FromSoftware cult classic Metal Wolf Chaos could be E3 2018’s best surprise

Before FromSoftware found success with Dark Souls and Bloodborne, the company dabbled in a wide variety of outlandish action games, including the cult hit, Japan-only, Xbox-exclusive mech game Metal Wolf Chaos. FromSoftware never brought the game to the West — even though the game was fully voiced in English — but it appears someone else finally might: Devolver Digital.

Today, the publisher tweeted a slightly modified version of the United States presidential seal, with the emblem’s eagle — apparently heavily armored — wielding a missile in one talon and a minigun in the other. Despite that alteration, the seal that Devolver tweeted looks much closer to the presidential seal that appeared in Metal Wolf Chaos than the one used by the U.S. government.

What makes this so interesting is that more than two years ago, Devolver Digital tweeted, “Count us in to help Metal Wolf Chaos get out to more gamers if From Software wants some help.” The hashtag #FreeMetalWolf spread on Twitter for a brief period by fans of the obscure mech game.

Devolver later tweeted directly to FromSoftware’s Yasunori Ogura, a longtime marketing and public relations employee of the developer, saying, “Give us a shout, we’d love to talk about Metal Wolf Chaos!”

Now it appears that Metal Wolf Chaos may finally come to North America and Europe, although it’s just not clear how — As a remake or remaster for modern platforms? A backward-compatible release for Xbox One? A sequel? We’ve reached out to Devolver Digital for clarification, but it seems likely that the publisher will keep its plans for Metal Wolf Chaos under wraps until its pre-E3 showcase on Sunday, June 10.

FromSoftware released Metal Wolf Chaos on Xbox in 2004. The game lets players control Michael Wilson, the 47th President of the United States, who is the subject of a coup d’etat led by his power-hungry Vice President, Richard Hawk. Wilson travels cross-country in a mech suit named the Metal Wolf to liberate the U.S. from Hawk’s reign of terror. The absurd, satirical action game culminates in a fight in space between the two politicians.

Metal Wolf Chaos was directed by FromSoftware’s Keiichiro Ogawa, who went on to direct the slightly less outrageous Ninja Blade for Xbox 360.