Maybe the best approach is still having the room system underground, where most of the gameplay is spent, and have a complete open world above. The best Metroid can be is when you are allowed to break the chain a little, like gighting Kraid early, or entering Ridley's lair before you are "ready", so allowing a skilled player to do that in the ipen world section to enter the labyrith from an area you aren't normally expected to would work excellently.
I think the prime games are open enough. I feel all the recent open world games have way too much open space where so much of the gameplay is just walking to the actual interesting parts. Even with the room design you can still have dynamic weather and day changes.
yeah I generally agree, it feels like Metroid would have to sacrifice too many essential parts of its design to accommodate an open world game, and without much payoff to justify it. *But*, I feel like you might be able to get away with open world in some sort of spinoff game? I've always loved the idea of a spinoff metroid game focusing more on Samus' job as a bounty hunter on more populated planets, and an open world structure could work with that
Well people said that botw differed too much from the zelda formula because of the open world when in reality the problem was that they didn't have good enough dungeons or progression. Oot had an open field and there were a few points in the story where dungeons could have been completed in any order if only the devs allowed it. The problem was never open world but I guess it's probably a different story for metroid
Honestly, I feel like that is the only way it COULD be justified and honestly think it would be dope and as a idea could involve lots of different way it's could work be it in the middle of a battlefield or meeting pockets of Federation Troopers forming outposts or encounter other Bounty Hunters that might fight you or could be allies until you either leave the Area and/ or help them complete their objectives. Honestly so many ideas
If Metroid DOES go open world, I think involving Samus in an on going conflict would be the ideal story line. Maybe have the Space Pirates and the Federation fight over a full planet or something? Would be a good chance to understand Federation society, and Samus' perspective from the outside looking in.
I've seen others beat around the bush with this concept, but I think you hit the nail. I think this would work really well. One thing I think would be a cool idea is that instead of cutscenes of Samus talking, you're instead treated to a journal for her to log down her thoughts. I also think to further add features similar in concept to Death Stranding where there are things you can make Sam (or Samus- i realize now how similar their names are lol) do things that make them feel alive, living, and breathing. For example, Samus could encounter a plant that upon scan and after leaving you have the option of pressing a button which makes Samus eat the now identified as edible plant or you might find some ancient instrument and be able to play it on your ship or at where you find it.
I don't think so. Metroid is about exploration, yes, but also progression. Having an order to progress and later on finding ways to break that order is the fun in it. BotW and especially TotK made it way too easy to break the order by accident and miss things. I think sectioning off areas both makes the Metroid zones seem like sections of a larger world and makes it so the devs can design specific challenges.
If Metroid is going in the more Open World Direction, I would prefer a more Deus Ex Mankind Divided take on the formula rather than the Open Air Zelda approach. Deus Ex Mankind Divided had what was a largely open world overworld map but it was very small but with many intricacies in between that took inspiration from Metroid to make it similar in that progression style. It was very interesting and still had the dynamics that came with open world games, but the content and gameplay of games more closed off leading to larger story dungeons.
No, Metroid Prime 3 did it correct. It is open enough to be spacious and give that feeling of an open world, narrow enough to fit with Metroid-Vania formula.
if we went into the True open world, it would be bland, however I would like some more Side quest in the formula that would see us affect a planet and when come back it changes in its surroundings.
@@TBL-AMELIA the only thing that made prime 3 boring was because hyper mode made it hell of a lot easier (even on the harder difficulty), it’s story was fine. If you removed the hyper mode mechanics from the game what do you have.
Metroid has always been open world. I've never understood the distinction. It's just the *idealized* version of an open world: non-linear, densely populated, richly detailed, interconnected, with interesting, memorable landmarks, varied regions and environments, and no wasted space. Metroidvania-style maps are what open world maps always *should* have been. To the people trying to claim that Metroid Prime is not a "true" open world because there are no wide open spaces to mindlessly sprint across, that's like saying it's not a "real" first person shooter because there's no weapon camos or battle pass. I think when most people say "open world" what they really mean is "a huge map that is mostly empty, open space, sprinkled with quest markers, filler content, and npcs". A Metroid-vania map is what you get when you take a modern "open world" map and trim all the unnecessary fat.
