David Hayter briefly goes in-character as Snake to revisit the first Metal Gear Solid

As part of the Off Camera Secrets series

Off Camera Secrets is doing some great work over on YouTube, providing fresh takes on old games by unlocking their cameras to see what’s going on behind the scenes. In the latest episode they take a gander at Metal Gear Solid, and get David Hayter to guest star briefly, in-character as Solid Snake.

In this episode they visit some highly requested scenes here answering questions like “where do the guards come from during the Snake/Meryl standoff (they warp in from two positions), “how do elevators work?,” (they don’t actually move, they warp in new maps), is Sniper Wolf actually rendered when she attacks you from afar?”(yes), or “what’s behind you when you first start the game?” (a black void).

It’s insane how well optimized this game is, especially given how ahead of its time it was. The developers came up with a bunch of neat tricks (like less strenuous puddle reflections) and only ever show you what you need to see.