Where do you draw the line with a remake? How do you balance creative freedom and remaining true to the original? Everyone’s answer is somewhat different, but for Konami, staying faithful was the top priority with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, the remake of the 2004 stealth-action game that was led by Hideo Kojima. In not being shy about crediting Kojima and his team throughout, Konami preserved Snake Eater in a way that’s nearly one-to-one, other than a massive visual overhaul. So while it has definitely aged in the 21 years since, there’s a certain novelty to its old-school stealth-action gameplay and spy thriller story that still hits – especially with the way Snake Eater wraps up, how can you not be romantic about Metal Gear Solid all over again?

If you’ve played Snake Eater, almost everything will be familiar to you. It’s the same captivating story, delivered with the same mix of melodrama and absurdity to the backdrop of its Cold War-era historical fiction. Its penchant for long cutscenes steeped in political theater is intact, alongside over-the-top characters and cinematic stylings with a tinge of classic espionage drama; you can put it side by side with the original and they’ll sync up just fine. The iconic gravelly voice of David Hayter as Snake lands with a warming familiarity – only he can get away with always asking questions that are just him repeating the last thing that was said over the Codec. Item boxes are all in the same spots, and they still pop out of guards when you hold them up at gunpoint or drop their bodies. Despite the upgrade in tech that makes everything look current-gen, the layout of each area is untouched; they remain broken up into their distinct sections separated by brief loading screens. That’s all to say, Delta is Snake Eater as you remember it.

Going in, I was unsure about the Unreal Engine 5 makeover, and having completed a 12-hour playthrough (and a full stealth non-lethal run) I’m still a little conflicted at times. Does that sheen atop the new photorealistic graphics take the edge off of the original’s stylings? Not entirely. But there are moments when its campiness doesn’t land as confidently in high fidelity. There’s something uncanny about Ocelot howling to call backup or The Cobra unit’s inexplicable superpowers, which don’t have quite the same whimsy when punched up. However, you couldn’t cut these things out and still call this Snake Eater.

The tradeoff is generally worth it, because the jungles and mountain ranges look fantastic and give a density to these contained zones that wasn’t as felt before. And in its prestige-level cutscenes, the revamped graphics really pay off. It’s one of those rose-tinted glasses situations, where this is how I remember it looking when I was blown away by the PS2 version as a teenager playing it for the first time. But now it actually does look this good.

“ The spirit of Snake Eater persists.

Konami put in considerable effort to maintain Snake Eater’s classic touches by offering the “Legacy Style” camera angle that uses the old bird’s eye view, along with the original control scheme. As much as I appreciate the nostalgia, though, the “New Style” is the optimal way to play. It uses an over-the-shoulder angle gives a modern perspective that doesn’t detract from the way it was meant to be played, which we already knew because the 2012 3DS version and other re-releases used this camera angle as well. I also prefer it because you get to see Delta’s newfound detail closer to the ground level, and it’s been made less rigid and more accommodating by some new accessibility options. Even little things, like being able to use the original UI elements along with New Style camera, show it isn’t stubborn about letting you tailor things to your liking. Unexpectedly, the most impactful option for me was the color filters – I played the entire game with the Legacy filter and found it much better than the somewhat sterile default look. As someone very attached to the specific color palette and aesthetic of the original Snake Eater, this was close enough for me.

Perhaps the thing I enjoyed most about this remake was that I found the old-school stealth action to be oddly refreshing. At a time when series like Splinter Cell, Thief, and, well, Metal Gear Solid are largely absent in the modern gaming world, playing through Snake Eater tapped into that part of my brain again. Each section feels like a puzzle to be solved, where guards and terrain are your obstacles and your limited gear leaves room for creativity. I was reminded about how reactivity is a defining feature of the Metal Gear series – whether I’m dropping dirty magazines to distract guards or popping out of a cardboard box for a close-quarters takedown, that mix of deliberate decisions and adapting when plans don’t exactly work out remains satisfying. The thrill of evading an alert phase while hiding within inches of patrolling guards matches the high of pulling off a perfect no-kill stealth run, and toying with the guards once you understand their behavior can be as fun as going in guns blazing. I still hold MGSV: The Phantom Pain in high regard for its “emergent gameplay,” but Snake Eater’s more contained scope makes for a throwback that represents what made Metal Gear Solid so much fun to begin with.

Snake Eater’s camouflage system works the same here, so you can expect different uniforms and face paint to affect your camo percentage based on the terrain you’re in. It was innovative back in 2004 and is still a welcome layer of depth to the tried-and-true stealth gameplay that we haven’t seen often since, especially when it has a genuine impact on what you can get away with in different environments. There’s a convenient change in that you can access camo presets by holding up on the D-pad so you don’t have to always go into the menus to make a tweak.

