the perfect starting point for new players as well. From a story perspective, I’d also argue this game represents Kojima’s strongest and most coherent writing of his career (until Death Stranding 2, which I loved.) The result makes Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater not only the best starting point but the strongest individual story of the franchise. So, if you’ve never played any of the Metal Gear Solid games, then this would be the best starting point, especially thanks to all the visual upgrades.

Some Things Don’t Need Changing

If you have played the prior game, then reset assured that the gameplay experience remains pretty much identical. Throughout my playthrough, all of the items and collectables were exactly where I remembered them being. Even if there are extra collectibles this time round!

Changing camouflage is still done through a menu, being just as important and helpful as it was before. If you purchase the deluxe edition, you will also gain access to additional camo options, each with its unique perks that impact gameplay, from giving you unlimited grenades to improved movement speed at the cost of extra visibility and more.

Just like the original, you still need to eat, which maintains the stamina gauge. You can hunt for food, such as snakes, mushrooms, and oranges, but some of these foods might have detrimental effects. For example, some mushrooms or snakes will poison you. These items aren’t useless, however, since you might be able to get an unsuspecting guard or even a boss to eat them.

That being said, if you do eat them, you’ll require treatment, which is where the game’s cure menu comes in. Functioning the same as the original game, you find various medical supplies which can be selected in the cure menu when needed, from antidotes for poison to a suture kit for cuts and more. Neglecting your injuries can lead to an untimely death, so it’s not recommended that you do so. With the modern control scheme, you are even able to access this menu more easily by pressing up on the D-pad, which bypasses the game’s survival view menu, which is opened using the view/select button on an Xbox controller.

Personally, I’m glad that Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater has kept these elements in place as they help separate Snake Eater from the other Metal Gear games. For me, they make the experience more immersive and engaging. Even if it’s just a few menus to use here and there, it makes me stop and think… do I have enough food to sustain my stamina for the next big story beat? Should I heal my injuries now or save my supplies for later? It’s also a minimal enough system that it never gets in the way of fun and only takes a few moments to deal with.

Once In A Lifetime Experience…Again!

While the story remains in step with the original, gameplay has seen some very welcome changes. With a brand-new over-shoulder camera angle and modern controls, this allows you to do things, such as aiming while moving, thanks to a handy new crosshair reminiscent of MGSV. The flow of movement and action is brought in line with modern standards. By contrast, the original had a more offset camera, making it difficult to see enemy items and more.

You also had to stop and hold a certain button to aim properly, and all aiming was done in a first-person view. Changing Items is now on the d-pad instead of a combination of top buttons. Shooting has moved to the right trigger as you’d expect from a modern game, instead of being on one of the face buttons.

Playing Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater with these updated controls and camera view felt to me like a completely fresh experience. Ultimately, it allowed me to have that once-in-a-lifetime experience you get when playing a game for the first time all over again.

However, if you’re a purist, worry not! You can still play with the original camera view, controls, and aiming mechanics. Yet, as someone who has played the original fifteen times to completion over the years, I can confidently say that the modernisations done to camera, controls, and aiming make the game so much better to play.

Beauty In The Eye Of The Beholder

Of course, the biggest and most immediately noticeable change in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is the new Unreal Engine 5-powered visuals. It was always going to be hard to capture the original vision and art direction of Yoji Shinkawa without his involvement in the project. What Konami and Virtous settled on was an art style that sits somewhere between grounded realism and anime, while I think they’ve done a good job, especially with environments and certain character models, these new visuals won’t be to everyone’s tastes.

That’s because Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater lacks that gritty filmic look of the original; you can get some of the grittiness back via a classic filter, which dampens the vibrancy of the new art direction. So, while MGS Delta is beautiful in its own right, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and some purists might take issue with the game’s more vibrant visuals.

For me, yes, these visuals are different, but they aren’t bad, and I enjoy them just as much as the original. Although something about Ocelot in particular just doesn’t look quite right. I can’t put my figure on it, perhaps his hair is too dark, or maybe it’s something else. Let me know what you think?

Classic Sound Is Both A Delight And A Disappointment

As for the audio in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, it is perfect in many ways. Weapons, movement, and menus all sound crisp and clear. When it comes to the voice-overs, the developers opted to use the original recordings, which, in some ways, is great as they help to retain the emotions conveyed in specific scenes. The return of David Hayter was also a pleasant surprise.

However, at the same time, it feels like a missed opportunity to get the absolute best audio quality. Something that seems more odd when you consider that they did opt to re-record the game’s iconic title track “Snake Eater” which sounds superb. I listen to it in its entirety every time I load the game up.

It’s not that the original voice acting is bad; the cast did a brilliant job bringing these characters to life, and fans wouldn’t have wanted anyone but them. They have also clearly done things to clean up the audio, allowing it to get as close to the clarity and crispness of the freshly recorded stuff without re-recording, but at times, it can stand out as less than the rest of the audio presentation.

Overall, I’m delighted with the presentation on display here in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, though I recognise that the new visuals won’t be to everyone’s tastes, and not re-recording the VO feels like a missed opportunity.

Strong But Limited PC Performance

Now, how does the game perform on PC? In truth, performance is very strong with a solid locked 60fps, but it feels limited due to a lack of granularity within the options. You essentially pick from different presets based on your hardware specs and then choose between 30 or 60fps framerate modes.

For someone like me with access to a high-end PC, it’s always disappointing to be locked to 60fps maximum framerate when I know my PC could achieve much more. However, 60fps is more than enough for this slower-paced style of action game.

In terms of technical issues such as bugs, I didn’t notice anything in gameplay itself, but cutscenes would exhibit some visual issues, such as screen tearing and aspects of the environment impeding on the scenes momentarily.

Nothing Quite Like It

In the end, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater proves that there is nothing quite like Metal Gear Solid on offer today. Konami has proven that it still has what it takes, while staying true to the original effort, and modernising in all the right places. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater sits alongside Silent Hill 2 as one of the best remakes in gaming.

Despite the missed opportunity with VO, the improved controls and an updated camera make this a fantastic modernisation of an all-time classic game. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a must-play for any stealth-action fans, whether you’ve played the original or not. This is the best stealth-action game you can play in 2025.

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater was provided to us for review purposes by Konami. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more info.

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