After Samus' bold and triumphant return, something sets in. Something she's been running from ever since she first executed a Metroid in Tourian, all those years ago: she is just as much a pawn in the Federation's game as anyone else. She must navigate their prescribed spaces, she must do exactly as they ask. Any exploration off the beaten path, any deviation from their exact orders, will result in punishment.

Super Metroid was a game highly fixated on the idea of empowering the player. Thematically incongruent to Metroid itself so far to me, but something that resonates with many. Fusion is a rebuttal of that, a return to the condemnation through play that Metroid II on the Game Boy fixated so heavily on. Samus, for her actions in the last game, has now become part of the state itself - her cyborg suit melded to become one with her flesh. The two are inseparable. However, she has also become part of the Metroids she swore to kill. A conflicted identity that cannot exist.

And through this journey, Samus reconciles that nature. She kills the part of her that was loyal to the Federation, buries it behind her. She even goes so far as to become an enemy of the state. It is only here, after she has thrown away all that defined her before, that she can learn to grow from the atrocities she committed in the name of empire. It is only here that she can be forgiven.

Reviewed on Feb 16, 2023


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