After years spent letting its best franchises languish, Konami seems to be picking up steam concerning releasing games again, including one of the most anticipated video game remakes inMetal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. Despite the lack of involvement of series creator Hideo Kojima,Metal Gear Solid Deltaappears to be an incredibly faithful reimagining of the originalMetal Gear Solid 3on PS2, albeit with fresh new visuals that make the most of modern technology. That visual facelift affords the team at Virtuous the opportunity to add more emotional depth to some of the game’s climactic moments, and it’s hard to think of a better candidate for an update than the boss fight with The Sorrow.
One of the more interesting and enigmatic villains inMetal Gear Solid 3’s now-legendary rogues gallery, The Sorrow was the “Spirit Medium Soldier” of the Cobra Unit, communicating with dead soldiers to glean information on potential threats while also gaining the abilities of the fallen soldiers with whom he spoke.Naked Snake’s fight against The Sorrow is one of the more notorious and memorable moments from what’s arguably the masterpiece of theMetal Gear Solidfranchise, and there’s plenty of potential forMetal Gear Solid Deltato pull out all the stops in its reimagining of the iconic encounter.
Improved Visual Fidelity Should Add a Whole New Dimension to The Sorrow’s Boss Fight
In the 20 years since the release ofthe originalMetal Gear Solid 3, few boss fights in the series have carried the same emotional weight and thematic significance as the battle against The Sorrow, especially in a series that forces the player to question the futility of war. After making a near-fatal leap off of a waterfall, Naked Snake awakens in a strange limbo that exists between the spiritual realm and the physical world, confronting the literal ghosts of his past as he trudges through a river without any of his equipment. It’s a rare moment of vulnerability for a character who is supposed to be this battle-hardened operative, and the encounter’s outcome depending on the player’s actions only adds to its impact.
The fight’s variance depending on how many enemies the player has killed is one of the series' greatest “gotcha” moments, and it has the potential to be one of the more harrowing experiences inMetal Gear Solid Delta. Fighting againstThe Sorrowin the original with several enemy ghosts hindering the player was more an annoyance than anything else, but in the remake, it has the potential to be truly horrific through greater visual fidelity and facial animation, with Naked Snake (and, by proxy, the player) being forced to confront the realities of killing indiscriminately as part of the mission and come face-to-face with the violence they’ve inflicted.
Metal Gear Solid Delta Could Toy With Players' Expectations for The Sorrow Fight
A remake that stays faithful to the original still has some wiggle room to surprise players, especially where the idea of enriching an already profound experience is concerned.Metal Gear Solid Deltacould use its fresh coat of paint to simultaneously capitalize on players' nostalgia and fool them into a false sense of security. It’s a trick that players have already experienced in another recent Konami remake, with Bloober Team’s impressivereimagining ofSilent Hill 2showing how subtle facial animations and body language can go a long way in communicating important story details where exposition was previously necessary.
Even if players spend most of their time inMGS Delta’s jungleavoiding combat at all costs and make it to The Sorrow fight without eliminating a single enemy, there’s still the opportunity for the fight to stand out as one of the more frightening moments in the game through environmental and sound design. Ultimately,Metal Gear Solid 3is still considered a gaming masterpiece for a reason, and that it holds up as well as it does two decades after its initial release is a testament to its timeless quality.MGS Deltadoesn’t need to reinvent the wheel, but presenting the original experience in a new light has the opportunity to build on an already incredibly strong foundation.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
WHERE TO PLAY
The core experience of the original, evolved and more immersive than ever.A remake of the 2004 game METAL GEAR SOLID 3: SNAKE EATER, with the same gripping story and engrossing world, now with all new graphics and 3D audio that enhance the jungle atmosphere. Get ready for the ultimate survival stealth action experience.The Cold War Crisis that started it allIn the middle of the Cold War, Naked Snake, the man who would later be known as Big Boss, infiltrates the Soviet Union to escort a defecting scientist, Sokolov. However, the mission ends in failure when Snake’s mentor—The Boss, a soldier known as the mother of special forces—betrays him, and Sokolov is captured by Colonel Volgin of the GRU.One week later, Snake returns to Soviet territory to rescue Sokolov and eliminate The Boss—a mission that will mark the start of a new legend, a mission that will mark the start of a new legend, against the backdrop of the ever-changing march of history.