"Non-linear". Metroid has never particularly been nonlinear without abusing major jank and glitches(or in the case of Metroid 1, romhacking a walljump into the game). It's a pure myth, the closest it ever got was Zero Mission and going against the intended route in that game is active suffering(minus that one time you can infiltrate one of the lower layers by entering through an exit. That one is pretty rad)
Open worlds are way too same-y, even the two Zelda games. I dont want to run in emptiness just to get to an Ubisoft tower to open the map up more with less enemy variety. Pretty locations, well designed areas and environments with unique set pieces are what Metroid does best, there is no need to change that. Especially with how dungeons in almost every single open world game look the same.
There can be an openish overworld with many entrances to the underground and various ships. That said, the open world would have to connect to the Metroidvania map underneath in a meaningful way.
The idea of open world Metroid is actually hard to wrap my head around. The door and room segmentation is what has made progression so focused and satisfying. Not to mention that I just think of doors are an iconic element synonymous with Metroid. It's already hard to balance a 3d game with progression without it looking weird. With that much more accessible open space it would be hard to make coming across a new area feel natural in a Metroid kind of way. I'd be fine if Metroid Prime 4 was just a really good Prime game with maybe slightly bigger rooms.
Just some feedback, it took you over 2 minutes to get to the point of the video. A lot of time was spent of you and your friends laughing over a glitch. I’m all for funny moments, but we like how your shorts are straight to the point. I’m not saying to make this a shorts video, but filler is filler, and viewers generally lose interest of it overtime.
@TBL-AMELIA it was absent of isolation because you weren't alone. You had someone watching over your back rhe entire time, or plotting to kill you. Wether that be the aurora unit or the hunters. The game was never meant to make you feel alone. The inhabitants of bryo were still there to a degree. Elysia as well. Pirate homeworld is literally their home. The only place I felt alone was in phaaze. What prime game didn't feel linear tbh. I do see why on mp3 it feels more so and that's probably because there was just more ground to cover. Get to a new planet, go as far as you can, retrace your steps till you get a new power up, repeat.
Metroid games are built off of interconnected maps that are accessible via upgrades/movesets/skills that are obtained through exploration. Often there is sequence breaking or multiple "right" paths, but there is still some linearity. I think that makes Metroid open world adjacent. It's certainly less linear than a 2D Mario game. However, when you create something that is super open world (say Tears of the Kingdom) you tend to create worlds that do not have that progression system that Metroid games thrive off of. Take those away and you do not have a Metroid game; you have an open world game in the Metroid universe. I think it would be very difficult to create a true open world game that still has those metroidvania aspects.
I’ve been playing Elden Ring again, and love going back to older areas and finding new things, like (minor elden ring spoiler) Radahn’s arena having a catacomb, even though there are no hints at all pointing to it. It’s something you need to find naturally by just running into it. I feel like an open-world Metroid would have no loading doors when in the overworld to retain player immersion, but it could have ER-style legacy dungeons that are chock full of little secrets everywhere, and would also have loading doors separating rooms. The dungeons could also have doors that require a newer beam or a pile of rubble covering a door that needs a Power Bomb, letting the player come back later to finish exploring the area. Honestly, I don’t think Metroid should be open world. The Prime series in particular does a fantastic job of keeping the player’s immersion and world-building. Instead, I feel like Metroid should have a randomizer mode built-in. It would add hours of replayability and would let players do something after beating the game (aside from playing through a harder difficulty.)
a open world game can have "loading" doors, idk why you seem to think they are opposite. Pokémon, a game you mentioned, also has "loading" doors in the form of unlocking abilities that allow you to jump, climb, glide, etc. the entire game is not available from the start. and it is still open world. Metroid could be an open world game with some restricted areas and "loading" doors.
