Metroid Ravenous, the latest 2D adventure for Samus Aran, arrives on January 28, 2027
It looks like Samus will be able to feed on her enemies and steal their powers.
Somehow, it's already been five years since Nintendo released Metroid Dread, a classic and terrifying 2D platformer that reminded me exactly why Metroid is such an essential series for Nintendo. With little fanfare, Nintendo just announced the next 2D Metroid game, coming to the Switch 2: Metroid Ravenous. And Metroid fans don't have long to wait, as it'll be available on January 28, 2027.
Based on the quick bits of gameplay and story we saw, Metroid Ravenous looks to give the series even more of a horror vibe than it has had in the past. The trailer starts with Samus narrating her predicament: she was ambushed by stylish but mysterious assailants and thrown deep underground and is trying to get back to the surface. My guess is that she lost some powers in the process and will need to find them again to get through the various areas ahead of her — but this time out, she has a new ace up her sleeve. Samus can apparently absorb some of the powers of her enemies and use that to turn the tides of battle.
It's a nice twist that shows Samus "embracing her Metroid side," as one YouTube commenter put it — usually the Metroids are the one absorbing powers from their enemies, and now Samus can do something similar. Whether or not the game will have a new form of the E.M.M.I. robots that stalked you throughout Dread remains to be seen, but there are definitely elements in the trailer that remind me of those encounters. Maybe Samus' ravenous abilities will make them less of a "one mistake and you're dead" situation like the E.M.M.I. robots were. At the very least we won't have to wait long to find out.
Metroid Ravenous arrives just over a year after Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which was one of the more divisive games in the series. Nintendo didn't push that game too far outside its original format despite the 18 years between entries in the series, and some of the story elements fell flat for a lot of players. I overall enjoyed my time with it, but also found that it didn't stick with me too much once I finished. But Metroid Dread was a quinessential 2D Metroid game, so hopefully Ravenous delivers as well.