Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater - seven biggest controversies explained as devs respond

Developers at Konami behind Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater have addressed why all of the controversial features in Metal Gear Solid 3 have been carried over to the remake.

The game retains its controversial sexual content from the original release as well as the option for Snake, the main character who is white, to use black face paint.

indy100 has reviewed the game and it does feel very outdated to include all of this in a 2025 release.

To run through the controversies, a key element of gameplay is using camouflage to blend in with the environment and this can be done using different outfits and face paints which can be changed in the pause menu.

But the option to use black face paint on a white character returns.

In terms of sexual content, Eva is a female character introduced early on and not only does she seem to undress to show Snake her bra whenever she can but the player can switch certain cutscenes to first-person perspective to see her deep cleavage.

First and third-person perspectives can be toggled during some cutscenes where the player has the option to stare at Eva's barely dressed body in certain scenarios.

Eva is a heavily sexualised character in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater / Konami

There's also a scene where a villain called Ocelot grabs Eva and he gropes her breasts to see if she is a woman.

Volgin, the main antagonist, is a sadist and there is a scene where he tortures a female character called Tatyana. There's also another scene where Volgin grabs Snake's crotch.

And according to the game's official rating, there's a "Peep Demo Theatre allowing players to view cutscenes of a female character's body from a first-person perspective".

This is an unlockable extra found in the Subsistance and HD Collection versions of Metal Gear Solid 3 where Snake can move and zoom the camera in cutscenes where Eva is in her underwear.

Speaking in a translated group interview which indy100 was in, Noriaki Okamura, Metal Gear Solid series producer, said: "We're keeping it as faithful to the original version as possible and in doing so, we're really trying to fully respect as much as we can the original game's creativity and work on the game.

"In terms of things not fitting the current generation of video games, we understand that, but we wanted to be as faithful as possible and bring the original experience of Metal Gear Solid 3 to current audiences as closely to the original as possible."

Elsewhere from indy100:

• Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater review - a controversial and outdated remake
• Silent Hill Remake is real and is in development by Bloober Team

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.