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"We Were Really Afraid": Metal Slug Tactics Creative Director Aurlien Loos On Reimagining The Run-And-Gun Classic As A Tactical RPG

November 7, 2024

Metal Slug Tactics has a great deal of pressure riding upon its shoulders. The Metal Slug series hasn’t seen a new mainline release in many years so fans of the stunningly animated run-and-gun games have been holding out hope that Tactics will be the kind of spinoff that captures the thrill of the franchise in a new format. Developer Leikir Studio is aware of these expectations but rather than flinching at the pressure, it’s using that collective passion to create something unique.

Metal Slug Tactics is a reimagining of the beloved series in a genre that, initially, may seem at odds with the general premise of run-and-gun action. Gone are the high-octane sprints to the finish line with enemies and vehicles exploding every second. Instead, players are encouraged to carefully think about their next move while snaking across an isometric map to team up with their squad. It’s a far cry from what fans have come to expect from Metal Slug, but in practice, the transition between genres works. Better yet, it works really well.

Metal Slug Tactics Review: Run And Gun, Reimagined

Metal Slug Tactics successfully refocuses the series’ classic run-and-gun gameplay into a deep, compelling, and consistently fun roguelike.

Screen Rant sat down with Leikir Studio Creative Director Aurélien Loos and spoke about the challenges of bringing Metal Slug Tactics to life, translating run-and-gun tactics into a tactical RPG, and the lessons the team learned from their previous game Rogue Lords.

The following interview has been edited and slightly reorganized for clarity and length.

Leikir Studio Had A Clear Vision From The Start

Screen Rant: What was it like working with such a beloved franchise? Metal Slug has been around for decades and is known as one of the best run-and-gun shoot-‘em-ups of all time. Was that at all intimidating?

Aurélien Loos: I wouldn’t say it was intimidating.
We were all very passionate about it, because we grew up with the Metal Slug series
, and we were really confident we could do something great with it in the tactical RPG genre. When we started talking with SNK and Dotemu, we knew we wanted to make a Metal Slug game because the series is very, very fun.

If you like run-and-gun games, you just open one, and it’s a lot of fun. But we don’t have any expertise in [the] genre, so it would be very awkward or pretentious for us to say, ‘Oh, we want to make a new run-and-gun game.’ Obviously, they are the experts in the run-and-gun genre. So I think what helped us was to focus on our expertise with a new genre. And so it was just excitement and not so much about fear.

Screen Rant: How did the idea of Metal Slug Tactics come about? It’s such a massive change in direction: was that the original pitch?

Aurélien Loos: From the start, we wanted to make a tactical game. At the start of the project, everything came from a will to work together, because SNK really loves to work with Dotemu, and Dotemu and Leikir Studio really wanted to work together. When Cyrille Imbert, the CEO of Dotemu, spoke with me he said, ‘Oh, we want to make something with SNK, because they are great, and we have a great relationship with them. But it’s really hard, because when you think about the cool IP of SNK,
they are all fighting games
, and obviously you need to have a studio who are experts in fighting games, or Metal Slug.’ And like I said, Metal Slug is already the perfect run-and-gun series.

So I just proposed,
‘Oh, but we can make a tactical game because it’s our expertise.’
And the universe of Metal Slug is really great for a tactical game because you have the military parts, and you have great characters. So it’s really interesting from a gameplay perspective: You have a lot of weapons, lots of vehicles, bosses, and stuff like that. So it could be perfect. And Cyrille said, ‘Yeah, yeah, we can do that! We just need to ask SNK,’ and I said, ‘Okay, just before we ask SNK if they want this project, let’s make a graphical prototype, because Metal Slug is the pinnacle of pixel art, so you need to be good enough to work with the IP, and in a tactical RPG, we need to do that in an isometric view. It’s quite a challenge.

So we started making a graphical prototype to send a love letter to SNK to say,
‘Hey guys, we want to do this and we’ll show you what we can do, do you love it or not?’ And they loved it! So we were really, really lucky with that
.

Why Metal Slug Is The Perfect Choice For A Tactics Game

Metal Slug Tactics is poised to be a great XCOM-like thanks to the franchise’s deep well of fan-favorite characters and memorable enemies.

Screen Rant: I’m glad they were so welcoming of the idea because I know many publishers can be very strict with their IP. Aside from Metal Slug, what were some other inspirations behind Tactics? Playing it, I couldn’t help but think of Into the Breach and Final Fantasy Tactics.

Aurélien Loos:
It’s a really good question because the tricky thing about the gameplay part… our first idea was asking how we can inject the philosophy and themes of the run-and-gun genre into a tactical RPG, and that shaped the whole project.
For example, in Metal Slug Tactics, movement is everything
. It’s really important. You need to be moving to protect yourself and to build up energy to use your abilities. So it’s a very different way of playing a tactical RPG because you still need to be careful but you have to move a lot. It was our way of putting the run-and-gun genre into the tactical RPG. So we were really different. We didn’t have a lot of games that could help us with that.

Into The Breach was a big influence on one specific point in that we knew it was important to have short missions to maintain the rhythm of the game. We want players to be fast because you want to have the run-and-gun spirit. So the inspiration from Into the Breach was more about the rhythm of the missions and not anything else because the game is really specific. So that was a tricky part of the design phase.
We were making something new. It’s always very exciting as a creator, but it’s really difficult
because you don’t have any real references.

