Metal Slug Tactics brings the classic franchise back as a turn-based tactical RPG

Metal Slug is a beautifully beloved franchise among the long and storied library of SNK arcade classics, but we haven’t seen it in quite a while. That drought is about to come to an end in a very curious way. The franchise is making a return under Dotemu and Leikir Studios in an all-new turn-based tactical RPG: Metal Slug Tactics.

We got our first look at Metal Slug Tactics during the Summer Game Fest showcase on June 10, 2021, complete with a new trailer. In association with SNK, Metal Slug Tactics looks like it bleeds the proper aesthetic of Metal Slug in a new isometric tactical turn-based RPG style. Players will use familiar Metal Slug fighters Marco, Eri, Fio, and Tarma as the intrepid squad uses pistols, grenades, machine guns, armored vehicles, air strikes, and more to absolutely annihilate enemy forces and save prisoners in turn-based strategic combat.

The sheer drip of style shown in gameplay segments of Metal Slug Tactics was readily available from the get-go between the stylish animation of the trailer. It looks like we’ll be able to utilize all sorts of fun mechanics. There will be destructive environments like bridges, which can be damaged enough that they’ll collapse and severely damage anything caught underneath them. There will also be things like Sync, in which your combatants will be able to link up their abilities to focus down foes in various ways in with powerful team attacks. Finally, we saw various forms of elevation in this game not confined to things like bridges. There was a part where we saw Marco run along the rooftops of a building to toss a grenade at a foe on an adjacent building’s rooftop.

With so much arcade nostalgia returning in an all-new and cool way, Metal Slug Tactics is looking like an experience no fan of the franchise can afford to miss. We don’t have a release date yet, but stay tuned as we await further details from Dotemu and Leikir Studio in the hopefully near future. Be sure to check out the game and wishlist it on Steam as well.