Composed over a period of six months starting in November 2011, Christopherson worked with several other artists such as Logan Mader to create 13 heavy metal tracks for the game, some of which were assigned to specific characters and are adaptive to the gameplay.

[1] Due to the scale of the project, Christopherson enlisted the help of other artists to sing and write the game's vocal tracks, such as former Machine Head guitarist Logan Mader, electronic DJ Ferry Corsten, Voodoo Highway singer Graeme Cornies, Jason Charles Miller, and remixers Maniac Agenda.

[5] A total of 13 tracks were composed for the game, and by the end of development, around 700 gigabytes worth of files were transferred back-and-forth between Christopherson and Naoto Tanaka, Platinum's music director.

[5][6] A notable example occurs in the game's opening sequence, where the vocal of the track "Rules of Nature" is scripted to begin at the moment the player character Raiden parries a Metal Gear Ray.

[6] A staff review for AllMusic described the soundtrack as a "driving and hectic blend of electronica and hard rock" that helps "get players in the right headspace to play as katana-wielding cyborgs".

[6] McCrae observed that "each song perfectly encapsulates the character it represents",[6] giving as examples "The Only Thing I Know For Real" and "It Has To Be This Way" for their underscoring of Jetstream Sam's struggle with loss of identity and Senator Armstrong's forced conflict with Raiden respectively.

McCrae's views on "The Only Thing I Know For Real" were echoed by former Kotaku writer Heather Alexandra[9] in her book Rules of Nature, noting how the track emphasizes the fact that Sam doesn't "even know the reason they are holding their weapon".