Metroid Dread has hit the shelves, and it seems like it is living up to the hype. Dread is the latest in the long running action adventure video game series Metroid, created by Nintendo in 1986. The series stars bounty hunter Samus Aran as she explores alien planets and battles many exotic foes, the most dangerous of which are energy sucking parasites called metroids. The series is well known for creating and codifying the metroidvania subgenre, which is all about exploring a created world and discovering power ups in order to progress to new areas. 

Dread’s history actually goes back to the early 2000s; the game was originally meant to be released around this era, but series co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto was dissatisfied with the technology of the time, believing that it could not accommodate their vision for the game, and so it was scrapped. The game became something of a legend amongst many gaming enthusiasts as an unreleased work- until now. 

The game explores our protagonist, Samus, investigating a potential sighting of the extremely dangerous X-parasites, which can mimic any living creature. These parasites are the natural enemy to the metroids, who rose in prominence after Samus exterminated them on their homeworld of SR-388; furthermore, multiple scouting drones, named E.M.M.I.S, have gone dark on the planet. It seems that many foes from Samus’ past- such as the space pirate Kraid- are on planet ZDR.

As usual, the game will feature a world where exploration is key, with Samus getting all kinds of old and new abilities to traverse the mysterious planet. At the same time, she must evade the previously mentioned E.M.M.I.S, who have turned hostile for unknown reasons, and can defeat her in a single hit if they catch her. Overall, the game seems like it will be an interesting addition to the franchise, and advance the story to unseen areas. It has been described as a climatic point in the series- though not the finale- and will feature the conclusion to the story between Samus and the metroids.