History Awesome / MetroidDread

With this being the canonical end of the Metroid era, Samus must make good use of her powers and experience to survive. And for this GrandFinale, she really gets to go all out!

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kraid_3.jpg]]

As per [[Administrivia/HandlingSpoilers Wiki policy]], '''all spoilers will be unmarked.''' Read at your own risk.

* Raven Beak is easily one of the best, and most successful villains in the whole series. Throughout the ''entire game'' he's had Samus fooled with his [=ADAM=] disguise, flawlessly luring her through a crash course with the [=EMMI=]s and other such bosses to unlock her Metroid powers. Furthermore, [[HeroicSecondWind if only for a brief moment]], he is one of the few villains to '''[[TheHeroDies defeat Samus in combat]]''', and is the only one to do so '''''twice''''' in the same game! In spite of his maliciousness and cruelty, Raven's ego [[AwesomeEgo may genuinely be without question.]]

-->'''"ADAM":''' Submit and offer up your power. My plan is the only way to bring order to the galaxy. Fulfill your destiny, Samus. This is an order. Disobedience will not be tolerated.\\
'''Samus Aran:''' ''({{Beat}})'' ''(super ice missile's the holographic projection into holo pixels, revealing the man behind the curtain)''

** And yet, in turn Samus's reaction is... complete apathy. She doesn't care what he considers himself, because all that matters right now is that he's threatening the galaxy and killed people she ''does'' consider family. And its right then and there that she proves that his DNA isn't the only reason she's come out on top all these years.

* [[HeroKiller Raven Beak actually chokes Samus to death]]. We see her armour psycho-actively acknowledging her own flat-lining vitals as her visor's light blinks out. But killing his surrogate daughter was the ''worst'' thing he could have done. Because she completes her evolution into a Metroid hybrid, [[EleventhHourSuperPower transforming into the Metroid Suit]] - done so quickly you might not notice at first - with a full on BattleAura and ''pulverizes'' his ''unbreakable''' armour with one punch, letting loose with all her rage as she jabs her newly evolved claws into his face. Samus' scream alone conveys the endless fury she holds towards him. To see Raven Beak devolve from an [[SmugSuper unstoppable and arrogant warrior who trumps Samus in every battle she’s faced him in]] to [[VillainousBreakdown screaming in fear and trying in vain to shake Samus off of him]] is beautiful.

** Indeed, it really called to mind a great line from the third act of Braveheart: "I don't ''want'' anything from you! You're not a man! ... And you're not my father."

-->'''Samus:''' Kino olo torota. Ana maril sanul bura. Almar hem gah lom. (Translation: "Do not worry. I will end this. Once and for all.")

** As an added bonus, when Samus begins to speak, a new rendition of her leitmotif (a mash-up of the opening and ending themes of ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'') starts playing in the background. Think about it. Her elder has just hit her with the news that a lunatic wants to butcher and dissect her, so her corpse's miracle of genetics can unwillingly participate in subjugating the universe. Quiet Robe says it in much gentler terms with all due gravitas as if he wouldn't blame her if she decided to flee this debacle. But her statement in Chozo not only reinforces her connection to them, it sends a clear message of: "this is my heritage, I know what's at stake." You get the impression Samus doesn't even ''blink'' through her visor and that she feels even a trace of fear that she won't succeed. Her victory has already been decided because her one line sounds self-assured to the point of enlightenment not hubris. She ''has'' to end this chapter of the story for all their sakes.

