Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (メタルギア ライジング リベンジェンス) is a hack and slash game developed by Platinum Games and produced by Kojima Productions, for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. Although a Japanese Xbox 360 version was planned, it was ultimately cancelled. It is the ninth canonical entry in the Metal Gear series, set four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

Originally announced at E3 2009 under the title Metal Gear Solid: Rising, the game went through a long development process at Kojima Productions, who struggled to fully develop the game. At the beginning of 2011, Hideo Kojima decided to hand the development of the game over to Platinum Games who revamped the entire game. This switch in developer was formally announced on December 10, 2011. Kojima is the supervising director, while Korekado from Kojima Productions and Atsushi Inaba from Platinum Games are the producers. Platinum Games' Kenji Saito is the director of the game.

A playable demo of Metal Gear Rising is included in Zone of the Enders: HD Collection, similar to how the original Zone of the Enders contained a playable demo of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. The demo was also released in the Japanese PlayStation Store on December 13, 2012. It was released for the rest of the world on January 22. Due to the cancellation of the Japanese Xbox 360 version, the demo was not released on the Japanese Xbox Live, nor included in that console's Japanese version of Zone of the Enders: HD Collection.

Plot
Four years after the events of Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, Raiden has been contracted for VIP protection, military training, and other duties by a private military company (PMC): Maverick Security Consulting, Inc., an American PMC based in Colorado, in a developing country piecing itself back together after a bloody civil war. Raiden largely did this to support his family without having to return to direct combat situations. Raiden is protecting a VIP, when they are attacked by a cyborg organization led by the cyborg Samuel Rodrigues, which eventually leaves Raiden completely defeated. Raiden is reconstructed by his PMC, and his search for Sam and the company he's working for, Desperado Enforcement LLC., drives him into a quest for vengeance.

The game is divided into eight missions of varying lengths:
 * R-00: Guard Duty
 * R-01: Coup d'État
 * R-02: Research Facility
 * R-03: Mile High
 * R-04: Hostile Takeover
 * R-05: Escape From Denver
 * R-06: Badlands Showdown
 * R-07: Assassination Attempt

Theme
Kojima revealed that the theme for Metal Gear Rising is "REVENGE." Previous themes were "GENE" (Metal Gear Solid), "MEME" (Metal Gear Solid 2), "SCENE" (Metal Gear Solid 3), "SENSE" (Metal Gear Solid 4), and "PEACE" (Peace Walker). Revenge would later be reused in part for the game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

A lesser theme throughout the game also related to the use of child soldiers. Raiden's past as a child soldier was frequently mentioned, and even to some extent shown through Raiden's actions. Raiden's motives for trying to stop Desperado and World Marshal, and ensure the weak are protected was the direct result of having to be a child soldier in Liberia. Two of the members of Desperado, Mistral and Monsoon, were also former child soldiers. In addition, a major part of the antagonists' plot was to mass-produce cybernetic child soldiers via the Sears Program. Although prior Metal Gear games did mention a few times the use of child soldiers, they hadn't been placed into the forefront until this game.

Gameplay
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a hack and slash beat 'em up in which Raiden faces off against cyborg soldiers and UGs (Unmanned Gears, drone vehicles) in a variety of environments. The primary feature of the game is Blade Mode and its associated cutting mechanics, allowing Raiden to make precise cuts to enemies and environmental props with a physics-based cutting system that splits objects exactly along the line they were cut. The iron sight-like Blade Mode allows the sword to be aimed, while outside this mode it is used for more typical combos. Blade Mode uses Fuel Cell (FC) energy, which can be built up using standard attacks or by performing special Zandatsu kills on enemies.

Levels are split into unranked and ranked sections; each ranked battle has a summary screen appear after it showing results and a letter rank from D to S. The game does not appear to log time outside ranked sections, but does note if Raiden dies or takes damage for purposes of the whole-stage ranking and no damage bonus.

While the game does not focus on either stealth mechanics or non-violent play, both are possible after a fashion; a special wooden sword with a chance of knocking out enemies can be unlocked to gain a no-kill bonus in ranked battles, and the Ninja Kill mechanic allows for sections where enemies are not immediately alerted to be completed without raising the alarm; this is sometimes necessary to save civilians who have been taken hostage by PMC troops.

