Is Metroid Dread Really The End Of The Story?
Seeing Metroid Dread, a game rumored to exist since 2005, suddenly appear during this week’s Nintendo Direct was quite a surprise. Equally surprising was a comment made by series co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto in a follow-up video about the game’s long development history. “The series has chronicled the relationship between Metroids and the heroine Samus,” he said, “but this game will mark an end to that story arc.”
Does that mean this would chronologically be the last game in the Metroid series? IGN dialed up Sakamoto and asked him for clarification. “Regarding the end of the Metroid saga and the five-part saga,” he told them. “the Metroid story until this point has dealt with Samus’ strange fate that’s been intertwined around this being called the Metroid. And until now that has been the focus of the series, but what [Metroid Dread] represents is a bit of a pause or kind of a new start to something else.”
In other words, you don’t have to worry about this being the “final” Metroid game (especially since Metroid Prime 4 is obviously still in development). It may not be the final chronological tale for Samus either. But there’s still another question hanging in the air.
Sakamoto said in the video he hoped players would wonder “what does an end to the story arc mean?” as they play this game. We can’t help but wonder right now. The Super Mario series is called “Super Mario” and can be about anything as long as you control Mario in it. But Samus’ series doesn’t bear her name. It’s called “Metroid,” requiring at least one Metroid to be involved in the plot. If this is the end of her relationship with the Metroids, what does that mean for a future game that takes place later? Would it go by a completely different name?
What would Metroid without Metroids be like? We’ll just have to wonder for now, because answers are far away. Metroid Dread will be releases November 8 on Nintendo Switch.