The story fleshes out several narrative elements that had gone unexplained in previous games, such as the origin of the Fighting Thunder project and the Crystals' motives.

Aboard the VCD flagship, the Bellwether, commanding officer Richard "Max" Maxwell (voiced by Xander Mobus[3] in English) and communications officer Eshiria Portman (Rina Hoshino) lament that the VCD and the Fighting Thunders are being held back during what they consider a Crystal contamination far bigger than in the past.

After receiving the long-awaited attack order, Fighting Thunder assists the North American army, defeating a battleship that was taken over by the Crystals.

Max and Eshiria receive word from VCD's Middle East branch that there is major Crystal activity in the region.

With this suspicion, Max orders an SOS call to the French shipping port, even under the doubts of his superior, international peace councilor Helga Lindenbaum (Laura Post).

After defeating the contaminated ship, Valbarossa Hawkeye, who reveals herself to be a woman, joins Max and Eshiria and boards the Bellwether.

Valbarossa Hawkeye reveals her client to be Lieutenant Walter Erick Campbell (Erik Scott Kimerer), head of VCD's weapons development division and a researcher for the SHIFT organization.

However, Max says in response that he, being on the front lines, and the rest of the world know how dangerous the Crystals are, since they contaminated Valbarossa Hawkeye's flagship.

The data that Fighting Thunder relayed to the Bellwether reveals that the large Crystals detected within the planet are made up of the same composition as water.

Max, Eshiria, and Valbarossa Hawkeye realized that the Crystals' attacks over the past 17 years were not a normal alien invasion.

Another ending has the Bellwether unable to return to Earth due to damage sustained during the final battle, but with the Earth celebrating the Fighting Thunder victory over the Crystals in their homeworld, Helga sends a rescue ship that will come for them in a month, and Max cautions everyone to stay vigilant in case of another attack in the future.

Raiden V was released to generally favorable reviews, according to Metacritic, which provided aggregated scores of 75 and 73 for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions, respectively.