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Defeat enemies as gently as possible in Metal Gear Rising's challenge mode

The Metal Gear Solid series is well known for its stealth challenges, with kudos and unlockable bonuses available for players who complete a game without raising any alarms or killing any enemies. There'll be no such sneakiness in slash-happy action spin-off Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, but that doesn't mean the game won't have optional challenges of its own to beat.

"We know some previous Metal Gear titles there have been some challenges, like having no kills, complete stealth," creative producer Yuji Korekado told Eurogamer. "We are putting challenges in the game. For example, there is one challenge where you have to go through the game just by defeating the enemies dealing the least amount of damage possible, perhaps by cutting just one limb."

This sort of challenge is made possible by Rising's fiendishly clever "free-cutting" technology, which allows the player to wield their sword and direct each slice manually, using the thumbstick. Obviously you'll be able to go nuts and dice enemies up into sushi cubes, but the option to use a little more finesse and put foes out of action with one well-placed cut sounds very cool as well.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is being developed by Bayonetta and Vanquish developer Platinum Games, with series creator Hideo Kojima watching over the proceedings. It stars Raiden, the cyborg ninja who divided fans with his lead role in Metal Gear Solid 2, and marks a departure from the sneaking and stalking traditionally associated with the Metal Gear name. "We believe we are proving that Metal Gear Solid has many possibilities and we are showing another way of enjoying it," says Korekado. "It's not only stealth. It is still our intention to prove this."

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is out for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in February 2013.