When you’ve been waiting some 15 years for a game, I think it’s probably fair to express a little bit of trepidation going in. Metroid Dread was first conceived as a Nintendo DS sequel to Metroid Fusion, back at a time when not only had the series served up a 2D offering that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Super Metroid, but we were also in the midst of the brilliance of the Prime series. Whatever your take on the likes of Metroid: Other M, Federation Force or Samus Returns, it’s fair to say that the series has been far from its prime ever since.
You can forgive long-time Metroid fans going into the first original game since 2010’s somewhat divisive Other M for having some nerves, then. But, after a couple of hours with the opening of Metroid Dread, I have wonderful news. This one looks set to be the real deal – a classic 2D Metroid, delivered with some serious production values and all the polish you’d hope for from a game that’s helping launch Nintendo’s latest Switch hardware, next month’s OLED refresh.
Set shortly after the events of Fusion, Dread sees Samus once again responding to a mysterious signal beckoning her down to a hostile planet surface in her latest attempt to wipe out the X parasites. And, once again, events conspire to strip her of all her abilities – this time by way of a powerful figure donned in Chozo armour you encounter on the surface of planet ZDR, who subsequently defeats Samus in what leads to a bout of ‘physical amnesia’. The result is Samus waking up groggy-headed and effectively empty-handed deep in the bowels of the planet, tasked with working her way up to her ship that’s waiting abandoned on the surface as she rediscovers her old powers and a few new ones besides – a sort of neat reversal of Super Metroid’s adventure which had you burrowing down into the planet Zebes.
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