The 2021 Game Awards has left its mark on the gaming industry, crowning some of the year's best games for their tremendous achievements. While the show may have been longer than some truly anticipated, it was still marked by some remarkable awards and stunning world premieres. One of the most highly anticipated awards for the show was for 2021's best action-adventure game, and out of all of the nominees, any of them would have been worthy of the recognition. When it came time for the announcement, though, the award ultimately went to Nintendo's Metroid Dread.
The story of Metroid Dread is one that has been well documented at this point, as the first mainline Metroid game in almost twenty years after numerous delays. Hopes were always relatively high for the next installment in the series for longtime Metroid fans, but leading up to release, there was a prevalent fear that Metroid could experience another period of dormancy if the game didn't excel in one way or another. Luckily, now that Metroid Dread has blown fans and critics away, the fact that it now ranks among some of the best action-adventure games in the industry should be a good sign for Metroid's future.
Giving Nintendo a Reason To Keep Metroid Going
Over the last twenty years, Nintendo has built up a rather unfortunate reputation for letting some first-party franchises fall by the wayside while others continue to shine in the spotlight. Whether it's because of a lack of financial success or no new ideas, Nintendo staples like F-Zero and Star Fox have fallen dormant while franchises like Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda have received continued support. Metroid was one such franchise that had fallen dormant for quite some time, as the last home console release before Dread was 2010's divisive Metroid: Other M.
Metroid Dread proved that the franchise can still stand among some of Nintendo's biggest properties, however, as it was a tremendous success across the board. Not only was it received well by fans and critics alike, but Metroid Dread set a franchise sales record, breaking the previous record set by the acclaimed Metroid Prime so many years ago. Now that the game has also one a major gaming award, Nintendo has been given more than enough reason to think that gamers want Metroid to continue, and will support new releases so long as Nintendo continues to support the franchise with quality titles.
Predicting The Future of Metroid
With all of the accolades that Metroid Dread has received in the months since its release, the future looks pretty bright for the series as a whole. Metroid Prime 4 is still in development, and with all of the Metroid hype that has been built up by Dread, the long-awaited game could do much better than some may have previously anticipated. And although Metroid Dread was meant to conclude the main story started by the first Metroid, it would be no surprise to see MercurySteam given the reins once again for another 2D adventure with Samus Aran.
The Game Awards has become one of the biggest stages in gaming over the last few years, and the fact that Metroid Dread ranks as one of its award winners should be a source of pride for both Nintendo and MercurySteam. Few franchises have been so influential to the industry as Metroid, and the return to form that Dread demonstrated is more than befitting of best action-adventure game of 2021. While the next step for after Dread may be a mystery, there's no doubt that Metroid has thoroughly brought itself back into today's age of gaming.
Metroid Dread is available now for the Nintendo Switch.