E3 is nearing ever closer and with it will come dozens of new game announcements and overview of the rest of this year’s releases.  Try as gamers might to contain their excitement, there are always those games that lurk on the outskirts of being announced, but never seem to materialize, driving gamers insane with speculation. One such game is the long-rumored Metroid Dread. The Metroid series has always had a devoted following so the fact that a game was hinted at and mentioned, but has never been shown has created a lot of speculation. This speculation has no doubt heightened due to the release of two other Metroid games in that time span with a third soon to be released.  While there's always the possibility that Nintendo will finally unveil the game this year, it doesn't look like the game's status will change anytime soon.  With that in mind, I have taken it upon myself to create Metroid Dread. Remember that I’m taking some creative liberties here. Not everything I theorize currently exists within the Metroid universe (but it should).

In my vision of Metroid Dread, the story would pick up moments after the ending of Metroid Fusion. Samus uses her journey back to her home base to read over the data that the Galactic Federation's scientists have collected on the Metroids during their breeding program. A lot of their research is based on old Chozo writings where the word 'Dread' appears over and over. The federation scientists have discovered that Metroids only have one natural predator, beings known as the Dread. They are creatures, able to survive in the vacuum of space, that would travel once every fifty years across the galaxy to Talon IV, SR-388, and Zebes to hunt enough Metroids to last them through the fifty year respite.

In their writings, the Chozo described the Dread as the perfect predator, capable of hunting any living creature. The danger of the Dread were so great that the Chozo were the ones to introduce them to the Metroids as prey due to the fact that only Metroids held enough biological energy to satiate the Dread. With the Metroids extinct, the next Dread Hunt would cause immeasurable casualties to the galaxy. According to the scientists' research, there are only two weeks before the Dread return from their respite and begin their next hunt.

With no time to report to the Galactic Federation about the Fusion incident, Samus heads for the Dread home planet of Teruhn. Much like she did to the Metroids, Samus has to destroy every last Dread. But as she nears the planet, the Dread sense the Metroid cells in her blood and attack. She survives the attack but crash lands on the planet, stranded. As she goes to hunt down the Dread, she leaves a distress signal, not knowing who might receive it.

It's at this point that the game proper would begin and players would take control of Samus. Like past Metroid games, Samus would start Metroid Dread fully upgraded in her Varia suit. However, unlike other Metroid titles, she would not immediately lose all these upgrades after the introductory section of the game. The players would be free to explore the world of Teruhn as they hunt down the 200 surviving female members of the Dread species, five of which are Nest Guardians. There are two areas available at the beginning with the others guarded by a strange energy field. The five areas of Teruhn include the mountains of Hesca, the swamp of Suprue, the cave systems of Latsk, the ruins of Kract, and the hidden Space Pirate base in Raches.

The 200 female Dread would be interspersed with the many members of the male Dread. In this game, I not only want the feeling of Samus as a hunter but as if she's being hunted herself. Much like the stretch in Zero Mission, where Samus is in her Zero Suit, or even the SA-X sections in Metroid Fusion. There should be a feeling of tension and fear pervading Metroid Dread. The Dread begin the game with simple swarm tactics that eventually evolve into grander schemes, underlining their intelligence. Other enemies would include the flora and fauna of Teruhn, the Space Pirate forces, and eventually even the Galactic Federation itself.

That last enemy might seem like a surprise, but it ties into the end of Metroid Fusion. Rather than destroy the X Parasite, the Galactic Federation wanted to capture and study it. Samus disobeyed those orders and has been blamed for the destruction of the research station. Now she is a fugitive hunted by the more corrupt members of the Federation for what she knows. The story and gameplay of Metroid Dread would be intrinsically linked to these events.

Moreover, as Samus destroys more and more of the female Dread, her body will begin rejecting the Varia Suit. Some part of the Metroid DNA latent in her system is getting rid of it and there's little that Samus can do to stop it other than selecting which system to eject. It starts with her left glove as a small hint and gradually drops all of her major functions until she only has her arm blaster and Zero Suit. What this means for gameplay is that alternate paths must be found in order to progress through the game, making exploration all the more important. It also compliments replayability in that different paths can be taken depending on which suit system is dropped in which order.

Even though previous Metroids were games of progression, Metroid Dread would be a game of regression. This doesn't mean that Samus won't be rewarded and upgraded though. After each of the 5 Nest Guardians are destroyed, Samus's body will be granted a power of the Metroids, including the ability to float for a short time and drain enemies of their health. Depending on which systems you drop, players can also integrate them with the Varia Suit abilities allowing you to send out the Grapple Beam for a long distance health drain along with many other combinations. 

Other gameplay features would be the inclusion of Samus's scan visor from the Metroid Prime series (so enemy data can be viewed) and first person on-rails sections where the stylus would be used to blast enemies. The stylus (since Metroid Dread has consistently been labeled as a DS game) would also be used for various other gameplay instances like hacking doors and "zeroing in" on enemies' weak points. Otherwise, the game would play like all the other 2D Metroids with particular emphasis on the style of Metroid II and Super Metroid.

And as for the complete story, as Samus destroys the Dread, her distress beacon reaches the Space Pirates and the Galactic Federation. The Pirates alert the men they have on Teruhn about Samus, using the opportunity to take out the "Hunter" once and for all and test some of the Dread hybrids they've been developing. The Federation, still reeling from Samus's apparent betrayal, sends General Kenneth Rosso and the men under his command to arrest her for questioning. However, General Rosso is actually a traitor to the Federation and is ordered by the Space Pirate High Command to eliminate Samus.

Samus learns all this as she destroys the Dread species, eventually killing all but the final Dread, dubbed the Dreadnought. This massive creature is held by the Space Pirates and has been given the Metroids' ability to drain life energy as well as their insatiable hunger. She fails in her first attempt to kill it and is saved by the last Chozo, a scientist who is responsible for many of the upgrades of the Varia Suit. Samus tells him of the Metroid's rejection of her suit and he sets about making a new suit for her. The Metroidian Suit is completed 12 hours before the Dreadnought will leave for the galaxy, having drained 90% of the life energy from Teruhn.

Samus makes a final assault on the Space Pirates and General Rosso's forces. As she confronts the General, he injects himself with the last of the Space Pirate's Dread Hybrid formula, which turns him into a massive Human/Dread combination. He talks about how killing her is the proper order of nature since she is infused with Metroid blood and the two have a final battle on top of the Dreadnought as the planet struggles to stay together. Samus eventually wins the battle and activates the bomb the Pirates placed in the Dreadnought as a last resort if it were to attack any of their bases. As the planet is destroyed, Samus escapes in Rosso's ship.

Or at least that’s how I imagine it all playing out. What do you think? Would you play a Metroid game like this? Do you think that we’ll ever actually see a Metroid Dread title, and if so, what do you think it will be like? Let us know if the comments below!