I don't necessarily want a "Metroid open world game". But I would like an Open World, or at least a game where with much larger environmenta, where I gcould play as Samus as her kit modified for a larger sandbox. I'd dare say a side game, but the scope of something like that would be to "big" for a side game and I would imagine never get made.
Perhaps we have a different definition of "open world". For me, the term implies a sandbox with a lack of structure or sequence. Go anywhere in any order with nothing gating you from going somewhere. And to me that's not the same as removing the loading doors from a Metroid game, and removing all restrictions, making it so that you get all the upgrades up front a la BotW or can get them in any order (not the same thing as sequence breaking) would cease to make it a Metroid game to me. Or at least cease to make it a Metroid game that I'd want to play, as the structure is ultimately what draws me to the series.
Metroidvanias are already open world games and I think many forget that. Vast worlds and landscapes do not define open worlds because those can be presented in a linear fashion. Classic JRPGs like Chronotrigger and the Final Fantasy series took upwards of 30 hours from end to end with you travelling through very diverse environments for example. Ubisoft is notorious for using filler in their open world games because they don't understand that the appeal isn't the scale but rather the non-linear gameplay and feeling of freedom. Zelda and Metroid actually used the same ganeplay formula for decades; they drop you into an environment with obstacles that can be bypassed by getting a specific item or ability. This in turn opens up a new area but usually also offers side content within an existing one. All BotW/TotK did is put those items figuritively next to the obstacle. It is a bit of a cheap solution but it did mean you didn't have lots of backtracking which is common in Metroidvanias. So the transition to "open world" for Metroid is identical to how they did it with Zelda. To be honest I would have preferred if the Zonai gameplay in TotK had been used in a Metroid title because it completely undermined the core sword & bow gameplay that I see as essential for the authentic Zelda experience. Ranged combat, gadgets and high mobility are staples of Samus not Link.
I think the best approach for an open world Metroid should be like Batman: Arkham City/Knight as a good blueprint. Considering the first Arkham game had a very metroidvania design philosophy with it's map layout.
I wouldn't want open world Metroid. I don't think that would work well. Having multiple planets like Prime 3 would be fine. I'd even be open to having a controllable gunship where Samus can explore small moons, but anything beyond that would probably be detrimental to the formula. Retro wanted to add bounty missions to Prime 3; that might be a good idea to revisit.
I'd say No to open world. The closest gake that i'd consider similar to how i'd want it to be is Darksiders 3. Anything more open than that and the metroid feel is gone.
It's possible up have open world and doors. You can keep the surface mostly entirely open so that you can explore it any way you want and keep the cavern and underground segments separated with doors. That would interesting for a Metroid game
I think if Metroid does any open world stuff, it should be how Pokemon Gen 8 did it. Having just a few areas that are much bigger and wide open then the rest of the game.
An open world where you can chose characters like prime hunters and get hunting contracts on different planets with a multiplayer would go hard. Prime hunters would be a modern marvel of gaming if it was made today. And I miss playing as Weavel and spamming the crotch cannon ult :[
I'm also of the camp that Metroid has been "open world" since the very beginning. The main difference now is that technology has progressed to the point that huge open areas are finally possible. That said, I think Metroid Prime 4 and future games could definitely take advantage of that tech to do its own spin on open world. We definitely still need doors for progression locks, and as Metroid tradition, but we no longer need them as loading blocks, peppered around as much as Prime used them. For example, I always thought the the Impact Crater was let down a bit because it had doors where there really should have been none and is a bit of a lore plothole. Having it with no doors at all, that would easily be doable with today's tech.
@@samuelohare6884 Fair enough, though it depends on the game. Prime 1 is definitely more open than Prime 2 and 3 in that sense, and Super and Zero Mission are much more open than Fusion, which only opens up at the very end. I do hope that Prime 4 does end up having a more open design in any case.
