Two Snakes, one Shadow Moses: Metal Gear Solid co-op mod is making progress

Metal Gear Solid was built around one infiltrator, one camera and one very carefully controlled sequence of events. A new PC co-op mod is trying to change that by letting two players enter Shadow Moses together. It isn’t released yet. The project is still in development, and the current footage should be treated as an early look at how the multiplayer system works rather than a finished product. Even so, the basic idea is already clear: each player runs their own copy of the game, controls their own Snake and uses their own camera. There’s no shared-screen setup and no camera forcing both players to remain close together. It works much more like a conventional online multiplayer game. That sounds straightforward. With Metal Gear Solid, it really isn’t.

Two players, two cameras

One of the biggest questions around the project has been how the camera works. There is no shared camera. Each player has their own game view, which means they can move around independently instead of being tied to the same part of the screen. One player could move ahead while the other stays behind, or both could approach an area from different positions. For Metal Gear Solid, that changes quite a lot.

The original game constantly assumes that only one Snake exists. Guards look for one target. Doors, transitions, cutscenes and boss triggers were written around one player moving through the map in a specific way. Add another Snake and those assumptions start falling apart. That’s also why the mod is taking time.

Cutscenes are a bigger problem than they look

Cutscenes might sound like the easiest part to leave untouched, but Metal Gear Solid often uses them for more than storytelling. Some sequences help load areas. Others trigger transitions or spawn bosses. Changing them too aggressively could interfere with the game’s internal logic.

The developer has already made it clear that the game can break easily when these sequences are modified. That means co-op support won’t simply be a case of placing two characters into every scene. Some moments may need special handling, and others may remain single-player. The final Jeep escape, for example, is currently expected to stay as a solo sequence, although that isn’t completely decided yet.

The rappel section could work with two players

The rappel sequence is a more interesting case. The game uses a separate lower-poly Snake model during that section, and that model has already been located in the code. That raises the possibility of running the sequence with two players.

Not everything would necessarily be synchronised, though. The helicopter gunfire may remain independent between players if synchronising it turns into too much extra work.

That gives a good idea of how this project is being approached. The goal isn’t to force every single part of Metal Gear Solid into co-op at any cost. Some sections may need compromises if the original game simply doesn’t cooperate.

Bosses can be adjusted for co-op

Boss fights create another obvious problem. Most Metal Gear Solid bosses were designed to fight one Snake. Put two players in the room and the balance changes immediately. The planned solution includes an adjustable boss health setting.

Players should eventually be able to increase boss HP themselves, which could help prevent encounters from ending too quickly with two people attacking at once. Enemy guards may also receive some changes.

Rather than completely redesigning their behaviour, the current idea is to experiment with increasing the number of reinforcements. That could help compensate for the extra player without rewriting the entire enemy AI system. It’s a simpler approach, but probably a more realistic one for a game this old.

Mod and skin support will come later

Extra mod support isn’t the priority right now. The focus is on getting the original game working properly in co-op first. Support for additional modifications will only be considered after the vanilla campaign is complete.

Custom character skins are more likely to appear eventually, although that work hasn’t started yet. That order makes sense for this project. Metal Gear Solid already has enough unusual technical behaviour without piling extra modifications on top before the multiplayer foundation is stable.

Why Metal Gear Solid makes this difficult

The original Metal Gear Solid arrived on PlayStation in 1998 and later received a Windows release. It follows Solid Snake as he infiltrates the Shadow Moses nuclear facility after the site is seized by FOXHOUND. The game combines stealth, cinematic storytelling, boss fights and tightly scripted progression.

That last part is what makes this co-op conversion difficult. Metal Gear Solid isn’t an open sandbox where another player can simply be dropped into the world. Its rooms, triggers, enemy states and story events are closely connected.

Two players can easily create situations the original code never expected. One person might trigger a transition while the other remains behind. A boss could appear for one player before the other reaches the room. A cutscene might reset a position or assume Snake is standing somewhere specific. Those are the problems that have to be solved one at a time.

Still early, but the core idea is working

There’s no public release yet, and several major parts of the campaign still need to be figured out. Some sequences may remain single-player. Others may receive partial co-op support. Boss health and enemy reinforcement settings should help players tune the experience once more of the game is working.

What already stands out is the basic structure. Each player gets their own camera, their own movement and their own copy of the game, while the mod handles the online connection between them. For a game designed almost three decades ago around a single Snake, getting that far is already the foundation the rest of the project needs.