Hideo Kojima is well known for making games with grand political statement hidden not so subtely within their dialogue and cinematics. As of today, players can also enjoy one of these long, drawn-out narrative stealth games within the comfortable confines of Minecraft textures and flavor text.
Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater is, in my opinion, the greatest game in the Metal Gear Solid franchise. It added a manual camouflage system and on the fly medical treatments consisting of bugs, twigs, and whatever else is lying around in the jungle. Its plot perfectly sets up every other game in the series, and its gameplay manages to pull back the futuristic stealth tactics to a more grounded level that makes them feel incredibly tangible. Using the Metal Gear Solid 3 Crafted Edition mod, the game can now also be an insane yet hugely enjoyable amalgamation of Cold War action and Minecraft nonsense.
The Metal Gear Solid 3 Crafted Edition mod was officially released on March 1, 2024. Creator Avaresst has been sharing a promotional trailer for it over the last 24 hours that highlights some of the best changes it makes to the base game. As someone who knows the original game inside and out, this had me laughing all the way through, and I don’t think I could take playing the mod for more than ten minutes because I’d get nothing done.
As you can see from the trailer and official page, the mod doesn’t change everything in the game. Instead, it alters specific bits and pieces that tastefully alter the experience in such a way that it’s funny all the way through. The humor catches you off guard, turning any tense moment of stealth into a ridiculous meme to be shared online with friends.
The key changes Metal Gear Solid 3 Crafted Edition makes are sweeping ones to camo and character textures, cutscene dialogue, code sprites, various UI elements, level textures, food textures, weapon textures, and so much more. The cutscene dialogue tickled me a lot in particular because it’s done in such a way as to feel serious and maintain the tone of the scene while the words characters are saying are absolute nonsense.
Hearing The Boss talk about claiming the title of “Blocks” and facing an existence of endless griefing both ruins and heightens the end boss fight for me. What makes it even better is that the original voice actor for The Boss, Lori Alan, voiced these new lines. Avaresst was able to get her to record them for the project, which makes it almost canon in my eyes.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m very much looking forward to the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Remake first shown in last year’s Xbox Preview showcase. But being able to replay the game in its current form and still find surprises in 2024 is a joy. I think what makes this mod look so good is that every change is tasteful. It doesn’t wholesale alter a game and wash its hands of the work. Each tweak is purposeful and designed to make hardcore players like me with hundreds of hours in it take note and nod in appreciation.
