One concept that's interested me is metroid as purgatory.
-Samus often repeats the same mission over and over with minor changes. Her enemies are generally Kraid, Ridley, Mother Brain, evil Samus(SA-X, Dark Samus)
-Samus is constantly repeating work getting the same power-ups and soon losing them after she completes the mission.
-Samus is mostly completely alone, unless saved by something else at the end. Everything in metroid's design emphasizes isolation.
-She blows up the planet/starship/space station, with a desperate race against time.
-Soon there is a new mission...
She's forced to repeat the same thing over and over. Perhaps she is stuck here eternally, a hell created as a reflection of her life. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned, like with the infant metroid before she can live.
The game design emhasizes isolation - there are only enemies, except artifacts left by the Chozo. Samus can only depend on herself. The world is designed to emphasize isolation from the real world by putting her on caverns below the surface of uninhabited planets. The art is designed to look like no human has set foot here. The gameplay teaches you through the world.
I think there's a fantastic parallel here to the Zelda series. Though there exists an official (and humorously bifurcated) "timeline" that determines where each game takes place chronologically, the fundamental premise, set pieces, and objectives of most of the games all echo each other. Rather than trying to fit all of these games into a linear narrative, I think it's more fun to think of each game in the Zelda series as a retelling of the exact same story, much as real-world legends change subtly over time as they are passed down through generations and across cultures.
Sounds more like Sisyphus, who was punished for lying by having to roll a boulder up a hill, when it would roll back down and he'd have to repeat the task.
Purgatory, as described in Inferno seemed like a reasonably well populated place, if not exactly a party.
-Samus often repeats the same mission over and over with minor changes. Her enemies are generally Kraid, Ridley, Mother Brain, evil Samus(SA-X, Dark Samus)
-Samus is constantly repeating work getting the same power-ups and soon losing them after she completes the mission.
-Samus is mostly completely alone, unless saved by something else at the end. Everything in metroid's design emphasizes isolation.
-She blows up the planet/starship/space station, with a desperate race against time.
-Soon there is a new mission...
She's forced to repeat the same thing over and over. Perhaps she is stuck here eternally, a hell created as a reflection of her life. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned, like with the infant metroid before she can live.
The game design emhasizes isolation - there are only enemies, except artifacts left by the Chozo. Samus can only depend on herself. The world is designed to emphasize isolation from the real world by putting her on caverns below the surface of uninhabited planets. The art is designed to look like no human has set foot here. The gameplay teaches you through the world.