Metal Gear Solid 2 speedrunners sent back to the drawing board after a Windows 11 update, not Konami, fixes a time-saving glitch

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Emma Emmerich can reportedly no longer be sent out of bounds to save time on Windows 11

Metal Gear Solid 2
(Image credit: Konami)

It's been reported that a glitch in Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance on PC has been inexplicably patched out, but not because of an update to the game. Instead, it seems that it could be the result of a Windows 11 update, and I'm just as confused as you are.

As shared by speedrunner @ApacheSmash on Twitter, the glitch in question revolves around pushing poor Emma Emmerich out of bounds in the air purification room on the first floor of Shell 2 Core, as well as the KL connecting bridge. After sending her through the walls, reloading the rooms takes Emma on a very handy journey through time and space, warping her further into the level without you having to drag her there yourself. While each of these skips only shaves off a few seconds, in a speedrun, every second helps, so you can imagine that some speedrunners feeling a little ticked off to find that it apparently no longer works on Windows 11.

"There's a glitch in Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance PC where you can push Emma out of bounds and reload the room to teleport her across the level. Speedrunners today are reporting that it no longer works on Windows 11," @ApacheSmash writes. "MICROSOFT PATCHED A MGS2 GLITCH."

At the time of writing, it doesn't appear that this change has been widely verified by the speedrunning community, although perhaps that's no wonder since the glitch is limited to the PC version of MGS2: Substance, which was delisted from digital platforms back in 2021. Last year's Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection included MGS2: Sons of Liberty, instead.

The whole thing is incredibly bizarre if it's true, though – while there was an update to Windows 11's Enterprise and Education version 22H2, as well as all editions of version 23H2 back on August 27, there's certainly nothing in the improvements list that could indicate any changes to the Metal Gear Solid games, and why would there be? For the time being, though, it sounds like enthusiastic Metal Gear Solid speedrunners might want to hold back from updating their PC if they're on Windows 11, just in case. 

For more games like Metal Gear, be sure to check out our roundup of the best stealth games.

Catherine Lewis
Catherine Lewis
Deputy News Editor

I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.