Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a remake of the original Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, both of which have been developed by Konami. When it comes to Remakes, developers often make major changes to their games to make them feel like a new release, while featuring the touch of nostalgia.
In the case of Metal Gear Solid Delta, the developers have stayed true to the original, which means they have kept several aspects of it similar to Metal Gear Solid 3. However, the world design is something that can become a talking point, as open-world games are quite common in the modern development environment. As it happens, we have concrete information on the open-world status of Metal Gear Solid Delta.
Will Metal Gear Solid Delta Be Open World?
No, Metal Gear Solid Delta won’t be open world, remaining true to its source material, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Instead, the levels are designed in a semi-linear form where there are side areas you get to explore, but it isn’t big enough that you’ll get lost. You can think of it as Mafia: The Old Country, which also doesn’t have an open world, but instead a semi-linear game.
Open world games are characterized by their massive maps, where you are allowed to play in any way you want. However, Metal Gear is more of a story-driven game where your primary focus is to complete missions and thereby reach a pre-determined conclusion. The only game in the franchise that tried an open world setting was Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain. While it was received well, the impact it had on the series was less than the other titles.
Why Won’t Metal Gear Solid Delta Have An Open World?
Metal Gear Solid Delta won’t be open world simply because the source material doesn’t have one. The original Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which is the inspiration for the remake, was a semi-linear game, and the developers didn’t want to tamper with the content, as it is quite dear to the player base. Additionally, sticking to the whole idea of espionage while progressing through a jungle is the most important part of Metal Gear Solid 3, and simply expanding on it is not worthwhile. The developers chose not to make many changes.
You also have to understand that creating an open world for a game that wasn’t designed in that way can be complicated. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was a linear game, and the missions, objectives, and loot are structured around that world. Creating an open world would mean simply stretching the areas and spacing out while adding more enemies. This is something that players won’t enjoy, as it was the core complaint behind Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain.
Has Metal Gear Solid Used Open Worlds?
Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain is the only open world game in the franchise, which leads to some discussion on the map it had. Technically, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes had it too, but it’s more of a continuation for Phantom Pain rather than being a completely different story. Phantom Pain featured long stretches of vast open lands with enemy checkpoints in between them. This meant you spent a lot of time running through areas with nothing to do,
The whole concept of running between checkpoints just to reach the objective didn’t lead to a fun experience for Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain. The game lacked indoor areas, and after the first 10 hours of playing, the expression of grandeur disappeared. This results in the game feeling boring at times, which is not a good look since Metal Gear Solid games are meant to hook you until the end.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes did a much better job at creating the open world. It was structured better and didn’t feel like an empty wasteland when compared to Phantom Pain. The problem is that Ground Zeroes is a very short experience, which means you don’t really get to experience the world as vividly.
Will Metal Gear Only Have Linear Maps Now?
This is entirely speculative, as right now it’s tough to claim whether future Metal Gear games will be linear or open world. However, considering Metal Gear V was an open-world game, a new entry into the franchise might follow the same route. However, it will be a lot better developed and closer to Ground Zero, which was much better received than Phantom Pain.
The problem, however, lies in the question of whether there will be a new Metal Gear entry in the future. This is because the success of Metal Gear lies behind the work of Hideo Kojima, who doesn’t work at Konami anymore. As it happens, Konami still owns the Metal Gear franchise, but making a game without Hideo Kojima at the helm might not end well. Apart from that, Kojima and Konami did not part on good terms.
Metal Gear Solid Delta is a remake of an old game, so that is a completely different situation in itself. Players know irrespective of Kojima not handling the remake, it’s still a faithful representation of the original game. However, a Metal Gear Solid game without Kojima is something that will be risky, and if it fails, that could bury the franchise once and for all. As such, faithfuls of the franchise should simply play Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater for now and hope for a miracle in the future.
