LogInKonami was "doing everything that we were trying to do, better."
Bend Studio
When Metal Gear Solid was revealed in 1997, gamers were delighted, but the same can't be said about Bend Studio (then Eidetic), who was developing Syphon Filter at the time. Apparently, the popularity of MGS's trailer was pretty nerve-racking for the smaller company.
You see, the two games have plenty in common: both are action games with stealth elements and similar visual styles (which is not that unusual for that era's consoles.) So with Konami blasting its trailer at E3, Syphon Filter's design lead Richard Ham "was despairing" because "it looked like [Konami] were doing everything that we were trying to do, better."
"The first time the world saw this trailer, it was not just on some little TVs at the Konami booth. This was on a gigantic jumbotron screen that towered over everything," Ham told Retro Gamer. "As I recall, every hour they would play that trailer, and for the entire convention this would become like appointment viewing – there'd be a huge crowd and so everyone would come and sit and watch."
And there was a lot to pay attention to. Ham admitted that it was "so next-level," a true cinematic experience with "many interesting camera angles for everything." This didn't fill Eidetic with optimism as "cinematic gameplay was something I was trying very, very hard to achieve with Syphon Filter, with camera locks and being a fan of John Woo and action cinema."
Despite some common ground, Metal Gear Solid and Syphon Filter, released half a year later, received their fair share of fame, although perhaps not in the same proportions. Eventually, Eidetic would change its name and move on to Days Gone, but that early project will stay in many fans' hearts.
Some players would love to see a remake of Syphon Filter, but the developers admitted they didn't know how to bring it back: "I had zero ideas on how to reboot Syphon Filter, I was not interested in that at all," said Days Gone director Jeff Ross in 2022.
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