When players think of video games, a few famous game series come into mind, such as the adventure of becoming a master trainer in Pokemon, the story of traversing through the roleplay game Final Fantasy, or the stealth mechanics in Metal Gear Solid. Contrary to what Metal Gear Solid is all about, its newest game is the complete opposite of stealth.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is the most recent Metal Gear game, and was released for PC January 9th. The game is a collaboration by Konami and Platinum Games, which is responsible for hit games such as Bayonetta, Viewtiful Joe, and Okami.

Metal Gear Rising takes place four years after Metal Gear Solid IV, starring the child soldier-turned-cyborg Raiden. The game focuses around Desperado, a company who starts wars and provides security to both sides to make a profit, and how far people will go to achieve their goals.

This game is much more than a hack-and-slash game; it requires a lot of strategy and focus. One example of this has to be parrying and counter-parrying attacks. Instead of just holding a button, you have to move in the direction of the attack and press a button, repeating the action for every attack in a combo. Counter-parrying allows time to slow down and finish a kill, but only if you parry the attack with perfect timing. Just defending yourself in Metal Gear Rising is a brand new science, and it takes a bit of practice to get the technique down.

Metal Gear Rising‘s plot is so intense that it’s absurd. Slicing through gigantic robots isn’t enough; Raiden has to run on missiles flying at him and dash down a vertical clock tower to chop the giant into pieces. Story-wise, Metal Gear Rising is full of action with various twists and turns, and a bit of comedy to spice things up. One complaint that players like to use against the Metal Gear series is that its games are too serious, but that certainly isn’t the case.

A bonus of buying this game for the PC is that you also get two DLCs, one playing as Raiden’s partner-in-crime Blade Wolf and one with antagonist Jetstream Sam. Metal Gear Rising is available on Steam for just thirty dollars.

Despite the initial difficulty of getting adjusted to how the game is played, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is incredible. Each character has unique personalities to make you fall in love, the setting is constantly changing so the appearance doesn’t get too boring, and the stories behind each detail makes the game so much more than just a video game – Metal Gear Rising is an experience you’ll refuse to put down.