Metal Slug Tactics

About Metal Slug Tactics

Metal Slug Tactics is a single player tactical role playing game with fantasy and warfare themes. It was developed by Leikir Studio and was released on November 5, 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

METAL SLUG is back with a brand new entry in the METAL SLUG universe. Discover a new side of the emblematic run'n'gun and jump into a dynamic tactical RPG with roguelike elements!

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Reviews

77%Audience ScoreBased on 735 reviews

gameplay71 positive mentions

story16 negative mentions

Excellent pixel art and animation that captures the original Metal Slug aesthetic.
Innovative mechanics rewarding aggressive movement and synchronized team attacks, giving a fresh tactical experience.
Good replayability due to various characters, loadouts, upgrades and roguelike elements.

Limited content with only four main regions and repetitive missions and bosses.
Game is plagued by numerous bugs and glitches including crashes and softlocks, which heavily impact the experience.
Steep learning curve and some unclear UI and mechanics; not suitable for players expecting a traditional tactical RPG or slow-paced strategy.

gameplay
265 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27% positive mentions, 70% neutral mentions, 3% negative mentions
The gameplay of Metal Slug Tactics is a fresh and innovative turn-based tactical RPG that successfully translates the series' run-and-gun spirit into strategic combat focused on constant movement, sync attacks, and combo setups. While its mechanics offer deep, rewarding strategic depth and encourage aggressive play, the learning curve can be steep and some players find the complexity overwhelming or the roguelike elements underwhelming. Despite a few bugs and occasional repetitiveness, the gameplay is widely praised for its originality, satisfying mechanics, and faithful adaptation of Metal Slug’s style.
- “The pixel art is fantastic, the animations are full of personality, and the tactical gameplay is genuinely fun.”
- “If you like tactical RPGs, you owe it to yourself to get this game—the mechanics are genuinely innovative.”
- “The gameplay encourages constant movement, making battles feel dynamic and rewarding.”
- “This game is purely gameplay first, but the gameplay isn't anything to write home about.”
- “The UI is confusing and the mechanics are not explained well.”
- “The gameplay is overwhelming, trying to do too much at once.”
story
220 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
6% positive mentions, 87% neutral mentions, 7% negative mentions
The story in the game is minimal and largely serves as a backdrop for mission-based gameplay, offering little narrative depth or character development. Players repeatedly encounter the same limited maps, mission types, and enemies, leading to a repetitive and shallow experience with story segments often locked behind grinding. While the game references the original franchise’s lore, it lacks a compelling or expansive plot, and the roguelite structure emphasizes gameplay challenges over storytelling.
- “The story is a very simple one, almost Saturday morning cartoon in its tone and endears itself to most players in my opinion and definitely does not take more than a moment for those who are uninterested.”
- “Story is not a major part of the game but it does tie into the original franchise's lore that gives a sense of familiarity to those who have played the original games.”
- “Seems very light on the story; there's codec-style conversations at the start of each region and each character has a bunch of story dialogues with other characters that unlock as you complete certain personal objectives but that's about it.”
- “The main story in the game is virtually nonexistent and you don't really build any type of bond with the characters.”
- “The game features no proper level design or game/story flow/plot, as they opted to try to use samey repetitive procedural generation algorithms as a substitute for adding such content to the game, avoiding the important job of level/map design.”
- “We know roguelites and roguelikes are mostly slapped together by developers who are basically lazy and don't want to create bespoke content, resulting in that shallow, repetitive, soulless experience of procedural generation algorithms instead of content, but this is even shallower than most: there's just a couple of map forms and a couple of randomly placed enemy types, so you've seen the entire game after the first couple of missions.”
graphics
96 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43% positive mentions, 54% neutral mentions, 3% negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed but generally positive feedback, with many praising its faithful and detailed pixel art style that captures the classic Metal Slug aesthetic and vibrant animations. While some users appreciate the nostalgic, charming visuals and consider the artwork phenomenal, others criticize the limited 2D assets, occasional graphical glitches, and a less impressive HD portrait style, feeling the art sometimes clashes with the series' original spirit. Overall, the graphics are lauded as a highlight, especially for fans of the franchise, despite some technical issues and stylistic departures.
- “This is a very pretty game, with so much attention to the fidelity it has to the Metal Slug arcade games, from characters, sounds and visuals.”
- “This game perfectly captures the visual aesthetic of the Metal Slug series, from the sprite designs to the animations.”
- “The music and graphics are excellent and the sprite work is so well animated you will constantly be looking for little details, plus it's so colorful.”
- “While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality.”
- “Recent entries in the franchise tried to introduce 3D or HD art styles and animations that felt sloppy, which for Metal Slug, known for its astonishing and fluid animations especially in MS 1, 2/X and 3, really took a hit afterwards.”
