Metal Gear Solid’s Master Collection finally gets an official fix for some of its biggest issues on PC

Metal Gear Solid’s Master Collection was a fairly underwhelming package of some of the greatest video games ever made when it released back in October. While official updates since then have done little to address some of its most egregious problems – leaving modders to step in, as usual – the game’s latest patch has finally offered up a decent serving of improvements direct from the source.

Patch 1.4.0, already live on PC, notably introduces new graphical settings across the entire collection. As a headliner, that includes the ability to switch between standard, pixel perfect or 16:9 formats (the Steam release also gets a new windowed mode that can be swapped to from full-screen by pressing Alt Enter), with the option to turn on smoothing if you’d prefer a sharper look than the more jagged originals.

When running in standard or pixel perfect, you can fill the empty space around the square image with a wallpaper or screen filter, with a scanline filter added as another new feature.

On the audio side, there’s the basic – yet previously absent – ability to adjust the volume of the game and main menu before playing, with only the game volume able to be changed once you’ve loaded in.

For those using a controller – which, really, is the way to play here – you can now switch between “fast” and “stable” response speeds, though Konami warn that “fast” risks, well, instability depending on your particular rig. Stable is effectively the game’s original controller speed.

It’s a good sight more than the game’s previous 1.3.0 patch, which addressed the game running at high speeds but did little to add some of the basic features expected from a modern PC release. Of course, in the meantime, fans have stepped in to create their own fixes for many of the problems and introduce extended support for the likes of 4K and uprezzed textures, but it’s nice to have an official fix nonetheless.

1.4.0 won’t be the last update for the Master Collection, as Konami say they are working on addressing problems including unending cutscenes, low character texture resolutions in MGS3 and key inputs registering even when the Alt key is pressed on PC. Regular updates and fixes are said to be due in the future, with no specific timeline given.