Metroid Dread

 Switch
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2651 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,258 out of 2651
  2. Mixed: 148 out of 2651
  3. Negative: 245 out of 2651
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  1. salomonander
    Oct 10, 2021
    6
    I was really looking forward to this game. I’m a big fan. But sadly I just don’t love it. The basic game is great, but to me personally the emmi chases were so annoying and random, that I lost all enjoyment.
  2. starrymia
    Oct 10, 2021
    6
    It's a good game, but the "dread" part of the title is easily the weakest part. It smells of corporate meddling.

    The dread in Metroid games is supposed to be the feeling of walking through the totally unknown, not forced encounters and jump scares.. Making Metroid explainable as "A space thriller like Alien!" instead of needing to play it to understand it, is a bad move, is    It's a good game, but the "dread" part of the title is easily the weakest part. It smells of corporate meddling.

    The dread in Metroid games is supposed to be the feeling of walking through the totally unknown, not forced encounters and jump scares..

    Making Metroid explainable as "A space thriller like Alien!" instead of needing to play it to understand it, is a bad move, is detrimental to the creativity of the video games industry, and is an insult to science fiction because it dumbs down a vibrant genre into the cliches that Nintendo thinks casuals will recognize.

    I think the game is a masterpiece, but being locked in a room with someone in a video game is as bad as QTEs. It removes your agency in the world, deletes your ability to do anything according to your own choices, and reduces a masterpiece to a bunch of stupid twitch reflexes. And worst of all, they're LAZY forced encounters. A robot with smooth curved white armor like Portal, that chases you while making friendly high-pitched chirping noises (like the turrets in Portal)? Come on, that rubbish is just to drum up word-of-mouth sales.

    Considering how good the rest of the game's design is, I think there was corporate meddling involved, the kind where people who are afraid of losing profits tell the designers what needs to be in the game, instead of just letting the designers do what they want. No designer this talented would include all of these hamfisted cliches and badly-done references, unless they were forced to.

    I feel like a lot of this game was optimized so that as many 10 year old boys as possible would shout "COOL!" as they played, and it's a pity because it could have been 100% original and special.

    Instead we have to deal with 50% good and 50% pandering. I hate that.

    Let me say it clearly: Somebody up top thought that this game wouldn't sell on its own merits, so they added a whole bunch of junk in hopes that it would get less intelligent people excited. It really makes the game feel like a hodgepodge chaotic mess.

    P. S. Even if you disagree with my review in general, I think almost everyone can agree that some of the soundtrack is weak. Not a small "that's not perfect and I wanted it to be perfect!" type of weak, it sounds like stuff a first-year music student would make. The jingle when you get a new item is overly fruity and flowery instead of punchy and orchestral, some of the BGM is hyperactive and annoying as it prances around the notes. All of the music tracks could inspire awe but instead a lot of them make it feel like a $20 budget game. For every good piece of music there's one so horrible that it literally makes it difficult to keep playing without feeling a little annoyed.    … Expand
  3. Kratosine
    Oct 11, 2021
    5
    Bastante mediocre en general, la sensación de apuntado esta bien lograda, pero la dificultad del juego no esta para nada bien medida, muchas zonas son frustrantes y repetitivas. Y en el apartado grafico, podría estar mejor.
  4. Wally_22
    Oct 10, 2021
    5
    Exquisito, todo lo que he estado esperando por años un Metroid a la altura, con la misma fórmula pero con nuevos agregados y con una historia atrapante. Ya voy por la segunda vuelta y no y no deja de engancharme. Un juegazo
  5. Rtheom
    Oct 13, 2021
    6
    It's okay. The controls are fine and the general gameplay is good, if not a bit tried and true. The problem is that there are now many metroidvanias on the eshop that are just as good for far less ($15 instead of $60). This game isn't really worth the full asking price, but that won't ever be going down, since it's a Nintendo game, unfortunately. If you can find a used copy or borrow itIt's okay. The controls are fine and the general gameplay is good, if not a bit tried and true. The problem is that there are now many metroidvanias on the eshop that are just as good for far less ($15 instead of $60). This game isn't really worth the full asking price, but that won't ever be going down, since it's a Nintendo game, unfortunately. If you can find a used copy or borrow it from a friend, go ahead, but I can't recommend this at the full price of $60.

    The one big detractor from the game is the robot chase parts. We've seen this done in video games so many times before that it's not scary or tense even the first time that it happens. It's mostly just an annoyance because it just adds extra reload time.

    The map is pretty decent, but there is some fail. It's often a little too confusing figuring out where you need to go next. The rooms are mostly samey and the environmental design does little to help this. That's okay because the environment was never really a big part of Metroid anyway, typically having black or flat color rooms with enemies in them, but it does feel a bit lame when you have graphics this nice otherwise.

    A fine enough Metroid, but there's better out there for cheaper now.

    Edit: Dropped my score by a point because I'm already bored of the game after 6 hours of play. It's just too monotonous, the exploration is really non-existent, and the E.M.M.I. sections are just an annoyance. Go buy "A Robot Named Fight", it's a much better, much more interesting Metroid.

    Ironically, this game actually got me to finally try Axiom Verge.    … Expand
  6. CaptainCharisma
    Jul 29, 2022
    6
    Although the gameplay is strong as was expected, it is a rushed effort. The chases are great fun but the game lacks atmosphere that classic games in the series had such as Super Metroid and Zero Mission. On top of that the game isn't running at optimal 1080p resolution when docked, that is unacceptable for a 2.5D game when a game like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe runs at 1080p even in split screen.
  7. TwistedNine
    Feb 13, 2022
    5
    I've played every game in the series so far and this is the first one I didn't finish. The graphics are good and so is the gameplay. Where all the fun goes out the door is with the Emmi encounters. You'll be having a great time exploring and then you're faced with going into an EMMI area that turns gameplay into a cat-mouse trope.

    Sorry Nintendo. If this is what your plans are for the    I've played every game in the series so far and this is the first one I didn't finish. The graphics are good and so is the gameplay. Where all the fun goes out the door is with the Emmi encounters. You'll be having a great time exploring and then you're faced with going into an EMMI area that turns gameplay into a cat-mouse trope.

    Sorry Nintendo. If this is what your plans are for the future of the series, you just lost a 30 year fan.    … Expand
  8. ThoughtfulScore
    Nov 3, 2021
    7
    Metroid Dread is a 10 hour action, puzzle, exploration game, with some tricky bosses, and easy trash mobs. The checkpoint/save system is very forgiving, and the level design is intuitive, so pacing is good.
    Replay value is low, as there is basically no story, and little in the way of cool things to discover that aren't part of the main campaign. It feels more like a great GameCube    Metroid Dread is a 10 hour action, puzzle, exploration game, with some tricky bosses, and easy trash mobs. The checkpoint/save system is very forgiving, and the level design is intuitive, so pacing is good.
    Replay value is low, as there is basically no story, and little in the way of cool things to discover that aren't part of the main campaign. It feels more like a great GameCube game, rather than a $60 triple A title in 2021. I enjoyed it, but you don't get great bang for your buck.    … Expand
  9. McBoatface
    Feb 9, 2022
    5
    Fun game. At least the parts between the monotonous EMMI chases and the annoying boss fights where you'll die over and over again until you randomly get the timing right after 15 tries.
  10. Psychocadet
    Oct 25, 2021
    6
    Music is very bad. Plot is 50% copy-paste from previous games. Locations are easily forgettable because of how much plain grey is used. Enemies are, too. It doesn't add much to lore, for example anything to Adam's personality, and I feel ending is strange instead of satisfying. The cut-scenes are made right sometimes, but it becomes cheap worship of Samus coolness pretty soon, a way to winMusic is very bad. Plot is 50% copy-paste from previous games. Locations are easily forgettable because of how much plain grey is used. Enemies are, too. It doesn't add much to lore, for example anything to Adam's personality, and I feel ending is strange instead of satisfying. The cut-scenes are made right sometimes, but it becomes cheap worship of Samus coolness pretty soon, a way to win praise of long fans. By the way, the game itself isn't by any means cheap, while it's 2.5D Metroid game with no changes to its very old formula. People say ”rate it high for new Metroids to come out”, but I don't want a series to continue like that, nor rating it any higher.… Expand
  11. louisbody
    Oct 15, 2021
    6
    There seem to be very few objective reviews, or ones that speak from experience or a long-time appreciation for the series. This game has some serious issues relating to progression, pacing, and level design. A good way to illustrate this is the order of abilities.
    You get stuck between the first and second areas because you don't have morph ball or bomb yet and shooting the floor isn't    There seem to be very few objective reviews, or ones that speak from experience or a long-time appreciation for the series. This game has some serious issues relating to progression, pacing, and level design. A good way to illustrate this is the order of abilities.
    You get stuck between the first and second areas because you don't have morph ball or bomb yet and shooting the floor isn't intuitive. You get spin boost and then space jump 30 mins later. Screw attack comes before both cross and power bomb and basically breaks the game. This is immediately after an intense difficulty spike and makes for a kind of whiplash.
    In Super, screw attack is optional and along with space jump, the last item in the game. It is there to facilitate backtracking and accessing 100% items, not to trivialize the game. Furthermore, the level / enemy / hazard design is an impedance to cheaping out.
    Either Mercury Steam did not do their homework or did not come to a very good understanding of what makes metroid special. The thought put into crafting a story through environment, progress, and atmosphere is just not in this game.
    It's main innovations are faster movement, difficulty, and boss design, but these are held back. Free aim and button combos for weapon selection feels clumsy on the tiny joy con controls. The pacing of difficulty is off, or perhaps the length of the campaign is. Boss fights are weirdly concentrated in one part of the game. The boss design of the 2nd half of the game is redundant and noticeably inspired by hollow knight, but unbalanced missing mechanics that help it to make sense. Healing, badges, deflection are basically replaced with QTEs from 2009.
    The 100% end-game challenges add some depth, but have you pulling off feats that you didn't even know were possible in the campaign. I couldn't help feeling like they would have played so much better as story puzzles, and that the game could have either been longer or designed to encourage better utilization of resources.
    Bottom line is this game doesn't really have a clear idea of what it wants to be. The music is completely forgettable. The story is basically Star Wars. I mean, c'mon people. Mercury Steam does not have the experience to build a truly immersive and meaningful metroid world/story, and is compensating for that with Hollywood visuals and derivative design elements.
    This does not feel like a $60 game to me, and I expected more from the first 2D Metroid designed for home consoles and AAA sensibilities in a long time. Reviewers seem like they need to go study Super Metroid.    … Expand
  12. wingZero21
    Oct 16, 2021
    6
    This is definately an overated game. I like Metroid games, however I would not class this as one of the better ones.

    The gameplay is generally good and some of the bosses are interesting. The incorporation of the upgrades throughout the game is generally good as well. Some of the story elements have potential. However there are some problems I found with the game. The graphics while    This is definately an overated game. I like Metroid games, however I would not class this as one of the better ones.

    The gameplay is generally good and some of the bosses are interesting. The incorporation of the upgrades throughout the game is generally good as well. Some of the story elements have potential.

    However there are some problems I found with the game. The graphics while not terrible just don't seem that great in my opinion. The EMMI addition just seems like time wasting to pad out the game after the initial first experience, I feel this could have been handled in a much better way. Some of the mini bosses as well are literally exactly the same copied and pasted over the course of the game with some slight differences on occasion. It also feels like when fighting the bosses initially they take a larger amount of damage and then after a few attempts they make each phase a little easier so that you eventually win, again similar to before it just feels like padding over actually beating the boss due to skill. Some of the backtracking is good, however I don't really understand the point of the Warp points as they felt unnecessary and not really useful in their implementation in the game. Warp points can be great generally, but they are handled much better in other games and here it just detracts from the game. There is also annoying time loads when moving from one area to another seeing the same transit screens again and again.