- “Pixel graphics is crap especially considering it's 2026 now.”
music
76 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41% positive mentions, 55% neutral mentions, 4% negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its catchy, energetic, and nostalgic qualities that complement the pixel art and gameplay, successfully capturing the classic Metal Slug vibe. However, some users note occasional bugs with overlapping tracks and a tendency for the soundtrack to become repetitive or subdued during extended play. Overall, the soundtrack is seen as a strong, integral component that enhances the game's presentation despite a few technical issues.
- “The soundtrack is amazing and catchy; I've finished the game fully and it's still stuck in my head.”
- “The beautifully animated pixel art and rocking soundtrack show a deep respect for Metal Slug's roots; the whole thing feels well-polished despite the odd bug or two.”
- “Leikir did a great job transcribing the Metal Slug theme to a tactical game: music, animation, art - all great reminders of the original arcade games, while being very good by themselves too.”
- “The boss fight for the mummy area maps seems especially janky; multiple times the game's music will cut out after the fight starts and will remain that way until the game is restarted.”
- “Bug in the new version after patch 1.0.2 - music from the main menu overlaps the music during the mission.”
- “It doesn't sound like Metal Slug; its soundtrack is overall just bland, generic, low energy, with the game's sound design leaving equally little impact, and it certainly doesn't play like Metal Slug either.”
stability
56 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
2% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 98% negative mentions
The game suffers from frequent and persistent bugs, including softlocks, crashes, graphical glitches, and gameplay issues that can hinder progression and frustrate players. While updates have improved stability somewhat, many users still encounter bugs that affect the overall polish and smoothness of the experience. Despite these technical flaws, the gameplay remains enjoyable for many, though it would benefit greatly from further quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes.
- “It's not buggy, the animations are stellar.”
- “On top of which the game is buggy and I had to beat the story three more times because of glitched dialogues, and sometimes my characters would end up with zero movement and would be floating and unable to be moved.”
- “Seemed like an intriguing idea of a game, but weirdly buggy for a 7-month-old game - I had a glitch in the tutorial that caused a 'critical hit' graphic to cover the whole screen and prevent progression, and after that the bugs and UI issues continued into the early campaign, turning me away pretty fast from an interesting premise.”
- “The jungle boss after switching area is super buggy and can crash the game or make units include itself untargetable, unmovable, etc.”
replayability
33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42% positive mentions, 49% neutral mentions, 9% negative mentions
The game offers strong replayability through its variety of unlockable characters, loadouts, upgrades, and mission objectives, appealing especially to fans of turn-based strategy and roguelite genres. While some note its short length and repetitive combat, the tactical depth and progression elements keep gameplay fresh and engaging across multiple runs. Overall, the replay value is highlighted as a major strength, providing lasting enjoyment and variety.
- “As someone who is not usually a fan of this genre, the changing battlefields and new objectives/character goals eased my trepidation, added genuinely fun replayability, and always had me finding something to put stars in my eyes as I watched explosions and dominos fall.”
- “Overall, the game is great with a massive amount of replayability, and it ended up being one of my favorite games of 2024.”
- “There are so many abilities and weapon mods available that there's going to be a lot of replayability, and the different mission objectives work nicely to get you thinking about how to defeat enemies more efficiently with those tools.”
- “With no story, and the combat being the same, and no real progression, just new characters to beat the ultra short game with, replay value is pretty low.”
- “They trusted the roguelite aspect to provide replayability enough and ended up with a very short game.”
- “No replayability?”
humor
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
94% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 6% negative mentions
The game's humor is praised for its charm, over-the-top antics, and playful, self-aware cartoon logic that captures the spirit of the original Metal Slug series. While many find the jokes, characters, and visual gags entertaining and integral to the experience, some users feel the humor occasionally falls flat or is overshadowed by bugs. Overall, the humor is a strong and defining aspect, adding to the game's nostalgic and fun atmosphere.
- “The result is a tactical strategy game that feels unmistakably Metal Slug-esque; fast, explosive, humorous, and endlessly charming.”
- “Additionally, they've managed to stay true to the original games. The interactions and enemies are over-the-top and hilarious, and the different weapons and combos you can do all feel classic Metal Slug (for those that actually played the arcade games).”
- “I'm a huge fan of the Looney Tunes energy to combat; it operates off of cartoon logic a lot of the time, meaning abilities are creative, weird, and often quite funny.”
grinding
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