I would try a more open Metroid. My main complaint with Super Metroid is that it did not feel like I was hunting down Ridley and The Baby. I was simply wandering around until it worked itself out. I would need to hear a proper premise for the game outside of "Open World Metroid," but I do think you could do something cool actually hunting rather than just stumbling into upgrades. Everybody should play Outer Wilds. More intentional than Metroid. More open than Zelda.
Metroid as an open world i think would not have the same effect as a more linear design. Like you mentioned the “amount of assets” used not just in world to world but room to room as we see primes designs is too integrated actually specifically crafted for one room. I it won’t work on a open world build And the door hatches are a metroid staple. I feel more of that exploration when you don’t know whats in the other rooms. Whats on the other side. I understand that feeling of scale like what if samus standing on a tower looking down and you can see your ship wayyyy in the distance would be cool. But in metroid games it kinda would be reversed. So samus wayyyy down under ground in the caves. and somehow you can see your ship at the surface. I think you can achieve the same look with the Prime structure. Also metroids worlds are very unique you can’t just set a way point or a beacon open world style and just hold forward mostly. Some concept art could help rule out what works and doesn’t. If its open world as well will samus ever really descend into the planet? or would developers check out at surface levels only. Gotta have my elevators too lol and elevators (like primes doors )are loading screens even cinematic. I know we know that but sometimes we just forget. Great video
You could do a hybrid of the two. Have a big open world you explore, with certain sections having the more traditional Metroid stuff. Fusion kind of did this, but also made the game way more linear.
Rather than open world I would do something like an open star system, multiple planets have research bases that samus needs to investigate and you can freely travel to them at any time but you may not have the upgrades or equipment to deal with their problems at one time.
@@BJAdamBarry Metroidvanias are built about restriction and overcoming restriction through exploration and boss fights. Even if we use the 'open zone' method, the tightly designed level design of past games would vanish to make way for another boring ubisoft tower, fetch quest open world. Metroid should never go open world.
@@dinar8749 I speculated that Ubisoft's approach was playing a role in the anti open world attitudes towards Metroid. The restriction/overcome approach doesn't disappear just because it's open world. A ledge that can't be reached, a door that needs a specific key to open, debris that needs a certain amount of explosive to be removed doesn't suddenly disappear because open world.
A better idea would be if they did it like Prime 3, in which you can go to multiple planets, HOWEVER, each planet is their own full-sized experience just like Prime 1 or Prime 2, instead of just limited areas of the planets like in Prime 3.
I think it would be a great idea of an open-world Metroid game get the Explorer the surface rather than just terrains underground and you also can fly your ship around not to mention use the ship's weapons system. I don't know what else should we add to the game but I don't think perks would work well in a Metroid game but I would like to see the option use the zero suit and costumes maybe.
Open world cant work for metroidvanias, things like mario, a collectaton, works well cuz 3d mario always had a sense of openess, they just made the lvls bigger. Zelda was always about exploration, so again, a bigger, more open world made sense. But metroidvanias have always been linear in nature so opening it up would kinda break it imo. Metroidvanias have also had a sense of openness to them, being abke to get to certain places early, get items early or even skip them alltogether, so I think that the formula is already good and doesn't need to be changed, cept for a few tweaks if the dev wants it
The last thing Metroid needs is braindead button mashimg against equally braindead mobs. What Metroid needs is a Souls style game and bring back Team Ninja for it as they been killimg it in that genre lately.