Raiden has four slots for set items, and as in most Metal Gear games, bringing up the item menu pauses the game. The first slot is for Nanorepair Paste (the game's version of the ration) or FC-restoring Electrolyte Packs, the second for the drum can, cardboard box and a selection of grenades and rocket launchers, the third for Raiden's primary weapon, and the fourth for secondary weapons which are unlocked by defeating bosses.

Defeating enemies, completing ranked stages and picking up items provides Raiden with Battle Points (BP), which can be spent in the customization menu accessed by the Codec screen. From here, BP can be spent on new weapons, upgrades to Raiden's cyborg body, new moves, and so on.

Pre-announcement
Prior to Metal Gear Solid: Rising 's announcement in 2009, the concept of Raiden getting a starring role in Metal Gear Solid 5 was jokingly stated by Rosemary and Raiden in the Secret Theater film Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser, which was included in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. At the time the film was released, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was considered to be the last game in the Metal Gear franchise. Coincidentially, some things Raiden did in that film (ie, undergoing a Terminator-style HUD scan of Naked Snake and escaping via a drum can) were incorporated into Metal Gear Rising.

Original version and cancellation
For more information, see Metal Gear Solid: Rising.

Hideo Kojima officially announced Metal Gear Solid: Rising at Microsoft's E3 2009 press conference, after running various countdowns for the announcement on a Konami website. Originally set between the events of Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4, Rising was going to explain how Raiden became the character that he did in Metal Gear Solid 4. Rising was actually not Kojima's idea. It was his staff.

At E3 2010, the debut trailer for the game was shown, featuring Raiden facing off against a robotic soldier bearing a similar appearance to members of the Beauty and the Beast Unit, based on an unused concept by Yoji Shinkawa for Metal Gear Solid 4, which appears in the Master Art Works book.

Believing the project would not get completed, Kojima secretly cancelled Rising. Prior to the cancellation, however, the boss concepts and the script was completed.

Platinum Games' involvement
On December 10, 2011, Kojima unveiled a new trailer of the game at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards. The new trailer unveiled the new look for the game, and formally announced to the world that the game was being developed by Platinum Games, known for making more action oriented games like Bayonetta and Vanquish. The trailer featured a starkly different tone to previous Metal Gear trailers, featuring a more hard rock driven soundtrack and less emphasis on the stealth aspects with more focus on the newer, action orientated style of gameplay. One such aspect featured Raiden fighting a Metal Gear RAY, grabbing a hold of one of its "arms" and throwing into the air. Another sequence showcased Raiden fighting an unknown enemy on a speeding train in a tunnel, with Raiden running along the walls of the tunnel to keep up with the train. The last seconds of the trailer revealed a new tagline and logo for the game; the new tagline being "Revenge with a Vengeance" which was cut to simply say "Revengeance." The new logo revealed the game was now simply titled Metal Gear Rising, with the subtitle Revengeance below it. In addition, the KojiPro Report also revealed that the plot setting had changed to be happening after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4, and that Platinum Games would end up using the opportunity to create content based on their own ideas. Two days later, Kojima tweeted, "We're only said that the period setting is several years after MGS4. Metal Gear Rising is not part of the Metal Gear Solid series. At the present, we can't say more than this."

On December 13, Kojima and Platinum Games producer Atsushi Inaba attended a special Metal Gear Rising Q&A session. They talked about the reason behind Kojima Productions' absence in the development of the game. According to Kojima, by the time development started, he allowed his younger staff to develop the game by themselves and took a hands-off approach. That didn't turn out too well, as the less-experienced staff decided to develop a game in which Raiden could cut anything, including enemies, large vehicles and buildings. Although they weren't too clear on the timeline, Kojima said Platinum Games started work on the title in late 2010/early 2011. Kojima also said that while he had considered many different developers to work the game, even Western ones, he thought a Japanese developer would do it best since the focus of the game was the katana. Kojima joked that if he had let a Western developer work on the game, he might come back a year later and found out that they had attached a gun to a chainsaw as the main weapon.

On January 5, 2012, Kojima told Game Rant, "Raiden in MGS4 was received very well, and I wanted to keep going with that direction in Rising. The people who liked him in 4 will like him in this, but it's a personal preference."

