Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
=== Setting and characters ===
The events of Metal Gear Rising are set in the year 2018, four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4. The Patriots, a powerful shadow organization running the world's war economy, have been destroyed and Private Military Companies (PMC) have splintered into numerous factions. With the elimination of the Patriot-controlled nanomachine technology used to regulate soldiers' abilities, PMCs turn to advanced cyborg technology, creating durable superhuman soldiers. The player controls Raiden, a former child soldier turned into a cyborg that now works for the PMC Maverick Securities. Raiden is supported by his Maverick colleagues, Russian pointman Boris Popov, military advisor Kevin Washington, computer specialist Courtney Collins, and cybernetics expert Wilhelm "Doktor" Voight. Returning from Metal Gear Solid 4 is Sunny Emmerich, a child prodigy and friend of Raiden working at Solis Space & Aeronautics.
Rival PMC Desperado Enforcement LLC. serve as the game's antagonists; Desperado wants to destabilize peaceful nations and preserve conflict, allowing them to reap the financial rewards and technological advancements of the war economy. Desperado operative Samuel Rodrigues, also known as Jetstream Sam, serves as Raiden's rival with a conversation between the two in the beginning influencing Raiden. Sam is a member of a team of Desperado cyborg assassins named the "Winds of Destruction": Sundowner, Desperado's de facto leader, who wields "Bloodlust", machetes that combine in a large pincer, and who also has a set of reactive armor shields connected to his body; Mistral, the team's only female member, whose frame can support multiple additional arms, allowing her to wield her "L'Etranger" staff that she can use as a whip or halberd; and Monsoon, who uses dual sai called "Dystopia", can manipulate metal objects with magnetism, and can break apart his body into individual components while retaining control over each part through magnetism. LQ-84i, or Bladewolf, is a state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (AI) housed within a quadruped robot who serves initially as Raiden's Desperado-controlled enemy, but is later reprogrammed to aid Raiden and Maverick. Additionally, a Colorado senator and potential Presidential candidate, Steven Armstrong, is involved in Desperado's activities. An additional member of the Winds of Destruction, Khamsin, appears as part of the Bladewolf DLC campaign. The game is a spin-off that is "not part of the Metal Gear Solid series", although it is considered part of the same canon.
=== Plot ===
While providing security detail in an unnamed African country for its prime minister, N'Mani, Maverick operative Raiden and his team are attacked by Desperado, a rogue PMC involved in terrorism. While Raiden fends off Desperado forces, their leader "Sundowner" manages to kidnap and execute N'Mani. Sundowner's comrade, Samuel "Jetstream Sam" Rodriguez, fights and defeats Raiden, severely damaging his cyborg body. Raiden survives, and Doktor later gives him a new black cyborg armor.
Three weeks later, Raiden infiltrates the breakaway nation of Abkhazia after learning that Desperado is leading a military coup there. He plans to capture Andrey Dolzaev, an extremist leading the Abkhazian forces, to force Desperado into standing down. Desperado anticipates the move and assigns a prototype AI designated LQ-84i to stop him. Raiden defeats LQ-84i in combat, and later has it rebuilt as an ally, naming it Bladewolf. He faces further opposition from Mistral, the commander of Desperado's forces in Abkhazia. After Raiden kills Mistral in combat, Dolzaev commits suicide by blowing up an oil tank he is standing on. Maverick assigns Raiden and Bladewolf to investigate a research facility in Guadalajara, Mexico. There, Raiden meets an orphan named George, and learns that George was at the facility to have his brain—along with the brains of several other orphans—surgically removed and shipped to the United States. He learns that Sundowner inspected the facility in the company of Senator Steven Armstrong, creating an alliance between Desperado and World Marshal, another PMC. They plan to condition the children's brains to become killers through VR training and place them inside cybernetic bodies to create new soldiers, similar to Raiden. Raiden rescues George and the unharvested orphans, and takes them to Doktor.
Raiden promptly resigns and with Bladewolf at his side, launches a one-man assault on World Marshal's headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Though he is no longer employed by them, Maverick unofficially approves of his actions and provides discreet support throughout. As he fights his way through the city's privatized police force and Desperado soldiers, Raiden becomes conflicted over those he has killed. The longer he fights, the more he starts regressing towards his aggressive child soldier persona, "Jack the Ripper", before finally embracing it when he encounters Sam and another operative named Monsoon. He kills Monsoon and infiltrates World Marshal's headquarters before locating and killing Sundowner in short order. There, he learns that Armstrong brought World Marshal and Desperado together to exploit Raiden's desire to avenge N'Mani's death. Armstrong used Desperado to distract Raiden while he carries out "Operation Tecumseh": a plan to assassinate the President of the United States during peace negotiations with Pakistan to ensure another War on Terror.
While Doktor recovers the children's brains, Raiden seeks help from the Solis company to reach Pakistan in time to stop Armstrong. He encounters Sam on the way and the pair engage in a final duel from which Raiden emerges victorious. At Solis, Sunny helps Raiden travel to Shabhazabad Air Base in Pakistan, where he is attacked by Metal Gear EXCELSUS, a hexapedal tank piloted by Armstrong. He reveals that his true plan is killing US military personnel at the base as this is enough to agitate the American people. Armstrong, with his connections to the PMCs, would win any subsequent election in a landslide. This would give him free rein to realize his vision of a survival of the fittest society, fighting and dying only for what they believe in. Raiden destroys EXCELSUS, but discovers that Armstrong has augmented himself with nanomachines that give him incredible strength and near-invulnerability, destroying Raiden's blade. Bladewolf intervenes and gives Raiden Sam's sword which allows him to kill Armstrong.
In the epilogue, Maverick receives approval to create a new cyborg staffing firm, allowing them to shelter the orphans' brains and potentially give them a chance at a better life, while George and Bladewolf go live at Solis with Sunny. Although Desperado is defeated and the brain-taking operation defunct, World Marshal remains in business. Afterwards, Raiden decides against rejoining Maverick, having resolved to fight his own war.
revenge, sci-fi