Debuting earlier today during Nintendo's E3 Direct, Metroid Dread has been a long time in the making, with rumors persisting about the project for over a decade. It'll finally be hitting shelves on October 8, joining the likes of Mario Party Superstars, WarioWare: Get it Together, and Shin Megami Tensei 5 as part of the Nintendo Switch's stacked Fall lineup.
To celebrate the official announcement of the title, Nintendo released a new interview with Metroid Dread's Producer Yoshio Sakamoto during its Treehouse livestream, talking to the developer about the title's history and where it falls in the timeline of the franchise. The clip comes loaded with interesting reveals about Samus Aran's latest adventure, including the fact it's intended to close out the story of the original Metroid series and has been discussed by Nintendo for years.
"The series has chronicled the uncanny relationship between [the] Metroids and the heroine Samus," Sakamoto explains while recapping the series in the opening moments of the interview. "This game will mark an end to that story arc." The producer explains that he's excited for fans to discover how it will tie up the original Metroid series' loose ends, although he acknowledges that this new experience will be more than just an addition to the story.
If fans are wondering why a follow-up hasn't emerged since the release of Metroid Fusion back in 2002, Sakamoto also explains exactly why the sequel has been such a long time in the making. In the game, Samus is relentlessly pursued by a threat known as EMMI: a giant robot that cannot be harmed by weapons and will eradicate Aran the moment it catches her. It will crop up frequently throughout the campaign, forcing the player to think quickly to avoid its deadly grasp.
The ambitious concept was one the team dreamed up almost 15 years ago, however, it didn't have the technology to implement it at the time. Years later, the studio took a second crack at it, deciding again that it wouldn't be able to do it justice. Sakamoto admits Nintendo was unsure it would ever be able to work on Dread until it met MercurySteam Entertainment, who co-developed Metroid: Samus Returns. With the two teams collaborating on Samus' latest intergalactic adventure, the producer claims "we've created a version of Metroid Dread that even surpasses what we imagined 15 years ago."
The rest of the interview delves into the sequel's gameplay and story, revealing that EMMI was originally a research robot owned by the Galactic Federation and will lurk in certain areas of the map actively searching for Samus. The game is shaping up to be a fun return to the franchise's roots ahead of Metroid Prime 4, which Nintendo also teased during its E3 showcase.
Metroid Dread is launching on October 8 for Nintendo Switch.
