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With these Metal Gear Solid Delta tips you should be off to a good start for MGS 3: Snake Eater's tactical espionage journey. As someone who never played the original, there were quite a lot of things that took some getting used to (although MGS5 and Death Stranding had prepared me for Hideo Kojima's penchant for long cutscenes).
Metal Gear Solid Delta does actually tell you a lot of useful information and even has an in-game tips menu for the basics and some extra help, but there are also quite a lot of things the game doesn't prepare you for. So, if you're completely new to Snake Eater, bear these MGS Delta tips in mind when you play. Having a bit of extra knowledge will certainly affect how long it takes to complete MGS Delta.
1. Stealth isn't actually that important
Despite all the warnings about "sneaking missions" and getting caught, being stealthy in MGS Delta isn't actually as important as it makes out, especially for first-time players. Don't get me wrong, you will have a much, much easier time if you slow down, scout areas and enemy patrols, then sneak through, but going loud isn’t as consequential as you might think. Regardless of how you run down the Alert percentage, whether that's by hiding or taking a 'no witnesses' approach, things will eventually return to normal.
The major downsides of not playing stealthily in Metal Gear Solid Delta is that it's obviously a lot more dangerous and usually forces out a lethal playstyle, which is a resource intensive playstyle and has some gameplay impacts later. Your final score upon completing the game will also be affected by your approach, but I wouldn't worry about this on your first go.
2. Non-lethal boss kills help you get the best rewards in MGS Delta
Playing non-lethally, even during boss fights, is arguably the best approach as it'll help you get some great gear. Using tranquilizing weapons, such as the cigarette gas spray, MK.22 pistol, and Mosin Nagant sniper rifle will reduce a boss's stamina gauge (the thin line below their health bar), eventually leading to a non-lethal (or rather indirect) end for them. For example, non-lethally defeating The End in MGS Delta, will get you the Mosin Nagant, and holding him up gets you one of the best camouflage uniforms in the game.
3. Make sure you attach suppressors!
Suppressed weapons are vital to a stealth approach in MGS Delta, but suppressors have limited durability which diminishes with each shot fired. This can catch you out if you aren't paying attention, so make sure you regularly look at the suppressor gauge above your weapon's ammo counter in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
When a suppressor has worn out, you need to hold D-Pad Right down to open the weapon menu and press X to attach a new suppressor (or detach one already equipped if you want to go loud). Suppressors are also found as items on the ground, so if you run out, you'll have to loot thoroughly and hope you find one.
4. Don't forget to save by tuning to 140.96 in Metal Gear Solid Delta
MGS 3 Delta has a manual save feature, which you may want to exploit to save scrub and reset to an earlier checkpoint if things go wrong. The problem is that it's quite an easy feature to forget about, mentioned briefly at the start of the game, and MGS Delta's generous auto-save system, which constantly overwrites a single save slot, doesn't help much either.
I recommend taking the time to save by holding down on the D-pad to open the radio menu and then selecting SAVE from the memory or tuning to 140.96 whenever you reach a critical location – an enemy base, for example. That way you should always have a save you can load back to without losing lots of progress.
5. Eat often to keep your Stamina up as this has several benefits
Stamina is incredibly important in MGS Delta, mainly being responsible for Snake's health regeneration, so you should keep it topped up by eating food. You'll also notice that Snake's stomach gurgles when his Stamina starts getting low, and these noises can actually give him away in a stealth situation – don't let a rumbly tummy be the cause of your death.
Calorie Mates and ramen noodles are the best foods for Stamina restoration, but you can also gather fresh food by killing wildlife and shooting fruit out of trees. Just be aware that if you quit the game and come back a day later, any fresh food in Snake's backpack will be rotten, restoring little of Snake's Stamina and making him sick.
6. Use your gadgets to get all the advantages you can
This is a very obvious tip but make sure you use as many of Snake's tools as you can, especially if you’re trying to maintain stealth. It can be quite easy to write off most of them and use only the tranquilizer pistol and compass, but Snake starts the game with several useful gadgets and there are plenty more to find as you play. Things like the scope, thermal goggles, and motion sensor can be very useful for spotting enemies when you enter a new area.
7. Check your Camouflage Index often and change camo if it gets low
Snake's Camouflage Index is obviously very important if you're opting for a full stealth approach, so you'll want to keep it as high as possible. With that in mind, it's a good idea to tap D-Pad Up every so often to check your Camouflage and whether you can tweak Snake's uniform and facepaint to better match the environment. Depending on how you answered the Metal Gear Solid Delta favorite MGS game question, you might have some extra uniforms that can help you.
8. Cure yourself of any injuries and illnesses as soon as they happen
Getting shot, stabbed, or stung can be quite debilitating for Snake and their effects can get worse over time. Thankfully, there's no reason not to fix them as soon as they happen. Opening the Survival Viewer and Cure menu pauses the game, so you can spend as long as you want healing Snake before getting back into the action. While you're in the Survival Viewer, you might want to eat some food to further help with healing.
9. Loot storage buildings for supplies and then blow them up to hinder the guards
As you explore enemy territory, look out for small sheds and storage buildings as these will often contain multiple food items or weapons and ammo. In general, buildings tend to have quite a lot of supplies in them, so being thorough and checking every door you come across is also a good idea to keep stocked up.
Once you've found some TNT you can also use it to blow these places up so all the surrounding guards go without certain weapons and food, making them less efficient.
10. Pick up bodies to get items from them
Dead, sleeping, or knocked out enemies drop useful items if you pick them up and then put them down again. If you've had to deal with a bunch of guards in a single area, it's a good idea to quickly go around and pick them up, then immediately drop them to get them to spit out some ammo, some grenades, or something else. And as a bonus tip, it's faster to pick up bodies by the legs!
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