    There is also a potentially interesting upgrade at the end of the game but again its never fully utilized. This feels to be the re-occuring theme of this game, there are good ideas but they are not fully accomplished.

    The story elements as mentioned earlier have potential, however overall just don't fully work. This game feels like it has some good ideas but just not quite executed in the best way to reach its potential. I cant understand why this is getting 10/10 scores as it is certainly not a perfect game or anywhere as near good as Super Metroid/Fusion or Zero Mission in my opinion.

    I think with some tuning they could make it a lot better in the future, hopefully they pick up on the gripes and resolve the problems people have with it.    … Expand
  13. Captiosus
    Oct 16, 2021
    6
    I suspect once the honeymoon period wears off people will begin to properly compare Metroid Dread to other MetroidVania games that have come out and realize that Dread is a gimmicky, mediocre entry in the genre. A 7 out of 10 game, at best.

    I rate it lower than that for the fiddly controls (three buttons and the analog stick to aim-fire missles!), an overabundance of bosses and    I suspect once the honeymoon period wears off people will begin to properly compare Metroid Dread to other MetroidVania games that have come out and realize that Dread is a gimmicky, mediocre entry in the genre. A 7 out of 10 game, at best.

    I rate it lower than that for the fiddly controls (three buttons and the analog stick to aim-fire missles!), an overabundance of bosses and mini-bosses, QTE styled combat sequences overusing the melee counter, unavoidable one-hit-kill enemies with cheap god-mode abilities (EMMI), the lack of music, and the game's short length (10-12 hours for 100% completion). Graphically it's decent, but nothing to write home about. The movement is nice and fluid but there are noticeable periods of frame drops and blurry textures when playing docked on a 1080p or above display.

    6/10 for me.

    It's been 19 years since the last, new, 2D Metroid game was released on a Nintendo platform and over that time frame there has been a literal pile of MetroidVania styled games that are leaps and bounds better than Dread. Most, if not all, of them are readily available on multiple platforms, and most are cheaper with more content.    … Expand
  14. ilikecustard
    Oct 16, 2021
    6
    Metroid Dread is certainly an enjoyable game, however only the first half. The second half becomes a repetitious bore and an absolute slog of a game.

    I've played most of the 2D Metroids including Super Metroid (played 3+ times), Metroid Fusion and also gave Samus Returns a go. The Spanish studio that made Samus Returns co-developed Metroid Dread and brought a lot of the bad aspects of    Metroid Dread is certainly an enjoyable game, however only the first half. The second half becomes a repetitious bore and an absolute slog of a game.

    I've played most of the 2D Metroids including Super Metroid (played 3+ times), Metroid Fusion and also gave Samus Returns a go. The Spanish studio that made Samus Returns co-developed Metroid Dread and brought a lot of the bad aspects of Samus Returns. Samus Returns had too many parry attacks and repeat bosses, yep you heard right, the same bosses over and over again with minor tweaks.

    Metroid Dread came out with positive reviews so I decided to try it out with an expected game length of 10 hours.

    Pros:
    * cool blend of 2D and 3D
    * EMMIs towards the beginning of the game are kinda cool
    * some good cut-scenes
    * some of the bosses were fun

    Cons:
    * EMMIs became more of a gimmick towards mid-game and didn't add much value to the game
    * the power upgrades are all over the place and you barely have a few moments to use it before you get another power upgrade
    * this game is actually very linear in that it provides teleportation points every where
    * some parts of this game have awful level design and you can barely tell the cue points, particularly when you're on a small screen
    * mini-bosses are repeated over and over again and it's OK to be seen twice but not 3 or 4 times
    * counters in boss fights are awful if you miss the counter you have to do some repetitious moves for a few minutes before the counter becomes available again, counters seem more appropriate in a Playstation button-smash game
    * some of the cut-scene close-ups has PS1-level graphics
    * some noticeable frame-rate drops, particularly in boss battles

    Overall it's great to have another 2D Metroid game however a lot of the bad aspects of Samus Returns are in Metroid Dread, there are noticeable glitches in the graphics and bad level design and repetitious bosses. It would have been better if Nintendo just produced it by themselves.    … Expand
  15. RinVindor
    Oct 14, 2021
    6
    I like the game in general, I own every Metroid game and while I haven't beaten all of them, they're a fond part of my childhood. Honestly this game frustrated me to no end constantly, the number of boss battles is unending and its not really fun, no sooner than you beat a single boss, 3 rooms later you can run into another one.

    It feels like the developers just wanted to make a game    I like the game in general, I own every Metroid game and while I haven't beaten all of them, they're a fond part of my childhood. Honestly this game frustrated me to no end constantly, the number of boss battles is unending and its not really fun, no sooner than you beat a single boss, 3 rooms later you can run into another one.

    It feels like the developers just wanted to make a game with some very RE 2 vibes with you being chased which while frustrating at times is pretty enjoyable, but the boss fights (especially the mini boss fights) are garbage for most of them a few are fine but my biggest frustration is that this means for those who are physically handicapped they're basically never going to play this game because there isn't an easier mode, normal is already a pretty difficult challenge, despite what the obnoxious minority of "git gud" players will say, several friends of mine are also having issues with the bosses. Dying 10-15 times in a game is one thing, but per boss because you're not hitting the right combo of 4-5 buttons is exhausting.

    I'm almost at the end of the game in the frozen areas and I think I'm not going to finish this game. I regret buying it day 1 and should have waited for a sale. I wanted to support Metroid games because I'm looking forward to the Metroid 4 but this is a game I'd say you can skip.    … Expand
  16. Timgriff84
    Oct 25, 2021
    6
    Fun game but doesn’t really do anything to separate itself from all the copies over the years. Outside of the gameplay the graphics are average, sound is poor and story is both dull and badly told. Overall you could class it as a well polished iOS game, although a lot of iOS games have better graphics. It is fun though, get it in a sale.
  17. max1c
    Oct 27, 2021
    7
    This game is very good until you start taking into account complete shi tier controls and cheating AI. Emmi mechanics are also pretty mediocre design wise. The double jump mechanic is literally the worst implementation of any platformer in history ever. Everything else in the game is pretty high quality.
  18. ahmadhz1999
    Nov 2, 2021
    7
    For me, the game is too simple to be a masterpiece. It was definitely a fun experience but the maps and the boss fights were super simplified.

    First of all, the maps for each area are very small, so you will never feel alone or scared. Second of all, the location of hidden items is so obvious that you can find most of them without any problem, and this takes the feel of discovery out of    For me, the game is too simple to be a masterpiece. It was definitely a fun experience but the maps and the boss fights were super simplified.

    First of all, the maps for each area are very small, so you will never feel alone or scared. Second of all, the location of hidden items is so obvious that you can find most of them without any problem, and this takes the feel of discovery out of the game. Lastly, the platforming sections are just too easy. In the entire playthrough, there were only one or two parts that had challenging platforming and in other sections, you only had to jump once or twice and pass the location easily.

    Boss fights had the same problem. The only boss fights that were actually interesting and satisfying to beat were the first and last bosses. Other bosses had only three or four attack patterns and you could learn all of them after a few tries (usually less than 5 tries). Also, the game gives you so many health packs and missiles that sometimes you don't even need to learn all the attack patterns.

    Some people might say that if I play it on hard these problems will go away, but that is not true because these are design problems, and increasing the damage of enemies will not solve anything.

    I would say the best part of this game is the gameplay. It feels very smooth, and you can run around the map super fast. This becomes even more fun when you get new cool abilities. Also, unlike most people, I liked the EMMI encounters because they felt intense in some parts and made the game more engaging.

    Overall I recommend this game, but I think 60 dollars is too much for such a simple and short game, so wait for the sale if you want to save money.    … Expand
  19. SplitMind
    Nov 7, 2021
    6
    Metroid Dread comes nearly 20 years after Fusion as a sequel, and unfortunately it feels like it has aged badly in those 20 years.

    The graphics are actually where it shows some promise. The detail on backgrounds, models and textures allow Dread to excel where Fusion was limited by technology at the time. The downside is that there I quite a bit of repetition and predictability. You face    Metroid Dread comes nearly 20 years after Fusion as a sequel, and unfortunately it feels like it has aged badly in those 20 years.

    The graphics are actually where it shows some promise. The detail on backgrounds, models and textures allow Dread to excel where Fusion was limited by technology at the time. The downside is that there I quite a bit of repetition and predictability. You face the same graphical themes as yesteryear, traversing through lava, ice, oceanic and other familiar environments that do not really scream imagination. One specific issue to note is that I found the design of the map to be absolutely dreadful: a real clusterbomb of colours and shapes amounting to a ghastly eyesore.

    The gameplay is where the game becomes a tedious act in frustration and repetition. I will make a special point around the EMMIs. I found them to be absolutely stupid and irritating. They are invincible and kill you with an unfair quick-time event. This does not add dread or suspense to the game. It’s just really irritating when you have to run and die repeatedly because of one little slip-up. In Fusion the SA-X was handled much more sparingly and was more effective as a result.

    Then we have the other dreadful element – the level design. Metroid has always been about exploration, but never before have I been so bored and irritated by having to traverse long distances on the map and getting lost because the game gives you almost zero direction most of the time.

    I do give kudos for the addition of the parry mechanic, even if it is likely stolen from Dark Souls. It really truncates tedious battling with minor enemies.

    Getting upgrades feels great as you can do new things, but it’s also the same formular Metroid has been regurgitating for decades now. This is intertwined with the story; Mario, Zelda and Samus all seem to be living through Groundhog Day as every single game has the same premise – Samus goes to strange location curiously lacking in a back-up plan, inevitably gets attacked and loses all her powers. I suppose we don’t really play these games for the story, but a bit of creativity wouldn’t hurt either.

    Overall, Metroid Dread is a great game if this was the early 2000s. In 2021 the only thing it really has going for it is the Metroid branding. There are amply MetroidVanias out there now and I struggle to recommend Dread as one of them when I recall enjoying myself so much more with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, which is a cheaper indie effort that really puts Metroid to shame with its AAA budget and price-tag.    … Expand
  20. GabiTheRabbit
    Nov 8, 2021
    7
    It's a fun game, but that's pretty much it. It wouldn't get quarter of the praise it receives, if it wasn't named metroid and if it wasn't from nintendo. But hey, if sentiment can sell patriotism, it surely can sell games. Gamers will rant about whatever good or bad ubisoft would do, but nintendo can make what basically is an indie game, advert it as if it was AAA title, and sell it forIt's a fun game, but that's pretty much it. It wouldn't get quarter of the praise it receives, if it wasn't named metroid and if it wasn't from nintendo. But hey, if sentiment can sell patriotism, it surely can sell games. Gamers will rant about whatever good or bad ubisoft would do, but nintendo can make what basically is an indie game, advert it as if it was AAA title, and sell it for the price of AAA, and gamers will thank nintendo for screwing them over.