I think Open world Metroid can totally work and be fun. Metroid 1 would basically be an open world if the game had walljumps(and infact, there is a romhack that adds it, and it is pretty much the only way to have fun with Metroid 1 unironically). The issue is that I don't know if people could really grasp how to make it, because it is so unlike anything the series has intentionally done so far, it very much is a series built on linear progression to the max. Even Super Metroid that actually has a very open and nonlinear world still has very railroaded progression to the point most people who know that most people who played the game would straight up have no clue how open the world is actually designed, you can only really feel it when you mess around in a NG+ file(that you can get through a glitch) with everything already unlocked. While there are many open world-metroidvanias already, it would be hard to mentally seperate the Metroid designspace from a lot of its buildingblocks that only work because they are highly curated experiences. What I can say tho is, Speedbooster and Super Metroid Run-feature would go utterly brrrr in open world(Yeah, I cannot really imagine Metroid Prime being open world-material ironically enough. Half the fun I imagine of such an open world would be to speed through the world more and more as you learn the world and unlock new options. And while Prime shortcuts definitly exist, the gameplay style was always more of the slow and methodical kind).
I can see Metroid trying something akin to A Link Between Worlds' shop system to allow an open-ish world while still maintaining the genre-defining gated progression and exploration. Basically, a subset of progression items would be available for temporary or permanent acquisition from the get-go, and each allows access to one specific biome and enables the player to complete one core objective in there. Acquiring combinations of "shop items" and/or item pickups found in the actual world would unlock access to more areas within the biomes. But would that be a good/feasible design? I don't know. A lot of the time, the "less is more" principle applies and it's better to go simple.
No, Metroid is open enough. So long as its closer to super metroid where theres wiggle room for exploration, we're good. Too many games have gone open world and had to sacrifice parts of what made them what they are to do so, leaving you with massive spaces of repeated and rearranged content to justify itself. Metroid is built on progression and gaining power, and i don't trust devs to not remove that for the sake of "going anywhere you want and doing whatever you want."
I believe it can work if its done zelda like. Keep the open world for lore, sidequest, and minimal upgrades like cosmetics. But the main story and focus for major upgrades should be in large metroidvania areas like hollowknight. In the way we have prime gameplay and get to fly a cool space ship
I saw a video once by a channel called Ceave gaming a few years ago and in the video he, believed the reason Metroid Prime 4 got delayed and started over, was because, Nintendo wanted to create an Open world Metroid game, in a similar style to The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild.
I think for a vast majority of devs it would be an impossible task. Is it possible? Yeah, I think so. Outer Wilds proves it conceptually, but the locks and keys in that game is knowledge and context on how to apply it. But it would require an incredibly talented team who innately understand how to properly pace progression blocks with open ended design. It would be hard.
Really interesting points here! Thanks for the great vid! I agree that Metroid already exhibits the characteristics of an open world game, especially emphasizing the joy of exploration. But Metroid progression is dictated by the players ability to explore, to solve puzzles, whereas open world games’ progression is usually driven by story and accomplishing repetitive, unchallenging tasks. I feel that Metroidvania genre requires you to think more while usual open world genre requires you to do more. Difference in priorities.
I'm pretty hesitant about the idea of an open world Metroid. Not necessarily fully against it, per se, since I feel like a series stagnating can be as bad or worse than experimenting in ways that don't work out. But it'd take a lot of work to get it right, to either adapt the existing gameplay to a more open structure or to fully lean into a new style entirely to better suit it. And a big part of that work would be making the change feel justified - making a world, plot, upgrades, etc. that fully integrate with the open world idea. And a lot of the pros you listed, while things that might be neat, are relatively "icing on the cake" level details that would still need the base game to be satisfying to not just feel hollow. I'd ultimately rather a Metroid game specifically be tight and focused than just big for its own sake, even as someone who's grown to like open world games when I used to scoff at them utterly before BotW came out. It just needs a reason to lean into that beyond the trendy nature of the style, especially as it's gotten more and more pushback for oversaturation. Even a game like, say, Elden Ring, which I do genuinely love (even if I haven't beaten it yet) is just too open to really fully hit its potential, even with it being a bit more semi-open. In a way, aside from the story being loose in true Souls fashion, the map design strikes me as more akin to the mainline Xenoblades than a BotW or Xenoblade X. (Incidentally, Miyazaki also thinks it was too open, and has specifically stated its upcoming expansion will be designed more tightly and rein in the excess, which just proves my point, really.) So while I'm not going to knock an open world Metroid before I try it, it really needs to be done with a purpose and intention, not just for the vague sense of exploration that usually seems to be the basis for open worlds.
