Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection contains first 2 Metal Gear games, Konami confirms
Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake are part of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, Konami confirmed to Digital Trends.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is getting a full remake on PS5, Xbox, and PC
After many remasters, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is finally set for full-on current-gen remake.
The best stealth games
The stealth video game genre has picked up a lot of steam recently, so what better time to look back on the best of the genre? Here are the best stealth games.
David Hayter Teases Phantom: Covert Ops In New Trailer Ahead Of Release
Kayaking stealth game Phantom: Covert Ops is out on Oculus headsets on June 25th and the iconic voice of David Hayter (aka Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid) is here to tease the game one last time before release.
Hayter voices the villain General Zhurov, an ex-Soviet running the rogue Cold War-era naval installation that players infiltrate by kayak. Hayter teased the Oculus Studios game from nDreams in the UploadVR Showcase. Check out the latest trailer here:
While the premise might sound like a bit of a stretch we’ve played early versions of the game on a number of occasions and remain impressed by just how immersive it feels. You’ll find yourself carefully inserting your oar into the water and navigating through tight channels at just the time to avoid detection and reaching for the right weapon to take care of the task at hand.
Here’s how Jamie Feltham described it in a recent write up:
Sitting in a chair and using motion controls to paddle through reeds, taking one end of an oar to push yourself off from a wall, or grabbing a side and pulling yourself into position; all of this feels distinctly convincing in a way we don’t normally experience. It’s equal parts authentic and intuitive, offering truly human-powered movement mostly without the strange disconnect that comes from moving your virtual self while your real self stays in one place. I only say mostly as I don’t believe that contrast will ever completely vanish in any VR game for current systems, but it’s certainly diminished here. Plus constant paddling is, quite rightly, a bit of a workout.
Phantom: Covert Ops is out on Rift and Quest on June 25th.
Check out every trailer, article, announcement, interview, and more from the UploadVR Showcase right here.
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VR Stealth Game Panther VR Surprise Launches In Early Access Today
Here’s a sneaky surprise straight out of the Upload VR Showcase: Summer Edition – Panther VR hits Early Access today.
Developer Wolfdog Interactive announced the news with a new trailer. Panther VR was successfully crowd-funded last year and promised for a spring/summer 2020 Early Access release. In the game, you play as a member of a guild of master thieves that steals from elite corporations. Check out the trailer below.
As you can see, Panther VR promises a stealth sandbox inspired by games like Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell. You can stick to the shadows, hiding bodies from view, but you’ll also have an expansive aresnal of tools and weapons like remote mines and high-powered rifles. How you get the job done is up to you. Don’t miss the ending for another excellent easter egg, too. This isn’t the only Solid surprise in the Showcase, either.
In Early Access, Panther VR offers a few maps to take out heists in, plus a hub world to hang out in. Over the course of Early Access, Wolfdog plans to add new levels, weapons and mechanics to the experience. The full version of the game is aiming for release sometime in 2021.
Panther VR is available on PC VR headsets via SteamVR. No word yet on possible ports to Oculus Quest and PSVR, though we’d imagine it will be some time before there’s any news to share there. We’ve got plenty more news to share during the Upload VR Showcase: Summer Edition, so stay tuned!
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Solid Snake Voice Actor David Hayter Will be Phantom: Covert Ops’ Lead Villain
nDreams’ upcoming virtual reality (VR) title Phantom: Covert Ops looks set to offer one of the most promising stealth experiences of 2020. Today, the developer has announced that the voice actor behind Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid, David Hayter will be voicing Phantom: Covert Ops‘ lead antagonist.
In Phantom: Covert Ops players are tasked with infiltrating a Cold War naval installation run by disgraced ex-Soviet General Zhurov (Hayter). The entire videogame takes place on water with players having to manoeuvre around in a kayak.
“Phantom: Covert Ops is a ground-breaking next-level VR game and one of the finest stealth games I’ve ever seen or been part of,” commented Hayter in a statement. “Without doubt, virtual reality brings a new level of immersion to gaming and to be a part of that was incredibly exciting.”
The kayak has a range of useful items within easy reach of the player, offering both stealth and loud approaches. A silenced sniper rifle and pistol to quietly take down guards, or an MP5 and C4 if they don’t want to be as subtle.
“Having someone of David’s calibre portray one of the main characters in the game speaks volumes about what we’re trying to achieve with Phantom,” said Tom Gillo, VP of Development at nDreams. “Oculus headset owners and fans of stealth games like Metal Gear Solid, will leap at the chance to take on this villain!”
Originally demoing Phantom: Covert Ops during the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2019, VRFocus’ first impressions found that: “What’s been shown has great promise” and could be “Potentially nDreams’ best VR game to date.”
nDreams previously announced that Phantom: Covert Ops will arrive on 25th June 2020 exclusive to Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift headsets. Take a look at the latest trailer below and as further details are released, VRFocus will keep you updated.