    I had fun playing it, I enjoy the general mechanics of it. I got stuck a few times, and solutions were very unintuitive. It's very frustrating at the times. EMMIs are just annoying - it's not a good stealth design. Some decisions regarding controls are just awful. you can transition from walk / run into ball - you need to stop to do that, which is ridiculous in such dynamic game. Often controls felt unresponsive - often I couldn't duck or enable rockets in time, because game was not reacting on my input. Nintendo also forgot, that there is another joystick on switch, and you run and aim with just 1 stick, like a simpleton. To double jump its not enough to press jump twice - you also need directional, which is very unintiitive too. I don't think many people actually finished the game, because last boss is crazy difficult for some reason.    … Expand
  21. AngrySir
    Mar 21, 2022
    6
    I really wanted to like this game more, Samus in this game is more badass than ever, if you played to the end you know what I mean, and I think the direction that the story took as the end of Samus' journey was great, but the negative aspects of the experience had a huge impact during this journey, so I couldn't simply ignore them.
    - Too many EMMI encounters, making them stop being    I really wanted to like this game more, Samus in this game is more badass than ever, if you played to the end you know what I mean, and I think the direction that the story took as the end of Samus' journey was great, but the negative aspects of the experience had a huge impact during this journey, so I couldn't simply ignore them.
    - Too many EMMI encounters, making them stop being interesting and become just annoying.
    - Too many repeated miniboss fights.
    - The level design is the biggest villain, disturbs the flow of progression and pacing of the game, most of the time the game gives you little to no information about what direction you should take, what is not a problem, but the exaggerated disorientation on a map that is not only part of the problem, but also the catalyst for it, leads to the game's biggest flaw, unnecessary and tiring backtracking. The game's scenarios don't stand out visually, with few exceptions, everywhere is too similar visually and structurally-wise, maze-like layouts, terribly fragmented and interconnected, full of blocked passages and hidden paths, very confusing.
    At some point in the game, I got tired of getting lost, wondering where to find a certain upgrade, or where exactly was that room I had passed through that needed this upgrade I just got, making me consider dropping the game. Anyway, at the end of the game, after 8 hours, the stress I went through was too much that it almost overcame the fun and made me feel like I had played Metroid Dread for 30 hours.    … Expand
  22. twirlingfern2
    Jun 11, 2022
    6
    The robot chase sequences are not fun to me. You run away and get killed over and over. The exploration was much more linear since it blocks the path, but that was fine for me since I don't like to get lost much - but some players may like more exploration. Resolution is max 900p even while docked. There are tons and tons of QTE during boss fights. Not only this, but you can only triggerThe robot chase sequences are not fun to me. You run away and get killed over and over. The exploration was much more linear since it blocks the path, but that was fine for me since I don't like to get lost much - but some players may like more exploration. Resolution is max 900p even while docked. There are tons and tons of QTE during boss fights. Not only this, but you can only trigger the next boss phase or kill the boss if you successfully do the QTE- if you fail then you need to repeat the cycle again. The final boss did fair damage, but every other boss did huge damage to Samus. They will kill you in 3-4 hits, even if you go exploring and grab the energy tanks. Overall I would not recommend. There are much better metrodvanias than this game such as Ori 1, Ori 2, and Hollow Knight.… Expand
  23. BenSan
    Jun 23, 2022
    6
    I think the map forces you to take unnecessary detours (even by the standards of other Metroids). There is an imbalance between exploration and combat. In other Metroids the combat takes a backseat while in Dread the boss and mini boss fights are exaggerated. There were times where I was fighting three bosses or mini-bosses in a row. 40% exploration and 60% combat.
    In other Metroid games I    I think the map forces you to take unnecessary detours (even by the standards of other Metroids). There is an imbalance between exploration and combat. In other Metroids the combat takes a backseat while in Dread the boss and mini boss fights are exaggerated. There were times where I was fighting three bosses or mini-bosses in a row. 40% exploration and 60% combat.
    In other Metroid games I enjoy exploring and figuring out the new routee to follow. In Dread I am constantly fighting a boss which is exhausting.    … Expand
  24. Yohnstoppable
    Jan 10, 2022
    6
    Metroid Dread has some great ideas, and I did have fun with it. But it is flawed and held back by a few minor issues and one majorly not fun mechanic

    What it does well: Controls - The gameplay and combat is the strongest part of the game. The controls are responsive and smooth. New abilities make it a lot of fun to move around and avoid enemies. My only complaint is that some    Metroid Dread has some great ideas, and I did have fun with it. But it is flawed and held back by a few minor issues and one majorly not fun mechanic

    What it does well:

    Controls - The gameplay and combat is the strongest part of the game. The controls are responsive and smooth. New abilities make it a lot of fun to move around and avoid enemies. My only complaint is that some abilities could be mapped better. Particularly any spot you have to run and jump then have both bumpers pressed to aim and fire the grappling hook. The game is a lot more combat focused than exploration focused, which I didn't like, but the controls made that not as bad

    Boss fights - besides the scorpion boss that I found a little tedious, the boss fights were a lot of fun and challenging. I'd say the boss fights are the best part of the game. Some of them are pretty hard at first, but they are very rewarding.

    Collectables - Like other Metroids, it is fun to get upgrades and go looking for secrets. The map blinks when there is a hidden path, which is a nice qol upgrade.

    What it does poorly:

    E.M.M.I encounters - The worst part of the game by far. They are tedious, slow down exploration, and just aren't fun or interesting. And every single one has you do the same boring miniboss fight to get a one time use item so you can kill it. If E.M.M.I. were not in the game I'd probably score it an 8. They ruin the game that much.

    Inconsistent difficulty - I found myself rarely ever dying, then I'd get to a point and die 10 times in a row. Then breezing through puzzles before finding one that isn't remotely intuitive or just badly designed. The 2 bad ones that stick out are standing by something in the foreground to lower the water level, and magically knowing you can shoot through a wall to hit something to explode it. I liked the challenge, but it doesn't seem to know if it wants to be easy or really hard.

    Music - the music is just bad and boring. It is not an exaggeration to say that Super Metroid, a 16 bit game released over 2 decades ago, has much better music

    Story - The story sucks, but that was never a strong point of the series.

    Summary: If you want a more combat oriented Metroid, you'll probably enjoy it. If you are yearning for the more exploration based titles like Super Metroid, you'll probably be disappointed. I really, and I mean REALLY hated the E.M.M.I. encounters.    … Expand
  25. dhammett
    Feb 25, 2022
    6
    As a long time fan of the series this game was a real heartbreak for me. I wanted to like it, but it turned out to be Dark Souls in Samus's power armor.

    The benchmark for every side-scrolling Metroid game is Super Metroid, so I played through both Dread and Super Metroid back to back. They are worlds apart on normal difficulty. Sure, the control scheme of super was clunky (with the    As a long time fan of the series this game was a real heartbreak for me. I wanted to like it, but it turned out to be Dark Souls in Samus's power armor.

    The benchmark for every side-scrolling Metroid game is Super Metroid, so I played through both Dread and Super Metroid back to back. They are worlds apart on normal difficulty. Sure, the control scheme of super was clunky (with the shoulder buttons doing angle up/ angle down aiming, a run button b/c D-pad, and the select button changing weapons) but that's about the only thing that made it any more difficult, and that's something you'll get used to with a little time. Dread has a great control scheme, but unfortunately there are 6 enemies with plot armor that can one shot you no matter how many energy tanks you pick up and you have no choice but to try and bypass them because none of your weapons will damage them until you can get the one thing that penetrates their plot armor, and it's a one-off, so you have to redo that for each one. - not fun

    All I wanted was Super Metroid with better graphics and control scheme, but they had to ruin it. Try again Nintendo, I'm sure you could do it if you tried.    … Expand
  26. Lov3Glov3
    Jun 21, 2022
    5
    Have you ever wanted to run through the same corridor, fighting the exact same enemies in the exact same locations, over and over and over again in hopes of finding something to do? Then Metroid Dread is the game for you. Granted, the combat is very smooth and complimented greatly by the graphics, but the gameplay is so tedious, boring and downright frustrating at times that it's made meHave you ever wanted to run through the same corridor, fighting the exact same enemies in the exact same locations, over and over and over again in hopes of finding something to do? Then Metroid Dread is the game for you. Granted, the combat is very smooth and complimented greatly by the graphics, but the gameplay is so tedious, boring and downright frustrating at times that it's made me put it down and never pick it up again.… Expand
  27. Zerreth
    Oct 13, 2021
    6
    I hate the control scheme and the **** bullet sponge boss fights that casually hit you 3 energy tanks worth of damage suck balls.
  28. upThere
    Oct 11, 2021
    7
    I'm Conflicted.
    Recursive exploration, 2D platformer-pathfinding and incremental combat-abilities-which-double-as-traversal-mechanics are the legacy of the Metroid & Castlevania series'. This game does those. You're a bounty hunter - work alone, backtrack, find a new way forward & hunt the next objective... It's a refined formula.
    What Dread introduces is portions of the game with an    I'm Conflicted.
    Recursive exploration, 2D platformer-pathfinding and incremental combat-abilities-which-double-as-traversal-mechanics are the legacy of the Metroid & Castlevania series'. This game does those. You're a bounty hunter - work alone, backtrack, find a new way forward & hunt the next objective... It's a refined formula.

    What Dread introduces is portions of the game with an awesome redefinition of that formula - the hunter becomes hunted! All your exploration, traversal + combat abilities are now leveraged toward narrowly escaping aggressively intelligent agile and relentless pursuers.... Heart-pounding adrenaline spikes - what a rush! ... but

    ...7/10 - because it feels like these portions are tacked on, confined to their own mini-games at specific junctures. Otherwise it's business as usual. It leaves me wanting to know what if this awesome reimagining were at the core of the game itself rather than a side-dish - Nintendo could achieve a true redefinition of this otherwise stale genre. . .?    … Expand
  29. Bryon
    Oct 12, 2021
    7
    I have mixed feelings on this one. It's very good for what it is, but it isn't exactly what I was hoping for.

    I'm about 3/4ths of the way through. I'll start with the the good stuff. The graphics are great and the music and sound effects are very good. The movement and control of Samus is the best that this series has ever seen. I am enjoying the story as well. So your basic    I have mixed feelings on this one. It's very good for what it is, but it isn't exactly what I was hoping for.

    I'm about 3/4ths of the way through.

    I'll start with the the good stuff. The graphics are great and the music and sound effects are very good. The movement and control of Samus is the best that this series has ever seen. I am enjoying the story as well. So your basic production value is a solid A.

    There are many intense battles that force you to use all of Samus' impressive array of abilities. Most battles are pretty tough and you feel good when you eventually win.

    Samus is a badass. She is finishing off her boss kills in style. She has all the awesome attitude you would hope for in the galaxy's greatest bounty hunter.

    Now for the bad stuff.

    I've felt from the very beginning like there was a hand on my back pushing me forward instead of letting me explore and discover on my own. That's a HUGE loss from previous Metroids. The game usually doesn't allow you to backtrack easily or at all. I've often acquired a new ability and thought I would go back through previous areas to see what I can open up, but the way is blocked. And the blocking doesn't feel natural. Oh, there is a red statue thing I can't kill. Oh, this door is just shut. I guess it will open when I advance far enough. At this point I'm resigned to just keep moving forward. The game automatically moves you back and forth through the areas. That isn't how Metroid is supposed to work though.

    Unless you are a top level gamer, you will die over and over and over and over again. I don't mind dying some in the beginning, or needing a few tries on a particularly tough boss, but I don't feel like a badass when I die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, succeed. And then do that again for the next EMMI or major boss, and then again and again.

    For games like this where you constantly upgrading, I take enjoyment out of finding all of the upgrades and feeling near invincible in the latter half of the game. But the difficulty stays pretty much the same throughout. Many people like that, but I prefer the extremely powerful feeling I had in the second half of Super Metroid or BOTW.