I actually think an open world Metroid would be good but it would have to have a lot of verticality, it can’t just be an empty field like Zelda. Also maybe like sonic frontiers they could have specific islands/areas samus can explore at a time. So the areas are open but it’s not necessarily one open world so the game would be less confusing possibly. I have no game development experience but I imagine it would be very challenging especially on underpowered switch or even switch 2 hardware.
I think it would work after seeing Elden Ring, still open world but locks off areas via items, Metroid example maybe you can't cross a big canyon without the screw attack although I have a feeling Prime 4 won't be open world because they could follow up Prime3 and have multiple planets again
Something noted upon in the video... Isn't Metroid ALREADY open-world, at least in its own way? I mean, the main series literally does a 2D open world, that's kind of how the MetroidVania genre is in the first place. Just make the rooms bigger, if you want a more "Open" feel. As for Prime, it's the same thing except smaller areas constructing a larger connected world. I actually find it impossible for me to personally try to imagine what a "Traditional open-world style" Metroid would even look like.
Metroid should probably never go full open-world. Having larger, more open areas would be cool, but you still need that tunnel action going on. Or maybe have the surface region be open, but the caverns below more restrictive and closed in?
My knee-jerk reaction says "lol, no". But I'm very aware that a lot of people were saying the exact same thing twenty-odd years ago, about Metroid Prime.
I’d say a definite YES to open-world Metroid. And of course everyone says “it has to be done right”. As long as they take the good bits from what else is out there then they should be fine.
Well obviously it would be a good idea if done right. Nintendo would have to make a lot more power ups, i am not talking like double the power ups, I am talking like at least 6 times the amount of power ups. Another thing would be to add a bounty hunting system, the game Jedi fallen order captured this feature beautifully, I am sure Nintendo can do something similar. Open world games also require shops, one thing that could be added is a gunship modification store, they could make the gunship have more relevance just like prime 3. They could give it skins, cannon upgrades, and trophies for the interior of the ship. They could do a similar thing for samus by having things like missile upgrades and energy parts for sale, they could also add skins and other visual changes for samus while having some limitations to show the suit you are using. Making a story would be hard though…
I think it could work. But it sure as hell would turn Metroid into another Genre other than Metroidvania. So.. I think for an Open World Metroid to work you need a new Character to play as.
I consider "Open-world" to be the opposite of linear. I would not consider Super Mario Odyssey to be Open-world as most of the kingdoms must be visited in a certain order. I would consider Zelda: Link between Worlds tobe Open-world, at least, once you reach Lorule. I think non-linearity conflicts with the Metroidvania style. They are incompatible and diametrically opposed. Sure, there is sequence breaking, but you can't break a sequence if there is no intended sequence. I think trying to blend the two would result in something like Minecraft, but without the sandbox elements; being able to explore anywhere at any time, but having linearity in terms of _when_ upgrades can be obtained. Like, wood, stone, iron, diamond, obsidian; you'd need missiles to get materials to craft the morphball, the morphball to get the ice beam, the ice beam to get the Varia Suit, etc.
i think a open world metroid would work (or rather what i want) if you played as a space pirate or federating force guy. alongside being a survival sandbox. id love to make my own lab to contain and use metroids that will inevitably become my downfall when they break out
Ok hear me out, a third person 3d metroid game with level design like eldenring. Prioritize detail and secrets over scale, with legacy dungeons and caves that follow traditional metroidvania level design. Maybe to gain access to each legacy dungeon you'll need an upgrade from the overworld that the area will be based on. On the gameplay front, maybe try a faster more acrobatic samus again. It would be the perfect opportunity to try new things again.
Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't Metroid already open world? If not, how so? I always thought Metroid, Prime or main series, was an open world game, with areas locked out based on item and skill progression
i think prime 4 might be taking a slightly more open world route than the previous prime games did given how long it's been in development (5 years now if you exclude the time spent before the restart). though part of me also thinks they could just be struggling with making a good storyline, especially since we've had 5 prime games. i think other M is a good example of why metroid needs good storylines. i think the story itself for that game wouldn't be bad if it was applied to a more fitting character, but it portrayed samus as much more vulnerable and weak than the other games have.
I would like an open world hub world/safe world where you explore and it builds lore and world building. But then you hop in your ship and head to the target planet for your traditional Metroid prime combat/exploration.
Metroid games are already good at all the things you'd want to play an open world game for. Immersive environments? Check. Getting lost and having freedom to explore? Check. Finding goodies in every nook and cranny? Check! All that in a game format that is far easier to develop / fine-tune than an open world game in the first place. There are a ton of open world games that I love, but Metroid simply has no need to even consider it. An open world Metroid could absolutely be good, but it'd be a near impossible-- And very... VERY expensive-- task to make it comparably good to the rest of the franchise.
Absolutely not. The entire point of Metroid is progression through different areas catalyzed by item acquisition. An open world Metroid would be an even worse betrayal to the franchise than BOTW and TOTK are to Zelda
While my opinion is different, I really do see how these could make an Open World Metroid not work. My idea is that it is Region Based open-world (While BOTW doesn't have a set goal of going one place after another it still does divide the map into who regions- instead of it being one map. Each region has a large map, and it's sort of locked into it with ways to go to and back to each region. Another thing is that each region would act as like a mini campaign for Samus that involves a story that is rewarded with a ability or set of abilities.
I disagree with the open world aspect. Especially if it were to be above ground. The first three Metroid games had Samus go underground. The underground areas felt very dangerous and secluded from other people, making it feel scary being underground with a lot of hostile aliens. I feel like a lot of the games after those three ditched the eerie seclusion by either being on the surface, or having interactions with other people. I don't agree with the sequence breaking, either. Those were never intentional in the Metroid games. So while I'm not against this being possible, they'd be better off just giving you the non-linear directions that the first Metroid game has. Every other Metroid game after that pretty much guided you, and this was especially noticeable in Fusion, Zero Mission, Other M, the Prime games, and Dread. Now, I don't have a problem with an overworld, but when it comes to Metroid, the games were original set underground, and the rooms are mostly closed in. If they made an open world Metroid game, it would have to be like The Depths in Tears of the Kingdom, but not vastly open like how it is in that game. I'd want to see cave tunnels. I wouldn't want the doors to be removed, personally. Not ever room has to have doors, but without the doors, it wouldn't feel right since those are a staple to the series. I think Return of Samus didn't have doors. It's been a while since I've last played that.
I don't think there's any real need to make Metroid open world. I say this as someone who LOVES open world games, it would be boring. I saw it happen with Halo Infinite, where you had this vast world to grapple around but all there was to do was kill groups of enemies and find trinkets, and the highlights of the game for me personally ended up being the sections that played like classic Halo games. Some things just aren't meant for that format.
This might put everyone against me. I agree that Metroid should not be your generic open world game, hands down. However I would love a different take, to explore the Metroid universe in a No Man's Sky type of way. To be able to explore seemlessly through planets in a system or the entire galaxy, to learn more about the lore and history as you explore ancient civilizations and cultures/species, being able to witness different factions and take on missions or bounties that affect conflicts and the world, upgrading and customizing your suit, arm cannon, ship, and more, finding and adopting companions, the possibilities are endless really. The freedom to become the galaxys most badass bounty hunter.
