It looks as though fans of tactics games are in for a bit more disappointment this year. Publisher Dotemu has announced that Metal Slug Tactics won’t make its planned release window of layer this year. Instead, players looking forward to some of the new isometric action in the latest of the Metal Slug series will have to wait until 2023.
As revealed in a tweet earlier today, Dotemu has explained that the game is still in development at Leikir Studio, remarking that “the squad needs a bit more time in the shop” before being ready for release. While it’s been made apparent that the game will be ready in 2023, there’s no official word on when exactly in 2023 that will be.
Metal Slug Tactics will be the first game in the series to fully embrace a top-down, strategy-based approach. It was revealed in the first instance during Summer Game Fest in 2021 and ever since fans of the franchise have been looking forward to a sidestep away from the previous side-scrolling style of gameplay. In addition to the new isometric style of play, Metal Slug Tactics is said to make use of roguelike elements in its run and gun action. Taking the franchise into more “fun and lighthearted” territory has been the aim of the game for Dotemu and Leikir Studio, so it’ll be interesting to see how that translates with fans of the previous games.
It’s fair to say that many in the gaming community had been keen to try out this new side to the Metal Slug games. However, it turns out that they’ll have to contain their excitement for a little longer, as it seems that French developers Leikir Studio and Dotemu need a bit more time to get the tactical adventure ready for release.
It’s definitely been a difficult few weeks for fans of the tactical and turn-based genres of gaming. With the recent revelation that Marvel’s Midnight Suns will be delayed until 2023 on top of the news that Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp has also been pushed back, some players are bound to be left feeling disappointed. However, it’s arguably always worth waiting for a game to become fully polished and ready for release instead of launching pre-emptively with lots of bugs and issues. The mood around the internet seems to echo this sentiment, thankfully, with many users on ResetEra expressing that they’re happy to wait in order for the developers to make good on their promise of making Metal Slug Tactics “as explosive as possible on release.”
We’ll be keeping an ear to the ground for any further updates from Dotemu as the highly-anticipated game continues its development.
Metal Slug Tactics will be released at some point in 2023. It will be available on Nintendo Switch and on PC via Steam.
