Virtous, a Singapore-based studio that does support work for AAA games, recently uploaded a day-in-the-life video for its Montreal team, and in it, we can see what might be a tease for an upcoming Metal Gear Solid project. Around the 1:12 minute mark, you’ll notice that the book The Art of Metal Gear Solid is laid flat in the bottom-right corner of the video, its title conspicuously visible.
This would be easily dismissible as a simple homage or source of inspiration, were it not for a report made by Video Games Chronicle last year. This report stated that Konami, publisher and owner of the Metal Gear Solid IP, was looking to get back into AAA game development after a few years of laying low. It claimed, among other things, that multiple Silent Hill projects were in development at various external studios.
This was confirmed to be true in Konami’s recent Silent Hill presentation, which lends credence to the report’s other claims; one being a Castlevania “re-imagining” and the other being a Metal Gear Solid remake, reportedly developed by none other than Virtous. According to VGC, it won’t be a remake of the original 1998 title, but instead of 2004’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
Therefore, the Metal Gear Solid book in the video is a bit more telling, specifically because it seems like it was purposefully placed in such a way so that its title would be visible. Virtous may feel like an unusual choice to handle the remake of such a storied franchise, as it’s not the most recognized name in the game development industry. However, according to its Website, it’s done work for high-end acclaimed titles such as The Outer Worlds, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Horizon Zero Dawn, and more.
It’s recently been reported that a video teaser for this Metal Gear Solid project was posted onto Twitter by Virtous themselves, then deleted. It supposedly featured a Morse code transmission that translated to December 8 (the date of this year’s Game Awards). This was later confirmed to be false, as the video clips in question were actually of an Unreal Engine asset showcase by Quixel, which showed some hyper-realistic forest asset packs that devs could purchase for their own use.
