Steel Gear Strong is a complicated franchise. As somebody who’s by no means performed an entry all through—apart from the very good Revengeance, which isn’t actually a Steel Gear Strong recreation—I’m aware of the sequence however all the time discovered myself perplexed by its intricate narrative threads that span many years. Fortunately, David Hayter, the voice of the legendary spy Strong Snake, has considerably remedied my confusion with a short rationalization of MGS’ affect in a brand new YouTube advert.
To advertise the primary quantity of the Steel Gear Strong: Grasp Assortment, which launched in October 2023 to fan frustration, Hayter appeared in a March 15 YouTube video on Konami’s channel. In it, he grabs our hand and rapidly takes us via the sport’s storied historical past, discussing the signature qualities of the primary three entries of Steel Gear Strong. (Sure, he additionally briefly acknowledges that Steel Gear extra broadly started with the 1987 launch of Snake’s first journey on the MSX.)
He doesn’t fairly do an in depth story breakdown in the best way that somebody like myself, who’s heard of however by no means actually understood the sport’s narrative, would respect. Nonetheless, he does humorously nod to the sequence’ twisting plots, admitting that newcomers could also be daunted by all of the “shadow organizations, secret brokers, double brokers, triple brokers, nonlinear timelines, big nuclear weapons, clones, and a number of characters named Snake.” However, he says, this assortment will set new gamers on the correct path to make sense of all of it.
He then briefly charts how the sequence garnered the clout it has, highlighting “a handful of components that Steel Gear uniquely Steel Gear.”
Hayter—who’s most likely finest recognized for his work because the gruff voice of MGS’ protagonist Strong Snake—touches on the “revolutionary and iconic gameplay” discovered within the sequence, together with how boss Psycho Mantis can ”learn your thoughts” by accessing your reminiscence card. It’s cool listening to all this historical past, nevertheless transient, particularly since that is simply half one among what’s going to turn into a multi-part sequence. In response to Hayter, the second episode can be about the Steel Gear Strong 3: Snake Eater remake, which doesn’t have a launch date but however seems to be rattling good.
Anyway, I don’t know in case you’ve observed, however having actors pop up in gaming advertisements appears to be turning into a pattern. At first, it was Succession star Brian Cox giving us the rundown of Tekken 8‘s lore. Then, Ian McShane, from Deadwood and the John Wick movies, defined Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s story. And now, we’ve got David Hayter doing the identical. Hayter, after all, has a longtime connection to the sequence he’s speaking about right here, so it’s not fairly the identical, but it surely’s one more instance of an actor with a well-known voice explaining a recreation or sequence to us at size. I’m not mad about it. It’s only a bizarre coincidence.