    So for what it is, Metroid Dread is great. Unfortunately it has lost some of the freedom of exploration and the feeling of power as the upgrades stack up. It's a fun time, but ultimately lost much of what Metroid used to be in favor of more modern quick twitch fights and flights.    … Expand
  30. SavageReviews1
    Oct 14, 2021
    7
    I was really looking forward to this game. I even played all the 2D ones over again in preparation, which might have been a mistake because after playing the previous 4 entries and then playing this one it felt sort of repetitive. It does a few things new but not much. I like the flow of movement and the updated visuals but for better or worse it is still a Metroid game. Its a solid gameI was really looking forward to this game. I even played all the 2D ones over again in preparation, which might have been a mistake because after playing the previous 4 entries and then playing this one it felt sort of repetitive. It does a few things new but not much. I like the flow of movement and the updated visuals but for better or worse it is still a Metroid game. Its a solid game but it doesn't do much new with the formula. After playing games like Ori and Hollow Knight this game just feels lacking in comparison when it comes to new ideas and revitalizing the series. Took me 7 Hours and 35 Minutes to Beat.… Expand
  31. Imgrier6
    Oct 17, 2021
    6
    This is the worst 2d Metroid.
    I have played all of them. QTE was obnoxious.
    Boss fights were too frequent and too boring.
    Being hunted got old fast, it was done better in Fusion. The game is great when it plays like older metroids. I wouldn't recommend it to Metroid fans. I would recommend it to fans of the 3ds castlevania game.
  32. Phils
    Oct 20, 2021
    7
    I finished and enjoyed the game overall, but was left disappointed in many ways. I loved the NES and SNES games back in the day, and appreciated how Dread seemed to mostly maintain that gameplay formula, however things added and changed made Dread more of a disappointment to me. Dread felt imbalanced with so many boss fights that seemed much more challenging than the rest of the game.I finished and enjoyed the game overall, but was left disappointed in many ways. I loved the NES and SNES games back in the day, and appreciated how Dread seemed to mostly maintain that gameplay formula, however things added and changed made Dread more of a disappointment to me. Dread felt imbalanced with so many boss fights that seemed much more challenging than the rest of the game. There was a point starting about halfway in where it seemed like it was one boss battle after another, which became very annoying and frustrating. Unlike past games, backtracking in Dread to find more power-ups yielded few to no rewards as doors are sealed and invulnerable creatures are deliberately placed to block key paths. Only until right before the final boss did I feel like I had the freedom to fully explore, but by then I was eager to just finish this. It was often weird to enter a new map, only to be forced to return to a previous map just a few corridors later. The EMMIs became more annoying than something to dread. I missed Samus's journal-like narration and the game almost never lets us know what Samus is thinking. The story left a lot to be desired as much isn't explained; I expected a lot more considering this was the final story to an ongoing saga. The music wasn't anything great; most was too up-tempo and weren't like the ethereal music of previous games. And maybe the most egregious problem is maybe a light spoiler, although Nintendo confirmed this before release (which apparently I missed then), is that there are no metroids in the game! I really missed seeing and fighting those mysterious energy suckers alike at the end of the NES and SNES games. Sadly, Dread hardly lives up to the original games.… Expand
  33. RatherRipped
    Oct 20, 2021
    7
    Dread is a solid game held back by repetition, frustrating encounters and a hefty price tag. If you've ever played a 2D Metroid game, this is everything you would expect from another entry in the series. It's pretty darn fun to explore the different biomes and slowly upgrade Samus to a sci-fi swiss army knife capable of parrying attacks and blowing stuff up in new and exciting ways.Dread is a solid game held back by repetition, frustrating encounters and a hefty price tag. If you've ever played a 2D Metroid game, this is everything you would expect from another entry in the series. It's pretty darn fun to explore the different biomes and slowly upgrade Samus to a sci-fi swiss army knife capable of parrying attacks and blowing stuff up in new and exciting ways.

    What's not so fun is the trial and error nature of the EMMI encounters and some boss fights. I really like the idea of the EMMI bots and at first I was totally on board. They're kind of like Mr. X or Nemesis if you've ever played Resident Evil. Enter an area with an EMMI and, if they catch you, it's game over. Dread gives you two chances to escape when they grab you, but the timing isn't something that you can do on reaction (at least I can't and I'm a big fan of twitchy games with parry mechanics). It comes down to making a hard read as to when to press the button. Fail and it's game over. Enjoy your obligatory 10 second load screen and gameplay tips! This can make for some really tense moments that I enjoyed, but 5-6 deaths to the same EMMI kind of ruins the effect in my opinion.

    You can kill EMMIs with a certain one time use power up acquired from these odd, blue, metal brain fellas. This is very cool the first couple times you do it. By the 6th, I was rolling my eyes. It was fortunately rewarding to dispatch them because they all give Samus new tools to progress through the game.

    EMMIs and bosses would have been much more fun if the controls were snappier. Dread has one of the worst double jumps in any game I've ever played. I lost so many energy tanks because my jump just wouldn't come out. I died to many an EMMI because Samus would decide not to grab a ledge. These fights require some serious precision and Dread just doesn't deliver on that front. It's close, but not quite there.

    Thankfully, Dread does deliver on other fronts. I quite enjoyed the story as someone who has played almost all of the mainline Metroid games. It does a good job of making you want to keep pushing through and sheds more light on the Chozo. Conversations with the ADAM AI were always interesting and oddly soothing. The world and atmosphere are very diverse and authentically Metroid. The presentation is quite impressive for a switch game.

    This is not a $60 package though. Nintendo is really on one asking that kind of scratch for this game. My completion time according to the ending splash screen was 6 hours and 45 minutes. Considering how often the game repeats itself within such a short runtime, I'm thinking $25-30 would have made a lot more sense.    … Expand
  34. StereoRaedioVA
    Oct 20, 2021
    5
    I'm already 3/4 of the way through the game, and it genuinely confuses me how many people praise this game without even beginning to discuss the numerous flaws in its design and overall execution of what it's trying to achieve. First of all, asking "is this game good or bad?" is a difficult question to answer. While it is a Metroid game at heart, it feels as though it's trying to add newI'm already 3/4 of the way through the game, and it genuinely confuses me how many people praise this game without even beginning to discuss the numerous flaws in its design and overall execution of what it's trying to achieve. First of all, asking "is this game good or bad?" is a difficult question to answer. While it is a Metroid game at heart, it feels as though it's trying to add new twists onto the formula and it falls flat at its attempt to do so. The E.M.M.I. are a nuisance and add no difficulty to the game, rather a bothersome hurdle (both figuratively and literally) that continues to irritate me to no end when their spawn just happens to be right at the entrance where I'm coming through or directly in the way of where I need to go, leading to a long, drawn out chase sequence or just sitting and waiting until it decides to go elsewhere, completely pulling me out of the experience in the process. They don't add suspense, they don't add a challenge, and they certainly don't add anything of interest to the gameplay or the story. They're only there to be annoying and to force you into a boss battle you have to repeat time and time again. Yes, you do have to do the same boss battle 4 times at least in order to actually kill the E.M.M.I. and it does not change in any way at any point. Is it challenging? No. interesting? Absolutely not. All it is is the game's way of railroading you to go where it requires you to go at every twist and turn. Speaking of, you have almost little to no say in where you want to explore until half way through the game as the world is designed to force you down one specific path each time you hit a "checkpoint" in the story. Past installments would incentivize exploration for bonus missile ammo, energy tanks, or even possible skips in the progression. This game has none of that, which is odd, as it is of the Metroidvania genre, obviously. The whole point of these types of games is to explore and build up your arsenal past what is required at any given point through open world exploration with a chunk of sections being locked behind powers you unlock later on. When a Metroid game has one linear path at all given times and continuously tells you what you HAVE to do at that moment, going as far as even placing walls or barriers that weren't even in the room prior (yes, this is a thing that happens at several instances in the game), you have a problem. As for the combat, it feels satisfying at the start or right after you get a new upgrade as you're just tearing through everything in your way, but it eventually gets to a point where enemies are just bullet sponges that require you to parry their attacks to kill them, and this includes the major bosses as well. It almost feels like Cuphead with how same-y combat is and how long it takes to kill one enemy until they let you parry their attack for an insta-kill. There's just far too many flaws that were never present until they rushed out this title to hold fans over for the eventual release of Prime 4. Overall, this game seeks to create a fresh experience that can also bring new fans into the series, but ironically steers further away from what made Metroid so much fun.… Expand
  35. MagnusBelmont
    Oct 18, 2021
    5
    Very disappointed about this opus.
    Its super linear, whenever you try to explore you are blocked.
    You don't have clear objectives, so you just progress and stumble upon every upgrade. Double jump is trigger only if you are spinning, making the feature not always reliable to pull in tight situation. Some repetitive mini-bosses, they are great, but not the fifth encounters. Too much    Very disappointed about this opus.
    Its super linear, whenever you try to explore you are blocked.
    You don't have clear objectives, so you just progress and stumble upon every upgrade.
    Double jump is trigger only if you are spinning, making the feature not always reliable to pull in tight situation.
    Some repetitive mini-bosses, they are great, but not the fifth encounters.
    Too much cutscene for my taste, would have love to play some of those moment instead of just watching them.
    The story is thin in my opinion. Yes, it progress the main metroid/chozo/samus storyline, but this is it. There seem to be a huge past about ZDR and we barely understand it beside that they drain heat from the planet core. Give us more Lore.

    My big appreciation goes to the boss fights. The mechanics are tights and clear to read. Hard enough to learn something.

    Otherwise, it was a very pricy 7h of gameplay.    … Expand
  36. kirrwed
    Oct 27, 2021
    6
    This game was probably an 8 or 9 for at least half of it, but it slowly dwindled.

    PROS: The game does produce a decent atmosphere of an abandoned planet, and indoor corridors, often claustrophobic. Some of the controls are very fluid (see the CONS for the bad controls). Jumping, dashing, sliding are all intuitive and responsive, and the animations correspond well to where you are    This game was probably an 8 or 9 for at least half of it, but it slowly dwindled.

    PROS: The game does produce a decent atmosphere of an abandoned planet, and indoor corridors, often claustrophobic. Some of the controls are very fluid (see the CONS for the bad controls). Jumping, dashing, sliding are all intuitive and responsive, and the animations correspond well to where you are trying to move. The upgrades were also fun and did give a sense of getting stronger and better. The metroidvania style of getting abilities to go back and reach new areas were there (although some traveling was too long as described below). The map, although a little daunting for it’s size, did reveal with gradients into emptiness areas where you knew the map extended - which helped give you a sense of where to go. I was only unsure where to go maybe once, despite hearing this was a problem for other players. The map development and upgrades all worked together to provide a key element to any video game - progression. The map also marks key items which is very helpful, especially when backtracking is required. The early EMMI encounters are good, atmospheric, and feel like a good stealth opportunity that invoked tension.

    CONS: Some of the controls are poor. At the top of this list is the shinespark mechanic, which is just atrocious. First, the game does not tell you multiple ways this feature can be used - such as extending the spark by wall bouncing or hitting a slope at the right angle. Another way is doing it in middair. You can look up online how to do these, but the mechanic is still vague to decipher. For instance, you can extend a spark by hitting a spark that is sloped - but not a slope against a wall, as she will end the spark as soon as she hits the wall. The whole thing is unclear, the controls are convoluted and unintuitive, and really soured that feature and any attempt at 100% completion. Even the games instructed method of using shinespark involves depressing L3 in tandem with moving that same stick in a direction. It’s a terribly unnecessary combo requirement that can lead to unwanted results. Related to that, the slide motion and morph ball motion are almost the same (L2 and diagonal down vs L2 and down). I know I and many others have experienced going into ball or slide when we wanted the other. Again, it's an unnecessary setup.

