The perpetuation of the Metal Slug franchise has been a surprise to many. That's not because Metal Slug is made up of bad games or unpopular, quite the contrary, but that it seemed a better fit for another era of gaming. Metal Slug's found its successes as it was able, however. The latest example is Metal Slug: Awakening, a spin-off game developed by Chinese team TiMi Studios and published by Tencent on mobile devices. Now Tencent is even preparing to release Metal Slug: Awakening worldwide with PlayStation ports.In a statement made on Metal Slug: Awakening's official Twitter account, Tencent announced that the mobile game will officially be coming to PlayStation consoles. Support for both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 will be provided. Unfortunately, Tencent doesn't have any further information to share on the matter. There's no confirmation of Metal Slug: Awakening's release window, whether it'll launch in China prior to being released in the West, or much else.For the time being, Metal Slug: Awakening remains exclusive to China via iOS and Android devices. A release date for a western release of the mobile version of the game has yet to be announced. However, there is more to share on that subject. A beta test was held in January that was described as so popular it crashed the game's servers twice. Then, just yesterday, it was confirmed that Metal Slug: Awakening's iOS and Android release in the west would be coming up "very soon."
The implication is that Metal Slug fans should be hearing some good news sooner rather than later. The chain of announcements, first confirming the mobile release "very soon" followed by support for PS4 and PS5 shortly after, hints that Metal Slug: Awakening's release isn't far off.
It'll be interesting to see how TiMi translates Metal Slug: Awakening's design, which is built around mobile device touchscreen inputs, to consoles. Metal Slug: Awakening could very easily end up looking and feeling like any other traditional Metal Slug game, which is probably exactly what fans of the franchise would like to see.
What the announcement of Metal Slug: Awakening really does for fans is reinvigorate hope that the franchise is seeing a modern resurgence. Between Metal Slug: Awakening being released on PS4 and PS5, as well as Metal Slug Tactics' planned release in 2022, there's more exciting Metal Slug content to enjoy now than there's been in a long time. Expect to hear more in the weeks to come.
Metal Slug: Awakening is releasing on PS4, PS5, iOS, and Android soon.