Mercenary Kings PS4 Release Is In Sony's Hands

I love Mercenary Kings. It's the side-scrolling Borderlands game I've always wanted. It's just about perfect and strikes a fun balance between team-strategy and brute force. The exploratory-style questing system and weapon customization adds the sort of appeal rarely found in other games, and it's all coming to the PlayStation 4... some day.

Game Skinny picked up tweets from Tribute Games, the developers of the project, who responded to an eager gamer, saying...

Putting the ball in Sony's hands means that the company is eying a good release slot for the game. You don't want to be content-heavy one month and content-light the next. I imagine Sony will probably aim to get Mercenary Kings out there for gamers during April or May, when they might be light on indie support.

Previously, when we contacted Tribute Games about Mercenary Kings, developer Jean-Francois Major simply let us know that the only console port they had in mind was for the PS4, at the moment...

So they don't have to worry about juggling support for multiple consoles.

However, I would love to see Mercenary Kings on the Wii U. The game is perfectly designed to make use of the GamePad due to its dual-screen setup for map, proficiencies and objectives being displayed on the bottom screen and the main action occurring on the top screen. It would be a perfect fit!

The game itself is basically an homage to the Neo Geo era of side-scrolling shooters, namely Metal Slug. The game combines additional RPG elements that allow players to customize and outfit their character with various abilities and skills, as well as unlock proficiencies within the game by completing specific tasks. The replay value of the game is completely off the charts, and again, anyone who takes a liking to Borderlands will probably easily find themselves loving the crap out of Mercenary Kings.

While the delay is unfortunate for PS4 owners, it's not to surprising given that Outlast did just drop for PS Plus members, not but a short time ago. So it's not like the console is completely game-deficient when it comes to digital content.

We'll keep you posted on when Mercenary Kings, the well-endowed indie title that blasted through its Kickstarter and managed to survive the Greenlight process, will make its way to the PlayStation 4.