Grinding in the game is often described as tedious and time-consuming, with lengthy missions and repetitive stages that can feel monotonous, especially in early levels with limited abilities. However, the roguelite elements, varied character loadouts, and tactical combat add enough variety to somewhat alleviate the grind, though boss fights and scaling issues at higher difficulties may exacerbate the sense of repetition. Overall, grinding tends to feel more like a chore than engaging progression for many players.
- “There is no room for sub-par turns, no time for learning, and all in all it is tedious and not fun.”
- “Because scaling isn't done very well, completing early missions can be extremely tedious due to your limited access to abilities.”
- “You'll often play the same missions over and over for the sake of certain rewards offered on that tile, but also because you'll want to avoid the more tedious missions.”
character development
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions
The character development in this game is praised for its unique, fluid pixel art and expressive designs that capture the nostalgic essence of the series. However, the repetitive battles and inconsistent character concepts across different media hinder deeper engagement, with some character complexity potentially deterring new players. Overall, the retro-inspired art shines, but the game’s approach to character progression feels limited by its tactical gameplay structure.
- “The transition to tactical format could've stripped away the series' personality, but the devs here clearly understood what makes Metal Slug, well, Metal Slug: the unique pixel art that features exceptional movement, fluid animations, and expressive character designs that rival even the most classic entries in the genre.”
- “The takes on character designs have varied wildly in concept art, promotional art, and then in the games themselves, and Leikir has taken a solid, retroish feel that gives the impression of fidelity to the OGs.”
- “It's worth noting that some of the funkier classes that don't require you to be a tactical wizard to do awesome things (like bot summoner Nadia) take a few runs to unlock. The devs should consider that Marco presents as off-puttingly complex for a starter hero; he should be the most basic character design with the extra hit buff and adrenaline cost reduction. Fio and Ari are on point, but I bet Marco's weird package is going to scare a few people away before they get into the game.”
- “Instead of creating a campaign worth of thrilling levels, bosses, and character development, they force you to fight in the same battles over and over again with different difficulty settings.”
- “There's no point in character development if you can't fight randomized battles without pushing the story line forward.”
- “It's worth noting that some of the funkier classes that don't require you to be a tactical wizard to do awesome things (like bot summoner Nadia) take a few runs to unlock. The developer should consider making the starter hero more accessible, as Marco's complex design may scare new players away before they get into the game.”
optimization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60% positive mentions, -20% neutral mentions, 60% negative mentions
The game has mixed optimization feedback, with some users experiencing bugs and performance issues while others report smooth gameplay. Though patches are expected to improve stability, current controller support and lack of widescreen compatibility detract from the experience. Overall, optimization is decent but needs refinement.
- “Apparently the game in its current state is rather buggy, but I haven't encountered anything I could call a bug; the game has run smoothly and performed well throughout my playthroughs.”
- “I really am impressed with the end product and, after a patch or two for performance and bugs, I think this will genuinely be my GOTY.”
- “Performance has been fine.”
- “The game also launched with a myriad of bugs; while I never encountered any run-destroying or performance-crippling bugs, others have.”
- “Thought would be the JRPG I knew (FF Tactics, Disgaea, Sword of Convallaria, etc.), turns out to be a rogue-like RPG, feeling like you are being rushed out to meet the objective, can't take it slowly and enjoy the exploration of the entire map, optimization with the controller is also very bad, not forgetting it doesn't support widescreen gameplay too.”
- “After a patch or two for performance and bugs, I think this will genuinely be my GOTY.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
Users criticize the game's monetization for feeling like a soulless cash grab with misleading advertising, contrasting it unfavorably against paid, more passionate entries in the series.

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Critic Reviews

63%Critics’ scoreBased on 5 critic reviews

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Play Times

24h Median play time

22h Average play time

7-47h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 4 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Metal Slug Tactics is a tactical role playing game with fantasy and warfare themes. Common tags for Metal Slug Tactics include turn-based, indie, roguelite, gaming, pixel graphics and others.

Metal Slug Tactics is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5 and others.

On average players spend around 22 hours playing Metal Slug Tactics.

Metal Slug Tactics was released on November 5, 2024.

Metal Slug Tactics was developed by Leikir Studio.

Metal Slug Tactics has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked Metal Slug Tactics for its gameplay but disliked it for its story.

Metal Slug Tactics is a single player game.

Similar games include Star Renegades, TROUBLESHOOTER: Abandoned Children, Pathway, Hard West 2, SteamWorld Heist and others.

Metal Slug Tactics

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Reviews

gameplay

story

graphics

music

stability

replayability

humor

grinding

character development

optimization

monetization

Critic Reviews

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