I’m not quite ready to say Konami is back, yet, but right now the venerable Japanese developer is in a better place than it’s been for years. This week saw Silent Hill f scoop a whopping 90 in the PCG review, and that follows hot on the heels of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, a gorgeous and reverential remake of the most-beloved entry in the Metal Gear series.
Right now the Konami stans are eating good, and the company seems determined to maintain its momentum. This week’s Tokyo Game Show saw another “Metal Gear—Production Hotline” livestream, during which Metal Gear Solid: The Master Collection Vol. 2 was announced but not detailed (MGS4 or we riot), and we got a new look at Fox Hunt, a free multiplayer mode being added to Delta on October 30.
Fox Hunt is about “high-stakes, cat-and-mouse encounters” built around Delta’s combat and stealth mechanics. Neatly enough, the name is because you’re cast as a candidate member for the legendary FOX unit. Matches can feature up to twelve players and there are two modes: Survival Capture and Survival Intrude.
Survival Capture is a multi-phase mode where, and I’m just going to quote Konami here, “victory hinges on capturing the elusive Kerotan frogs.” Over the match the number of frogs decreases, forcing players together to compete for the remainder and try to outlast each other.
Survival Intrude sounds like it might be the real deal though, a mission where players have to hold their ground inside a designated zone across phases. As the match goes on the zones available shrink, forcing players into closer proximity.
What’s neat about Intrude are the gadgets. Players start with an “AT-CAMO” suit, which is basically a variant on MGS4’s brilliant Octocamo outfit that changes camouflage patterns to fit your current surroundings: this is just a brilliant visual effect, as well as an incredible stealth tool.
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It does differ from Octocamo however in allowing players to manually select which camo to go for, with one neat example being a player that dives down and disguises themselves as a patch of grass against a rock. The AT-CAMO suit also seems to have a bulkier form factor than usual, presumably to make any movement easier to spot.
There’s also the unfortunately named Naked Sense, which allows players to detect the presence of nearby opponents and items. This seems like your standard bat-vision when it comes to items, but it’s a little more vague about enemies, just offering a general direction.
Metal Gear Online this ain’t, but I don’t think that was ever on the cards, and Intrude in particular seems to make excellent use of the mechanics at Delta’s heart. Despite that, it does feel like Konami’s slightly shot itself in the foot here: Fox Hunt looks great but it’s also only offering two modes and arriving two months after Delta’s launch. How many of those million players will be coming back?
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