Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater has received a major performance upgrade on PlayStation 5 Pro, with the latest patch addressing the significant technical issues that plagued its launch. According to Digital Foundry’s latest podcast analysis, patch 1.21 has finally stabilized frame rates and introduced new graphics options, substantially improving the gameplay experience for PS5 Pro owners.
When the remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater debuted in August 2025, critics and players alike noted that the game, though visually impressive, suffered from uneven performance. Surprisingly, the PS5 Pro version often performed worse than the base PS5, a situation that left many early adopters disappointed. However, as Digital Foundry’s Tom Morgan reports, the new patch “goes some way to fix those problems,” introducing a new performance mode that delivers an average boost of five to ten frames per second across most areas, with frame rates now hovering consistently near the 60 FPS mark.
The patch introduces both Quality and Performance modes. While the Quality mode retains the previous high visual settings and resolution, the new Performance mode lowers select settings to achieve smoother gameplay. During testing, the Pro version showed a gain of up to 15 FPS in demanding environments such as the swamp section of the early Virtuous Mission chapter. The update also enhances stability, removing the need for a variable refresh rate (VRR) display to mask performance fluctuations—a significant step forward for players using standard setups.
Nevertheless, Digital Foundry analysts noted that not all issues have been resolved. The game still experiences noticeable frame drops during heavy combat and enemy alert sequences, where the framerate can dip into the mid-40s due to CPU limitations. “As soon as AI activates, the performance impact becomes known,” said John Linneman, calling it “a CPU bottleneck issue” stemming from the game’s complex enemy behavior systems. He suggested that Konami implement a 120 Hz output mode and a proper 30 FPS cap to improve overall fluidity and consistency.
Visually, the update preserves the use of PSSR upscaling, maintaining high image quality in motion but slightly softer visuals during static scenes compared to the TAAU method used on the base PS5. Ambient occlusion has been scaled back, and global illumination appears less vibrant in the new performance mode. These compromises, though noticeable, contribute to the substantial framerate improvements that now define the PS5 Pro version’s smoother experience.
On PC, the patch brings long-requested ultrawide support, adding official 21:9 gameplay mode for the first time—though cutscenes and menus remain restricted to 16:9. According to Digital Foundry, this implementation is functional but inferior to community-created mods, which fully supported ultrawide cinematics. Meanwhile, the base PS5 version benefits from small but measurable performance gains—roughly three frames per second—alongside a fix for luminance flickering issues that previously affected certain environments.
Originally developed by Konami in collaboration with Virtuos, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a full-scale remake of the legendary 2004 stealth-action title. The game faithfully recreates the story of Naked Snake’s mission in the Soviet jungle during the Cold War, retaining the original voice acting and core gameplay systems while rebuilding the visuals, sound design, and controls using Unreal Engine 5. Released on August 28, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, it aims to reintroduce one of gaming’s most revered classics to a modern audience.
