Like in other Metroid games, the world isn't very interesting to explore, as all of the game's areas feel very generic visually, thematically, and mechanically. This greatly lowers the excitement of reaching a new area, as there are no major differences between areas, other than one having more lava rooms and another being submerged in water, not exactly new and interesting concepts. This is a shame because the game actually lets you get lost in its world, with upgrades that are hidden to the point where it isn’t evidently clear if they’re optional or not. This forces you to search your surroundings for secrets, use your map, and backtrack to previous areas in order to progress. Sadly, as most of these upgrades are the same or very similar to ones in other Metroid games, there isn’t a lot of wonder and excitement in finding one, as it turns “I wonder what cool power I’m getting next” into “I wonder if I’m getting the morph ball or super missile next”. The only exceptions to this are some of the Aeon powers, but these have issues of themselves. The cloak is barely useful outside of EMMI zones and the dash makes crossing them and dodging enemy attacks so easy that I avoided using it, as the only enemies that can keep up with this are the yellow EMMI and the final boss. I also found the map way too detailed, as it means you don’t really have to take mental notes or leave pins on the map, greatly reducing the feeling of you exploring this vast, unknown world.

As for the combat, fighting regular enemies is as mindless as ever, as you can either stand as far away as possible and shoot them or use the melee counter. The counterattack has such a lenient timing and the shot after it is so powerful that the optimal strategy for enemies that don’t die in a few shots is to stand still in front of them, wait for the flash and counter, usually defeating them in that single shot. If you decide to shoot them instead, enemies give so many missile drops upon death that there is little reason to use your regular shot until you upgrade it a few times. Once you have around 40 missile ammo you can basically use them exclusively, and its ammo account can go over 200 for some reason, when you already have way more than you need by 100. Health has a similar issue, as it can go so high if you’re diligent with your secret finding you can even brute force your way through enemies or just run through them. This makes enemies more of a nuisance than an interesting challenge and makes upgrades after the first few ones serve better as a puzzle than an actual upgrade.

Bosses fare much better, as they deal significant enough damage that the health upgrades actually feel useful rather than overkill and running out of missiles against them was never an interesting situation, as it meant having to use your charge shot for the rest of the fight. Most of the game’s bosses are challenging and have different enough mechanics for them to feel unique. The only exception are the bosses that are repeated, as these don’t have anything interesting going on to warrant fighting more than once and the refights don’t add much to them. However, the game’s very generous auto saves remove a lot of tension from these encounters, as it saves before every boss, after going to a different zone, before entering an EMMI zone, after exiting it, and I imagine after defeating a boss too, but this one I can’t confirm by myself. This trivializes the existence of save rooms, no longer providing relief after overcoming a challenging section but rather feeling very pointless. Because of this, losing simply means being set back by maybe 5 minutes, greatly reducing the impact of both bosses and the EMMI.

The EMMI are by far the best part of the game alongside its bosses, as entering one of their zones greatly increases the game’s otherwise pretty low tension and works as a great change of pace. While initially it can be annoying how the EMMI can hear you from relatively far away, it ensures that you never get past them too easily and forces you to always be on the move. You rarely have to hide in a corner for too long waiting for a chance to escape, keeping up with the game’s relatively fast pace. The part of the EMMI zones that I disliked the most is after you destroy the EMMI as it removes what makes these zones unique, replacing the EMMI with uninteresting enemies.

Metroid Dread, while not being a perfect game, is a perfectly enjoyable one and by far the best Metroid game I’ve played.

The AI in alien isolation is truly incredible, as it manages to keep a single main enemy for the entire game and keep it interesting all the way through, while a game like RE2 relies on regular enemies to add tension, as Mr. X by himself would've been a joke to avoid. However, the game for some reason insists on removing the alien for not insignificant portions of the game in order to advance a shallow, uninteresting plot about going to a spaceship to look for your mom who doesn't ever appear in game. How the story manifests in the gameplay isn't much better either, as the whole game is you trying to do a basic task for boring underdeveloped characters and being set back 5 times along the way for each objective. This even extends to the ending of the game, to the point of me wanting it to end an hour before it did. On top of this, instead of finishing after escaping the ship, the game gives you a third spacewalk section consisting of moving forward for 10 mins while occasionally pressing buttons, which wasn't appreciated the first 2 times it happened. The final scene of the game being a quick time event cemented me the idea that I didn't want to touch the game again, as it turned an otherwise bombastic ending into a mindless slog.

The item system, while being interesting in concept, is completely ruined by the fact that 90% of the game can be easily beat while using very few items, to the point I was crafting more not because I needed to, but because I was full on materials, turning them from something essential to survival to another get out of jail free card to add to your collection. This also includes the weapons you are given, as shooting one attracts the alien to your location, making the objectively best option to make some noise near human enemies so that the alien takes care of them for you and using the stun baton, emp mine, or simply running away from the synthetics, as they move slow enough for you to lose in most of the game's areas. The game eventually gives you a break from the alien and finally lets you use these weapons, but the game honestly is much less interesting without it and at this point I had so many items and so much ammo on me that it didn't matter. The one item that’s actually consistently used is the flamethrower, as it fends off the alien, illuminates the area near you, and is a relatively quiet way to kill facehuggers, but it’s so useful that you can basically ignore all other items while you have fuel, of which I was never low on until after the nest section, at which point the game is nearly over.

The game also falters in its horror in many areas. The many different methods of pulling handles, for my understanding, are designed to create tension when you’re trying to open a door while the alien is lurking nearby, but many handles can be cheated by simply holding both mouse buttons and then pressing in the direction it suggests you should pull, as there is no punishment for pressing the wrong button or too many buttons. The flamethrower doesn't entirely erase the stress of being found by the alien, as there's always a risk that you run out of fuel, but as I said that moment never came to me. The saving system, while it does create fear of dying in the process of saving or right after, doesn't save the enemies' intentions after reloading, so if you save while you're being chased and die after, as long as you were slightly out of line of sight, you'll be completely safe. I also found it very interesting how many set piece moments the game delivers via cutscene especially at the end, as these signify to the player a clear lack of danger, as they will always be delivered safely to the next gameplay section.

Maybe I should've played the game in a higher difficulty (I played in hard), but I doubt that would've fixed how boring the story is, how bland regular enemies are, how easy it is to destroy androids with the 10 stun baton charges you haven't used, and how in sections without the alien the game feels like a linear stealth game where it’s extremely easy to not get caught, and even is you do you can just as easily dispatch or avoid whoever caught you.