    QTEs - how these remain common in games is vexing. Multiple bosses - and even some of the regular creatures like the worm door guard things early on - need QTEs to beat. The feature remains an unimmersive fault in games and is very prevalent in Metroid Dread.

    Multiple boss fights slip into a cinematic sequence. Most of the time, you have no control over how this unfolds. But at least one fight requires you to continue shooting as part of an on-the-rails cinematic sequence. Of course, the game doesn’t tell you when. Furthermore, there is a fight where one of your weapons doesn’t work during an interactive cinematic - but your other weapons do. So if you tried the non-working weapon first, you could think it was a non-interactive cinematic. Which would result in confusion as to what to do or extend the fight to be finished way longer than necessary.

    The later EMMI encounters pretty much lose stealth as a viable option. You’re better off just bolting to the next area on the map and not care if you’re spotted. They lost their mystique here. And the game trains you early to avail yourself of stealth to succeed at these.

    Getting around also becomes a chore as the map expands. Teleporters and transports can take minutes to get to if you haven’t memorized routes. Eventually, the teleporters all unlock interchangeably, but late in the game. Most of the time, it’s just tedious to get around. Also, the game tells you that a blinking section of the map indicates hidden item. But, early on, there was a spot where you couldn't advance unless you started randomly shooting everywhere (but the map wasn't blinking to indicate anything hidden) to reveal a hidden passage. There is never any instruction about hidden pathways, which you would expect since they told you this with "items." So either passages should be included among hidden “items” or given a similar in-game instruction as “items.” Either way, the game communicated hidden passage rules poorly.

    For even a decent B-level gamer, the boss fights will require much trial and error to learn a “pattern.” And eventually, they can become easy as a result. Although some are just bullet sponges. Some gamers may find this an appropriate part of a challenge. But others will find it redundant, and boring—like learning a deck of memory cards over and over. Thus the “difficulty” is less about the flow of the fight itself, but merely learning a pattern.

    ____
    All in all, the game was largely enjoyable, but largely hurt by unclarity and some bad mechanics    … Expand
  37. flag0n
    Nov 2, 2021
    5
    I made a Metacritic account just so I can review this game. The first Metroid game I played was Metroid II: Return of Samus for the Gameboy in 1991. I was 4 years old and loved the fact I could play in a hostile, foreboding Sci-Fi world where aliens or the environment could kill you within seconds. My favorite games in the Metroid franchise are the Prime trilogy, with the first one takingI made a Metacritic account just so I can review this game. The first Metroid game I played was Metroid II: Return of Samus for the Gameboy in 1991. I was 4 years old and loved the fact I could play in a hostile, foreboding Sci-Fi world where aliens or the environment could kill you within seconds. My favorite games in the Metroid franchise are the Prime trilogy, with the first one taking the cake. Super Metroid is great too, but I played that much later when it was packaged on the SNES Classic. It's a great game.

    This is one of the worst Metroid games I have ever played. I won't repeat what has already been said about why this game is so marginal and non-Metroid, but I do disagree that the difficulty is a prohibiting factor. Metroid has always been hard, not impossibly hard per se, but the difficulty -- especially at the beginning of the games -- are what draws a lot of people in and creates a sense of investment and reward by the time you finish. Prime 2's beginning (especially the first time you go to the Dark World and fight the first Ing boss) is a great example.

    Metroid Dread fails in nearly every category that makes the franchise unique in a world full of Metroidvania-style games. It's chock full of gimmicky QTE-type reactions and sections that feel uninspired and annoying rather than mysterious and foreboding. There is next to no exploration, and obtaining power-ups seems too twitchy rather than reliant on problem-solving or exploratory skills.

    Metroid has always been a game about being lost, isolated even, in a hostile world. It's always had this feeling that at any moment, you could fall prey to an alien monster or some environmental trap. It's up to you, the player, to overcome all odds and prove to the galaxy that Samus Aran is the baddest bounty hunter, bar none. Metroid Dread, despite its name, does none of these things. I never once felt an ounce of fear, anxiety, or dread. Mostly, I felt boredom during the main game and frustration bordering on anger during the idiotic EMMI sections.

    There are a few redeeming qualities. Controls are tight and fluid. It's got that Nintendo polish and production value going for it. The endgame is fun when you become an unstoppable force with all of your tricks, but it happens so suddenly that the first half of the game (when you are weak) feels like it was made longer just to keep the difficulty artificially inflated. The Chozo storyline is intriguing but unrealized. Finally, a game where we learn about and interact with these guys while playing rather than through lore and flashbacks. If only we had more.

    Nintendo is laughing all the way to the bank with this one. What a joke. Don't be a sucker like me and pay $60 for this crap. Here's an idea: save yourself $45 and buy Hollow Knight on the Switch, or get it on sale on Steam for $7. It's the best Metroidvania game made since Symphony of the Night (1997). I'm serious. Hopefully Retro can redeem what's left of this once-great franchise with Prime 4. It's my last hope as a Metroid fan.

    Gameplay: 7
    Graphics: 7
    Fun Factor: 3
    Sound/Music: 3
    Replayability: 5

    Average. For a Metroid game, what a disappointment. It's as bad as Other M.    … Expand
  38. markusjoh
    Oct 12, 2021
    7
    The game would be amazing if it wasn't for two major things and one lesser.
    EMMI sequences, they are simply not fun.
    Quicktime events (and the counters system). Heavy rain was a great game despite qt, not because. Never use qt in games and if you do, make it possible to turn them off. The third, and not as big of a problem as the two above, is that it is quite linear. The game keeps    The game would be amazing if it wasn't for two major things and one lesser.
    EMMI sequences, they are simply not fun.
    Quicktime events (and the counters system). Heavy rain was a great game despite qt, not because. Never use qt in games and if you do, make it possible to turn them off.
    The third, and not as big of a problem as the two above, is that it is quite linear. The game keeps blocking the way back to force you do into.a certain sequence. The old great metroid games didn't do this. Once you open something up, you are free to move around as you please.
    Given these I think Im nice when I give it a 7.    … Expand
  39. Gazglum
    Oct 28, 2021
    6
    It's definitely a -decent- game, but by the end I wanted more. It does nothing new with the formula except the EMMI fights which to me were the most boring part of the game. I appreciated the return to old-school labyrinthine maps, but this game costs a lot more than Metroid knock-offs like Ori or Hollow Knight, and they have improved on the formula to make much better games.

    The main    It's definitely a -decent- game, but by the end I wanted more. It does nothing new with the formula except the EMMI fights which to me were the most boring part of the game. I appreciated the return to old-school labyrinthine maps, but this game costs a lot more than Metroid knock-offs like Ori or Hollow Knight, and they have improved on the formula to make much better games.

    The main issue is that the map is boring. There are numerous zones, but each one is just 'generic sci-fi background'. The theming is very slight, and because the connections between zones are handled with a cut-scene you don't have the same sense of excitement tunnelling thorugh a wall back to the beginning and seeing how it all links up organically. Metroid is driven by its exploration and I just wasn't driven to explore this world.

    The world is pretty linear too, the game guides you to your next destination each time. Which is good or bad depending on your preferences.

    Music and atmosphere is forgettable, which is a shame since Super Metroid sticks in my hand as having some of the most atmospheric design of any game I have ever played.

    The pacing of the power-ups is poor, they come so thick and fast by the end that you barely have time to register or use them and there is not enough reward to go back and unlock secrets with them. Just more missiles.

    Finally, though maybe this is just me, my controller would sometimes become semi-unresponsive on the final boss fight when there was too much going on. Made it much more frustrating.

    Maybe I'm just jaded after playing these games for thirty years. And having said all that, the movement controls very nicely, Samus has some REALLY cool little cutscenes, and I have to say that two of the boss fights were absolutely superb and made me laugh with delight.    … Expand
  40. lukeo53
    Oct 12, 2021
    6
    I have been diligently waiting for news on Metroid Prime 4, and when this game was announced, I thought it would be a great game to play while waiting. I expected it to be reminiscent of Super Metroid, and while I certainly did not expect it to be in the same ballpark as the ageless classic, Dread was a let down.

    The pros: The game looks great, and has an interesting plot. The graphics    I have been diligently waiting for news on Metroid Prime 4, and when this game was announced, I thought it would be a great game to play while waiting. I expected it to be reminiscent of Super Metroid, and while I certainly did not expect it to be in the same ballpark as the ageless classic, Dread was a let down.

    The pros:
    The game looks great, and has an interesting plot. The graphics are strong and the game looks amazing without suffering from significant performance issues. I have heard others complain that there have been frame rate drops when using certain abilities in the game, but I have not encountered this. Likewise, the plot is unique and without spoiling it, takes the game in an interesting direction that is tied to Fusion.

    The cons:
    The control scheme is annoying and in my opinion poorly designed. I had hoped that it would be more like Super Metroid in which one could cycle through missiles, super missiles, and the grappling beam. However, in Dread, one has to hold down the various buttons for aiming, grappling, and shooting. This means that if one wishes to fire a missile while grappled to a surface, they have to utilize 4 separate buttons, which can become tedious and frustrating in combat. Aiming with a control stick rather than the control pad seems to make aiming a bit too sensitive at times, and the game offers no way to remap controls to suit individual preference. The other big problem with the game is the map. The map does not do a good job of showing where you should go, and while I do not want the game to hold my hand, it is extremely easy to miss a small feature on the map such as a morph ball tunnel, or bomb slots, which are not marked on the map. As such, one can spend a long time wondering around, being unable to figure out where to go next because the map is too vague, I understand that exploration is a big part of the Metroid series, but this makes it annoying and time-consuming. The game is supposed to be difficult, which I have no problem with, but there is a difference between being difficult and tedious, and this game is more tedious than truly difficult.

    Overall, the game was decent, but not great. I hesitate to even call it good. It definitely has some strong features, but it gets muddled by the game's problems. I feel like this was a hastily created game to keep everyone occupied until Prime 4 releases. I hope that if and when Prime 4 does ever eventually release, Retro does a much better job than the developer did with Dread.    … Expand
  41. AVdE
    Oct 14, 2021
    7
    I absolutely loved it. Controls were fantastic, the EMMI's are a really cool creepy addition, the bosses were large and in charge, and it's just so great to see a home console 2D Metroid game again. If you've played a Metroid game before, especially Samus returns, you'll know what to expect and look forward to.

    But, being a home console game, Dread has way more ambitious set pieces and    I absolutely loved it. Controls were fantastic, the EMMI's are a really cool creepy addition, the bosses were large and in charge, and it's just so great to see a home console 2D Metroid game again. If you've played a Metroid game before, especially Samus returns, you'll know what to expect and look forward to.

    But, being a home console game, Dread has way more ambitious set pieces and excellent backgrounds that sometimes foreshadow things to come. I love that. Cutscenes are great and the game just looks fantastic in general, proving there is still a place for AAA 2D games on the big screen.

    The melee counter is also back but not as OP as in Samus returns, meaning there's way less stop-and-go, and the flow overall is just so much better than in that game; Mercury Steam clearly listened to feedback.

    However, I do have 2 important issues.

    First off, difficulty. I don't mind a good challenge, but I feel like pattern recognition bosses where you have to try a few times works way better in say, a Cuphead or a Megaman than it does Metroid. Enemies do ludicrous amounts of damage, and near the end there were bosses that just two shot you. And that kind of takes you out of the experience. I want to be creeped out by the bosses and feel like I'm in a struggle for survival. Having to replay every fight at least a few times until I get the pattern right completely ruins that atmosphere and makes me think about attack cycles, boss phases and not wanting to see that Game Over screen again instead of weird creepy alien creatures in a hostile environment. Especially with how long fights can go on. It is very satisfying to finally take them down however.

