Game of the Year 2021
First Runner-Up: Metroid Dread
Staff Writer Rebecca Stone: Metroid Dread was originally planned back in the Nintendo DS days, but after years of no news, it had presumably been canceled and was never officially acknowledged again. Over a decade later, this fifth game in the main Metroid series finally reappeared at Nintendo’s 2021 E3 direct with the same title and with MercurySteam in charge of its development.
Since this was the first new 2D Metroid game in nearly 20 years, its success would be vital to the future of the franchise. Thankfully, MercurySteam proved capable of rising to the challenge. Metroid Dread is a must-play for both veterans of the series and newcomers alike.
It’s difficult to successfully blend tradition with innovation, but Metroid Dread does exactly that. Samus uses a wide range of abilities both old and new to thoroughly explore the hostile planet, and the areas are so well-designed that as soon as you start to feel lost, you manage to find yourself in the right place.
Much of Metroid Dread’s story is told implicitly through the environment, but the few cutscenes that exist are meaningful and memorable. The threatening E.M.M.I. zones provide a new type of stealth challenge that is tough but never unfair. Metroid Dread is not only one of the greatest games of 2021, but one of the finest works from a Nintendo franchise in years. Though Samus’s story seems to be over, I’m eager to see the direction in which the Metroid series goes after this.
