2021 turned out to be a miraculous year for Metroid fans, with Metroid Dread being the first 2D title in the series released in almost 20 years. Managing to become the fastest-selling Metroid game ever in the United States, the UK, and Japan, you’d think that the developers at MercurySteam would be taking a much-deserved vacation. After co-developing the game with Nintendo, it looks like success hasn’t gone to their heads–after all, there’s more work to be done. MercurySteam’s next title is being made alongside 505 Games, and the project will be a third-person, dark fantasy RPG currently named Project Iron.
In a new press release from Digital Bros, very little information was released alongside the brief description and codename for the project. It’s definitely a big jump for the Spain-based team at MercurySteam, though the company has previously worked on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow alongside Kojima Productions, along with its sequels. As for 505 Games, the Italian publisher found early success with Cooking Mama and then went on to release games like Terraria, Abzu, Dead by Daylight, Control, and the recent PC release of Death Stranding. Seeing the wide range of titles the team has taken control of over the years, this could mean a very unique product.
Released in October, Metroid Dread managed to sell over 854,000 copies within the first month of release in the United States. The game debuted at number one in Japan with over 86,000 copies sold in its first two days. The game has been nominated for Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2021 which will air on December 9. It will be up against Deathloop, It Takes Two, Psychonauts 2, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Resident Evil Village. The title is also nominated for Best Action/Adventure Game, and if it doesn’t at least win that prize, there is no justice in the world.