I think this would be a great idea and honestly could make for an amazing game, but im worried that if it did go that route, then it sets the bar too high and invites our expectations to rise and come crashing down much like No Man's Sky did initially. I also think it would need to be toned way down in terms of size. Now that I'm saying it, I can see the cracks start to form. It's a cool idea, but I think it would be too much and act like skyrim more than a Metroid.
@@fenrirshowl1860 I can see that happening too. It could possibly work only if scaled down like you said. Maybe just in 1 star system with 5-6 fleshed out planets? I first thought of this when playing Corruption, the change from taking elevators to different areas to now using the ship to go to different planets excited me and got me thinking "wouldn't it be great to drive the ship there instead of just a cinematic". Ofc it would need loads of tweaking to fit into the universe to be both familiar with a fresh experience.
@iAmAkronox Yeah, honestly I feel like Corruption highlighted to me how a Open World Metroid could play out atleast when talking about meeting npcs or something and definitely travel. one can hope we get there eventually.
They already killed Zelda by removing the metroidvania progression. They definitely should not do it for Metroid itself. Literally not everything needs to be open world. It's a distinct gameplay style and not a thing that every unique franchise has to turn into. I enjoy open world games but I also enjoy other genres more.
I wouldn’t say they killed Zelda but I personally haven’t been liking the BotW take on things. TotK was a step in the right direction as far as that went but it was still very much more of the same in many regards.
Oh yeah it definitely killed Zelda and that’s why it isn’t selling or garnering good reviews… wait 🤔 imo BotW is one of the best games and skyward sword is hot dookie except for very few instances.
The moment this game gets a release date and new trailer, I will be both excited and scared s@&tless that it won't live up to the hype or meet Nintendo Sales expectations for it. There's alpt riding on this game, considering the amount of time and money being put into and considering the state Metroid was in before Dread saved the franchise.
I feel that an open world metroid game wouldn't work very well just based on the fact that backtracking as well as linear progression is a big part of the fun of metroid. Just my opinion...
i kind of hate open world games, including breath of the wild. i find most open world games have their world feel very big but very empty and repetitive. i'd much rather a game with a smaller scope that allows itself to be more focused and tightly designed. the only quote unquote "open world" game i have truly enjoyed was outer wilds, because while outer wilds lets you do basically anything in any order, with your only gates being knowledge, that games world is relatively small, but every corner is filled with detail or puzzles or lore or characterization. it uses its space as efficiently as possible. compare that to say, breath of the wild or tears of thr kingdom, which has a world that's much bigger, but so much of it feels like filler or bloat. 90% of your rewards for explorations are either shrines or koroks, neither of which feel like anything meaningful after a certain point. i don't think open world metroid would really work
The only viable "open world" for metroid is Metroid Prime gameplay with Metroid Prime Hunters story progression. Ship based planet to planet progression, linear Metroid Prime levels, specific objectives, and side stories for filler content. Essentially, Metroid Prime with bells and whistles to make you feel more immersed. Metroid Prime just isn't a game meant for a single continuous world full of exploration and depth. You need the planet to planet transitions and mission-based progression, that's at the core of who Samus is anyways.
You know I take it back. Metroid shouldn’t be open world, it should be an adventure game with giant landscapes. There is a difference. Would you call the Zelda’s before BotW open world? No, because they have linear progressions. “Open world” means you can do anything at any time for the most part… and that I disagree with. It should have open world influence where say, random bounties might pop up in your location… but it should not be completely open world in the true sense. It should still be a linear adventure game just with expanded vistas and claustrophobic frigates and bases.
Hell No! Metroid should never go Open World, Open world Zelda is the reason why I got into Metroid because how much I hated it, I don't want to see Metroid do the same thing Zelda did!
If anyone has played Outer Wilds, I could see Metroid taking that approach in terms of world and story structure. She'd probably have her entire kit out the gate similar to Link leaving the Great Plateau/Sky Island. Would love to see that hoenstly!
