# Metal Slug: Awakening-Season8 — Mission Start!

> Action-packed sci-fi shooter with new story, hero, weapon, and gameplay modes. (iPhone/iPad app by HaoPlay Limited.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/metal-slug-awakening-season8/id6475638448 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [HaoPlay Limited](https://appshunter.io/developer/1518979561)
- Category: Games, Action, Adventure
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.80/5 from 17,458 App Store ratings · 996 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 15.0 · 3.8 GB
- Languages: American English, French (France), German (Germany), Japanese, Korean, European Portuguese, Chinese (Simplified, China), European Spanish
- Released: 2024-07-17
- Data updated: 2026-09-24
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/metal-slug-awakening-season8/id6475638448/reviews.md

## What is Metal Slug?

[Folded Spacetime, Endless Causality - Version Update Announcement]

I. New Story: Folded Spacetime
Time-travel phenomena are occurring frequently, and the butterfly wings of parallel worlds quietly brush across the sea of space-time. The future Morden Army, reduced to "Temporal Assassins" due to the collapse of the Space-Time Gate, appeared above Andrew City without warning. Folded Spacetime, Endless Causality. The future Morden Army, gradually losing their sanity in the void, seems to be resolutely executing some kind of "directive"...

II. New Character: Thea
A member of the Hidden Knowledge Society, codenamed "Snowy Owl." Growing up in the polar blizzards, she deconstructed the Abyss energy in the "Echo Crystal" with her extraordinary sensitivity to light and color. She partners with the information broker "Crow" to explore the mysteries of the Time-space Rift together.

III. New Weapon: Light Sniper Gun
Achieves kilometer-level precise penetration with a Hyper Laser beam, leaving a Whiteflare Trace along its trajectory. With strong impact, it can penetrate Mecha Shields and is highly effective against heavy objectives.

IV. Gameplay Update: Abyssal Cruise
With the appearance of the Space-Time Gate and the future Morden Army, some high-ranking Regular Army officials have considered using space-time technology to achieve world domination. The Space-Time Administration suspects that someone is secretly conducting illegal research and has specially commissioned the Adventurers' Guild to investigate. Eugenia, the president of the Adventurers' Guild, discovered that the "Sea of Time" has recently welcomed a large number of uninvited guests.
The "Sea of Time" is a sea area with many Legendary time travelers passed down since ancient times. It belongs to an active space-time plate and is therefore targeted by illegal researchers. The adventure Team gathers and sets off once again, vowing to nip the conspiracy in the bud!
 
Join our official communities for more information.
Discord: https://discord.gg/metalslugawakening
X: @MetalSlugAwaken
YouTube: @MetalSlug_Awakening
 
©SNK CORPORATION ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

## Key features

- New 'Journey to the East' story campaign
- Playable hero: Phoenix
- New weapon: Arc Gun
- Joint Operation: Abyss gameplay mode
- Interstellar exploration
- Eastern-themed dimensional realm

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pack 4 | $9.99 | one-time |
| Pack 2 | $4.99 | one-time |
| Pack 1 | $0.99 | one-time |
| Pack 11 | $2.99 | one-time |
| A Mountain of Rubies | $99.99 | one-time |
| A Big Chest of Rubies | $49.99 | one-time |
| A Small Chest of Rubies | $19.99 | one-time |
| A Small Bag of Rubies | $9.99 | one-time |
| A Fistful of Rubies | $0.99 | one-time |
| A Pocketful of Rubies | $4.99 | one-time |
| Pack 7 | $24.99 | one-time |
| Pack 12 | $3.99 | one-time |
| Pack 10 | $1.99 | one-time |
| Pack 9 | $0.99 | one-time |


## Chart rankings

- #173 in Top Grossing · Adventure (US App Store)

## What do users think of Metal Slug?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- 🚀 Nostalgic and fun gameplay
- 👍 Great graphics and visuals
- 🚀 Quick progression and upgrades
- 👍 Faithful to the original Metal Slug series

**Cons**

- 🐛 Server issues and connectivity problems
- 🔋 High battery consumption
- 🔒 Lack of controller support
- 💰 Monetization and pay-to-win concerns

