Metal Wolf Chaos

Submission 9,069

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About

Metal Wolf Chaos is a video game developed by FromSoftware Games and released for the Xbox in Japan in 2004. Due to its over-the-top plot, it became an international cult hit, and was announced to be receiving a worldwide release at E3 2018.

Plot and History

In Metal Wolf Chaos, the player plays Michael Wilson, the president of a dystopian future America and is loosely based on George W. Bush. His vice president, Richard Hawk, throws a coup and takes control of the American military and works to enact a dictatorial state which includes re-instituting slavery. Wilson escapes the coup thanks to a powered armor suit called "Metal Wolf."

The game was released on the Xbox in Japan on December 22nd, 2004.^[1] The game was directed by Keiichiro Ogawa and developed and published by FromSoftware.

Rerelease Announcement

At E3 2018, Devolver Digital announced that a remastered version of the game called Metal Wolf Chaos XD would be available for worldwide release and would be playable on Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, and Xbox One (trailer shown below).

Metal Wolf Chaos XD Release

On August 6th, 2019, Devolver Digital released Metal Wolf Chaos XD on the Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. The game released to mixed reviews, garnering a score of 67/100 on Metacritic.^[6] In a positive review, Digital Chumps^[7] wrote, "The President stomping around in an eight-gun mech suit and delivering outrageous dialogue while suppressing a coup is nakedly hyperbolic, but it’s also a lens to an outsider’s interpretation of mid-aughts American culture. Metal Wolf Chaos, in addition to presenting a clumsy but capable action caper, has only improved with age." Screen Rant^[8] stated that while the story and dialogue remained hilarious, dated gameplay brought down the experience as a whole. Matt McMuscles, formerly of Super Best Friends Play, posted the first episode of a Let's Play of the game the day prior to its release.

Online Presence

Online, the game has developed a cult following, thanks in large part to the exposure given to the game by the Super Best Friends Play YouTube Let's Play channel. On April 15th, 2012, Machinima posted an episode of Matt and Pat playing the game, gaining over 888,000 views (shown below, left) Four years later, the channel began a full Let's Play of the game. The first episode gained over 217,000 views (shown below, right). In the description for that video, the group encouraged fans to tweet at FromSoftware to release the game in America.

[This video has been removed]

The game has been covered on TV Tropes^[2] and the announcement of the worldwide release was covered by multiple media outlets.^[3]^[4]^[5]