Ever found yourself scratching your head after a Metal Gear Solid cutscene, wondering what on earth just happened? Turns out, you're not alone—you're in the best possible company, actually.
David Hayter, the iconic voice of Snake from the original Metal Gear Solid through Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and various spin-offs, revealed in an interview with Fall Damage (via FRVR) that he too has struggled to keep up with series creator Hideo Kojima's notoriously complex narratives.
"Do I understand the story of Metal Gear Solid?" Hayter asked rhetorically. "Uh, basically, I do. Do I understand all of it? Absolutely not."
He joked about his experience recording lines: "I’d be like, ‘What does this mean?’ And they’d say, ‘Just say it.'"
Despite the confusion, Hayter acknowledged that the intricate storytelling is what defines the series. "There’s more information. There’s more character development. There’s more detail to the story than you can ever possibly absorb, no matter how many times you play it. That's what makes the world feel real and rich and lovable."
Hayter previously revealed last year that he had finally "forgiven" Kojima for not casting him in 2015's Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, after playing the "amazing" game. At the time, he was replaced by Hollywood star Kiefer Sutherland, and Hayter admitted that playing the game then would have felt like "60 hours of humiliation," adding, "I've got no particular love for Kojima. I don't feel any need to go back and work with him again."
Now, with more time passed, Hayter said: "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 I get fired for a living—like I literally, eventually, get fired from every single gig that I've got—and I'm not a child. I was like, 'Stop being a baby and play the game.' So I played it. It's amazing."
