Metal Gear Solid 3 remake to reuse original voice acting; Hideo Kojima not involved

Posted on June 2, 2023

Following the announcement of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Konami has revealed more information about the upcoming remake. The remake will reuse the same story and character voices as the original game. Furthermore, series creator Hideo Kojima and lead character designer Yoji Shinkawa, both of whom have long since moved to working at Kojima Productions, will not have any involvement.

According to a post on Twitter, the developers announce that “The story and character voices in METAL GEAR SOLID Δ: SNAKE EATER remain the same from the original game.” On one hand, this preserves the original game’s iconic performances and storyline. It also saves us from awkward recasts, such as when Snake’s voice actor David Hayter was unceremoniously replaced with Kiefer Sutherland in Metal Gear Solid V.

On the other hand, however, this move seriously limits the scope of how much the remake can expand on the original game. Many recent video game remakes, such as Final Fantasy VII Remake, Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space, have recorded new vocal performances and made many story changes, big and small, to set their remakes apart from the originals. While Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has a fantastic plot and performances already, the fact that the remake will migrate it wholesale does make the remake something of a less enticing prospect when we are already getting a modern port of the original game anyway as part of the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection later this year. It will remain to be seen what changes Metal Gear Solid Delta DOES introduce, particularly if the only changes will be regarding gameplay and presentation.

Furthermore, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is being developed without the oversight of the iconic series creator, Hideo Kojima, or series character and mecha artist Yoji Shinkawa. As per an interview with IGN, a Konami spokesperson has stated that “They are not involved. However, the development team will work hard to create this remake and also the ports (for Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection) so that they can be enjoyed on multiple platforms by even more players all around the world.”

This is not terribly surprising considering Kojima and Shinkawa have been busy at Kojima Productions working on Death Stranding and its upcoming sequel. It may also relate to the lack of new story content; it would be difficult to make many changes without diluting Kojima’s trademark brand of over-the-top strangeness and making the game less appealing to fans of the original.

Konami has confirmed that work on Metal Gear Solid Delta will be handled by developers “involved in the production of the past [games in the] Metal Gear series“. Virtuos, the Singapore-based development studio which has worked on Dark Souls: Remastered and Horizon Forbidden West, will also have a hand in developing Metal Gear Solid Delta. The game is being developed for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam, and a release window and other information is yet to be announced.