In a Kojima Productions podcast released on January 26, 2012, the staff confirmed the following:
 * The disparity of Raiden between Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Rising would be explained.
 * There was a new zan-datsu system, which had been tweaked and rebalanced for quick gameplay.
 * Instead of the player hiding from enemies, enemies would hide from the player in order to ambush them.
 * Metal Gear Rising would have Codec conversations, and there might be more Codec conversations in the game than in Metal Gear Solid 4.
 * Cutting up anything would still be part of the game.
 * There were two methods of cutting: a quick cut and a more strategic cutting method, the latter allowing the player to cut through specific areas of the enemies' body.

Leaked concept artwork for the game indicated that Raiden would have gotten into a car chase with a police car (presumably the vivisected Denver Police Department car seen in the key art). In the TGS 2012 story trailer for Metal Gear Rising, Raiden was briefly seen driving a car through a street in what was implied to be Mexico.

Inaba stated that he wanted "...everyone to be happy that Platinum Games got involved." He also said that his job was to take the concept and make something fun, and that he wanted to meet Hideo Kojima's expectations, but he wanted to do what he wanted to do. "If my team wasn't passionate about Metal Gear Solid, then we wouldn't have been able to start the project." Inaba said that he was aiming to make the game fun, and have depth and high speed action.

Since the shift in developer, the concept of zan-datsu has been downplayed, and the game focuses more of a "cutting feels good" mentality. The gameplay is less stealth oriented, and is more akin to Platinum Games' other projects (most notably Vanquish) where the player will take on large groups of enemies, ranging from cyborgs soldiers, Gekko, and a new look Metal Gear RAY with blades on its arms. One notable aspect of the game is that it featured no human enemies. All the soldiers Raiden face are cyborgs. This was done in order to avoid having the game be banned in Japan. The stealth component was the first thing that was removed by Platinum. Kojima revealed that he had always been against stealth in the game as neither he, nor his staff, felt that stealth and high speed action would work together. The E3 2012 trailer did, however, show that the planned predator stealth system was retained to some degree, as one part of the trailer had Raiden being behind a pillar that a soldier was standing guard at and then promptly cutting it down and killing the unsuspecting soldier in the process. Similarly, both the trailer and the demo also had Raiden impaling a cyborg soldier from behind. The E3 2012 trailer featured the song "Wrong" by Depeche Mode.

Kojima also confirmed Metal Gear Rising would run at 60 frames per second, something he personally requested. The original version of the game was to run at 30 frames per second. They also stated that the game would no longer be running on the Fox Engine. Hideki Kamiya, the director of Bayonetta, denied having any involvement in the development of Metal Gear Rising.

In an interview with Famitsu, Kojima revealed that Metal Gear Rising would be playable at E3 2012. In another interview with CNN, Kojima stated, "If this game becomes hugely successful and popular, then we might make it into a franchise."

In a podcast, it was revealed that Platinum Games' involvement in the game was primarily the gameplay engine for cutting things up, and that story development and control was still done by Kojima Productions. In addition, the main writer for the story itself was Etsu Tamari, who had previously written the various Codec and Briefing file conversations in Peace Walker.

On April 24, Quinton Flynn tweeted, "Had the pleasure of working with John Cygan, Benito Martinez & Christina Puccelli today under the direction of the esteemed Kris Zimmerman!" implying that Solidus Snake and Sunny was going to appear in the game. Although Sunny does appear in the game, Solidus himself does not actually appear in the game itself, although he is mentioned throughout the story. Instead, Solidus appeared in the live action trailers leading up to the E3 2012 demonstration of Metal Gear Rising.

In an interview during PAX Prime 2012, Metal Gear Rising was confirmed to be canon.

On November 4, Korekado told Computer and Video Games, "It was obvious we had to go to Platinum, but it's still in the Metal Gear Solid timeline. The cutscenes are looked over by Kojima Productions and the script is written by us, so they resemble something very similar to what you'll have experienced in the past. And now we finally have something to show to the fans."

On December 12, Korekado told Kotaku that Metal Gear Rising wouldn't be released on the Wii U. According to Korekado, the reason was: "We really developed the game based on these two consoles [PS3, 360] and the Wii U, we think, is unique in a way that the controller is innovative and the entire console's pretty much not hand-in-hand with the consoles that we're making it for now. So if were [sic] going to make it for the Wii U we'd have to start from zero again and really design something for that console, so we could say 100% that it was a good game for this console." When asked if the game's engine could run on the Wii U, Korekado responded, "I haven't really tried it, so I'm not quite sure."

