Replay & re-review:
Metroid Dread is probably the best 2D metroid and a crowning jewel in the metroidvania genre, upon replaying pretty much all of the 2D games in the series I feel like I now appreciate this one so much more. MercurySteam’s take on metroid is quite distinct from the old school nintendo approach but I think its awesome, the heavier action focus and smoother traversal fit metroid like a glove, plus dread in particular is just so fast and lean in how it plays that it makes most other metroidvanias feel sluggish by comparison, at least in their general movement.
I think what has boosted my appreciation of this most of all is how it is a labour of love and it really understands what made the original games (especially super, fusion & zero mission) so good. There was a long hiatus between the official 2D metroid entries and samus returns, while still a good game, was still a remake, so its great to have a full-scale new entry, one that concludes this arc of samus’ story and delivers everything that fans wanted. There are so many neat little references to old metroid games and i’ve come to love the horror and isolation of these games more and more, which dread brings out in full force. One of my major complaints originally was a lack of identity in its areas which, upon a replay, I have come to disagree with, there’s tons of neat details in its areas and they are much more distinct than I gave them credit for. You have the bubbling lava caverns & geothermal plant stationed on cataris, the ancient and sprawling jungle of ghavoran and the clean, futuristic sanctuary of the chozo in ferenia. Not only this, there’s tons of little details like the biological research and construction of EMMIs being undertaken in the background of Dairon, you can even see the machinery operating on Experiment No. Z-57 which is a great moment. This kind of foreshadowing reminded me of fusion a lot, which this game (being a sequel to fusion) seems to take more than a few notes from, since later in the game you must exterminate experiment no. Z-57 after it awakens and disturbs the geothermal facility on cataris. The moment you’re told about this and guided to the boss is an excellent little detour that is reminiscent of the leadup to nightmare-x in metroid fusion, its those kinds of moments that I love most and dread has plenty of them.
Similarly another of dread’s biggest runaway successes is the perfect pacing and finely tuned staggering of upgrades. Dread will push you and push you before it rewards you with that one upgrade you’ve been desperate for, be it the morph ball, the gravity suit or the space jump. But it does this with some excellent game design that sees you explore all kinds of areas more quickly than you might expect, but with restricted access to each that slowly but surely opens up as you make progress. The leadup to the gravity suit is one of the most interesting since it somehow feels like you’ve gone too far and you should have it by now, when infact you’re doing all the right things and then bam, you destroy the supports sending a platform cascading down which literally smashes through the map and allows access to the gravity suit at long last, awesome stuff. Dread does this a lot and as I touched on in my previous review, i’ve never felt simultaneously so guided by an invisible dotted line, yet so in control of my own discoveries and progression, there’s finely tuned intentionality in its design, but it feels so natural and organic in how you as a player make that happen, I love it so much. But, with this being said, one gripe with that design approach is that if you miss one single step on that invisible line, it can send you wildly off course into an area far from where you’re supposed to be, meaning finding your way back to said ‘line’ and backtracking through multiple areas can and probably will cause you some annoyance, but it doesn’t take long to get back on track since dread is such a fast-paced game.
The other runaway success of this game is its presentation and flavour in its visual storytelling, animation and even its writing. There’s a good story here too which neatly wraps things up and introduces a genuinely great villain, probably the best the franchise has seen in Raven Beak, a chozo and leader of the ‘mawkin’, a chozo warrior tribe. Raven Beak’s relation to Samus, the fact he spares her on her first encounter to see her realise her full power as a metroid and his final confrontation with samus all add to his character and personality as a power-hungry menace who wouldn’t be out of place in star wars. The guy has a throne on his ship and is willing to kill & clone his ‘daughter’ to create an unstoppable army, what a dick, but he’s so great and that final boss fight is incredible, even better than I remember.
Other standout moments include every time samus stands still and looks like a badass while a boss fucking dies brutally and samus’ first encounter with quiet robe, also the first time we hear her speak outside of other m if im not mistaken and the moment is SO earned. In some ways it feels like they wanted to channel doomguy in samus for dread but instead of hate, samus’ oozes confidence and determination, she is such a badass. The one line she is given + the screaming at the end give just enough extra flavour to heighten the emotion and the drive behind samus and the former feels earned because of samus’ history with the chozo.
Ontop of this, all of the animations, ui elements and effects in this game are absolutely spot on, there’s an almost perfectionist tendency to them, they’re that good. The slightest bit of film grain or dramatic lighting or use of interesting framing in cutscenes can add so much to the vibe and drama of a piece of visual media and dread does this constantly. All of the cutscenes, though short, quickly establish the scene and tell you all you need to know in a matter of seconds. The general control and fluidity of everything you do in this game just feels right and though I haven’t gone for the 100%, the game clearly puts all of it to good use. Even though the most casual of players could still beat this game there’s such a high skill-cap since you’re given plenty of moves to work with and are rewarded for well-timed plays like counters and flash-shift dodges, the pace and satisfaction in the action is unlike anything else that i’ve seen in the series except maybe samus returns but then, that almost felt like the somewhat weaker precursor to this. By the late game, dread basically becomes a fully fledged action-packed romp and it is peak.
