The new Metroid trailer shows Samus Aran doing something she has never done before: talking like she is ready to eat someone.
Nintendo dropped a trailer for Metroid Ravenous, and it is a sharp turn for the franchise’s usually silent bounty hunter. The footage does not show her face. It shows her eyes, sometimes glowing with rage, and gives her lines that are pure menace. Everything about her — the way she talks, the things she says, and how she moves — oozes a fury that fans have never seen from her before. In her own words: “It’s eat or be eaten.”
The trailer presents a version of Samus that is openly hostile. She is angry, she is hungry, and she is ready to consume anyone who stands in her way. It is a dramatic shift for a character who has spent most of her history operating in silence.
Samus Gets a Personality
For most of her history, Samus Aran has been a stoic, dutiful soldier. The Metroid series has revealed some fundamental aspects of her character. She is dedicated to her job, her friends, and those under her care — be they hapless soldiers, her adopted Chozo community, or energy-thieving aliens. Her actions have always spoken for her. Her feelings never did.
Metroid Ravenous changes that. The trailer gives her a voice and an attitude that is openly hostile. She tells us with her own words what kind of person she is now. It is a version of the character that longtime fans have never seen on screen.
“It’s eat or be eaten.”
Contrast With Metroid Prime 4
The new game also sets up a striking contrast with Metroid Prime 4. Both games carry elevated, life-or-death stakes, but the tone could not be more different.
Metroid Prime 4 feels like an adventure of discovery. The key art for that game shows Samus’ glowing purple arm reaching out to touch something, a visual nod to The Creation of Adam. It is about exploration and wonder.
Metroid Ravenous uses the same arm, the same purple glow, but in a very different way. In its key art, that arm is crushing a man’s head. The message is clear. This is not a journey of discovery. This is a fight.
One writer described the difference as Metroid Prime 4 saying, “Let’s go on an adventure of discovery!” while Ravenous says, “I’m not stuck in here with you, you’re in here with me.” Even the key art from the two games are in opposition with one another.
A New Era for Samus
That writer calls this her “Girldinner Era.” It is a fitting label. Samus is no longer just a professional doing a job. She is angry, hungry, and ready to consume anyone who stands in her way.
The writer notes that they have never minded Samus being a silent protagonist throughout most of her games. Her stoicism never took away from the fact that she is a badass. But Ravenous finally gives a good sense of how she feels about all of it.
The trailer suggests Metroid Ravenous will be a more personal story than the series has typically told. It is about Samus herself, her fury, and her hunger.
Whether this new characterization sticks remains to be seen. What is clear is that the company is finally letting Samus off the leash. Welcome, Samus, to your Girldinner Era.
Source: kotaku.com
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