Kojima implied on his Twitter account that he was working on a trailer, with a screencap that has recording stalls and a screen that said "cutting soon." He later confirmed that he was working on at least two trailers for Metal Gear Rising, the first of which he had already finished, and the second he'd have to finish after New Year's.

Metal Gear Rising is the first game since Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater to have the player save via Codec/radio. In addition, although Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4 previously had one character saying "fuck" once (EVA and Laughing Octopus, respectively, the former being toned down to "Go to Hell" during localization), and the Nintendo Entertainment System version of Metal Gear had a password to send the player to the final boss without weapons or equipment called "FUCKM E1111 11111 11111 11111", Metal Gear Rising has multiple characters using the word and related words more than once. Although various official materials, including the novelization for Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2, the Metal Gear Sagas DVD timeline, and the timeline included in the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database referenced the event, Metal Gear Rising is also the first Metal Gear game to directly reference 9/11 since Metal Gear Solid 2 was released in the aftermath of the event. Similarly, it is also the first game to directly reference the subsequent War on Terror. There was also a reference to the axis of evil late into the game.

On January 11, 2013, a new trailer for Metal Gear Rising was announced for release at 5 PM Pacific Time on GameSpot on January 14.

On January 17, 2013, Kojima told IGN that "for the spin-off, we wanted to have variety, and I wanted to expand our reach to gamers who like hack-and-slash and hope to get accepted there as well." Kojima also told IGN, "Besides, if I had created the game and directed it, it wouldn't have been this game. I am very happy to see the growth in my team and how they have developed such an incredible game."

On February 5–6, 2013, Kojima posted on his Twitter account that he was producing a new trailer for Metal Gear Rising, where he claimed that he's saving up on time by listening to his iPod, and that it would take him 1–2 hours to finish the trailer. In addition, he also stated that the trailer won't have any lines. He also implied that he was going to use Hollywood to create the trailer due to global standards.

In February 2013, a screencap was leaked showing the results screen. It was debated as to whether the screencap was showing the final tally of the game or simply the results screen of the level. Inaba eventually gave his input, citing his disappointment that some people used the screencap to react negatively to the game and make a commotion about it.

In February 2013, Kojima told Outside Xbox that Metal Gear Rising was a continuation of Metal Gear Solid 4, but it was Platinum Games' interpretation of the Metal Gear story and world. He added that because the story was different than what he had in mind for what would happen after Metal Gear Solid 4, he considered it to be both a parallel story and a continuation.

On February 22, 2013, Kojima told SPOnG, "Honestly, I've been making games for 25 years and the state that this game was in when it went to Platinum... was really a mess! The fact that they were able to pull it off is very impressive." He added, "Platinum makes excellent games, there's no arguing about that - but they're not very good at honouring schedules. I made it clear that in order to succeed on a worldwide scale, you not only have to make a good product, but you also have to keep a tight schedule. This time, they came through and delivered the product on time. I think even [Hideki] Kamiya-san was surprised!"

Staff
Metal Gear Rising was directed by Bayonetta 's main programmer, Kenji Saito.

Hideo Kojima was the supervising director for the game.

Yuji Korakado supervised the title for Kojima Productions alongside Platinum Games' Atsushi Inaba.

Platinum Games handled all the game design and coding duties working around the story, cutscenes and voice acting sessions put together by Kojima Productions. They used the extensive character design work carried out by Kojima Productions' Yoji Shinkawa.

The story itself, however, was written by Kojima Prductions, more specifically by Etsu Tamari, who had previously written the briefing files for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

Konami GM Martin Scheider explained: "Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a new direction. There was the urge for something new and thus Inaba-san's unrivalled knowledge of the action genre, and Korekado-san's knowledge of the Metal Gear Solid universe, combined with Kojima Productions' standard for excellence ensures Metal Gear Rising: Revenegeance is in safe hands."

Music
See Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Vocal Tracks.

