There’s something very satisfying (and fun) about watching a guard walk past you without realizing you were standing just a few feet away. If that’s the kind of stealth you love in your video games, Steam has a new experience you’d want to check out right now.

Intravenous 3: Borderline, a free standalone prologue to the upcoming Intravenous 3, already has players comparing its stealth-heavy gameplay to games like Metal Gear Solid V—and for good reason. The best part, however, is that you can play it without having to commit to a price tag. The prologue launched on October 2, giving players a chance to experience a trailer of what the developers have been working on with Intravenous 3.

For some context about the plot, Borderline puts you in control of Gideon, a mercenary who barely survived his previous confrontation with Steve. After being hired to protect a corrupt politician, Gideon is left with very little after everything falls apart. Now, he has a trail leading back to the people responsible and a pretty straightforward reason to follow it: revenge. This setup plays out across two full missions in Borderline, which serve as an introduction to Gideon’s story and the direction Intravenous 3 is taking.

Similarities to Metal Gear become prominent in the ways you’re expected to approach each situation. Intravenous has always been built around stealth, but it isn’t the kind of game where hiding behind a wall automatically solves everything. You have to pay attention to guards, think about your positioning, and decide when it’s worth taking someone out. And, just like Metal Gear Solid V, things can get messy very quickly when your plan falls apart.

It’s worth noting that Intravenous 3: Borderline, despite being just a prologue, is much more punishing than the Metal Gear experience. One mistake can turn a carefully planned infiltration into a desperate scramble for survival. So, the stealth naturally feels more deliberate. Instead of simply sneaking around because the game tells you to, you’d be doing it to avoid getting caught and facing serious consequences.

The original Intravenous game was already described by its developers as a stealth game but also a tactical hardcore gunplay for players who don’t want to find a quiet way in. Borderline carries the same vibe, where stealth and combat are closely tied together. Interestingly, that’s also part of what made Metal Gear Solid V so enjoyable. Its missions gave players plenty of room to decide how they wanted to deal with enemy positions, whether that meant carefully sneaking through or improvising when everything inevitably went wrong.

Then again, Borderline obviously isn’t trying to recreate The Phantom Pain on a smaller budget, and you shouldn’t expect an enormous open world or dozens of hours of content. This is a compact prologue designed to give you a taste of what’s coming. It’s free, it’s built around tactical stealth, and it gives you two proper missions rather than throwing a tiny demo at you and calling it a day.

If you’ve been missing that feeling of studying an enemy position, figuring out a route, and hoping your plan survives contact with the first guard, Intravenous 3: Borderline deserves a spot on your Steam library. And considering you don’t have to pay anything to find out whether the Metal Gear comparisons are justified, there’s really no reason not to give it a shot.

Brand

Valve

Original Release Date

September 12, 2003