    Second, the exploration is a bit underwhelming. I liked how they tried to handle backtracking: you take the elevator/train to the next area, to then find a dead end with a portal to another area where you continue onwards with the new abilities you just acquired. It's a neat idea, but it still felt extremely linear. Hell, maybe even more so than Samus Returns. There is very little to none sequence breaking. Yes you can wall jump and bomb hop, but I can't recall a single instance where I got to a place or even an item earlier than intended. They tried to make backtracking feel more organic, but it's really no different than how it used to be, and just makes things more confusing.

    Overall, a great game. I do feel like the user and critic score is a bit elevated because people want to send Nintendo a message to keep making Metroid games, and so do I, if they continue listening to feedback and improving on what they have instead of just making it flashier. This special franchise deserves nothing but the very best, and with Mercury Steam, it's certainly in capable hands.    … Expand
  42. Falkenauge
    Oct 17, 2021
    5
    sorry but whoever came up with the Emmis should be fired.
    Without that, the game would have deserved an 8 or 9 but only a 5 from me. 0 fun when you are at the emmis and pure waste of playing time every time you get caught and you get caught very, very often.
  43. dr0nzer
    Oct 17, 2021
    7
    It’s alright, and not really anything special to be honest. Okay at full price, better during a sale.
  44. GeoKorf
    Nov 16, 2021
    5
    Overhyped game. Good for newbies.

    True good games have got an insufficient amount of cupcakes to make them. And the people who wish to make a good sequel should be put in the position of amateurs like R&D1 staff were at the time... The room was too small and was stinky, with sweat and tears. If you had money and were patronized by Nintendo in every way there is no chance that you are    Overhyped game. Good for newbies.

    True good games have got an insufficient amount of cupcakes to make them.
    And the people who wish to make a good sequel should be put in the position of amateurs like R&D1 staff were at the time... The room was too small and was stinky, with sweat and tears. If you had money and were patronized by Nintendo in every way there is no chance that you are going to create a masterpiece. This is just an over-hyped piece of trash, even with Chozo they cant hold up to Japanese development roots. And also Nintendo being outsourced their franchise to 3rd party. By doing so they completely neglect the fanbase... after Metroid Fusion it was over. AM2R was a good remake, long enough and beautiful enough. if Nintendo had only could see their potential, they were one those who be able to recreate the perfect Metroid 2.5 d remake of M SR. It's a shame but I think Nintendo became something like Konami, too much power too much money too much risks.
    OH, here are some facts the spanish guys who made this game rely on post-modern their destroyed canon of Metroid. Metroid was a good game (DREAD,OTHERM,MSR,FFORCE not included) and its system was very rewarding, you get an upgrade after a really long detour to get it. First, it was a puzzle to find them! Before the puzzle however you have encountered a foe to defeat, and the pace in-game was right and the item was very close to the foe's location, it was challenging and rewarding. But now it's not. Also, do you remember how the staff who made Metroid fusion rely on the changes in the landscape in the game, you know I am not saying there ain't happening in dread, but it's different in a lousy way! Emmi sequences get very repetitive and after a while, you get used to it and it's getting boring. That's my facts. and the difficulty was above normal so you didn't see a lack of details there aren't put in the game, and the puzzles were still solely for this reason. mic drop. welcome to the new game of gaming, they feeding you the wrong retro product!

    P.S.
    I AM PRAYING FOR RETRO DON"T LET US DOWN TRY TO BRING BACK ANDROID JONES ONCE MORE SHOW CHOZO HOW THEY SHOULD BE LIKE HOLY AND TRANSCENDENT, with NO HORIZONTAL EYE LINE. Give em proper design!.

    P.P.S
    PARDON MY FRENCH but 10/10 reviewers have reminded me of a simp who gets to touch one **** for 60 bucks for the first time. Or Gollum who gets corrupted by the ring.    … Expand
  45. Distrial
    Oct 26, 2021
    7
    Generally speaking the game is great, looks very nice and the exploration is really fun. However three things are in the way of it being fhe best it could be. In order of severity first is EMMI zones, way too much trial and error to find your way through their zones without getting caught sometimes and dying repeatedly just to learn the layout of their area is immersion breaking. Second isGenerally speaking the game is great, looks very nice and the exploration is really fun. However three things are in the way of it being fhe best it could be. In order of severity first is EMMI zones, way too much trial and error to find your way through their zones without getting caught sometimes and dying repeatedly just to learn the layout of their area is immersion breaking. Second is the optional upgrades, too many of them require endgame stuff to be able to grab them so you get left pretty weak until right at the end unless you're doing TONS of backtracking which sometimes isn't possible because the path backwards gets cut off. The biggest offender here is all the speedboost block puzzles to get some of the best items since a lot of them require the upgrades you get just before the final boss. Lastly and most obviously, the boss's difficulty is frankly way too much higher than the rest of the game. They're definitely beatable but every boss is extremely fast and deals an entire lifebar of damage with every hit more often than not so you die repeatedly just to learn patterns and to me at least, after 15 or so deaths I'm simply not having fun any more and I don't feel accomplished for beating such a boss because it seems to me I beat it out of luck and persistence rather than skill and preperation. All in all enjoyable but the game likes to roadblock you with overly tricky parts way to often for anyone who isn't able to put in hours and hours of time .… Expand
  46. Locklogic
    Oct 15, 2021
    6
    Great graphics and animations and the world is really deep and beautiful, the game just isn't very fun. LONG TIME Metroid fan and have played every game since Super Metroid but this one is different. The difficulty is pretty high all around but spikes to PUNISHING and often leads to frustrating repetitive deaths. Honestly kind of disowned. let's
  47. Promotheus
    Oct 30, 2021
    5
    A perfectly fine entry in the Metroid series but it has some serious drawbacks. The EMMI encounters are very annoying, and I can’t for the life of me understand how they could think that they were a good idea. I absolutely hate stealth sections in games, especially when you shoehorn them in a genre such as an action-adventure game. They should be skippable but are not and just become moreA perfectly fine entry in the Metroid series but it has some serious drawbacks. The EMMI encounters are very annoying, and I can’t for the life of me understand how they could think that they were a good idea. I absolutely hate stealth sections in games, especially when you shoehorn them in a genre such as an action-adventure game. They should be skippable but are not and just become more and more frustrating as the game progresses.

    The SA-X that they obviously were inspired by was scary and much more sparsely inserted in the game. The EMMI seem friendly with their Portal 2-look and feel.

    The next major drawback is the controls. There are just too many buttons and too many combinations to remember. It’s unintuitive and clunky.

    I think the game is a little too hand-holdy in its design, but it is by and large the old Metroid formula that provides a few hours of fun, minus the EMMI-parts. I had no problem with the trial-and-error difficulty. Graphics are not that good, but the Switch is getting old and really underspecced now.    … Expand
  48. Hackattaque
    Nov 22, 2022
    7
    Dread…? more like Metroid kitchen sink. It’s not easy updating a franchise that’s decades old and hit 2D perfection before Gen Z was even born, especially now that so many Indie metroidvanias exist. This game gets a lot right but ultimately can’t decide what it should be and tries to do everything at once. The overall arc remains the same as Super Metroid, but so much is thrown at theDread…? more like Metroid kitchen sink. It’s not easy updating a franchise that’s decades old and hit 2D perfection before Gen Z was even born, especially now that so many Indie metroidvanias exist. This game gets a lot right but ultimately can’t decide what it should be and tries to do everything at once. The overall arc remains the same as Super Metroid, but so much is thrown at the wall: the new EMMI sections are repetitive and gimmicky like the Batmobile in Arkham Knight, the parry-based combat tries to ape Dark Souls but slows the exploration to a crawl, and the map is so complex and bitty that power-ups unlock inches rather than miles. It’s not a bad game and there are some great moments, especially some of the bosses. But finicky controls and quick-time parries make this a frustrating, flawed experience.… Expand
  49. Pan_T
    Nov 13, 2021
    7
    Overall, I enjoyed the game, but by the end it was a little repetitive, and most importantly, the whole time I was playing, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was playing a 15-year-old game, not a new full-price AAA game. Even indie games are beyond that now. 7/10
  50. Lugia5O
    Jan 11, 2022
    7
    It is 2d metroid game which will be a very fun and amazing game. I want to give it 8, but since i played all the past metroid games and my best 2d metroid was metroid prime, i feel something off with this game + emmi was not fun at all. But its a good experience after all. If it is the first 2d metroid you play i recommend playing the older ones.
  51. hof85
    Nov 1, 2021
    6
    Being a fan of Metroid franchise I was looking forward to this new episode!
    The formula has not been changed but the introduction of the EMMI which is rather fustrating than creating any tension.
    The graphics, level design and gameplay are great however what is this ridiculous level of difficulty? After 5 to 6 hours of play through and around 100 game over; I am giving-up and    Being a fan of Metroid franchise I was looking forward to this new episode!
    The formula has not been changed but the introduction of the EMMI which is rather fustrating than creating any tension.
    The graphics, level design and gameplay are great however what is this ridiculous level of difficulty?
    After 5 to 6 hours of play through and around 100 game over; I am giving-up and disappointed by this new episode that I will only recommand to people that don't mind dying every 5 minutes and 10-15 times in a row against almost each boss.    … Expand
  52. kusanagui
    Nov 5, 2021
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Adoro esta saga, pero me ha decepcionado, puede que no tenga los mejores gráficos, no me importaría si la jugabilidad fuese buena, pero no es así, tiene unos picos de dificultad sin sentido llegando a ser frustrantes.
    El juego encima es corto, a mí solo me ha durado 15 horas y ya está en la estantería cogiendo polvo, se nota que al principio hay mucho que explorar y después cada vez menos.
    Lo que tampoco me ha gusta es la reutilización de los bosses intermedios en los EMIS y guerreros chozo, visto el primero, vistos todos.
    Y por último no poder reasignar los botones.
    En fin, no es mal juego, yo lo he disfrutado y odiado a partes iguales, si eres fan de la saga debes jugarlo.    … Expand
  53. stibba
    Feb 5, 2022
    7
    This game is good, but not to the extent the hype has made it up to be. The world is really pretty but the emmi areas which make up a sizeable chunk of the map look really boring., The gameplay is fun enough. The biggest flaw is the movement, the analog stick just isnt good enough for the fiddly movement. This becomes a bigger problem the longer you play as more mechanics are added such asThis game is good, but not to the extent the hype has made it up to be. The world is really pretty but the emmi areas which make up a sizeable chunk of the map look really boring., The gameplay is fun enough. The biggest flaw is the movement, the analog stick just isnt good enough for the fiddly movement. This becomes a bigger problem the longer you play as more mechanics are added such as the shinesparking that the game relies way too much on in its shinesparking puzzles, they just arent fun as the solution is ususally obvious, just incredibly frustrating to do. Dreads controls need to be more tight for its difficulty to not feel cheap. Samus still moves with the same segmented crouch, then morph movement she had on snes and the stick sucks for it, the aiming is really good though so im glad they made that work well. The music is the worst from any metroid game, incredibly disappointing. EDIT: Now after reflecting for a while i think i was a bit hard on the game as i had decided to 100% before i started. The games controls become very frustrating first when you do several endgame shinesparking puzzles in a row. Im going to keep the score at a 7/10 because nintendo keeps the price at 60€ though… Expand
  54. smolny1
    Jan 22, 2022
    5
    Great metroid game with nice action, good music and interesting story. Watching trailers I was 100% I will skip it. Then I bought it based on early reviews and I love it.
  55. Endymion_Var
    Feb 23, 2022
    5
    Otro mata marcianos más, y en 2021 con gráficos de Scroll; No veo innovación; sera divertido y nada más
  56. Yelp
    Mar 9, 2022
    7
    Having never played a Metroid game before i was exited to play this game as it did look good. After beating and exploring the game i can say there is many things wrong with this game. My major complaint is the exploration. There is not really anything to find while exploring, if you differ of the linear path the game sets on you until you collect basically every ability, which is so closeHaving never played a Metroid game before i was exited to play this game as it did look good. After beating and exploring the game i can say there is many things wrong with this game. My major complaint is the exploration. There is not really anything to find while exploring, if you differ of the linear path the game sets on you until you collect basically every ability, which is so close to the end, you will find extra health which is cool and rockets which are cool but that is it that is all you find. Some quick opinions: The boss fights were cool, the graphics are good, combat is fast and fun, game was only 10 hours and i did some exploring, those robot creatures are kind of annoying but really fun to avoid. That was my review… Expand
  57. Cannibalxxx
    Apr 18, 2022
    5
    Like all Metroid games it’s tough. However this game seems unnecessarily so. The EMMI sections add some tension to the game but make exploration tedious and overall take away from the playability. The multilevel bosses also seem overly contrived and are designed to just be hard without adding anything to the game. All in all these factors take away from the enjoyment of the game. I got noLike all Metroid games it’s tough. However this game seems unnecessarily so. The EMMI sections add some tension to the game but make exploration tedious and overall take away from the playability. The multilevel bosses also seem overly contrived and are designed to just be hard without adding anything to the game. All in all these factors take away from the enjoyment of the game. I got no satisfaction out of beating the game just a sense of relief I no longer need to finish it.… Expand
  58. Hyperion7361
    Jun 13, 2022
    6
    This was my first Metroid game, and I found it quite entertaining. The skill involved in defeating the many enemies and bosses makes the game challenging and appropriate for more experienced gamers, especially when compared to simpler Switch platformers like Mario. I haven't yet completed the full story, since the game does have a considerable length. A downside, however, is that it canThis was my first Metroid game, and I found it quite entertaining. The skill involved in defeating the many enemies and bosses makes the game challenging and appropriate for more experienced gamers, especially when compared to simpler Switch platformers like Mario. I haven't yet completed the full story, since the game does have a considerable length. A downside, however, is that it can get boring after a while (like most games for me).… Expand
  59. Naoidei
    Jun 18, 2022
    7
    Sometimes it was interesting to play, until you can’t understand where to go next for couple hours. And some boss fights are too challenging. You have to die so often as if you play dark souls.
  60. stevemis
    Dec 4, 2022
    5
    Metroid Dread was one of the reasons I bought the console. This game is beautiful, it has great mechanis that make you enjoy the controls and has also a nice atmosphere. But sadly, this game has only that!
    The game has an awful development and no story at all. It forces you to jump between places just to look for power ups in order to move forward. You don't care about what is going on.    Metroid Dread was one of the reasons I bought the console. This game is beautiful, it has great mechanis that make you enjoy the controls and has also a nice atmosphere. But sadly, this game has only that!
    The game has an awful development and no story at all. It forces you to jump between places just to look for power ups in order to move forward. You don't care about what is going on. They created a 3h main story, made it complicated with "difficult" fights ( EMMIs and more ), created a chaos in the maps with the power ups, made it hard to move from one place to the other on the same territory..... I played 10-11 hours and I felt I threw 8 of them. It was not a fun experience and I found myself feeling obliged to finish this just because I bought it. When I realized that I quitted it. Its beauty can't save the bad implementation.    … Expand
  61. eded9999
    Oct 12, 2021
    7
    Good controls compared to other Metroid games.
    Difficulty is good.
    Bosses are good, but there's too few of then compared to others games of this style. Story is average. And the premise is becoming way too repetitive: Go to a planet, loose your equip so go get the Suit, Morphball, Rays all over again... Music is not specially good. A bit too short and there's no real extra content    Good controls compared to other Metroid games.
    Difficulty is good.
    Bosses are good, but there's too few of then compared to others games of this style.
    Story is average. And the premise is becoming way too repetitive: Go to a planet, loose your equip so go get the Suit, Morphball, Rays all over again...
    Music is not specially good.
    A bit too short and there's no real extra content like most metroidvanias, no alt endings or secret bosses, areas or quest.

