Metroid Dread is finally giving fans closure to a story that has been over thirty years in the making. Since the first Metroid released in 1986, fans have been traveling the stars with Samus Aran as she hunts down space pirates and the titular alien parasites. It's been almost twenty years since the main narrative has seen any kind of continuation, and the last game in the series left many wondering how Samus' story would come to a close.
There are a lot of moving parts to the story of Metroid, but the one constant has been the Metroids, alien life forms that Samus has had a complicated relationship with. While they are responsible for great destruction, a young Metroid saved Samus from one of her greatest threats, and after the events of Metroid Fusion, the species has effectively been eradicated. Many gamers looking forward to Metroid Dread might come to expect some kind of appearance from the iconic creatures, but there are several things working against that reality.
Keeping With The Metroid Continuity
One of the biggest issues with reintroducing Metroids into the series is that it would completely negate all of the storytelling up to this point in the series. Samus' relationship with the parasites is the backbone of the first four Metroid games, and Metroid Fusion saw them all rendered extinct in a somewhat bittersweet moment. If this conclusion means anything to the creators of Metroid Dread, then keeping Metroids out of the game would ensure that the integrity of the Metroid continuity remains intact.
Keeping Metroids out of Metroid Dread would also ensure that the game's story doesn't try to go through a bunch of hoops to make their return make sense. The end of the Metroid species was pretty definitive by the end of Metroid Fusion, and bringing them back in some way or another would be a very risky balancing act. If the explanation is too weak, the decision would likely receive criticism from longtime fans. And if it's a heavy-handed retcon of the work that Samus did in previous games, it would also likely receive criticism from fans attached to those stories.
Better Storytelling Opportunities In Metroid Dread
In order to succeed narratively, Metroid Dread should keep away from directly bringing back Metroids and focus instead on their effect on Samus as a whole. One of the most important story moments from Fusion was when Samus was injected with Metroid DNA to save her from the X parasite. This was a dramatic moment that forced players to wrestle with the fact that one of the franchise's main antagonists was now a fundamental part of the main character. Metroid Dread has an excellent opportunity to explore this element of Samus even further, launching new story beats instead of relying on old ones.
Metroid Dread has been a long time coming for a lot of Metroid fans, so to say expectations are high would be an understatement. Gamers that have been with the franchise from the beginning are ready to see what Samus Aran has been up to, and where she'll go from here. For the sake of the Metroid story that has been told so far, it would be wise of Dread to avoid including the titular parasites as much as possible. The game follows a long line of Nintendo franchises getting a fresh start on the Switch, so hopefully Metroid Dread will continue to evolve with the properties around it.
Metroid Dread is slated to release on October 8 for Nintendo Switch.