so far reflect different takes on this idea.  I think there are a lot of reasons for this: believable NPCs were and still are a massive challenge, loneliness and mystery encourage exploration and learning, which are fun and well-suited to single player video games, and so on.  But for games that capture the feeling of being weak and alone, and having to cobble together the resources you need to survive and ultimately escape, Metroid was one of the first and is still one of the best examples of how to do this right. Compared to its many sequels, Metroid did some really interesting things I think.  First, the powerups you collect, though unlabeled and unexplained within the game itself, are immensely consequential.  Finding missiles is a really big deal, for example, because a missile is the equivalent of maybe 10 normal bullets, or more.  Contrast this to the acclaimed sequel, where to incorporate Super Missiles, missiles were considerably weakened.  But when you are in a tunnel with fast-moving enemies that take 10 shots to kill, you frequently don't have a chance to get 10 shots off without taking significant damage, rendering the missile an extremely valuable item. Metroid had its own weird-ass alien architectural language.  One of the most common complaints about the game is that "all the tunnels look the same."  This complaint, I think, is usually leveled at the upper portions of Kraid, where tunnels branching to the left and right are frequently identical.  However, this was not