In stark contrast to prior Metal Gear games, Metal Gear Rising has several vocalized music pieces playing throughout various points of the game, mostly in major boss battles. During boss battles, when the player has whittled down most of the bosses health, a vocalized piece of the boss battle will play during the remainder of the battle. The boss music and its lyrics also ties in to some aspects to their characters: For example, LQ-84i's boss theme, "I Am My Own Master Now," refers to his forced servitude to Desperado and his desire to be free from their command and harness his full capabilities. Jamie Christopherson composed the soundtrack and score for the game featuring vocals by artists including John Bush, Tyson Yen, Free Dominguez with Contributions by Logan Mader, The Maniac Agenda, and Ferry Corsten.

Marketing
Metal Gear Rising: Revegeance was released on February 19, 2013 in North American and Europe, February 21, 2013 in Japan, and February 22, 2013 in the UK and Ireland, and on February 26, 2013 in Australia on PS3 and Xbox 360. The Metal Gear Rising Rising: Revengeance Speical Edition was released 6, Decmeber 2013 exclusively to PS3 and Japan. The PC version was released worldwide on January 8. 2014.

On September 12, 2012, it was announced that Japanese Xbox 360 version of Metal Gear Rising had been cancelled. No reason was given for the cancellation. Kojima then told Eurogamer that the Xbox 360 version will be an exclusive to the West. Due to the cancellation, the demo of the game was not included in the Japanese Xbox 360 version of Zone of the Enders: HD Collection.

Demos
There were several demos released during the development process.

The E3 demo depicted a VR simulation that utilized the Abkhazia environment at the beginning of the game. It then supplied a new mission upon completion to defeat cyborgs, and also track down a terminal and access it before fighting a Gekko upon getting the terminal, and eventually doing a ninja run by fleeing from several Hammerhead choppers in pursuit of Raiden and bombarding a bridge, before he eventually faces them in a square ruined area. This demo was in fact the first build of Metal Gear Rising, developed for internal testing purposes.

The next demo, initially released as part of Zone of the Enders: HD Collection, and then released on January 22 as part of the PlayStation Network, allowed for the player to undergo a VR training session before doing the main demo. It was largely similar to how the E3 demo had done it, although the environment was closer to how previous Metal Gear games handled VR missions. In the main demo, there is a brief description recapping what happened before the events of the demo. The main demo takes place shortly after the prologue, where Raiden is deployed to Abkhazia to quell as coup getting his mission briefing from Boris, Kevin and Courtney as well as cyborg information from Doktor asking Raiden to collect the left hands of cyborgs as they contain battle and field data. After arrival, he then has to take out several cyborgs who ambushed him via stealth camouflage, eventually cumulating in a cut scene where Raiden, Kevin and Courtney discuss the presence of cyborgs at Abkhazia. Raiden successful makes it to a mansion where Boris contacts Raiden informing and cautioning him about heavily armed cyborgs roaming the area. As well as Mistral. After rescuing a civilian, Raiden gets ambush by more cyborgs and a Gekko. After defeating them, Raiden gets pass the heavily armed forces roaming the area and makes it to his destination The demo then ends with a boss battle against LQ-84i. While dying and malfunctioning, LQ-84i contacts Raiden via codec muttering about there being no freedom. Raiden questions himself to how an AI can know what freedom is. Although the demo ends with the LQ-84i boss fight, the player can exploit a glitch to get over a high area to reach some ruins and a bridge, as well as the surface-to-air missile powerup, indicating that the demo was originally going to stop at the Hammerhead boss battle.

A second demo was also released in Japan. This demo takes place during the prologue featuring Raiden taking on various cyborg whilst protecting the prime minister's limo. After making his way back to the limo, Sundowner eliminates various cyborg bodyguards and kidnaps the prime minister before Raiden could stop him, he was ambushed by a Metal Gear RAY unit. Raiden defeats the Metal Gear and begins to chase Sundowner through the city only to be stopped by the Metal Gear RAY again. The demo ends as soon as Raiden defeats the Metal Gear for good.

Metal Gear Rising decryption site
Main article

In early 2012, an alternate reality game was released to promote Metal Gear Rising. The ARG was based around videos and distorted images and revealed characters, enemies and other information about the game. Updates and passwords unlocking new content were also posted weekly on the official Metal Gear Solid Facebook page and the official Metal Gear Rising Facebook page, generally with hints as to where to locate them.

Xbox Avatar Items
On March 2013, avatar items were released for the Xbox 360. These included outfits based on the cast of Metal Gear Rising.

