Konami would "rather come down on the side of 'too faithful'" for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
And acknowledges Master Collection Vol. 2.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater producer Noriaki Okamura has stated the development team would "rather come down on the side of 'too faithful'" than make big changes compared to the original game.
During previews for the Snake Eater remake, a frequent criticism was the game felt outdated compared to modern stealth games and too few changes were made compared to the PS2 original.
However, in a new "Production Hotline" video, Okamura explained the thought process behind maintaining the original vision of the game.
In the original game, the world is broken up into smaller areas but your actions in one area don't impact another - resetting your alert status when spotted by guards, for instance. This remains the same in the remake.
Okamura understands the criticism and said it was the development team's "most hotly debated issue", but "that's just how the game was designed".
"The rhythm and the shifting pace of gameplay flows from that choice," he continued. "If we had done anything to change that overarching design, it would have changed the game entirely. And given what we were setting out to do, we questioned whether that really fit with the vision for this project.
"So we decided that we'd rather come down on the side of 'too faithful', and that we'd rather maintain the original design of MGS3: SE instead of try and rework everything."
Despite this faithfulness to the original, the Delta remake won't include the line "A Hideo Kojima Game" and instead the opening credits will read "Based on Metal Gear Solid 3".
This likely won't come as a surprise, considering Kojima has had no input on this remake after his acrimonious split from Konami, but it's a notable change from the original.
In the same video, Okamura acknowledged the existence of the expected Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2, but asked fans to "give us time" before announcing further news.
In a series of fan questions, Okamura was asked about what games would be in the collection and when it would be released. However, the "rough launch" for the first collection means Konami does not want to repeat the same mistakes.
"Of course, we called the first one Vol. 1, so we are making a Vol. 2, that much is for sure," said Okamura. "We're also worried about how Vol. 1 had a pretty rough launch, with all the issues, so we're going to do everything we can not to repeat that, but we just have to ask for everyone to give us time."
After Metal Gear Solids 1-3 were included in the first collection, it's expected the second volume will continue Snake's story with Metal Gear Solid 4, especially as that game remains solely on PS3.
"You can probably connect the dots," said Okamura previously on the inclusion of Metal Gear Solid 4.
"Whisper it quietly, but Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater looks like the most exciting Konami project in years," reads Digital Foundry's own preview of the game.