I don't think this game should be called a "paid demo". Of course, it appears to have little content, but only in appearance. A lot of audio recordings, additional tasks, bonus missions, even if they all take place on the same training ground, but this is much more than the usual demo version.
The game itself is a bold step forward in the stealth action genre. Before this project, few people thought that even in the old parts of the "thief", in fact, the levels were built according to a corridor system with many workarounds. What has changed over the years? There were fewer and fewer workarounds, and the corridors became narrower. Kojima literally kicks us out of the helicopter into a huge location with the words “you need to save two people. Figure it out yourself.” And here we have to study the location of the entire base and the nearest territory, find out where the goal is, get there, and at the same time there are absolutely no restrictions on the way, or in the methods of completing the task. And it's great.
But many of you remember that Kojima is a great screenwriter, and in the new part, which delighted the PC platform with his visit, everyone is waiting for a phenomenal story. Many will be disappointed, because the main task has, albeit beautiful and cruel, but only 2-3 plot scenes. The rest has to be obtained in cassettes. And, I advise you, don’t be lazy and get them! These entries are pure gold and are the most interestingly written entries in a game that I know of. Moreover, each of them is valuable not in itself, but as a piece of a puzzle in the character’s story.
What else can you say. A magnificent prologue, proving that even if the full-fledged 5th part is the most disastrous of Kojima’s parts, it will remain a magnificent stealth game, and even such a plot can give us unforgettable moments.
P.S. In one of the bonus missions we are given the opportunity to find and “erase” all the logos of MG games authored by Kojima. Apparently, the conflict between the developer and the publisher was already brewing then, since this “bonus game” is too symbolic, in which you can also hear the words “they can be erased, but they will never be erased from our hearts.” Truly...