Metroid Ravenous was announced in today's Nintendo Direct as a new 2D chapter that strands Samus on an alien moon after an ambush leaves her wounded and cut off from escape. Survival on that surface now depends on a new ability to drain energy from her enemies, a shift that turns every fight into a choice between feeding and being consumed.
The hunter speaks for herself in the debut trailer, and the tone is colder than the silent stoicism the series often prefers. "I was attacked by unknown assailants and sustained grave injuries," Samus recounts during the trailer. "I don't know where I am. Getting back to the surface won't be easy. My chances of getting off this moon are slim at best. Still – I will survive. And I will make it home. Even if I have to feed on my enemies to do so. It's eat or be eaten."
The footage puts her against a cluster of five cloaked strangers whose wide hats and hidden faces make them look less like soldiers and more like a hunting party. After the clash she sinks into the dunes of a barren extraterrestrial desert and has to drag herself back into the open by force, scraping through loose sand that wants to swallow her whole.
Movement and combat clips then stack several tools on top of that desperate climb. A short burst lets her slip through solid walls as if the architecture itself were optional, she can sprint across standing water without breaking stride, the precise counter from Metroid Dread returns as a timing window against incoming strikes, and the new siphon is shown when she pulls the vitality out of one opponent until the body simply unravels and vanishes.
Metroid Ravenous is scheduled to launch exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 on January 28, 2027, with pre-orders opening later today. The game is positioned as the next chapter in the 2D line and appears to pick up after the events of Metroid Dread, with a presentation that still reads as side-scrolling even as the camera swings through cinematic angles and three-dimensional environments.
Nintendo is also shipping a Metroid Ravenous amiibo collection on the same day, including standalone Samus and Chozo Statue figures, while a Special Edition bundles the game, a steel case, and a third amiibo of Samus in the new Metroid Suit. That green-armored look, complete with a glowing energy blade in some shots, is one of the clearest visual signals that this hunt is meant to feel more predatory than the last one.
Today's Nintendo Direct also sketched a crowded winter and spring for the hardware, including Kirby and the World Beyond for spring 2027, a Monster Hunter Wilds Switch 2 release on December 4 with local co-op, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – Definitive Edition on February 25, a Pikmin 4 Switch 2 Edition available now, Final Fantasy VII Revelation in April, and ports ranging from the Resident Evil remakes to Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion. Those titles fill the calendar. Metroid Ravenous is the one that changes the hunter's diet, and a January launch leaves very little time for Samus to decide whether feeding is a last resort or the new rule of the moon.
Source: Nintendo Direct
