Metroid: Other M
While Metroid protagonist Samus Aran is usually an enigmatic, silent protagonist, Metroid: Other M opted to really try and explore the character’s humanity to extremely mixed results. There’s some interesting character work around her tortured past, but it also gets into some weird power dynamics because Samus suddenly has a direct superior to answer to, and only unlocks her arsenal at the behest of a man. For a character who embodied the empowered woman protagonist archetype, Other M’s take on Samus felt diametrically opposed to what came before. But it still played pretty well and seamlessly integrated different modes of Metroid play, from sidescrolling to Prime-esque first-person elements. It had a lot to offer. It’s just a shame the foundation was such a strange undermining of what made the character of Samus Aran appealing to begin with.
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