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This is Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, a.k.a the most underrated game in the Metal Gear franchise. Released in 2013, Revengeance takes place four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and has you take control of series regular Raiden as he sets off on a mission to bring down a private military organization planning to profit off of destabilizing peaceful nations–so, basically America.   

Revengeance was developed by Platinum Games, one of my favourite developers. Although if you’re familiar with their history, you’ll know they have a fairly inconsistent track record. Thankfully, they knocked it out of the park with this one. Platinum forgoes the series’ stealth-forward gameplay and focuses on what they do best–making addictively fun, frenetic, and chaotically over-the-top action. A choice that was initially criticized by fans of the series but would eventually pay off for Platinum as the years went on.

Simply looking at gameplay footage might make it seem like this is just hack-and-slash mayhem, but Revengeance is much more than that. Combat revolves around gracefully racking up your combo meter by switching from light and heavy attacks while timing your lifts and special abilities correctly; all the while going in and out of the game’s “Blade Mode,” where you slow things down and dismember enemy limbs one by one in a cathartically stylish fashion. Though stealth is still an option, it’s far more fun to go in sword ablaze.

Even though this game takes place after the mainline series, don’t worry if you’ve never played any other Metal Gear game. When I played this, I’d only finished some of the Big Boss games like Snake Eater and Peace Walker, so I didn’t know anything about Raiden yet was still more than able to keep up with the game’s story, as, for the most part, it’s very much treated as a one-off. The story itself is pretty all over the place, but honestly, it didn’t matter as I was having way too much fun slicing and dicing my way through enemies and bopping my head to the badass soundtrack. 

Have you played Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!