Metroid: Darkest Night

Metroid: Darkest Night is an interactive walkthrough experience located in Future City's Spaceport. Guests enter through a sleek black building, reminiscent of the Brutalist style. Embedded in the side is the smoking remains of Samus' ship. Throughout the day, the cockpit hatch will open, and an animatronic Samus will analyze the scene. In order to figure out how she ended up like this, let's head into the darkness…

Guests walk into the eerie, abandoned halls of the G.F.S. Nellie. Green goop drips from the ceiling, and guests hear climbing and crawling above them. One of the ship’s computers shows a broadcast from Commander Scott Sakamoto of the Galactic Federation. He informs guests that they are part of an elite investigative team sent to discover the fate of the crew, who were on an exploratory voyage and last checked in to report an unplanned refuelling on the uncharted planet of SR-1979. The Federation first sent in renowned bounty hunter Samus Aran to do the job, but she also disappeared and hasn’t contacted the Federation since. With a sigh, Sakamoto remarks that this may have been her last job.

As guests travel the queue, they’ll find several interactive elements. There’s a pressure plate that reveals what guests would weigh on other real-world planets, a crate that rumbles and growls when it detects motion, and several wall-mounted computers loaded with classic Nintendo games. They eventually reach the ship’s lifts, where cast members identified as captains split them up into expedition teams of five. As each team boards their own lift with their captain, the captain warns them to take things slow and not get overconfident.

The elevator travels through the ship as the captain informs them that they’ve been assigned to search floor 5, the ship’s deck. The elevator becomes more jittery and less stable as it travels up to floor 4, the cargo bay. It buckles and comes to a harsh and sudden stop, sparks flying from the ceiling. The captain sighs and says that they’ll have to go back in order to fix the lift, but unfortunately, they find that it no longer works. As they attempt to contact the other groups, they find that their signal is being jammed by someone or something.

With no other choice, the captain leads them into the cargo bay. Alien fruit has spilled out of a broken crate and began to rot, creating a sickly sweet smell. Blasters have been strewn haphazardly across the floor. The captain sighs and remarks that something has gone very wrong here. As they advance through the cargo bay, they pass through a large stack of crates to reveal a single Metroid inside a glass box, portrayed through advanced screen-based technology. It floats around harmlessly, making cute noises.

The captain growls as they raise their blaster, remarking that they thought all the Metroids were dead. They assure the guests that though the creature may look harmless, it is in fact quite deadly. Before they can find that out, the lights go dark and we hear glass shattering. When they come back on, the box has been destroyed and the Metroid is gone. Space Pirates emerge, using their own weapons to disarm the captain. A Space Pirate grabs the captain and drags them off as they scream for help.

Space Pirates come out from all angles, surrounding and slowly approaching the group. They hiss and snarl as they close in, one of them holding the Metroid inside a tank on their back. Guests are saved in the nick of a time by a few well-placed energy blasts, knocking out the vile pirates. Standing with a smoking arm cannon is Samus Aran in full armor. She says that it’s too late for their captain, but she can still save them.

After grabbing the contained Metroid and slinging it over her back, she takes guests into the belly of the bay. As she takes out Space Pirates at each harrowing turn, she explains that she went off-the-grid because she knew that there were too many pirates for her and she had to find another way to beat them. It was her that jammed the captain’s communications and stopped the elevator, as she remarks that the only thing on the fifth floor is pure evil.

They reach a dead end, but Samus sees a series of computers and theorizes that she can use them to send out a distress signal and summon the entire Federation Force. As guests approach the computer with the heroic bounty hunter, part of the ceiling collapses, revealing a terrifying ten foot tall Ridley animatronic. He roars loudly, causing the entire ship to shake beneath guests’ feet.

Samus taps a button on her arm, putting up an “energy shield” (really a sliding glass wall which comes between her and guests) to protect the team. The bounty hunter snarls his name and asks why he would attack the ship. Ridley explains that SR-1979 once featured a small population of immigrated Metroids, but the Space Pirates they had long since gone extinct. Once the last Metroid stowed away on the Nellie, the pirates knew they couldn’t pass up an opportunity to capture one for themselves.

Samus swears that she’ll avenge the fallen crew and charges an attack, but Ridley engulfs her in flame, which heats up the room and presses against the shield. While her armor protects her from death, the blast is enough to knock her down, shattering the tank. The Metroid floats around in the air before innocently latching onto Ridley’s head and sapping his energy. He cries out in pain, clutching his face with his claws, and the distraction gives Samus enough time to put an energy blast in the accursed dragon. Ridley flees as the Metroid bounces around the room, Samus sighing and thanking the guests for their help and their bravery. She says she’ll make sure to return the baby Metroid home and promises to never stop pursuing her archenemy, while a new captain arrives on the fixed elevator to take guests to the exit.