Hideo Kojima reveals MGS V needed its own engine to truly “leap forward” in games

Metal Gear Solid is back in the spotlight with the upcoming Snake Eater remake bringing the series to Unreal Engine 5. With the remake on the way, series creator Hideo Kojima has revealed why 2015’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was created in a custom engine instead of using something like Unreal.

Konami continues to hold Metal Gear in high regard, despite the company’s troubled relationship with Kojima. The company has brought back David Hayter to voice new audio for something Metal Gear-related. It also seems that the devs are working hard on Delta, as the company still doesn’t have a release date for the game.

The fifth Metal Gear needed a new engine

Hideo Kojima took to Twitter to mark 14 years since the release of Peace Walker, the acclaimed PSP spin-off that directly influenced MGS V. Kojima knew that after he worked on Metal Gear Solid 4 that a new engine was needed to evolve the series, which is why he considered making Peace Walker the official fifth entry.

“After creating MGS4, I strongly felt the need for a proprietary engine. The leap forward for games in a vertical direction would only come after the engine was complete. In the meantime, I proposed Peace Walker as a way to evolve MGS horizontally,” Kojima tweeted out. “Initially, it was titled MGS5: Peace Walker, but it faced strong opposition from overseas marketing, so we dropped the numbered title.”

MGS4 used a custom engine made specifically for the PS3 and resulted in being a bit of a janky mess, despite the game’s release to critical acclaim. The game’s framerate was all over the place and some of the loading times were ridiculously long, but some fans felt it was worth it for concluding numerous storylines from Metal Gear’s past.

Fox Engine changed everything

Eventually, Kojima would make the Fox Engine for Metal Gear Solid V and it’s still one of the best-looking games available today. The fifth game offered some of the best gameplay in the entire series, combining open-world gameplay with the stealth and soldier recruiting that made Peace Walker a blast to play. 

Some of these gameplay elements will be returning for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta, which is always good to hear. The fact that Konami has abandoned the Fox Engine for Unreal has been disappointing, but Hideo Kojima is not done with custom engines.

With Death Stranding, Kojima infamously searched for an engine that would allow the team at Kojima Productions to make the game he wanted. The game director eventually settled on Decima, an engine created by Guerrilla Games for Horizon: Zero Dawn.

While Death Stranding 2 still doesn’t have a release date, fans can check out footage of the game’s Photo Mode and see how wild the Decima Engine can. For more Metal Gear Solid, read about how this remake will let you pause those long cutscenes.

For more news about game engines, check out how Halo developer 343 Industries has been scrapped in favour of Halo Studios, a revised team using Unreal.