‘Metal Gear Solid Delta’ Finally Has a Release Date

After months of radio silence, it appears that fans may finally know when they can get their hands on Konami’s Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. In a potential leak by Sony via an update to the game’s digital storefront on the PlayStation Store, the title’s release date has now been confirmed as Aug. 28, 2025.

The leak appears to be accidental, with only some regions seeing the official release date on Delta’s page on the storefront (in North America, it’s currently still listed only a “2025”), but the update did include a new cinematic trailer for the game, which ends with a firm confirmation of the summer launch.

The trailer itself provides a fresh look at the game’s overhauled visuals, but little else outside of teasing that characters from PlayStation’s classic Ape Escape franchise will return, likely in the form of a mini-game separate from the main story.

Originally announced way back in May 2023, most had expected the remake of Konami’s seminal 2004 stealth action game to arrive some time last year (mainly because Sony themselves said so), but despite multiple previews, 2024 came and went without any insight about Delta’s launch. 

Yet, after the overwhelmingly positive reception to Konami’s other big 2024 remake, Silent Hill 2, it seems like the company is riding high and finally ready to bring back one of gaming’s most beloved franchises to the fold.

But what is Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, and what should players expect? Here’s everything we know so far.

Initially released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was an action stealth game from creator Hideo Kojima. The third entry in the Metal Gear Solid series, it’s actually the fifth Metal Gear game overall, as the Solid releases technically follow two Eighties-era entries, Metal Gear (1987) and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990). It’s all a bit tricky, given that there was another Metal Gear 2 — called Snake’s Revenge — that was also released in 1990, but that title was developed without Kojima’s involvement.

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Snake Eater is technically a prequel to all of these games set 31 years prior to the first Metal Gear, and follows the exploits of Naked Snake, a CIA agent that looks and sounds an awful lot like the original game’s protagonist (down to his codename, Snake), despite being way too young to be the same person. Surprise: they’re not! As explained in 1998’s Metal Gear Solid, the hero Solid Snake that fans had come to know is actually a clone of Snake Eater’s Naked Snake, who himself goes on to become “Big Boss,” “Solid” Snake’s mentor and the antagonist of the early Metal Gear games.

It’s all a bit confusing, but that’s the nature of Metal Gear. A politically-minded esoteric take on the technothriller and conspiracy genre, the series is all about ludicrous curveballs and navel-gazing with a healthy dose of soap opera cheese to balance things out.

2004’s Snake Eater did the heavy lifting of making Naked Snake into a heroic figure in a story that harkens back to Cold War-era thrillers with a slight James Bondian skew. Widely considered to be the pinnacle of the franchise, its stealth and survival gameplay was wildly innovative, forcing players to utilize the canvas of its jungle setting to become a shadowy spectre by way of camouflage and sneaking, and introduced the need to eat (either rations or animals) in order to make it through the mission with minimal outside support.

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Delta is a modern remake of the game that updates its visuals to better achieve the cinematic luster that the original had in its sights, although the 2004 version was no slouch. Moment-to-moment, the gameplay is relatively identical to the base version, although a new first-person mode can be used. From the updated PlayStation Store listing, it appears the game will also be enhanced for the PlayStation 5 Pro console, which will likely make it run even smoother.

The remake will be the first mainline entry (or at least, revisiting of one) since 2015’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which served as a sequel to Snake Eater once again following Naked Snake after the fourth entry jumped back to his clone as the lead. Following The Phantom Pain, Kojima left Konami to start his own studio, Kojima Productions, through which he launched a new, equally heady franchise with 2019’s Death Stranding. The sequel to that game is also expected to arrive in 2025, potentially even before the remake of one of Kojima’s greatest works. Kojima has no involvement in Delta, and since his departure, the Metal Gear series has been essentially dead aside from one ill-fated multiplayer spin-off.

What should fans expect?

Last year, Rolling Stone was able to preview the first 90 minutes of Metal Gear Solid Delta, and the feeling of familiarity was overwhelming. The game summarizes the franchise’s greatest hits — pure stealth and political intrigue, held together with sneering, anime drama. It’s a perfect example of the serious strangeness that once made Konami games irreplaceable, and so it’s a perfect place for the publisher to appeal to a new generation of players with weaponized nostalgia. 

The one-to-one remake seems to have been completely wrapped in new tissue paper, with its deep green jungle looking as supple as a baby leaf, and its gameplay is pleasantly equipped with smooth, modern controls. Otherwise, Delta is essentially the same game director Hideo Kojima created 20 years ago. 

The remake’s producer, Noriaki Okamura, was happy to keep it this way, telling Rolling Stone through a translator that, “We definitely feel that it is our mission to respect [Kojima’s] original work. We had to make sure we deliver Kojima’s creativity in a way that does not only faithfully recreate what he made, but also recreates it in a respectful way.” 

Despite the lack of the original creator’s involvement, like a puppy with a branch in its mouth, the game proudly presents Kojima as “director” in its opening credits. Because of this, it appears that Delta retains all the eccentricities of the original PS2 stealth game.

Some of these eccentricities are novel: Okamura’s team has introduced a “battle damage system” which forces the scrapes and bullet wounds you’ll inevitably accrue as Naked Snake to remain permanently on his spartan model. But some of Delta‘s quirks are all Kojima, like a pseudo-personality quiz question at the beginning of the game, which asks you to answer if you “like Metal Gear Solid 1!” or “like Metal Gear Solid 2!” and so on. Your answer triggers small aesthetic differences in your game; in the original, doing something like deciding that you like Metal Gear Solid 3 added a gameplay tweak, letting you start the game with an additional face paint cosmetic. 

Regardless of how you start Delta, its optional modern controls seem to work as cleanly as a new motor in your car. The game also now includes shortcuts for camouflage and the radio mechanic, which lets you communicate with other characters and receive objectives. These moments are punctuated by the game’s grizzly electronic soundtrack, which has received a boost from 3D audio and pulses with helicopter-chopper energy. This improvement to sound also makes the restrained snarl of Naked Snake’s voice have an even better bite. 

Overall, the first 90 minutes of the game pass like an idealized version of the original title (more vibrant, with fluid movement), and perfected nostalgia is the guiding force behind Konami’s current output. 

Players who will be playing the franchise for the first time are primed to experience it that way, and that’s Konami’s goal. “We hope that [players] will experience [our game] in the same way that they did 20 years ago, with that same thrill and excitement,” Okamura said.  

Ultimately, Konami isn’t exactly entering a new phase — there’s no new chapter here. The ink blots of the past 20 years are dried all over Metal Gear Solid Delta. But, through improvements to action, graphics, and story, it seems that Konami is offering players a fresh perspective on its identity. There’s no need for the developer to completely move on from its past when the foundation remains timeless.

Konami hasn’t yet “officially” confirmed the release date for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, but announcement is likely to come sooner rather than later now that the leaked information is out in the wild.