I have always really liked Metal Slug games but I would never have thought that they would release a Tactics game with the characters. Seems like a cash grab and during Steam Nextfest, I was here for it. I am 100% blinded by nostalgia and am really hoping for the game to be good. This week I see if my favorite childhood arcade game is ran into the ground. This week is Metal Slug Tactics.

Metal Slug Tactics is a tactical RPG from Leikir Studio and published by Dottemu and Gamera Games. The game is to be released in Q4 of 2024 for all modern consoles.

I never really understood Metal Slug lore to be able to even remotely come close to talking about it but this time around a big baddie, Donald Morden, from the rebel army has escaped and is running rampant after staging a coup. Running low on resources the world government has again contracted help from the famous Metal Slug front runners: Marco Rossi, the major of the P.F Squad. Tarma Roving, Eri Kasamoto, Fio Germi, and I imagine many many more heroes from millions of Metal Slug games that were released over the years.

Go out, take out the rebel army and everything it stands for in an action rogue-lite fashion.

The gameplay is tied to pretty much every tactics game ever made, this time it is with Metal Slug characters. You have a route to choose and those battles have specific rewards for the player/characters amid victory. Things like extra ammo, abilities, etc are some of the rewards the player can see after winning a battle.

Each battle in the demo allowed me to bring three characters who have their own specific weapons (primary and secondary), and passive and special battlefield abilities. When dropped in you are reminded that this game is not your typical Metal Slug game as the battlefield has an isometric view on a grid. You are allowed to place your heroes anywhere on the map and when you are ready to go they drop you right into the action.

When you drop in, Metal Slug Tactics will usually inform the player of any kind of side tasks that you can do for more rewards: kill everyone, kill two with one grenade, etc. At the end of the stage rewards will be given out. After everyone has moved there is a point in which abilities can be used, which will involve damaging enemies. The mechanic that Metal Slug Tactics introduces is SYNC, which is when an ally an also attack on another hero’s turn when in range of the hero attacking.

Sync is a system that really lets players dish out massive amounts of damage if coordinate correctly on the battlefield.

After the stage is cleared (or failed) experience is divided up amongst the heroes and when they level up random passive or special abilities can be chosen to further power up the hero. Passives like extra spaces, more healing to extra damage, and extra damage are all present to choose from, while completely different attacks can be chosen to suit the player’s play style.

If you were a fan of Metal Slug games then I imagine that you would love the look of Metal Slug Tactics. The pixel art style is taken right from arcade games. Everything has the Metal Slug style, from the battlefield to the end stage screen, the homage to the original games is ever-present.

Just like the graphics, the sound design takes me back to when I was a kid. I remember bopping my head to the soundtrack while at the arcade cabinets and I am back to bopping my head while at my computer screen. Though the game creates a story centered around the crisis, the music really creates a comfy, static atmosphere.

Metal Slug Tactics was fun though I really felt like it was way harder than it should have been. I really don’t play tactic games very often, but a lot of the time I felt like I was getting punished for not perfecting the “SYNC” mechanic. Enemies deal a lot more damage than you and there are usually four times as many baddies as there are heroes, so not getting a kill at least every turn is detrimental to the outcome of the stage. There was one level where you had to stop a canon from firing on civilians and that required you to dodge infinitely firing canons every two turns. Now imagine having to dodge canons that deal massive damage, dodging four times the enemies, and reinforcements, and remembering that you have to kill the bad guys too! It was just way too much to keep track of and do perfectly. Impossible.

I liked the idea of a Metal Slug tactic game. I like the unique abilities that every character had, I liked the “SYNC” system, and the roguelike abilities and such. I like the idea of a tactic game with some of my favorite series protagonists beating back the bad guys and saving the world.

Metal Slug Tactics is a game that I unknowingly wanted. I just hope that it becomes less punishing.