Metal Gear Solid Throwback Perfectly Captures The Feel Of The “Boomer Sneaking” Genre

Metal Gear Solid Throwback Perfectly Captures The Feel Of The “Boomer Sneaking” Genre

Undetected, a stealth-action game by Mexican developer Antonio Freyre, is revitalising the PS1 era Metal Gear Solid sneaking experience.

This article was first published on Kotaku Australia on December 3, 2021. It has been retimed as a weekend read.

The look and feel of Undetected perfectly evokes that of MGS, adding a time manipulation mechanic to fast forward sections where the player waits for guards to complete their patrol loop. The trailer shows a game recreating the entire MGS vibe with such an eye for detail. The curated camera angles, and single-frame snap-to-cover animations. The floating pick-ups with various uses. Guards on tight loops with just low enough awareness that you can navigate around them. Combat rolls used for evasive and attacking maneuvers. First-person aiming toggle. Over-the-top boss fights.

They even got the tell-tale overhead “?” and “!” alerts, and Snake’s over-the-top death throes in there. As a proof-of-concept, it’s really quite beautiful.

Here, see for yourself.

 

I mean, what more do you want?

When describing its genre, Metal Gear Solid referred to itself as “stealth espionage action”. Freyre calls his game “boomer sneaking.” This is a term that is both very funny and causes me physical pain. The “Boomer” appellation has become a catch-all term for any game that evokes a specific genre or vibe from early to late 90’s gaming. New Blood’s excellent Dusk is a perfect example of the Boomer Shooter wave of games inspired by the FPS games of the era.

Here’s the game’s plot synopsis straight from its Steam page:

“A cell of the revolutionary group who call themselves ‘Los Desplazados’, including their leader Gloria, has gone missing in the Chicxulub Perpetual Energy Station area. Mexican-American ex-CIMACORP Agent ‘Tenoch Kaan’, now a Desplazado himself, is deployed to find Gloria and her team. He is fitted with the latest in biotechnological enhancements. His mission is to find out what happened to the missing Desplazados without alerting CIMACORP of his presence.”

It’s Mexican Gear Solid. I can’t express how hard that rules. What a time to be alive.

Undetected does not yet have a release date. You can wishlist it on Steam here.

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