!!Meta
* Just the fact that this game ''exists''. ''Metroid Dread'' had been stuck in and out of DevelopmentHell for nearly ''twenty years'' before it finally saw release, and up until that point it had been rumored, leaked, and flat-out canceled at a few points and [[VideoGame/MetroidOtherM another game]] [[FranchiseKiller almost killed the franchise entirely]]. Just the fact that ''Dread'' saw release at all is incredible.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeHvdZttr3o Shinespark Jousting]]
* As a franchise that is ''notorious'' for not selling well in its native Japan [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff compared to its international sales]], ''Dread'' is well on its way to becoming the highest selling game in the entire ''Metroid'' franchise [[https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/dread-has-already-outsold-nearly-every-metroid-game-in-japan/ in Japan, with its first week sales in the country beating out the lifetime sales]] of several past games in the franchise besides its own prequel ''[[VideoGame/MetroidFusion Fusion]]'' as well as ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters''. Nintendo's end-of-fiscal-year 2022 [[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2022/220510_6e.pdf earnings report]] confirmed that by the end of March 2022, ''Dread'' had sold 270,000 copies in Japan, climbing past all previous ''Metroid'' titles' sales records in its country of origin.
* Piggybacking on a previous [[Awesome/MetroidSamusReturns Samus Returns entry]], the way Samus' animations so perfectly communicate her personality, her reactions, and her thoughts to a given situation. For instance, the page image of Samus staring Kraid down, the way Samus casually walks around Corpious before the final finishing animation, the way so much can be conveyed by soundless body movement, and the one time Samus speaks stands out as an awesome moment of its own. As with the scene of Samus and the Baby Metroid in ''Returns'', the animators brought their A Game, and they knocked it out of the park!
* This game averts CutscenePowerToTheMax ''hard'' for its pre-boss scenes. Not only is everything Samus does in them something the player can do in gameplay, but [[ShowDontTell they contain subtle hints on how to deal with the boss' attacks.]]
* Speed Boosting and Shinesparking have always been awesome in Metroid games. Here, they're taken to an ENTIRE new level. Just bouncing off the walls while speed boosting only to roll into a ball to go through a narrow corridor, only to come out the other side, standing up and holding the charge ready to go is just a small example of what you can do in Dread with it. On top of that, the designers recognised that players did indeed use the destructive power of the Shinespark offensively, and actively allow you to build and carry Shinespark charges into boss rooms, so you can actually do tremendous damage to them. Experiment Z-57 can be killed immediately if you ram it in the aftermath of its wind tunnel attack, and the Infested Warriors, Escue, and the Chozo Robot Soldiers can be greatly damaged by ramming them accordingly.
* In a similar vein, the adjustments made to the Grapple Beam in the wake of its fairly boring utility in Super and the Prime trilogy have made it ever more useful and stylish to employ. From being able to bypass dangerous climbing sequences by grappling directly onto Spider Magnet tracks in the walls and ceilings, speeding past E.M.M.I.s by quickly grappling across entire room sections in a single action, getting around obstacles by Grappling them and flipping them around on their hinge joints, to being able to stun or render enemies vunerable by grabbing sensitive or vunerable body parts and just ''pulling'', the Grapple's simple effectiveness got a huge boost here on ZDR.
* The game ended up getting the title of Best Action/Adventure Game of the year ''twice'': first at the Game Awards 2021 show, and then again for the [[https://www.famitsu.com/news/202203/12254227.html Famitsu Dengeki 2021 awards]].
* ''Metroid Dread'' has shipped 2.74 million units in the first three months of release, the most out of any of the 2D Metroid titles and almost beating ''Metroid Prime’s'' record of 2.84 million units, a phenomenal feat for a niche franchise. By the sixth month, it reached 2.90 million units sold, beating ''Prime's'' record and officially becoming the best-selling title of the ''Metroid'' franchise.

** Their reunion is a solid moment for both Samus and Kraid. On Samus' end, her calm and collected reaction is a perfect contrast to Other M's infamous scene featuring her reaction to Ridley being back yet again. As for Kraid? Not only is this a long-awaited transition to 3D, but plotwise he's been brought back yet again in a context completely alien to him or any space pirate by an unfamiliar malevolent figure, kept in captivity under clearly horrible conditions, experimented on and who knows what else, enough to make his current incarnation seem almost sympathetic. And what does he do when [[TheDreaded The Hunter]], who's already put him down twice, shows up? [[DefiantToTheEnd He goes down swinging.]]

* Ridley never appears in the game. Ever. While it may be a bit of a downer for his fans, it's ''awesome'' in-universe in that he is seemingly permanently dead.

* [[HeroKiller Raven Beak actually chokes Samus to death]]. We see her armour psycho-actively acknowledging her own flat-lining vitals as her visor's light blinks out. But killing his surrogate daughter was the ''worst'' thing he could have done. Because she completes her evolution into a Metroid hybrid, [[EleventhHourSuperPower transforming into the Metroid Suit]] - done so quickly you might not notice at first - with a full on BattleAura and ''pulverizes'' his hitherto unbreakable armour with one punch, letting loose with all her rage as she jabs her newly evolved claws into his face. Samus' scream alone conveys the endless fury she holds towards him. To see Raven Beak devolve from an [[SmugSuper unstoppable and arrogant warrior who trumps Samus in every battle she’s faced him in]] to [[VillainousBreakdown screaming in fear and trying in vain to shake Samus off of him]] is beautiful.

* In a similar vein, the adjustments made to the Grapple Beam in the wake of its fairly boring utility in Super and the Prime trilogy have made it ever more useful and stylish to employ. From being able to bypass dangerous climbing sequences by grappling directly onto Spider Magnet tracks in the walls and ceilings, getting around obstacles by Grappling them and flipping them around on their hinge joints, to being able to stun or render enemies vunerable by grabbing sensitive or vunerable body parts and just ''pulling'', the Grapple's simple effectiveness got a huge boost here on ZDR.

** For Metroid manga readers, it's quite possible as a first-time player to roar denial at the screen and [[ThatLiarLies proclaim that Grey Voice is Sammy's father]] [[CatharsisFactor as you go to town on him!]] Mercury Steam really knew what lore buttons to press to activate a Metroid fanatic.

* As a franchise that is ''notorious'' for not selling well in its native Japan [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff compared to its international sales]], ''Dread'' is well on its way to becoming the highest selling game in the entire ''Metroid'' franchise [[https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/dread-has-already-outsold-nearly-every-metroid-game-in-japan/ in Japan, with its first week sales in the country beating out the lifetime sales]] of several past games in the franchise besides its own prequel ''[[VideoGame/MetroidFusion Fusion]]'' as well as ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters''.

* ''Metroid Dread'' has shipped 2.74 million units in the first three months of release, the most out of any of the 2D Metroid titles and almost beating Metroid Prime’s record of 2.84 million units, a phenomenal feat for a niche franchise.