Piggyback Guide
Like Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4 before it, the strategy guide(s) for Metal Gear Rising were released by Piggyback Guides. It came in two versions: the regular edition and the collector's edition. The latter is largely similar to the former, although it also contained an exclusive 16-page cast gallery with commentary and concept artwork for the cast in the series (ie, Raiden, the Cyborgs, Blade Wolf, Mistral, Monsoon, Samuel Rodrigues, Sundowner, and Steven Armstrong), as well as a Yoji Shinkawa-designed lithograph that was numbered.

Pre-order content
The standard copies of the games received a pre-order bonus if pre-ordered at specific stores. United States buyers received an art book, steel book, Commando Armor DLC, Cyborg Ninja Armor DLC and Fox Blade DLC codes if purchased at GameStop, the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Soundtrack if purchased at Walmart, a T-shirt and the Inferno Armor DLC if purchased at Amazon.com and the White Armor DLC if purchased at Best Buy.

Japanese buyers received pre-order bonuses of either the Commando skin DLC (if brought from GEO), the Inferno Armor DLC (if brought from GameTSUTAYA), the White Armor DLC (if brought at LAWSON), and the Cyborg Ninja Armor DLC (if brought from KONAMISTYLE).

Anybody who pre-ordered Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance from 6 selected Japanese stores received a code to download 1 of 6 special Raiden trading cards to be used in Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops.

European pre-order bonuses came in the form of a steel book with the Commando Armour DLC, or, if purchased at GAME, a limited edition steel book with the Inferno Red Armour DLC instead. The White Armour DLC was given out to anyone who pre-ordered the game from Zavvi or the Limited Edition of the game. The Cyborg Ninja Armor and Fox Blade DLC codes were released in every standard release of the European version.

Australia also received the steel book and Commando Armor from EB Games and the Cyborg Ninja Armor and Fox Blade DLC codes as standard.

Limited Editions
* For 3,000 yen extra.

** Limited to 25,000 units worldwide.

*** Released December 5, 2013 in for 2,480 yen.

Console Bundles
* Official name unknown.

PC version
Early 2013, online retailers Zavvi updated their website and announced that Metal Gear Rising was coming to the PC, with pre-orderings open and a release date for June 2013. The release date arrived and no such game was released. Konami was questioned about this and confirmed that it was a error on Zavvi's behalf and that there is no PC version of Metal Gear Rising as of now, since neither Konami, Kojima Productions nor Platinum Games have announced that there's going to be one. No money was taken out of customer's bank accounts when they pre-ordered the false listing. On December 19, 2013, Konami officially announced the PC version of Metal Gear Rising. The PC version includes the additional DLC missions (VR Missions, Jetstream story and Blade Wolf story), as well as the character armors (Inferno Armor, White Armor, Commando Armor and Cyborg Ninja), and the FOX Blade weapon.

Some new options that were added include:


 * “Cutscenes” added to the Main Menu. Play any and all cutscenes.


 * “Codecs” added to the Main Menu. Play all and any Codec conversation scenes.


 * "Boss Battles" added to the Chapter menu allowing the player to fight any of the 9 bosses without having to do a full mission.


 * “Graphic Options” added to the Options Menu. Allowing to modify resolution, anti-aliasing, etc.

The PC version of Metal Gear Rising is exclusive only to Steam, meaning they will be no physical copies of the game released in stores.
 * New option titled “Zangeki” that will modify the amount of cuts the player can make during gameplay.

Pre-orders for the game began on December 19, 2013 at 18PM (GMT) and received 33% off for 24 hours as a feature in Steam's Holiday sale on the first day, and 20% off discount until launch day. Users could pre-load the game from January 3 until the release date of the game. Metal Gear Rising for the PC was released worldwide on January 9, 2014.

On September 25, 2014, Konami has announced that games company TransGaming Inc. developed and published a Mac OS X version of the Metal Gear Rising PC version. The Mac OS X version was avalible to download from Steam on the same day. Konami has also announced a 15% discount to anyone who downloaded the Mac version of the game. The discount offer ended on September 30, 2014.

Discounts
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was available for discounted prices on the European PlayStation Store starting on April 10, 2014 and ending on May 1, for £11.99/€14.99/AU$21.95 instead of £39.99/€49.99/AU$69.95. A further 10% discount was also issued to PlayStation Plus members. Something similar happened in Japan starting on April 29 that will end on May 5, due to it being Golden Week.