    Not bad, but not specially good either, it's ok.
    I wish they would try to push some boundaries with Metroid, indie games are doing amazing things with the genre.    … Expand
  62. skeletorcares
    Oct 27, 2021
    6
    Reminiscent, but modernized. The game is quite hard, but that adds to its value. The maps are huge. Probably the most "adult" game I've played on Switch. Sadly, like most switch games, framerate and performance are an issue for this 2021 game; this game could run better on a PS3.

    * After beating the game, I'm going to lower the score from a 8 to a 6. I beat it in less than 10 hours and    Reminiscent, but modernized. The game is quite hard, but that adds to its value. The maps are huge. Probably the most "adult" game I've played on Switch. Sadly, like most switch games, framerate and performance are an issue for this 2021 game; this game could run better on a PS3.

    * After beating the game, I'm going to lower the score from a 8 to a 6. I beat it in less than 10 hours and there is no replay value. The game was surprisingly linear and no great appeal to complete finding items as the game was already beaten. Hard mode is of no interest to me. I'd wait for a price drop, this is not a "must play" game.    … Expand
  63. AstralCritic
    Oct 13, 2021
    5
    Highly Over rated as a Metroid game. This is the most on the rails Metroid I have played. Sure the action is highly polished and dynamic, but the cutscene invasion during boss battles are unwanted and only serve as "here is how you beat me" giveaways. Sequence Breaking is a staple of Metroid and this game intentionally prevents that from happening as nauseum. It is anti-Metroid in myHighly Over rated as a Metroid game. This is the most on the rails Metroid I have played. Sure the action is highly polished and dynamic, but the cutscene invasion during boss battles are unwanted and only serve as "here is how you beat me" giveaways. Sequence Breaking is a staple of Metroid and this game intentionally prevents that from happening as nauseum. It is anti-Metroid in my opinion and should be called something else. Nintendo is clearly coasting on Metroid fanbucks. It's a shame. Super Metroid is still the best in the series but this is a different kind of game. Wish I had not bought it. It is subpar in every game mechanic aspect with only the visuals and atmosphere being high quality.… Expand
  64. Small-Watch
    Oct 20, 2021
    5
    Having played every other game in the Metroid series, Metroid Dread was a must buy for me. Unfortunately having now completed the game, I was left somewhat disappointed for a number of key reasons.

    1. Difficulty The game is noticeably harder than any other Metroid game I have played. I thought Prime 2 on hard mode was hard, but I honestly found Metroid Dread on normal mode harder. I    Having played every other game in the Metroid series, Metroid Dread was a must buy for me. Unfortunately having now completed the game, I was left somewhat disappointed for a number of key reasons.

    1. Difficulty

    The game is noticeably harder than any other Metroid game I have played. I thought Prime 2 on hard mode was hard, but I honestly found Metroid Dread on normal mode harder. I think the reason for this difficulty is that fact that most bosses and enemies now seen to do considerably more damage per hit (usually over 100) which is not the case in previous titles. This is compensated for by the fact that bosses now have a checkpoint outside, but I still find it frustrating to die over and over again to beat one boss, even if this was the intention. Also, I really hate the melee countering, I'm not going to explain why, it just needs to go.

    2. Atmosphere

    Metroid Dread does not have the same feeling of desolation that is characteristic of a Metroid game. The planet feels very mechanical and lacks many natural environments, and the natural areas in the game felt very generic and too similar visually to areas from Super Metroid or Zero Mission, most areas were also filled with enemies, which is fine in most cases, but I felt that certain areas could have done without to help build a stronger atmosphere, especially considering the game is called "Dread".

    3. Music

    This is more a subjective point but I just do not like the music, it is rare for me to complete a game and not remember a single piece of music from it. Most of the music was lacking a consistent tune which makes it just sound like an incoherent jumble of sounds; the same is true for bosses as well unfortunately.

    4. Portrayal of Samus

    I didn't feel that Samus was portrayed in a consistent way with previous games, she felt a lot colder and angrier in this game. In games like Metroid Fusion and to an extent Super Metroid with its intro, Samus occasionally gave short monologues stating her view on the current situation, this is something I think the story would have benefited from, as all we see of Samus in Dread is her killing things which, during some boss battles, make her actually appear somewhat sadistic.

    All in all, while this review might seem rather negative, the game isn't all bad and did have some good moments, I also like the addition of new power ups to keep it fresh, however I just do not feel that the price justifies the game.    … Expand
  65. j_obediah
    Oct 12, 2021
    5
    BUYER BEWARE:This game is NOT casual and should have a surgeon general's warning on it.

    The later bosses specifically are essentially designed to make any tendonitis in our hands permanent. The EMMI robots certainly make the game more difficult, so much so that it stops being a shock if you die from them. It's just something that happens and you start over and try again until you    BUYER BEWARE:This game is NOT casual and should have a surgeon general's warning on it.

    The later bosses specifically are essentially designed to make any tendonitis in our hands permanent. The EMMI robots certainly make the game more difficult, so much so that it stops being a shock if you die from them. It's just something that happens and you start over and try again until you figure it out.

    It's very clear that the developers were deathly afraid that this game would be "too easy." If you enjoy combat that is brutal for brutality's sake, then this game *might* give you a challenge, but if you have other life skills that you'd like to hone other than gaming, this game is not for you.

