Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced that it will release a playable demo of the eagerly-awaited METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE via PlayStation(R)Network and Xbox LIVE(R) Marketplace on January 23rd in most European countries.

The three-stage demo will offer users a chance to experience the sheer level of control the game’s Zan-Datsu combat system offers ahead of its full release for PlayStation(R)3 and Xbox 360(R) on February 21st/22nd. METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE is a co-production between Kojima Productions and PlatinumGames, and moves the series into all-action territory, blending unrelenting action and the franchise’s epic storytelling.

The new game features Raiden as its central character, and is set in a near future where cyborg technology has become commonplace throughout society. Following the events of METAL GEAR SOLID 4: Guns of the Patriots which oversaw the collapse of the Patriots hierarchy that had been secretly controlling the global power balance, the large ‘Private Military Companies’ (PMCs) that had been supported and controlled by the Patriots have collapsed, spawning countless rogue entities.

METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE begins with Raiden working for an agency protecting an African Prime Minister as he looks to engineer a better future for his country, only to be attacked by cyborg swordsmen, who then turn attention to Raiden. What follows is a classic story of revenge and hope, as Raiden uses his High Frequency Blade to exact bloody revenge on those that stand between him and those that wronged him. The demo gives players their first use of Raiden’s new cyborg body and a blade that can cut through virtually anything with total freedom, raising anticipation for one of 2013’s most anticipated action titles.