Metroid Dread is probably the best 2D metroid and a crowning jewel in the metroidvania genre, upon replaying pretty much all of the 2D games in the series I feel like I now appreciate this one so much more. MercurySteam’s take on metroid is quite distinct from the old school nintendo approach but I think its awesome, the heavier action focus and smoother traversal fit metroid like a glove, plus dread in particular is just so fast and lean in how it plays that it makes most other metroidvanias feel sluggish by comparison, at least in their general movement.
I think what has boosted my appreciation of this most of all is how it is a labour of love and it really understands what made the original games (especially super, fusion & zero mission) so good. There was a long hiatus between the official 2D metroid entries and samus returns, while still a good game, was still a remake, so its great to have a full-scale new entry, one that concludes this arc of samus’ story and delivers everything that fans wanted. There are so many neat little references to old metroid games and i’ve come to love the horror and isolation of these games more and more, which dread brings out in full force. One of my major complaints originally was a lack of identity in its areas which, upon a replay, I have come to disagree with, there’s tons of neat details in its areas and they are much more distinct than I gave them credit for. You have the bubbling lava caverns & geothermal plant stationed on cataris, the ancient and sprawling jungle of ghavoran and the clean, futuristic sanctuary of the chozo in ferenia. Not only this, there’s tons of little details like the biological research and construction of EMMIs being undertaken in the background of Dairon, you can even see the machinery operating on Experiment No. Z-57 which is a great moment. This kind of foreshadowing reminded me of fusion a lot, which this game (being a sequel to fusion) seems to take more than a few notes from, since later in the game you must exterminate experiment no. Z-57 after it awakens and disturbs the geothermal facility on cataris. The moment you’re told about this and guided to the boss is an excellent little detour that is reminiscent of the leadup to nightmare-x in metroid fusion, its those kinds of moments that I love most and dread has plenty of them.
Similarly another of dread’s biggest runaway successes is the perfect pacing and finely tuned staggering of upgrades. Dread will push you and push you before it rewards you with that one upgrade you’ve been desperate for, be it the morph ball, the gravity suit or the space jump. But it does this with some excellent game design that sees you explore all kinds of areas more quickly than you might expect, but with restricted access to each that slowly but surely opens up as you make progress. The leadup to the gravity suit is one of the most interesting since it somehow feels like you’ve gone too far and you should have it by now, when infact you’re doing all the right things and then bam, you destroy the supports sending a platform cascading down which literally smashes through the map and allows access to the gravity suit at long last, awesome stuff. Dread does this a lot and as I touched on in my previous review, i’ve never felt simultaneously so guided by an invisible dotted line, yet so in control of my own discoveries and progression, there’s finely tuned intentionality in its design, but it feels so natural and organic in how you as a player make that happen, I love it so much. But, with this being said, one gripe with that design approach is that if you miss one single step on that invisible line, it can send you wildly off course into an area far from where you’re supposed to be, meaning finding your way back to said ‘line’ and backtracking through multiple areas can and probably will cause you some annoyance, but it doesn’t take long to get back on track since dread is such a fast-paced game.
The other runaway success of this game is its presentation and flavour in its visual storytelling, animation and even its writing. There’s a good story here too which neatly wraps things up and introduces a genuinely great villain, probably the best the franchise has seen in Raven Beak, a chozo and leader of the ‘mawkin’, a chozo warrior tribe. Raven Beak’s relation to Samus, the fact he spares her on her first encounter to see her realise her full power as a metroid and his final confrontation with samus all add to his character and personality as a power-hungry menace who wouldn’t be out of place in star wars. The guy has a throne on his ship and is willing to kill & clone his ‘daughter’ to create an unstoppable army, what a dick, but he’s so great and that final boss fight is incredible, even better than I remember.
Other standout moments include every time samus stands still and looks like a badass while a boss fucking dies brutally and samus’ first encounter with quiet robe, also the first time we hear her speak outside of other m if im not mistaken and the moment is SO earned. In some ways it feels like they wanted to channel doomguy in samus for dread but instead of hate, samus’ oozes confidence and determination, she is such a badass. The one line she is given + the screaming at the end give just enough extra flavour to heighten the emotion and the drive behind samus and the former feels earned because of samus’ history with the chozo.
Ontop of this, all of the animations, ui elements and effects in this game are absolutely spot on, there’s an almost perfectionist tendency to them, they’re that good. The slightest bit of film grain or dramatic lighting or use of interesting framing in cutscenes can add so much to the vibe and drama of a piece of visual media and dread does this constantly. All of the cutscenes, though short, quickly establish the scene and tell you all you need to know in a matter of seconds. The general control and fluidity of everything you do in this game just feels right and though I haven’t gone for the 100%, the game clearly puts all of it to good use. Even though the most casual of players could still beat this game there’s such a high skill-cap since you’re given plenty of moves to work with and are rewarded for well-timed plays like counters and flash-shift dodges, the pace and satisfaction in the action is unlike anything else that i’ve seen in the series except maybe samus returns but then, that almost felt like the somewhat weaker precursor to this. By the late game, dread basically becomes a fully fledged action-packed romp and it is peak.