Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater launched for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC this week, remaking what is arguably Hideo Kojima’s magnum opus for a whole new generation. And judging from reviews and general fan reactions, its graphical enhancements and gameplay additions are all brilliantly executed. But on the flipside, it seems like Konami has failed in optimising this stealth classic for modern consoles.

So what went wrong? Is it trying too hard to showcase visual features on console hardware that can’t handle them, or is this yet another high-profile example of Unreal Engine 5 slowing performance to a crawl despite Epic Games claiming it can smooth out development like few engines can? I’m just a lowly critic, so your guess is as good as mine, but what I truly want to focus on is how the PS5 Pro version runs worse than the base console iteration, despite being more powerful on paper. So, what went wrong, and when exactly is Konami going to fix things?

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Has Some Weird Problems On PS5 Pro

The game launched for those who picked up the Deluxe Edition on August 26, giving them a couple of extra days with the game before other players weren’t willing to cough up a few additional pennies. This is when performance mode issues began to appear online, such as its inability to maintain a framerate above 50fps while in dense jungles. In terms of rendering resolution, it also doesn’t seem to rise above 1080p, with many moments seeing it closer to the 720p range. And this is on the base console.

Quality Mode is locked to 30fps and does a far better job of achieving a native 4K image, but it also struggles to maintain a smooth level of performance. Konami has already said that it’s aware of these issues and aims to release a patch, but why were issues this significant allowed to pass mustard in the first place?

Many of the facts I’m sharing about the graphics and performance in this article come from both Digital Foundry’s excellent analysis and general fan impressions on social media.

Don’t get me wrong, the game looks incredible. Konami has taken the stylish PS2 original and improved its features to the point of photorealism while keeping its iconic tone intact. I find myself looking at familiar environments, set pieces, and characters in awe as I try and compare them in my head to what came before.

A side-by-side comparison showcases just how far this medium has come in the past two decades, alongside how well Snake Eater is able to stand up to scrutiny. The original still looks and plays nicely, but here, everything is taken to another level. If anything, it makes me even more excited about potential remakes of MGS1, Sons of Liberty, and Guns of the Patriots in the years to come.

But the execution of the visuals themselves isn’t what matters here, nor do the gameplay improvements that turn Snake Eater into an experience that stands up with the very best stealth and action titles you can play in 2025. Instead, it represents a plateau for modern console technology and how the promises made by products like the PS5 Pro are already being broken. The enhanced console does away with the Quality and Performance modes on the base console, opting instead for a singular solution that is intended to be the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, in most cases, it appears to run worse.

The PS5 Pro Is Yet To Deliver On Any Of Its Lofty Promises

On paper, the PS5 Pro is an excellent - albeit obscenely overpriced - idea. For the past couple of console generations, we have been asked to pick between Quality and Performance toggles in the majority of triple-A titles. One runs with prettier graphics and a higher resolution but with a lower framerate, while the other hinders overall visual quality in order to double performance. Everyone I know who plays video games has different preferences for one of these modes. I am someone who loves games to look as good as possible, even if things run a little worse, so shooting for 30fps is never a dealbreaker.

But even this can depend on the genre of game I’m playing, the aesthetic of each individual title, and what part of the experience I want to sacrifice. The PS5 Pro was revealed and also marketed as a solution to this problem. Instead of having to choose between graphics and/or performance, it would offer a single mode or eliminate the need to choose entirely. I bought one at launch, and despite playing it on a pretty regular basis, I’m yet to see a game that has blown my expectations out of the water or met this lofty promise without compromise.

One thing I do love about the PS5 Pro is the natural visual and performance boosts it brings to existing PS4 games. This might even be more impressive than anything else.

Some games now have more than two graphical options to choose from, which flies in the face of what the PS5 Pro intends to achieve, while others eliminate choice entirely but end up offering visuals and performance that aren’t as good as they should be. The inconsistent implementation of PSSR doesn’t help matters, with the AI technology muddying images that it intends to upscale rather than improving them. So much so that games like Alan Wake 2 even patched in ways to turn it off. This feature is being used to sell consoles, so the fact that it is being critiqued so severely means that something has gone very wrong.

As a PS5 Pro owner, I should be confident that when picking up the latest games I will end up receiving the absolute best visuals and performance. But with Snake Eater, that potential for choice is being taken away from me in exchange for a subpar product I have no control over. This philosophy of eliminating the need to choose between visuals and performance will only work if the alternative being offered is superior in every conceivable way. But in a handful of games already, that hasn’t been the case.

I’m sure Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater will be improved upon in the months to come, but once again, I’ve been reminded that this premium console I paid far too much for has failed in delivering on its most basic of promises. With murmurs of the PS6 already going around, there is a genuine worry that this mid-gen refresh has no reason to exist at all.

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Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

Shooter Adventure Stealth Systems OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 87/100 Critics Rec: 93% Released August 28, 2025 ESRB Mature 17+ // Blood, Sexual Themes, Violence Developer(s) Konami Publisher(s) Konami
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