Director Kenji Saito Talks Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Konami and Platinum Games have big plans for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. In addition to the free demo, the publisher will support the game with post-launch DLC that will introduce new characters and missions. The new action take from Platinum Games is a stand-alone experience to whet gamers appetites before Metal Gear Solid 5 is revealed. Game director Kenji Saito talks about Revengeance in this Prima exclusive interview.

Can you talk about the experience Raiden brings to the Metal Gear Solid franchise?

Although it’s very game-design driven, we wanted to emphasize Raiden’s character in the game. We wanted to show the players what Raiden was feeling and each battle; that’s the part where you can feel the lust in all that. Throughout the game, we wanted to show that there’s a battle of wills.

Whether it be Raiden’s will to protect the weak, or all the bosses that surround him. They all have wills and the reasons that they became bosses and cyborgs fighting against Raiden.

How does this battle of wills play out?

In the end, we wanted to accumulate all these ideas, ideologies, and wills, and show this to the players, and have them decide what is the best ideology. Unless we show this and approach it in the way that we did, it would have been hard to show the character in the way we did. We wanted to have the story-driven elements in there for the character.

Could explain what the Zan-Datsu means and how it plays within the game?

It’s very apparent what Zan-Datsu does as a game mechanic, but we want to have the fans and also look at the messaging behind it. Raiden has to live on by doing Zan-Datsu. He has to cut and take energy to move on and live on. This is whether it be gaining energy or life to live on, or gathering energy to maximize his Blade mode time.

There’s a lot of messaging behind this, too. As a game mechanic, it’s also apparent that you need to use Blade mode and cut through to Zan-Datsu. It’s a great game mechanic, but there’s a lot of messaging behind it as well.

How have you designed this game for all gamers?

I think all kinds of people can enjoy Metal Gear Rising: Revengence, whether they’re beginners or experts.