Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remake in-engine footage receives mixed reaction

At last night's Xbox Partner Preview showcase we finally saw in-engine footage of Konami's Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remake for the first time, but it received a mixed reaction from fans.

The remake - Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater to use its official name - is being developed in Unreal Engine 5 and this new trailer showed Snake sneaking around a beautifully lit jungle and a cute little frog paddling through some very realistic water.

It's technically impressive, but for some fans it's lost the art style of the original game.

Snake himself, voice actor David Hayter, was impressed at least. "Holy Shagohod," he posted on X, formerly Twitter. "That's beautiful".

Other posts were less enthusiastic. "Depressing remake," reads one post. "This has no identity, no sense of style, no art direction, no atmosphere, no cinematography. The trailer editing should tell you everything you need to know. Without Kojima, there is no Metal Gear."

"It looks nice, but the overall atmosphere is lacking as they are missing the colour grading and post process to get the original 60s look. Could be easily added and even made optional," reads another post.

Other fans are excited to see iconic scenes in such high fidelity. "Can't wait to watch a man shoot bees out of his mouth in cutting edge real time graphics," reads one post.

Over on reddit it's also a mixed bag. "I'm not seeing a whole lot of people mentioning the look. Do you not think it looks off?" posted one reddit user about Snake's design.

Snake’s design: I’m not seeing a whole lot of people mentioning the look. Do you not think it looks off? I hope he gets some tweaks before the final release🤷🏻‍♂️
byu/CRTLoverBoi inmetalgearsolid

Many responses like the look, appreciating how Snake finally looks younger and has a clear 1980s action hero aesthetic. Others note how different he looks without his iconic bandana.

So while some fans are impressed by the high quality visuals, others miss the old art style. I, unfortunately, am in the latter camp - the remake is technically impressive, but is missing the golden hue and vintage feel of the original in favour of a clean but generic look. And I'm not a big fan of Snake's floppy-haired boy band makeover I'm afraid.

Still, if you want to play the original, it is still very much alive in Konami's Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1, which includes MGS 1, 2, and 3. And regardless of the visuals, I am still very much looking forward to seeing what else Konami does with the Delta remake.