Downloadable content
Main article.

Metal Gear Rising released with five character skins, the Commando Armour, Inferno Armour, White Armour, Cyborg Ninja Armor and MGS4 Raiden Custom Body, available mainly through pre-ordering the game. The Cyborg Ninja Armor came with the Fox Blade weapon. The MGS4 Raiden Custom Body was a pre-order bonus in Japan, and paid DLC elsewhere.

The VR Mission DLC was released in March, 2013 and came with thirty new missions. In addition, the Japanese version included a new variant of the HF Wooden Sword called the "Hebidamashii", which will played clips of Solid Snake's voice.

Two further DLC packs were released, both side-stories to the main singleplayer campaign: Jetstream, starring Samuel Rodrigues and took place before the main campaign, and Blade Wolf, starring the titular AI. Jetstream was released on April 9, while Blade Wolf was released on May 9 in Japan, and May 14 in America.

Jetstream, focused on the circumstances behind Sam joining Desperado/World Marshal. Enemies in the Jetstream DLC had substantially revised AI to make a harder gameplay experience; they are more aggressive, react faster, and have many of their animations altered or sped up to make them less vulnerable.

Blade Wolf, focused on the actions of the LQ-84i immediately prior to his encounter with Raiden at Abkhazia. The story is told as a flashback and a story he told Sunny Emmerich, sometime after Raiden defeated Steven Armstrong. A new character, Khamsin, and acts as the final boss of the storyline (as well as the sole boss battle).

Reception
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was well received by critics. Metacritic gave the PS3 version a metascore of 80, while the Xbox 360 version got a metascore of 82. GameRankings gave the PS3 version an average of 78.27%, while the Xbox 360 version got an average of 83.19%.

GameSpot gave Metal Gear Rising a 8.5 saying, "Revengeance may not play like a typical Metal Gear game, but Raiden's character arc justifies almost every change to the old formula. It's a beneficial dynamic, and the game's biggest success overall. It ultimately test the hypothesis that there's more to the series than just Snakes and sneaking behind enemy lines, and for the most part, it passes the test." Eurogamer gave the game a 9 saying, "As things stands it's still brilliant, staking out new territory in the genre and adapting certain Metal Gear characterisitics so well that it makes the competition look outrageously bad. This is the ultimate one-man show, worth its ticket price many times over, an experience that improves exponentially as it gets faster and as you get better."

IGN gave it an 8.5 saying, "Despite its best efforts, developer Platinum Games sometimes gets in the way of its own pace -- especially for those who aren't into the franchise. However, Rising's troubles are rarely enough to derail the incredible momentum of an always-entertaining, action-oriented Metal Gear spinoff." EGM gave it a 8.0 saying, "After a protracted development process, Platinum Games and Kojima Productions have made good on their promise to make Raiden an acrobatic, ass-kicking action hero. It's an enjoyable, fast-paced thrill ride, but given the track record of these two giants of Japanese game development, you can't help but think that Rising isn't quite all it could've been." Game Informer gave it a 7.75 saying, "However, this title isn't Bayonetta wearing a Metal Gear skin; whether you were hoping for a meaningful expansion of the Metal Gear universe or a gratifying action experience, Revengeance falls short. Brutalizing cyborgs and hacking giant mechs to pieces is fun, but the restrictive design and lack of precision keep Raiden from capturing the best of both worlds."

Potential sequel
On February 22, 2013, Kojima told SPOnG that he would like to make a sequel of Metal Gear Rising. He said that if it does happen, he would like Platinum Games to develop it. Kojima also stated that he would like the sequel to star Gray Fox and have him battle "nano machine-powered zombies." He went on to say that he offered to write the story himself, but Platinum Games did not seem interested. Etsu Tamari, chief story writer for both Metal Gear Rising and the original Metal Gear Solid: Rising has expressed interest in reusing the original idea into the potential sequel.

In August 2013, Konami posted a survey for Metal Gear Rising asking fans if they want a sequel and if so what do they want in the sequel.

At the end of the non-canon Jamais Vu mission in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, if the player has an A ranking, Kazuhira Miller tells Raiden that "maybe we'll see you again", possibly hinting at a sequel of Metal Gear Rising.

Videos
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Official gameplay demos

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