For years, David Hayter provided Snake’s iconic gravelly voice, but he was ultimately replaced in 2015’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Now, having experienced the "amazing" game, Hayter says he has finally "forgiven" series creator Hideo Kojima.
Hayter was originally passed over in favor of Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland. Reflecting on that decision, Hayter admitted that playing the game back then would have felt like “60 hours of humiliation.” At the time, he said, “I’ve got no particular love for Kojima. I don’t feel any need to go back and work with him again.”
With the benefit of time, however, Hayter told PC Gamer, “Well, there was reluctance. I didn’t want to play the game because I figured it would hurt my feelings. Then, you know, 10 years went by and I was like, ‘Ah, to hell with my feelings. What do I care?’ […] I’m a screenwriter, so getting fired is part of the job—literally, eventually, I get fired from every single gig. I’m not a child.”
“I told myself, ‘Stop being a baby and play the game.’ So I played it. It’s amazing.”
Hayter has also "forgiven" Sutherland. After running into him at a bar in Dallas, the two “had a bunch of drinks.” “He’s a great guy, you know? No, no ill will. All is forgiven,” Hayter shared.
So what is it that makes Phantom Pain so special in Hayter’s eyes?
“You can approach the same scenario over and over, with the enemies following the same routine, but you can experiment with different routes or attack strategies. It feels like time travel… So, yeah, that was badass. As far as I’m concerned, all is forgiven.”
We also considered the game a masterpiece, noting in IGN’s 10/10 Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain review: “The Phantom Pain is the kind of game I thought would never exist—one where every minute gameplay detail serves a purpose. Its lighter narrative focus may divide Metal Gear fans, but the resulting emphasis on my stories, my espionage adventures, easily makes it my favorite in the series.”
Are Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid too cinematic? To find out, we examined just how much of Hideo Kojima’s games are cutscenes. From his Konami days to Kojima Productions, we weigh in on the question: are there too many cutscenes in a Kojima game?
