Nintendo used its main presentation at E3 2021 to drop a few nice surprises, but few were as barely rumoured as the next game in the Metroid series, which won't be the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4.

Instead, it announced Metroid Dread, a new 2D platformer that looks like a return to the series roots, and sees Samus exploring a map just like she did in the good old days.

The trailer isn't too miserly, either, showing off plenty of gameplay and making the game look like an impressively fluid experience that runs at a fair old clip. Best of all, we don't have to wait long to play it - it's slated to release on October 8 2021.

That makes it a pretty well-kept secret, even by Nintendo's closed-fists standards, which makes it no surprise that Nintendo's also thrown up a diary of the game's development for you to watch, fleshing out how long it's been working on the game.

That slightly unnerving subtitle is there for a reason, too - the game apparently hopes to rekindle some of the creepiness that marked out early Metroid games, with a sense of looming threat - that according to a useful official blog post about the reveal trailer.

There's plenty to dig into on that blog, so check it out to learn more about what you can expect from the game when it launches later this year.