Metal Gear Solid Delta producer Noriaki Okamura has explained the meaning of the game’s new title.
In an interview with the Xbox podcast, Okamura explained that Metal Gear Solid Delta is a remake, and not a simple remaster, of Metal Gear Solid 3. Of course, we already knew that the game was being remade in Unreal Engine 5, but there are other aspects of this remake that are worth knowing about as well.
To be clear, Konami is not just remaking the game for the sake of making it with Unreal Engine 5. The move up to Unreal 5 is intended to bring it up to the expectations held by modern gamers. Of course, Konami also already released Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 1. That collection comes with the PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 generation version of Metal Gear Solid 3.
For some gamers, getting that remake from two console generations ago will be enough. However, as the people making this remake have considered, they are aware of what newer gamers have experienced, and that they won’t find this game as accessible or enjoyable as those older gamers did.
Okamura also brought up the actual Greek meaning of the word Delta in the remake’s title. Delta can mean a change in something’s quantity, without any particular changes in that thing’s qualities. So, Konami sees Metal Gear Solid Delta, not necessarily as something different from the original game, but more.
And that more is more deeply felt in the audio remaster that accompanies the graphics remaster. Fans of the original games, including the PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 generation version, may not have realized that they were still playing with the compressed audio versions of those voice acting performances.
Metal Gear Solid Delta will have the same original recordings of those performances, but now fully uncompressed so you can enjoy their full range. The upgrade also extends from 2.1 to 7.1 fidelity, and of course, 3D spatial audio.
On the Unreal Engine front, Konami made completely new models for the characters and many objects found in the world. But one may note that Okamura didn’t talk of trying to ‘improve’ the game or change it from what it was. That’s what he means by saying that this remake is “more” of Metal Gear.
This goes without saying, but without Hideo Kojima, many of the original staff who worked with and under him are moving forward with the Metal Gear franchise without him. Okamura’s 30 year history in Konami included working on multiple Metal Gear games before and after Kojima was ousted from Konami. He even worked directly with Kojima as the programmer on Policenauts, another Konami classic that itself could use its own remake, or at least a rerelease.
So don’t think that Metal Gear Solid Delta somehow not legitimate for not having Kojima in it. In fact, it’s still many of the same people who made those games before, and want to introduce it to a new generation.
