Metroid Dread

Quotation forthcoming.

For 15 years I have been waiting for this game, and to see it out and also be as good as I hoped it would be is simply incredible. The gameplay is sublime, the map design is great, the bosses are fun and the E.M.M.I are threatening. All these come together to create what possible is: The Nintendo Switch's 2021 game of the year.

Overall, Metroid Dread brings a narrative close to a decades long story with excellent level design and combat. It also looks great as well. So until Samus Aran is needed once again to save the Galactic Federation, I am happy to just savour the joy of another successfully completed mission.

Metroid Dread for the Nintendo Switch is a worthy holder of the title "Metroid 5." Its sprawling world begs you to explore every inch of it, and while it keeps Samus Returns' control elements, they feel much better on the Switch. This is a proper Metroid 5, and that's more than enough to make it an Editors’ Choice pick for Switch games.

Metroid Dread is one of the best Metroidvania games out there with its awesome collection of abilities and its action-packed E.M.M.I. areas. It may not provide as much challenge as old-school fans would expect but it's still an undeniably incredible adventure.

Metroid Dread is hard, but it's hard in a really good way. The kind of way that makes you sometimes want to toss your controller, but doubles your resolve while doing so. It's smooth, quick, and makes Samus feel fast and powerful as much as it possibly can without turning into an action platformer.

Metroid Dread can't commit to giving players an action-packed power fantasy or a suspenseful adventure against the odds. It's quick, short, and snappy -- all things that can be good when used right, but not at all what Metroid Dread set out to deliver.

Whether you’re a veteran of the series or a newcomer, you simply can’t miss out on Metroid Dread. Smooth controls, satisfying boss fights, fun upgrades and a badass Samus Aran. Very challenging very fun.

Metroid Dread is one of the easiest games in the series to praise. The controls are exceptional, the animation work is some of Nintendo's best, and nearly every part of the game demonstrates an impressive level of technical polish. Samus is more responsive than she has ever been, and her animations communicate her state so clearly that the game remains readable even during its most chaotic moments. Combined with a stable 60fps in gameplay and some of the strongest boss encounters in the franchise, Dread often feels fantastic to play. The game also deserves credit for resisting the temptation to simply recycle the past. Samus receives several genuinely new abilities, the return of intended sequence breaks adds replay value, and the new lore generally feels like a natural extension of ideas that already existed within the series. Likewise, a particular late-game twist feels like a logical continuation of story threads that had been building for years. Metroid has always evolved from game to game, and some of the best entries in the series succeeded precisely because they were willing to experiment. Dread is among them, but it often improves certain aspects of the formula by reducing emphasis on others, and some of those tradeoffs were not to my taste. The clearest example is the game's focus on action. The Flash Shift is incredibly responsive, the improved melee counter integrates naturally into combat, and the boss fights demand far more player engagement than previous 2D entries. At the same time, the emphasis on empowerment comes at the expense of atmosphere. Dread frequently presents itself as a horror game, yet much of the vulnerability required for horror is absent. The EMMIs initially create tension, but predictable behavior patterns and generous checkpoints quickly reduce them to obstacles rather than threats. Exploration often feels secondary to combat and movement challenges, and despite the impressive environmental detail, much of the world blends together into variations of the same cold, industrial tone. The world also feels less cohesive than previous entries. Regions are segmented by loading screens, which is understandable in the slower-paced 3D titles, but in 2D it is a big change that significantly breaks up the pace and cohesion. EMMI zones are interesting while active, but become empty space once completed. The music does little to help. While Metroid has often relied on ambience, Dread pushes so far in that direction that much of its soundtrack fades into the background entirely. Several tracks feel oddly unfinished, with meandering compositions and awkward instrumentation. A very odd choice includes the use of staccato midi choir, which sounds very cheap. For a series with such a strong musical legacy, the soundtrack is one of the game's biggest disappointments. Now, I appreciate that Dread attempts to move the narrative forward rather than endlessly revisiting familiar ideas. The problem is that many of those ideas feel underdeveloped. The primary antagonist receives minimal characterization before being removed from the story. The EMMIs themselves feel oddly disconnected from the larger narrative despite being central to the game's marketing and identity. Major plot elements appear briefly and then disappear, while the ending arrives so abruptly that it feels as though important connective tissue may have been removed during development. Several gameplay systems also feel as though they were altered during development without being fully reconsidered afterward, such as the mostly-vestigial Aeion meter, spin boost, and cross bombs. Of particular note, the Phantom Cloak only works against EMMI robots for some reason, meaning its only utility is to cover for sloppy play during specific sections. Samus herself embodies this feeling of one step forward, two steps back, spending most of the game communicating through angry body language and little else. While her fierce sense of justice is important, her compassion, empathy, and sense of responsibility receive comparatively little attention. The result isn't bad characterization, but it is extremely limited in its appeal. Dread is often treated as a flawless modernization of classic Metroid, but many of its most celebrated features are substantial shifts in emphasis. Several work very well, but I don't think the tradeoffs receive enough scrutiny. Despite my criticisms, it remains a strong game. The environmental art is excellent, the controls are best-in-class, the bosses are memorable, and the intended sequence breaks add replay value. I strongly recommend it! I simply found myself wishing that the same level of expansion had been applied to the series' atmosphere, worldbuilding, characterization, and sense of place. Dread adds a great deal to Metroid's action gameplay, but many of the elements I personally find most interesting about the franchise feel reduced in the process.

Not my favorite Metroid. Less exploration, more unfairly difficult fights. Yes, I played through and killed all the EMMIs but they were nothing fun. Even on easy difficulty, there were a lot of deaths and a big part of the game was just watching the loading screen and then doing the same thing again with some more essential information. Also, it felt like every time you got a more powerful weapon, in that second all the enemies also became 10x more durable, and there was no real feeling of overkill progression at any point until the very end phase.

Fan-made Metroid game by a Spanish studio, feels like a a bootleg, an immitation of the old Japanese Metroid games.

Flashy but shallow, like it's going through the motions of what MercurySteam thinks is 'good enough' for a Metroid game.