What is Metal Slug Tactics?

If you combine the run and gun style of Metal Slug and combine it with the tactical, turn based strategy gameplay of Into The Breach, you would be left with Metal Slug Tactics. A modern take on the Metal Slug franchise that sees it move away from the only genre it has known since the 90’s with the exception of some mobile spin offs. Similar to how every game eventually embraced RPG elements, Metal Slug Tactics is embracing roguelite elements that stay true to the series roots of dying often and restarting levels.

Metal Slug Tactics is being developed by indie studio Leikir who is based out of France and consists of about 20 people. Speaking with IGN, DotEmu CEO said “Into The Breach was of course a big inspiration. It’s smaller scale, its a bit quicker, there’s this arcade feel that goes along very nicely with Metal Slug”

Just like Into The Breach, roguelite elements will see you earn character XP and money that you can use for new weapons and abilities for use in future runs. Into the Breach had very small missions with an end result in around 6 turns and you can expect a familiar structure with MST as missions will rarely take more than 9 turns to complete.

Where Into The Breach fell short in the story department, this is one area that Leikir is excited about according to the CEO “it was one of the things that was really important for us. One really cool thing about the tactics genre is we have much more space to tell stories. Metal Slug has a huge background universe with a really cool story but most fans don’t know because they don’t have space in the run and gun series”

When Is Metal Slug Tactics Coming Out?

As for the release date, when talking about it in August 2021, “Its a bit early to us to tell but its going well so the wait should not be too long” As a console exclusive on Switch, there is one major red flag that might suggest it might not be coming in 2022 at all. In Nintendos annual earnings report for FY22, when listing some of the upcoming first party, third party and indie games, they had listed TMNT: Shredders Revenge and Advance Wars 1+2: Reboot Camp, but not listed for the remainder of the year was Metal Slug Tactics. This isn’t a concrete list by any means and things are constantly in a state of flux, but its not a ideal situation if you are hoping for Metal Slug Tactics.

If you want to look at it more optimistically, then Metal Slug Tactics was initially revealed at Summer Game Fest 2021, and with Summer Game Fest 22 just around the corner, there is a good chance that it could get a release date there. It seems like a indie title of high profile that would justify a coveted spot.

***AUGUST 2022 UPDATE***

Sadly, in August 2022, Publisher Dotemu posted “the squad needs a bit more time in the shop to prepare for the battles ahead. See you in 2023!”