Metal Slug is coming back as a tactics game with ‘roguelike elements’

Metal Slug is returning as a grid-based tactical role-playing game with “roguelike elements,” publisher Dotemu announced during Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest. It’s called Metal Slug Tactics, and a release date was not announced. Players can already wishlist the game on Windows PC via Steam.

The trailer, which we’ve embedded above, looks fun as heck — it keeps the pixel-based art and high-energy gameplay, changing up gameplay from its original run-and-gun style and making it a more tactical title.

Here’s the pitch straight from Dotemu:

Metal Slug Tactics reunites Marco, Eri, Fio, and Tarma as they lead the Peregrine Falcon Squad into a new battlefield through dynamic, strategic combat. Players wield classic Metal Slug weaponry, leveraging skill trees, perks, and a super attack-fueling adrenaline system to outwit and demolish flanks of the series’ signature villains.

Metal Slug Tactics’ challenging missions build levels from different combinations of hand-crafted terrain tiles, keeping battle layouts unpredictable and ensuring clashes are won through calculated strategy rather than memorization. Roguelite elements make missions highly replayable and victories feel truly earned, but should a cunning squad or fiendish boss persevere, rounds are quick to jump back into.