Speaking with Polygon, chief story writer Etsu Tamari said:
“We don’t directly explain why Sam works with Desperado in the main story. So that content goes a little bit more into detail on it. The Blade Wolf sub-story depicts a mission it’s running with Mistral before the encounter with Raiden. Both of them serve as prequels to their roles in the main game.”
Tamari also discussed Blade Wolf side with Raiden later on in the story, “I told people that a cyborg needs a canine partner, and I stood really firm on that. I had trouble figuring out what sort of position it would take in the game, and eventually I came up with the idea that Raiden would take over the ‘teacher’ role for Blade Wolf, the way that Snake was his mentor in MGS2.”