    I gave it a 5 because that won't hurt the game's success, but it will increase the chance that this warning gets to casuals who might think this will be and experience like Super Metroid. It's not. It's WAY harder.    … Expand
  66. Koldor
    Oct 18, 2021
    7
    Mercury Steam’s second outing with the armor-clad bounty hunter, while much improved from their previous 3DS entry, leaves much to be desired. Clunky world design, frustrating stealth sections and annoying quick time events are just a few issues in store for Samus’ first Switch outing.
    In 2021 the MetroidVania genre is incredibly saturated with phenomenal titles such as Hollow Knight,    Mercury Steam’s second outing with the armor-clad bounty hunter, while much improved from their previous 3DS entry, leaves much to be desired. Clunky world design, frustrating stealth sections and annoying quick time events are just a few issues in store for Samus’ first Switch outing.
    In 2021 the MetroidVania genre is incredibly saturated with phenomenal titles such as Hollow Knight, Axiom Verge, Cave Story, Ori and the Blind forest and many others providing stiff competition. Dread does not do anything to stand above its peers, coupled with a much higher price point of 60 USD, it provides little incentive for both long time fans and new players to pick it up. According to developer interviews, this game is Yoshio Sakamoto’s original idea for Metroid Dread from all the way back in 2005 for the Nintendo DS. After completing Dread, I think it was an idea best left in ’05.    … Expand
  67. Arma15
    Oct 19, 2021
    7
    In general, the game is good. The visuals, known weapons, bosses. What was a huge let down is that the game is extremely short. I never realized how short until it was like… clear time: 9 hours… WHAT?! And with 100% items 11 hours. I’ve spent more time in good indie games metroidvania style for something as 5 usd. They should have made something much longer or at least bring new regionsIn general, the game is good. The visuals, known weapons, bosses. What was a huge let down is that the game is extremely short. I never realized how short until it was like… clear time: 9 hours… WHAT?! And with 100% items 11 hours. I’ve spent more time in good indie games metroidvania style for something as 5 usd. They should have made something much longer or at least bring new regions for free through DLC. They also spoiled map exploration. Since the game was so short, now getting the 100% of the map is almost impossible, being your moves extra zoomed”, having to jump to explore completely regular spaces. So no having the map exploration as usual in a metroidvania style was a let down.… Expand
  68. ConradReview
    Oct 23, 2021
    7
    I liked it, but I have no intention of playing it again or on Hard. If you like Metroid you'll like it, but it's not going to blow you away.
  69. Gavinxdragon
    Oct 20, 2021
    5
    Awesome entry polished samus returns twitchy combat to perfection, takes care of overreliance on the counter move gives you many toys to play with against bosses and regular enemies. Boss fights are actually hard and will test your skills I enjoyed the change of pace to an actual challenge. The emmi were an interesting experiment that I'd say works on the whole creating as the title saysAwesome entry polished samus returns twitchy combat to perfection, takes care of overreliance on the counter move gives you many toys to play with against bosses and regular enemies. Boss fights are actually hard and will test your skills I enjoyed the change of pace to an actual challenge. The emmi were an interesting experiment that I'd say works on the whole creating as the title says "dread" to reenter their zones and finding where you need to go to progress. Graphically this game is held back by the anemic hardware Nintendo insists on using, its beautiful on the tablet but okayish to good on the dock. The level design is actually fun to backtrack through especially as you gain upgrades making your trips through familiar areas even faster. The story actually gripped me as a conclusion to the main line metroid games seeing the ending and playing it was a real treat loved it. The only knock I have is the music isn't as memorable as past entries but I think that might have been a stylistic choice to go for atmosphere over catchy tune. WORTH 60 dollars 100% going to run through it again on hard mode.… Expand
  70. nwilloughby
    Oct 23, 2021
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am a PC gamer and prefer mouse and keyboard and controller aiming has always been meh, this is no exception. The double jump is not great its hit an miss, the cloak and shift is not optimal since the enemies can tell where you are or going to be some how. Its a game worth 30-40 dollars max, it is subpar compared to what you get in a hallow knight or other Metroidvania games.… Expand
  71. metaknightmare
    Oct 15, 2021
    7
    + One of the best, if not the best, stories in the series. The most digestible as well.
    + Tight, polished gameplay
    + Excellent art direction - $60 for a game that plays almost the same as the $40 3DS Samus Returns game, yet Dread is shorter. - Speed Boost puzzles are the absolute worst in the series, 99% chance you will be looking up answers online if you are trying to 100% the game.    + One of the best, if not the best, stories in the series. The most digestible as well.
    + Tight, polished gameplay
    + Excellent art direction

    - $60 for a game that plays almost the same as the $40 3DS Samus Returns game, yet Dread is shorter.
    - Speed Boost puzzles are the absolute worst in the series, 99% chance you will be looking up answers online if you are trying to 100% the game.

    It's a great game and Metroid is probably my favorite franchise but I wish it did a little more and after 100%'ing it in 10 hours (I don't count the filler like Hard Mode which is cheaply hidden behind a Normal playthrough and the speedruns) it doesn't feel worth $60.    … Expand
  72. Uillian
    Oct 12, 2021
    5
    Jogo muitooo bomm, sensacional, não consigo parar de jogar. Jogo top, delícia de jogo.
  73. FreyjasChild
    Oct 13, 2021
    5
    Fantastic addition to the franchise! Interesting story that builds upon the lore, smooth controls, beautiful visuals, huge maps, and killer bosses! As a fan of the franchise since the beginning Dread delivers on all my expectations and exceeds them! ...See you next mission!
  74. Shirohae
    Oct 15, 2021
    5
    I liked the game very much, but the emmi passages are just so so frustrating
  75. residentvl
    Oct 13, 2021
    7
    This game is beautiful and can be a ton of fun to explore and play in the world created. But this is far too difficult. I should be funneled into multiple boss fights without a save point so I can actually take a break. This game made me less of a fan of the metroid franchise. I'll stick to the first person ones and hope 4 isnt as disappointing
  76. sal_4
    Oct 21, 2021
    6
    I'm only giving this a six because of the lack of autosave
    Seriously, this is 2021 and when I die in the middle of collecting upgrades, it is unacceptable to lose half an hour of gameplay just because I didn't go through one of those manual save stations.
    Yeah, that's right manual saves are back ladies and gentlemen. Before you take out the armored robots (EMMI) autosave works well    I'm only giving this a six because of the lack of autosave
    Seriously, this is 2021 and when I die in the middle of collecting upgrades, it is unacceptable to lose half an hour of gameplay just because I didn't go through one of those manual save stations.

    Yeah, that's right manual saves are back ladies and gentlemen. Before you take out the armored robots (EMMI) autosave works well enough. These guys gurds large sections of the map make it hard to travers safely. So, usually you'll do some clean up after taking them out

    Other than losing over 30 minute of play time to this stupid design, the game is great     … Expand
  77. TitaniumDragon
    Oct 23, 2022
    7
    Metroid Dread, AKA Metroid 5, is at least the sixth mainline Metroid game. Given that Metroidvania is right there in the name of the genre, you know what you’re in for – you start out weak, conveniently deprived of all your weapons and gear from the previous game by the Inciting Event, after which point you then have to go around the environment, beating bosses and finding rooms to collectMetroid Dread, AKA Metroid 5, is at least the sixth mainline Metroid game. Given that Metroidvania is right there in the name of the genre, you know what you’re in for – you start out weak, conveniently deprived of all your weapons and gear from the previous game by the Inciting Event, after which point you then have to go around the environment, beating bosses and finding rooms to collect items which allow you to explore more of the game, unlocking new areas to explore and bosses to beat, resulting in you gaining an ever increasing amount of power until you beat the game.

    You are Samus, a bounty hunter whose job seems to really be professional exterminator. You have an arm cannon you can shoot, more powerful missiles you can launch, and you can slide to go under short things.

    Of course, as the game goes on, you gain the ability to charge your arm cannon, get stronger missiles, can jump infinitely in the air, underwater, go through hot lava and frigid cold areas, dash, run super fast, curl up into a ball and drop bombs, and countless other upgrades. If you’ve played previous Metroid games, or even played Super Smash Bros, you probably have a good guess as to what kind of things you’ll be getting, as it isn’t anything new.

    That said, the game is pretty competent. It manages to be linear despite being a heavily non-linear environment, with you criss-crossing back across areas you completed previously to reach new places. Instead of tedious direct backtracking, the levels keep looping back on themselves, allowing you to get to where you need to go pretty quickly – a good bit of game design.

    Unfortunately, the game still has the other, tedious kind of backtracking to collect secrets you missed, and this is not much fun. A lot of them are just “use the new power up here to collect the item” and the only real puzzles that aren’t are running/shinespark puzzles, a mechanic you unlock a way into the game that allows you to propel yourself at high speeds which does not have a very good control scheme. Because of the tediousness, I would recommend mostly not backtracking until the end of the game, but even then, it’s still going to be annoying because of how spread out the game’s “fast travel points” (which are only unlocked at the VERY end of the game) are.

    This left me with something of a sour note at the end of the game; the game actually is not very great for exploration, and while it does an okay job of making you feel clever as you are going through sometimes, oftentimes it is just “I need to do this next.”

    That being said, it didn’t spoil the game for me as a whole. The core mechanics are mostly fairly decent, and the game has a whopping 30 bosses – which, considering it is less than 14 hours to beat the whole game 100%, means you are fighting 3 bosses an hour or so, more if you don’t bother to go back and 100% it. That’s a quite dense game, and it works very well – you are always running into new things, and while a lot of the bosses aren’t super remarkable, some of them are very well done, and the final few bosses in particular are quite neat to fight and do a good job of rewarding you for remembering all the game’s mechanics.

    The story and plot, however, are quite terrible. I had only briefly played previous Metroid games, and while I was aware of the metaplot, I had zero investment in Samus Aran. There’s only really three characters in the game, and one of them appears very briefly, and Samus herself is near-mute and has almost no dialogue whatsoever – which is very awkward as there’s a lot of moments where you’d expect her to say something, and she just awkwardly, silently stares at whatever it is she’s seeing. This at least makes some sense with the monsters, but there’s a few times where she SHOULD have replied and didn’t, and it felt really weird.

    The plot itself is mostly an excuse to make another game, and it didn’t really connect with me on an emotional level at all; it is mostly just throwing you around to the next challenge, with no real attachment to anything you’re encountering. This is quite the contrast with other games I’ve played recently, and with AAA games in general these days – and while it isn’t strictly necessary, it definitely can make games stronger, with games like Celeste and Hollow Knight giving you some emotional investment in their world and characters, and games like God of War pretty much carrying the game on its back with the quality of the work and characters.

    The best feature of this game, however, was its brevity. Where so many AAA games feel it necessary to stretch themselves out endlessly, Metroid Dread was always moving towards its end point, and at less than 14 hours in length, I was very happy with how long it was – it had the amount of content it needed, it didn’t throw in a ton of filler (though the backtracking for items was annoying), and the pacing was very good.    … Expand
  78. bancandrei
    Mar 13, 2022
    7
    What Dark Souls accomplishes in two hours and a first time frustrating boss this accomplishes in 10 mins. Not really a fan of the genre but this formula is crafted very well.
  79. Swarthy_bandit
    Jan 16, 2022
    5
    I've never felt more Metroid. I'm 40. So fun and cool. The game, I mean. Me, somewhat.
  80. Zski
    Nov 8, 2021
    7
    Metroid Dread feels like a modern sequel to Super Metroid. The game really stands out in the gameplay which is very true to the series, everything from the exploration, the backtracking, and the problem solving (which I think is the more appropriate term in these games, as opposed to puzzles). Everything feels very true to the series, including the difficulty. I found myself dying a lot,Metroid Dread feels like a modern sequel to Super Metroid. The game really stands out in the gameplay which is very true to the series, everything from the exploration, the backtracking, and the problem solving (which I think is the more appropriate term in these games, as opposed to puzzles). Everything feels very true to the series, including the difficulty. I found myself dying a lot, but I never got frustrated because I enjoyed the sense of progression as you figure out the patterns of the enemies and bosses. The gameplay and controls are super tight and well designed and everything looks and feels silky smooth. The controls feel particularly tight once you unlock all of the abilities, you really feel in control over Samus in the environment. However, the game did take a hit in the atmosphere. While the graphics are decent, the setting does not do the game any favors because most of it is that industrial setting that does not vary that much throughout the game. The music also adds to the inability to differentiate between areas of the game, as it is incredibly forgettable. But the part of the game that really annoyed me the most were the EMMI sequences. They are so bad, they really feel like they are 50% luck based on where the EMMI spawns, and the fact that they are so frequent really interrupts from the sense of exploration that Metroid games are always about. Metroid games usually have great atmosphere, whether it is created by the music or subtle design in the levels, this game unfortunately lacks that atmosphere that really pulls you in, and replaces them with pretty frustrating EMMI sections. All in all, its a fantastic game and a very exciting release for fans of the old 2D Metroid games, but it does fall short in several areas which takes away from the elements that makes the series great. I was very much into the first half of the game, but the second half really lost my interesting because of the boring atmosphere and the repetitive bosses, the only thing that really kept me entertained was the extremely precise controls. It’s a great game, but it was lacking in many ways.… Expand
  81. Edgardmichel84
    Nov 1, 2021
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Metroid Dread é um jogo muito bom. Mecânicas simples no estilo 2D.
    Level design está muito bom.    … