Metal Slug Tactics

Metal Slug Tactics is a turn-based tactics game with roguelite structure. Instead of running sideways through waves of enemies as in the earlier Metal Slug games, a small team moves across a grid and fights General Morden's army. Pixel art, characters and enemies carry over the familiar action series look.

Metal Slug Tactics was released on Nov 5, 2024 for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. All six versions hit the market on the same day.

The tactics game was released natively for PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series. Steam lists it as a single-player title. A native Switch 2 version is not among the releases announced by Dotemu.

Every mission requires you to coordinate the positions of your three characters, enemy attack routes and the use of special abilities. Movement is part of the attack system: whoever positions the team skilfully triggers supporting attacks and uses cover and weapon range. The battles combine precise planning with the pace of the original series.

A digital soundtrack by Tee Lopes was released separately for the game. The music pack contains no additional missions or playable characters and is not equivalent to an expansion of the campaign.

For Windows 10, Steam lists minimum requirements of an Intel Core i5-2550K or AMD FX-6300, 8 GB RAM, a GeForce GT 730 or Radeon HD 7570, DirectX 11 and 4 GB of free storage space. Recommended are, among others, 12 GB RAM and a GeForce GTX 650 Ti or Radeon HD 7770.

Nine fighters from the Metal Slug universe are available, including members of the Peregrine Falcons and the Ikari Warriors. Clark Still moves enemies with his strength, Ralf Jones specialises in close combat and Leona Heidern works with distraction and extra allies. Your choice determines which team abilities work together.

Metal Slug Tactics combines 110 handmade map sections with 20 mission types. Different layouts and objectives change the tactical starting position between runs. General Morden's forces also field large boss enemies.

New runs start with changed challenges. Victories in battles unlock extra equipment and upgrades, which change future team setups. As a result, the focus is not on playing through a fixed mission sequence once, but on experimenting with tactics.

The equipment includes 36 weapons and 176 weapon modifications. There are also 36 loadouts, which let you tailor abilities and team roles to different battles. Not every combination suits every map type or enemy.

The characters and explosions are shown in animated pixel graphics. The soundtrack comes from Tee Lopes, who provides the music for the tactical battles. The game thus stays close to the series' arcade tradition in look and sound, while the controls are fully turn-based.

The Steam version partly supports controllers and offers a German user interface. The game is designed for single-player sessions. Progress and save games can be synced on Steam via Steam Cloud.