Guess it's time I finally sit and elaborate what I think of Metroid Dread.
In a sentence, I can't review it because I like it too much. It's not in me to tell people what's right and what's wrong with it, but I can say with certainty that it is most certainly yet another great Metroid game. I'm sure glad it is, since I've spent two thirds of my life waiting for it. I'm taking my time to dive in and play it again with the attention it deserves, because it is a finely made experience that the player shouldn't rush through, which is just what I wanted out of it.
The thing about all this is I cannot forget how long it took to get this game in my hands, to hear the main menu's foreboding six note tune, and to see the end of a storyline that started 35 years ago. I can only compare that kind of wait so only so many things made in entertainment, but this one I hold with the most importance. Waiting this long... LIVING this long, to get Metroid Dread can only tell me that reaching the end of such an absence proves how patient I can be. The more I ruminate on it though, I believe more and more that I don't want to wait like this again.
My feelings about this are still not concrete, but I don't feel like buying anymore Nintendo hardware. 4 years ago there was confirmation that Metroid Prime 4 was in the works, but the hard fact is that we're STILL waiting. At this point I am satisfied with where Metroid is, since Fusion was the first game in the series I played all the way through, and that title finally got its well deserved follow-up.
As for my backstory with this whole wait: although it got me upset that Prime 4 restarted development almost 3 years ago, I went out and bought a Nintendo Switch that day in hopes that we'd get the game someday. It turns out I've done this sort of purchase twice already for the hopes of getting Metroid Dread: the first being with the DSi. It was my impression that Metroid Dread was soon coming out in 2009, and I bought that model not just as the system I would play that game on, but also the last Nintendo system I would purchase for the foreseeable future. The #1 game I've wanted for the last 18 years is Dread, and my feelings now are very much like they were then: "if I get that game, I don't need any more games than the ones I've got". Imagine my disappointment when 5 years go by, not only another handheld is released but also another console, and Metroid Dread didn't come out. In 2014 I broke my vow and bought the 3DS XL for the upcoming Smash 3DS game. That handheld too came and went without Metroid 5 (June 13th 2017 was a very exciting day though). Looking back at it all, I made an effort to not miss the games that looked good for those systems, but ultimately they became filler to me for the game I truly yearned for.
And so I sit here, wondering if I even want to get more Metroid games to be created at all. I think I've made up my mind that I don't want Prime 4 despite its reported development. This series has just got its miraculous comeback that other series fans like for Megaman Legends are dying for. If Metroid Dread honestly made new Metroid fans I'm happy, and those new fans will want new games just like I did. In my case now, I'm content in my own mind if Lady's missions come to an end.