Nintendo's Metroid Dread makes me feel like a kid again — here's why
E3 2021 wrapped up earlier this week and the star of the show — for me, anyway — was the surprise announcement of Metroid Dread. Fifteen years in the making, this fifth installment in the mainline Metroid series (which doesn’t include the Prime trilogy) sparked a joy in me that I haven’t felt in, well, a really long time.
Despite loving many games in the last decade, such as Dark Souls and Bloodborne, I’ve become jaded. Sure, I’m interested in something like Elden Ring, but my general cynicism sours a lot of potential excitement about new games. In fact, I barely remember the release schedule for new games — something I used to be extremely good at tracking. Perhaps that’s just a sign of age, but I think it boils down to a sense of boredom with the industry.
It’s been a few days since Nintendo’s E3 presentation, and I’m still floored by Metroid Dread. I’ve been trying to buy the game’s special edition, but it keeps selling out everywhere. That implies that I’m not alone in my joy, and I think the fervor I see on social media attests to that. A lot of people are excited for this game.
Metroid Dread: What it means to me
Personally, Metroid Dread means more to me than just getting another 2D Metroid. Dread was the codename all the way back in the early 2000s for a sequel to the grim Metroid Fusion on the Game Boy Advance. It was supposed to take the series further into sci-fi/horror territory, pitting Samus against some nameless fear, thus the name.
But Nintendo apparently canceled the project, and Metroid Dread seemingly died. In the time since then, we got Metroid Prime 3, Metroid: Other M, and Samus Returns (a remake of Metroid II on the Game Boy). Even after the announcement of Metroid Prime 4 in 2017, we were left wondering what was next for Samus following her battle with the X Parasites. That experience had changed her, but then Nintendo left us hanging.