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Servers not ready at launch
- Inability to aim up
- Disappearing progress and account resets
- Inconsistent rewards and bugs in events

**Most requested features**

- Controller support
- More content and events
- Improved customer support
- Better balance between free-to-play and paid progression

## Recent user reviews (10 of 996)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/metal-slug-awakening-season8/id6475638448/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Awesome

*2026-09-17, version 1.20.1*

It’s the old metal slug with better graphics and has a multiplayer lobby

### 4/5 — Support

*2026-09-03, version 1.20.1*

Request game use backbone support to further enhance gameplay to include haveing NPC characters join the fight or consider co-operation gameplay

### 5/5 — Backbone controller support bitte

*2026-08-19*

Hätten gerne Controller support für den Backborn

### 3/5 — Backbone support

*2026-08-17, version 1.20.1*

Just wanted to know if the backbone will ever be supported with the game

### 1/5 — Sucks donkey balls

*2026-08-07, version 1.20.1*

Was great till it wasn’t it. Got most of my guns legendary plus legendary characters and then all of a sudden it reset back to square one. So I deleted it and reinstalled it and it gave everything back. Then later on it reset again I wrote support for help and guess what they didn’t even contacted me. So ya it sucks

### 1/5 — Good game, but only on PC

*2026-08-03, version 1.20.1*

Y’all dropped the ball with the mobile release the touch controls being the only way to play it. This needs controller support like the PC version! Playing a run & gun game on mobile where touch controls cover the screen is a terrible idea!

### 5/5 — The best

*2026-08-01, version 1.20.1*

It doesn’t get much better than this honestly one of my personal favorites

### 1/5 — Cada ves el juego está más lento

*2026-07-24, version 1.20.1*

Arrglen el juego en cada modo está cada ves más lento es bien estresante

### 5/5 — LA _ X

*2026-07-13, version 1.20.1*

LA _ _ _ _ _ QUILLO , NOS PISA

### 1/5 — Beyond pathetic pay to play game

*2026-07-10, version 1.20.1*

Truly sad to see what over a decade of an amazing game has come to be a pathetic pay to play, pay to progress, android, cheating, beyond boring, embarrassing to the label of “Metal Slug”. Your game designers should be absolutely embarrassed your project managers need to retire and never attempt to work in the video game industry ever again.

## Frequently asked questions about Metal Slug

### What is Metal Slug: Awakening - Season 6 about?

This update introduces a new story campaign called 'Journey to the East,' where players explore new civilizations and encounter a dimensional realm with Eastern aesthetics. It also adds a new hero, Phoenix, a new weapon called the Arc Gun, and a new gameplay mode, Joint Operation: Abyss.

### What are the key new features in this update?

The update includes a new story, a new hero named Phoenix with unique psychological abilities, the Arc Gun weapon inspired by Eastern swords, and the Joint Operation: Abyss mode for cooperative boss battles in an exotic space.

### Is this game free to play?

Yes, the game is free to download and play. However, it does offer in-app purchases, allowing players to acquire additional items or content within the game.

### What kind of gameplay can I expect?

You can expect fast-paced action shooting gameplay with elements of exploration and character progression. The new season adds cooperative gameplay for challenging boss encounters and new story content to experience.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.23.1 — 2026-09-23

1. Season 8 Starts
2. New Character Debuts
3. New Weapon Update
4. Main Story Update

### 1.20.1 — 2026-06-01

1. Season 7 Starts
2. New Character Debuts
3. New Weapon Update
4. Main Story Update

### 1.17.0 — 2026-02-02

1. Season 6 Starts
2. New Character Debuts
3. New Weapon Update
4. Main Story Update

### 1.14.0 — 2025-10-09

1. Season 5 Starts
2. New Character Debuts
3. New Weapon Update
4. Main Story Update

### 1.11.1 — 2025-09-01

1. Game performance optimization
2. Localization content improvements
3. Updated in-game events

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All apps by HaoPlay Limited: https://appshunter.io/developer/1518979561

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-24.*