Here’s What ‘Metal Gear Solid’ Would Look Like in Unreal Engine 4

Modern game and graphics engines are powerful, but they're nowhere near as powerful as fans' neverending need to remake and remaster scenes from classic games. We already knew this was true thanks to fan recreations of World of Warcraft and Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but this shot-for-shot remake of the Metal Gear Solid introduction is something else.

When I say shot-for-shot, I mean shot-for-shot: I used YouTube Doubler to play both intros next to each other, and everything is identical down to the splash screen logos. This remake of Metal Gear Solid's 20-year-old intro is the work of Erasmus Brosdau, a video game art director with credits on games like Crysis and Star Citizen. From the look of things, Brosdau created this intro as a tribute to Metal Gear Solid and series creator Hideo Kojima.

Played side by side, the raw computing power on display in the Unreal Engine 4 edition is also worth mentioning. Two decades ago, games like Metal Gear Solid got attention for their graphics based on how high a resolution developers could squeeze out of console hardware. Now, effects like dynamic shadows and light filtering through dark ocean water show through effortlessly, almost casually. And all from a widely available, easily accessible piece of technology like Unreal 4. What a world.