Dotemu won’t release Metal Slug Tactics this year after all, the publisher revealed via Twitter Thursday morning. Instead, the tactics game will launch sometime in 2023 in order to make it “as explosive as possible.”
Originally revealed during last year’s Summer Games Fest, Metal Slug Tactics takes the cartoony sidescroller into the XCOM-like world of strategy games for the first time. Players will control a crew of characters — Marco, Eri, Fio, and Tarma — on their quest to take down soldiers and blow up tanks. More than just a normal tactics game, Leikir Studio says the game will include “roguelike elements,” although it’s currently unclear how.
Tactics fans have seen a lot of delays in 2022. Take-Two announced Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ delay on Monday afternoon, and didn’t offer a new release date. And both of this week’s delays come after Nintendo removed the planned release date for Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp this spring due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. None of these games currently have a concrete release date.