Solid Snake Actor David Hayter Returns To Stealth In Phantom: Covert Ops
Huh, Phantom: Covert Ops?!
That’s right, the legendary voice of Solid Snake himself, David Hayter, is appearing in nDreams’ upcoming VR stealth game, which we’ve already compared to the Metal Gear Solid series. Hayter will be playing General Zhurov, the ex-Soviet antagonist that runs the rogue Cold War-era naval installation that players infiltrate by kyack in the game. Whereas gamers are used to bringing Hayter along for the ride as they take down Metal Gear (except for Metal Gear Solid 5 but we don’t talk about that), this time they’ll be facing off against him. Check his work out in the new trailer below.
“This is sort of the gamer’s opportunity to take on Solid Snake now that he’s older and gone completely insane,” Hayter told me in an interview last week.
“It’s funny,” he later added, “my whole career I played heroes. I was Solid Snake, I was Captain America. And when I turned 40 it all turned to villains.”
nDreams itself sought out Hayter for the role as a nod to stealth gaming’s past. For the actor and screenwriter, it was a chance to not only return to a beloved genre but to try VR itself; the studio sent him an Oculus Quest. “You really feel — I hope they don’t mind me saying this but you really feel like Solid Snake in that kyack and moving through. So the ability to take on the antagonist role and shut that down was really fun and interesting. And I felt like this was a nice launching pad into the next-generation of what stealth games were going to be.”
It’s not actually Hayter’s first VR role; he appeared in episodic stealth series Republique, which was ported to VR a few years ago, and also had a little-known role in Oculus Rift launch app, Farlands. But this will be his biggest appearance in a native headset game yet.
“I did know that a lot of the character was going to come through in public address systems that are sort of barking orders,” he said. “So I will say it was a pretty extreme performance that took a lot out of me. I had to dominate this world, it’s like being the voice of God in this game.”
Now that he’s self-isolating like the rest of us, Hayter has been checking out a lot more of what VR has to offer. “I’ve been using it quite a bit,” he said. “I got The Room, which is so beautiful and amazing. My daughter and I do a lot of escape rooms and I got that. I’m about to get A Fisherman’s Tale, I haven’t tried that yet but it looks amazing. Vader Immortal was stunning, and playing in the lightsaber dojo quite a bit.”
Phantom: Covert Ops releases on June 25 for Oculus Rift and Quest. Check back soon for more coverage of the game.
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Phantom: Covert Ops Hits Quest + Rift In Late June
Summer just got sneakier; the Phantom: Covert Ops release date is here, and it’s coming to the Oculus Quest and Rift platforms on June 25.
Phantom: Covert Ops Release Date Revealed
Facebook confirmed the news as part of its Game Developers Showcase taking place in lieu of GDC this week. Phantom will be releasing on both platforms at the same date, which is good news considering other Oculus Studios-published projects like Lies Beneath are releasing on Quest first. Phantom had originally been aiming to release late last year but, obviously, that didn’t quite happen. It’s already available to wishlist on both the Quest and Rift stores, though.
Phantom is a promising stealth game in which players infiltrate a hostile facility by kayak. Over the course of the game, you’ll paddle downstream, avoiding spotlights, taking cover in reeds and picking off enemies from afar. The game has a full campaign, too. Check out the new trailer below, which shows Oculus Rift gameplay and promises plenty of explosions. It’s captured on Rift but, rest assured, the exact same content is on Quest.
We’ve been hands-on with the game a few times now and we’ve got high hopes for it. The kayak setup makes for a perfectly immersive experience, with little to remind you of the real world. What remains to be seen is just how well the game can retain that immersion throughout the campaign, and how other elements like the AI — a sticking point for a lot of VR stealth games — hold up.
Are you happy with the Phantom: Covert Ops release date? Or do you wish it was arriving sooner? Let us know in the comments below!
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Espire 1: VR Operative Review – Surprisingly Deep Stealth Action
After years of development and months of delays Espire 1: VR Operative is finally releasing. Read our full review to find out if this VR stealth game lives up to the hype.
I’ve played Espire 1 a lot over the last couple of years. Between all of the various preview events and conventions I’ve attended it seems like this game always managed to make an appearance, which means I’ve played various iterations of the opening mission many times. One side effect of previewing a game so extensively is you start to feel burnt out before it even releases.
Luckily, there is far more to it than just the opening level.
In Espire 1 you take control of android units that are outfitted with cutting-edge technology to help infiltrate enemy strongholds and remain undetected while out on important, classified missions. The premise here is that if you die, your conscience is just uploaded to a different android unit. And as you play, you’ll unlock newer models with more abilities, offering a sense of steady progression across the 5-ish hour campaign. The story isn’t very gripping and most of the voice acting is sub-par and repetitive, but none of that gets in the way of the fun — it just prevents it from being as great as it could have been.