Screen Rant: Which of the characters was the hardest to figure out? Balance is obviously such a fine line for a rogue-like game. I’ll say this, if I don’t have Eri in my squad, there’s a good chance I’m not beating that run!

Aurélien Loos:
I think the hardest were the first two in the game. For example,
Marco was quite difficult
. Because we design for each character, so we start by digging into their history and we want to know everything about their background. We want to design mechanics, skills, and abilities that are closely linked to the character. Marco is a leader, so at first he was very, very overpowered, and after that, we tried we find a good balance.

But the thing is, it’s the first character you have in the game, and his mechanic was complex as a starting point. So I think the most challenging characters were the first couple because they set the stage. They’re like prototypes. Some of the characters are really tricky to play, but they’re designed later in development, so you have the time to think about how they should work. So yeah, I think Marco and Tarma were maybe the most difficult.

Lessons Learned From Rogue Lords & Challenges Faced

Creating Something New

Screen Rant: Leikir Studio also developed Rogue Lords, and I can see some of the DNA of that game in MST, specifically when it comes to the character-forward combat system. What lessons did you take from Rogue Lords when it came to developing Metal Slug Tactics?

Aurélien Loos:
I think we took two big lessons. The first one was the tutorial, because
Rogue Lords was a very different game
, very innovative, and we didn’t have the time to create a great tutorial for it. So half of the players understood the game and they figured out how to play as the Devil and “cheat.” When they figured it out, they really loved the game and the difficulty. But the other half of the players didn’t understand the need to change the UI and manipulate the game, so they didn’t have a very good experience because, obviously for them, it was too hard.
That was a very hard lesson for us. We were traumatized by that!

We spent a lot of time on the tutorial for Metal Slug Tactics because we needed people to understand that this was a different take on tactical RPGs. As a creator, you want to make something new and different, but that’s always a risk because people are used to playing a certain way. That was the first lesson, the second lesson was more about
the rogue-like part in terms of the balance
of the game and the rhythm. It was really good to have previous experience on this part.

The funny thing is,
I think I can say this now, but the first prototype of Rogue Lords was a tactical RPG
. It was really different to the game that was released. So, yeah, it was really funny to have that connection between the two projects. I think those were the two main lessons.

Screen Rant: What was the most challenging aspect of taking Metal Slug in a new direction? I have to imagine the sprite work and pixel art would have been daunting given how detailed it is and the reputation of the franchise.

Aurélien Loos:
The pixel art was very difficult. From the start, we said we wanted to give Metal Slug fans something great. That’s why we want to use pixel art, but if you’re asking someone, ‘
Do you want to make Metal Slug pixel art?’ they want to run.
And if you ask them, ‘Do you want to do it in isometric view?’ they say, ‘No. Nobody wants to do that. You will suffer! It’s too hard!” But we wanted to do it because, as fans, we wanted to have a pixel game in the Metal Slug universe. That was the first challenge.

The second challenge was making a game for fans that didn’t play like a normal Metal Slug game.
We were really afraid people would just say, ‘I don’t want that. I really hate it.’
When we announced the game, we hadn’t even finished pre-production, but it was a blast. People loved it, and we received great messages and stuff like that. So we were very happy fans were open to Metal Slug Tactics. It’s quite a difference, but it’s another way to discover this super-fun universe. So maybe one day we will have a new Metal Slug. But yeah, we were very afraid.

Screen Rant: I remember watching the announcement trailer that came out a few years ago, and I remember sitting at my desk thinking, ‘A Metal Slug tactical RPG? I don’t know…’. And the more the concept bounced around in my head I was like, “Actually, that’s a really good idea!” With all the different weapons and enemies, the zones and levels, it sets itself up right there, you know? It’s there to be made. And clearly, it works!

Aurélien Loos:

It’s really funny you said that because we had the exact same feeling
when I said the idea to
Cyrille
. I said, ‘You know, man, we need to make a tactical game in the Metal Slug universe.’ It was just silence and we were looking at each other, and he said, ‘Yeah, you’re making a lot of sense!’ Just like you!

Screen Rant: Metal Slug Tactics is the sort of game that lends itself to expansions and additional content. Can you give a hint as to whether there are any plans for DLC?

Aurélien Loos:
I don’t know, to be really honest with you, we didn’t think about it, because we are focused on just the base game.
The game is really huge, and on average, we were six people working on it, so it was quite a challenge
. So if we have something to make, it would make sense. If we have something fun or very relevant to make, and people are asking for it, then maybe, but really, I don’t know.

Screen Rant: Finally, as creative director, do you have any hints or tips for Metal Slug fans who may be intimidated by the Tactics angle?

Aurélien Loos:
Yeah, sure. I think you need to understand that you need to move. Because when you move, you generate two resources:
You generate Dodges that protect you from enemies, and you generate Adrenaline that allows you to unleash your best powers
. So you need to move.

More than that, you have a mechanic called Synchronization that can give you a free attack. But you need to move, and you need to set up correctly. Positioning is important because that allows for better defenses and Synchronization kills. I think if you do that, everything will be good and you will be great. Be on the move, run-and-gun, and everything will be great