My Cat Doesn’t Care About The Metal Gear Box, Just The Box It Came In

GameSpot » All News RSS Feed✍ Darryn Bonthuys📅 August 24, 2026⏱ 4 min read(about 4 hours ago)

Overview & Key Takeaways

At long last, Metal Gear Solid fans can soon get their hands on the one piece of merchandise that truly matters: themed boxes for their cats. Konami has announced an official line of Metal Gear Solid cat merchandise that'll be available exclusively at CatCon 2026, to mark the release of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2. We swear we're not making this up, but Konami says that it will have a booth--again, at a cat convention--where it will sell the novelty items for two days in October.

According to Konami, attendees can purchase cat-scratch boxes modeled after the iconic boxes of Big Boss and Old Snake, as well as plushie pet toys and cat collars inspired by Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The goodies will also be sold through OKS Gear Shop for those two days. There'll even be a meet-and-greet with Kat Curtis and the catfluencer "One Eared Uno," and I am only now learning that this is a thing. The duo will be featured in a special playthrough video of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2.

Exclamation point!

CatCon 2026 runs October 10-11, and if you can't make it in, please do not think about getting a giant cardboard box to sneak past security. You might fool human sense, but there's a good chance that your plans will be foiled by the actual cats in attendance when they find themselves unable to resist the siren lure of cardboard fortifications.

You can stick to digital cardboard boxes in classic Metal Gear Solid games in case you don't want to take that risk, as Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 launches for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch consoles on August 27. So far, we've found it's an exciting return to the past that offers not just the enjoyable Peace Walker and Ghost Babel from the handheld eras of Metal Gear Solid, but also frees Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots from PS3 purgatory.

At long last, Metal Gear Solid fans can soon get their hands on the one piece of merchandise that truly matters: themed boxes for their cats. Konami has announced an official line of Metal Gear Solid cat merchandise that’ll be available exclusively at CatCon 2026, to mark the release of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2. We swear we’re not making this up, but Konami says that it will have a booth–again, at a cat convention–where it will sell the novelty items for two days in October.

According to Konami, attendees can purchase cat-scratch boxes modeled after the iconic boxes of Big Boss and Old Snake, as well as plushie pet toys and cat collars inspired by Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The goodies will also be sold through OKS Gear Shop for those two days. There’ll even be a meet-and-greet with Kat Curtis and the catfluencer “One Eared Uno,” and I am only now learning that this is a thing. The duo will be featured in a special playthrough video of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2.

Exclamation point!

CatCon 2026 runs October 10-11, and if you can’t make it in, please do not think about getting a giant cardboard box to sneak past security. You might fool human sense, but there’s a good chance that your plans will be foiled by the actual cats in attendance when they find themselves unable to resist the siren lure of cardboard fortifications.

You can stick to digital cardboard boxes in classic Metal Gear Solid games in case you don’t want to take that risk, as Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 launches for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch consoles on August 27. So far, we’ve found it’s an exciting return to the past that offers not just the enjoyable Peace Walker and Ghost Babel from the handheld eras of Metal Gear Solid, but also frees Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots from PS3 purgatory.

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I Can’t Believe I Missed Mortal Shell 2’s Best Item, Silly Me

From awesome Tarstones to exceptional weapons, there are a lot of really good items to find(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-shell-2-best-items-to-get-early/) in Mortal Shell 2(https://www.gamespot.com/games/mortal-shell-ii/). While you can miss them if you're not doing your due diligence while exploring, there's an early-game item that you really don't want to miss because of how it trivializes most fights. Unfortunately for me, I missed it and realized way too late, so let me regale you with my troubles in the hopes that you don't make the same mistake as I did. The first boss you fight(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-shell-2-all-bosses-how-to-defeat/) happens in the prologue. After some light exploration and acquiring your first shell(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-shell-2-all-shell-locations/), Haros, you roll up on the Tar Golem, who absolutely wrecks your stuff. It's designed as a forced loss, so actually putting up a fight is pointless, especially since a cutscene plays showing that Haros saves your life anyway. It's here that you loot your now-dead shell for the Vatra's Seal, which hardens your body to nullify incoming damage and freezes you mid-animation. It's actually a pretty overpowered seal. Not only does it cancel out damage, causing enemies to get knocked back if they attack your shell, but it also acts as an animation cancel, letting you interrupt your attacks by hardening your body to guard. Time the harden just right and you've got a perfect parry(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/how-to-parry-in-mortal-shell-2/), which deals massive posture damage and eventually leads to a counterattack. Vatra's Seal is essentially the main ability from the first Mortal Shell(https://www.gamespot.com/games/mortal-shell/). But instead of it being tied to one specific shell, when you loot Haros' corpse in the sequel, you can harden your body no matter which shell you currently have equipped. It rules. Sadly, I totally missed out on this item. Having played--and loved--the beta, I had the option to skip the prologue and get a handful of goodies, including the Vatra's Seal, for free. My silly self insisted I replay the prologue simply because, and right after the Tar Golem fight, I--for whatever reason--just ... sprinted to the next area. So, boom. Haros goes down, I move on, and before I know it, I'm inside Proxima, hookshotting from enemy to enemy and dealing tons of lightning damage. It rules. Except, hm ... something was missing. I check my seals maybe 10 or 15 hours into the game and see that I don't have the Vatra's Seal. So, I Google, wondering if there's a way I can recollect it despite not looting Haros' body and being too far into the game to restart at this point. And, no. Once you leave the prologue area, there's no way to go back and collect the seal. Cue the biggest, longest sigh you've ever heard. I'm making do with the Untarnished Seal, which is one of four seals (or three, if you missed the Vatra's Seal as I did) in the game. It's ... fine. You get a guard that blocks you from incoming damage until your posture meter is broken, at which point you enter a prolonged vulnerable state. And if you guard at the right moment, you can perfect-parry attacks. But the Untarnished Seal is no Vatra's Seal. And while the Infinite Seal lets you animation cancel, you don't get a guard, so missing your parry means you take damage. The Vatra's Seal really is the best of both worlds, as it negates all damage when used, freezes your body mid-animation, and still gives you a perfect parry. And I completely missed it. So, dear player, I implore you: If you're jumping into Mortal Shell 2 for the first time, make sure you loot Haros' body. Even if you don't end up using the Vatra's Seal the entire game, you'll be grateful to have the option. Because I don't even have that. Anyway, developer Cold Symmetry has released a pretty helpful patch for the game(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-shell-2s-latest-update-alleviates-one-of-the-games-biggest-headaches/) that makes some welcome changes, including nerfing bosses and increasing the amount of gold you find in the world. What's not helpful, though, are the bear traps(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-shell-2-players-really-hate-those-bear-traps-and-so-do-i/), which are getting on players' nerves.

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