I played most of the game on the default normal difficulty and found the AI to be good enough, but sometimes it shows its cracks. Most of the time an enemy could spot me above them if I wasn’t very high or hidden at all and if they have clear line of sight it doesn’t take much for them to get alerted. Once alerted they’ll immediately start searching for you, but if you’re discovered time slows down giving you a chance to respond before everyone is tipped off. They’re certainly better than I expected overall, but not perfect.
The slow-mo upon being spotted means there is little risk to attracting a single enemy’s attention and they all seem to forget about you fairly easily if you’re patient. Not to mention they drop like a sack of potatoes instantly if you open fire in many cases, or deliver a swift punch to the head.But when things are clicking as intended, Espire 1 is a rare treat. No other VR game has really nailed the classical stealth action genre quite so well. You’ll find yourself creeping through air vents, scaling the side of buildings, creeping behind cover, sneaking up behind bad guys and yelling “Freeze!” while avoiding the watchful eyes of cameras.
Many of the items are physics objects that can be picked up, thrown, and manipulated, but not all of them. And the fact that your hands just phase through objects like a ghost, unless you’re holding something with mass, is a bit odd. Object interaction is better than in most VR games, but I’d have appreciated if environmental objects were a bit more dynamic.
I did enjoy the health system though. Since you’re an android, when you get shot at and hurt errors and malfunctions pop up in your HUD. If you grab the repair tool you need to physically fix the glowing nodes in real-time, which can be tough to do in the heat of battle. I’d often climb up a wall or hide in a corner to try and quickly heal. I just wish the woman in my ear would stop yelling at me to heal when I’m literally in the middle of a firefight.
Then there are all of the various ways it takes advantage of being a VR-only title. The 3D spatial audio makes it more immersive than ever to listen for approaching guards, reaching around corners to take out enemies with a stun dart, and physically ducking down to avoid being spotted all come second nature. The devs also have some novel mechanics that add a lot to the gameplay, like little cameras on the backs of your wrist that can be used to look around corners and mark enemies without being detected (and even toss the camera orb out and stick it to a surface to keep track of the bad guys.) Things are introduced slowly enough so that you don’t get overwhelmed and ensure you always have a multitude of options for how to approach a situation.
Perhaps best of all is the climbing system. Anything that’s metal, whether it be a ladder, pipe, wall, or something else can be climbed no problem. Using the slow-mo power you can even fling yourself across entire rooms too. Hanging over the edge of a barrier, reaching over with the camera to find an enemy, then reaching back over with a gun to blind fire and take someone out is insanely satisfying. Espire 1 is full of supremely satisfying moments of VR interaction that end up making you feel like a supremely creative spy genius.
In non-VR stealth games I often find myself wondering what the game designers intended for me to do in situations, but in Espire 1 I find myself wondering what I actually want to do. Given how open-ended these levels are, with powerful climbing and physically interactive sneaking, it’s pretty liberating.
Even though the campaign is a bit brief to get through once, this is a game truly designed to be replayed in various ways. Going back to missions using new weapons you’ve unlocked, new abilities, and more to finish it faster, more efficiently, or without killing anyone is seriously challenging. The leaderboard function fosters competition and being able to unlock cheats makes side objectives actually worth pursuing.
On top of all that are an assortment of challenge maps that task you with smaller maps targeted at testing your stealth, climbing, combat, and more. When you add up the amount of time it would take to get through all of the challenge maps that easily adds on a few more hours to the amount of content assuming you play each scenario and mission only once — which is certainly the bare minimum. Given the overall polish, excellent visuals, and high degree of polish it feels like a very feature-complete adventure with tons of room for iteration and improvement if Digital Lode is able to work on a sequel.
Espire 1: VR Operative Review Final Verdict
Espire 1: VR Operative is unquestionably the best expression of the stealth action genre we’ve seen in VR yet. The small touches of polish go a long way towards selling the immersion and opening your mind to the creativity on display to complete missions, while the inventive VR-focused mechanics make it a pleasure to play actively in a roomscale space. While a larger budget, more time, and overall more resources could have elevated Espire 1: VR Operative to the status of being a landmark VR game that pushes the boundaries and redefines the genre even further, it’s still extremely good and certainly worth playing.
This review was conducted on a Rift S playing the Oculus Home PC version of the game. We were not able to test the Quest or PSVR versions prior to the review embargo, but have played the Quest version previously.
Final Score: 
4/5 Stars | Really Good
Espire 1: VR Operative releases on November 22nd for the Rift platform via Oculus Home, Steam for SteamVR headsets, Oculus Quest, and PSVR at a price point of $29.99 and will be a cross-buy title between Rift and Quest on Oculus Home.
This review was conducted on a Rift S playing the Oculus Home PC version of the game. You can read more about the new five-star scoring policy here.
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Kanye West wants to meet ‘Metal Gear Solid’ creator Hideo Kojima, for some reason
Rapper Kanye West wants to meet video game designer Hideo Kojima in New York. Nobody knows the reason behind the meeting, but fans are speculating that it may have something to do with Death Stranding for the PlayStation 4.
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