Metal Slug: Awakening is a brand new side-scrolling action shooter RPG that sees you enter into the captivating and daring world of SNK. Bringing back the nostalgic heart throbbing matches, and the usual adrenaline-rushing action-packed adventures, the game has been ranking among the top free games on the Google Play charts. Metal Slug: Awakening is available to be downloaded and installed as a free-to-play game on both the Google Play Store and iOS App Store.

In this beginner’s guide for Metal Slug: Awakening, we will be diving deep into the different systems available in the game. These systems are crucial to understand if you’re looking to progress further and unlock more characters. Being a shooter RPG, players can expect a ton of action in short bursts as the entire storyline is divided into multiple stages. We are going to be presenting this guide in layman’s language so that beginners and veterans alike can relate to the points. Without further waiting, let’s get right into the details!

Understanding the Gameplay Mechanics

Metal Slug: Awakening is an actively played side-scrolling bullet-hell RPG that makes use of multiple different mechanics that players need to keep in mind. Firstly, the game is 100% manual and does not have any features to automate the gameplay process. Secondly, the game takes pride in its adrenaline-rushing stages that require a lot of strategic thinking and quick reflexes in case you want to win the stage. Gamers will be given a full life bar at every stage, denoted by the green health bar you will on top of your character. A new currency called “Respawn Token” also exists, using which players can respawn at the same point where they died. Each respawn will take away their respawn token, a valuable currency that is earned by winning more games, and through events. 

Players can also set up different formations on their adventures, composed of different main characters and different weapons. Keep in mind that each character in the game is uniquely built, with a whole playstyle surrounding them. They also possess unique active and passive abilities that further add on to the fun of building different compositions. 

During your gameplay runs, you will be able to get tons of powerups for your weapons, as well as different types of ammunition among the likes of ranged missiles, grenades, rocket launchers, and more. Even if your health starts falling a bit low, do not worry as rescuing citizens will drop a guaranteed health pack that you can use by tapping it to restore your health bar to full. 

Recruit and Unlock New Heroes

Metal Slug: Awakening is a great hero collector in disguise, as the game offers a wide variety of collectible and playable characters. Each hero in the game is tailored to be hosting a different play style and enable gamers to relish the excitement by combining them with unique weapons for an enriching gameplay experience. Each hero is blessed with intuitive controls and unique abilities. Abilities can be active or passive, with the former being manually triggerable, and the latter being passively triggered over time or if the conditions to activate are met.

Players can recruit new heroes through different means, with the most popular and easiest one being to directly fuse them by obtaining their pieces from the Treasure Dig. Each hero takes 50 of their pieces in order to fuse them into a permanent hero. It takes a lot of time and investment to unlock multiple heroes, hence, you should really try to maximize progress with what you are given. 

Understanding the Weapon System

Metal Slug: Awakening has a diverse weapon system that allows players to take up new weapons and arm themselves against the incoming danger. Naturally, some weapons are going to be much better than others but they will not be able at the start of the game. The beginner weapon, the Rookie Machine Gun, can carry you well ahead till the 1st chapter but it will start showing its weakness in terms of firepower, damage, and ammo pretty soon. 

We advise you to buy a new weapon as soon as possible. You can do so by completing the main quests that will fetch you tons of gold and other rewards on the way.  

Players can enjoy Metal Slug: Awakening even more on a bigger screen with your keyboard and mouse via BlueStacks!