The original Metal Gear Solid is one of gaming's all-time classics, a PlayStation game from 1998 that still holds up today even if its early 3D graphics may not. A group of indie developers is looking to give Metal Gear Solid a modern overhaul with an HD remake in Unreal Engine 4 called Shadow Moses — if, that is, Konami doesn't shut down the project.
The Shadow Moses team released the first full trailer for the remake yesterday, showing off early development on memorable locations from Metal Gear Solid such as the Shadow Moses nuclear facility itself; the office in which you fight Psycho Mantis; the passageway in which you first encounter Sniper Wolf; and the hangar holding Metal Gear Rex.
Shadow Moses appears to have been development since at least October 2015, when the group first posted artwork to its Facebook page. Today — with the trailer having racked up about 100,000 views across Facebook and YouTube in less than 24 hours — lead developer Airam Hernandez posted a message acknowledging that publisher Konami owns the copyright on the Metal Gear Solid series and has not, at this time, given permission for Shadow Moses to continue.
We just need to clarify something:
Konami owns the MGS copyright and therefore sooner or later we will need their full permission.
We have therefore chosen to openly share this project from the beginning so that we can deal with any issues that may arise as they come.
We believe this is better than putting years of work into a project only to get it shut down.
Please, respect this decision.
Thanks for your attention,
Airam.
In other words, you may want to watch this trailer while you still can.
It's been a turbulent year or so for Konami, which cut ties with Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima in an extended public breakup. Over the course of 2015, Konami canceled Silent Hills, the game Kojima was making with film director Guillermo del Toro; took down the game's interactive teaser, P.T.; rebranded Kojima's studio, Kojima Productions, with a generic name; and removed Kojima's name from the cover of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.
