While fans were expecting news of Metroid Prime 4 or even a Metroid Prime Trilogy port in E3 2021, they instead got a surprise, as Metroid Dread is scheduled for release this year on October 8, 2021.
Metroid Dread was a game originally intended for release on the Nintendo DS in the late 2000s, so it’s been a long time coming.
Dread is the first new story to the series in 19 years. According to producer Sakamoto Yoshio, Dread was scrapped at the time due to the limitations of the technology at the time, which couldn’t bring the concept they wanted to create to fruition.
Unlike the Prime series, Dread will follow the traditional 2-D Metroid games instead of first person, and will bring the story arc of Metroid, Metroid 2, Super Metroid, and Metroid Fusion to an end.
Dread aims to have a different feel than previous Metroid games, bringing in stealth and horror elements that will bring “intense dread” to the players. Samus will be constantly stalked by a relentless threat that Samus must hide and flee from.
In a word, the enemy in this game, the E.M.M.I. is terrifying. It’s actually a research robot owned by the Galactic Federation. Each robot roams within a specific zone, and when they sense the sounds Samus makes, they close in.
And once it capture Samus on its visual sensor, it starts chasing after Samus at high speed. And once captured, she will face imminent doom, almost without exception.
Sakamoto Yoshio
The game is being developed by Mercury Steam Entertainment, who co-developed Metroid: Samus Returns for the Nintendo 3DS and is releasing on October 8, 2021. A special edition will release with the game, a steel game case, artbook, and art cards of all 5 games in the 2D Metroid games.