The injury system is back, and although it’s a pain to keep patching up Snake after every mistake, it’s on you to be careful and stay stocked with medical supplies. The hunger system remains an interesting wrinkle that’s a smart alternative to typical health meters of other games, pushing you to hunt or find rations to keep Snake fed so his health replenishes over time (and to make sure his tummy doesn’t grumble too loud). This kind of mechanic is common now, but it’s interesting to remember that Snake Eater predated the survival games today, and it’s good to see these mechanics have aged well.

I appreciate that the controls have been mostly modernized to align with how third-person games are typically played today, including quality of life improvements to CQC and mobility that’s similar to MGSV: The Phantom Pain. But some of the annoying quirks of movement and interacting with the environment haven’t really changed. Having Snake stick to cover, make miniscule movements in certain directions, and connect on melee attacks can be frustrating, even if it’s the sort of friction I’m used to putting up with.

The higher difficulties provide a fun challenge and replayability, but when I took a step back, Snake Eater is understandably not quite as expansive as it felt 20 years ago. Relative to modern games it feels rather small in scope, and its challenges aren’t as complex as I once thought, and that comes with the territory of an stubbornly faithful remake. Enemy density is a bit sparse the gameplay dynamic doesn’t evolve much the deeper you go. Even if shooting a tranq dart into every guard’s head is the easiest solution, Metal Gear Solid is at its best when treating it as a playground for improvising.

“ Snake Eater is understandably not quite as expansive as it felt 20 years ago.

Boss fights are another area where Konami might’ve played it a little too safe by not sprucing them up in some way, so they’re still hit-or-miss depending on what you’re asked to do. There are dull ones like The Pain or The Fear, where you’re just waiting for a window to pop your shots. On the other hand, you have classics like The End’s cat-and-mouse shootout and The Sorrow’s novel meta-layer that remind me that Snake Eater was thinking outside the box and doing things that only Metal Gear was at the time. And if you remember any of the old tricks and secrets from the original versions, just know that they all still work in Delta.

The storytelling didn’t really need changes, because to me, this one’s timeless. I’m a sucker for Kojima and company’s embellished political drama, and with the backdrop of the nuclear arms race of the Cold War, inserting their flavor of government conspiracy is captivating to indulge in. For all its stone-faced goofiness, Snake Eater has a story that hit in a way I didn’t expect when I was younger – and after all these years, I felt a new wave of emotions revisiting it as an adult. That’s due in large part to the enigmatic relationship between Snake and The Boss; it’s conveyed with a certain earnestness, leading to revelations that brought things full circle for Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid as a whole at the time it came out. This culminates in what I still consider the best moments in the entire series.

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Even twerps like Ocelot earn his respect through a rivalry with Snake that has its own little story arc. And aside from The Boss, Eva remains one of my favorite characters in the series, stealing every scene she’s in and playing an important role of an agent you can’t get a read on until the very end. (I do wish the story didn’t treat her so poorly at certain moments, so I can’t say Delta wouldn’t have benefitted from a couple of changes in this regard.) For as much flack as Metal Gear may get for its lengthy cinematics, Snake Eater is a focused story told at a fairly brisk pace, and it knows when to pull its far-fetched punches.

“ Snake Eater is a focused story told at a fairly brisk pace.

Weaving in grainy old footage from historical archives alongside Yoji Shinkawa’s art direction to ground its story is still effective. These touches add texture to what’s at stake for Snake: fail and be used as a scapegoat for your government, or succeed and become an unknown hero. Both are tragic in their own ways. Yet, with the inexplicable supernatural edge to its villains, this is a series best enjoyed with a particular suspension of disbelief – also for the silliness that comes with conversations about real-life movies with your remote assistant Para-Medic. That leaves room for its cinematic flair, seen in iconic moments like climbing the ladder to an acapella rendition of the Snake Eater theme song and pivotal conversations on a flower field amid conflict breaking out at the Soviet border. This is a series known for letting you infiltrate top-secret military facilities by hiding in conspicuous cardboard boxes; no one does camp like Metal Gear Solid.

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So, for all its adherence to the original, I wondered: did we need this remake? Is there a way Delta could’ve been a much higher elevation of the original Snake Eater? Yeah, I’m sure, and we have faithful remakes like Resident Evil 4 and Silent Hill 2 to look at, for example. That’s not what Konami set out to do though, so I’m left to acknowledge the ways it doesn’t quite hold up today, and appreciate the things that make it timeless. Delta didn’t necessarily elevate my love for Snake Eater, but it did remind me of why I’ve held it in high regard all this time.