It seems that both remasters and remakes are on the way. But when will Konami announce them?

 

The Tokyo Game Show is in two weeks, and it may be Konami’s most exciting presentation at a major gaming event in years. According to Konami’s TGS schedule, it plans to unveil a new game on September 16. There’s a long list of Konami series that deserve a return – Metal Gear, Silent Hill, Castlevania, Contra, Suikoden – and VGC reports that we might see one of them on stage at the event.

“A publisher source told VGC that the unveiling is likely to be tied to a smaller project, rather than Konami’s larger planned revivals of Castlevania, Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid (the first of which is believed to be furthest along in development),” VGC wrote. Metal Gear may not be at this show – but the accumulating evidence suggests that Metal Gear’s return is no longer an issue.

The first three Metal Gear Solid games are almost certainly getting remasters for PC and current consoles. VGC’s Andy Robinson first reported in October 2021 that MGS 1-3 would be remastered ahead of the full re-release of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The remasters were also confirmed by Silent Hill leaker Dusk Golem, who posted about it on ResetEra this Wednesday:

“The one thing I know is 100% true is that Metal Gear Solid 1-3 will be getting new remasters, planned for everything including Steam and consoles. The plan is that Metal Gear Solid 1-3 will have new remastered versions, you can buy them separately, but if [you] buy them together as a collection, you’ll also get the MSX versions of Metal Gear 1+2. This has been confirmed to me repeatedly by multiple reliable sources.”

Even if these remasters don’t show up at the Tokyo Game Show, an announcement before the end of the year seems likely, as Konami has essentially teased them already. In November last year, Konami had to remove Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 from digital store shelves due to licensing issues with the historical archival footage they contained. They are still missing, but on July 13 this year Konami tweeted, “Today marks the 35th anniversary of the #METALGEAR series! Thank you to everyone who has enjoyed and celebrated the series so far. We ask for your patience as preparations are underway to make temporarily removed titles available again.”

Considering how long it took Konami to bring back MGS2 and 3, it might be worth holding off on reselling them until the remastered versions are ready. Both games were originally released for PlayStation 2 and were remastered for consoles in the 2011 HD Collection. The remastered versions would bring MGS3 to PC for the first time.

According to VGC, Metal Gear Solid 3 will also receive a thorough remake from Virtuos, a Singapore-based game development company with 15 offices and more than 3,000 employees worldwide. Virtuos has an extensive list of contributions to triple-A games, having contributed to Switch ports of Dark Souls Remastered, Dying Light and The Outer Worlds, among others.

“Konami’s Japanese bosses are understood to have rejected most bids to outsource its key game brands,” VGC 2021 wrote. “However, following the disappointing performance of recent homegrown titles Metal Gear Survive and Contra: Rogue Corps, VGC sources say the company has become more willing to contract outside studios for its key franchises.”

Reportedly, a new Castlevania is also in development, as well as Silent Hill from the Bloober Team, thanks to Konami’s increasing willingness to work with more outside studios. Given the smoke and mirrors around Silent Hill earlier this year, it may be what’s destined for the TGS stage this month. But in Konami’s own words, Metal Gear Solid is back. We don’t know exactly when or how, but more than a decade since the (ironically 720p) HD Collection, another round of remasters seems the safest bet.

After the first three games are all properly playable on PC, I hope Konami tackles the harder challenge: figuring out how to get Metal Gear Solid 4 out of the PlayStation 3 Cell processor and onto playable on newer hardware.

Source : Gamerant