In Metorid Ravenous, Samus looks pissed. The trailer doesn’t reveal her face, giving us only glimpses of her eyes, sometimes glowing with a malevolent rage, and everything about her—the way she talks, the things she says, and how she moves—oozes a fury that I have never seen from her before and it is 100-percent my shit.
Ravenous, just from the one trailer, also presents such an interesting contrast to Metroid Prime 4. Both games have the same kind of elevated, life-or-death stakes, but Ravenous feels so much more personal. Metroid Prime 4 felt like “Let’s go on an adventure of discovery!” Meanwhile Ravenous is, “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. MP4 Samus’ glowing purple arm reaches out to touch ala The Creation of Adam. With Ravenous, that same arm, with the same purple glow, is crushing a dude’s head.
I’ve never minded that throughout most of her games (and certainly all the ones I’ve played), Samus Aran has been a silent protagonist. Her stoicism never took away from the fact that she’s a badass. The Metroid series has revealed some pretty fundamental aspects of her character. She’s dedicated to her job, her friends, and those under her care be they hapless soldiers, her adopted chozo community, or energy-thieving aliens. I know what kind of person she is through her actions, but I’ve never gotten a good sense of how she feels about all that.
In Ravenous, Samus finally gets a personality beyond “stoic, dutiful soldier.” She tells us with her own words, “It’s eat or be eaten.” Samus is angry, she’s hungry, and she’s ready to consume anyone who stands in her way. Welcome, Samus, to your Girldinner Era.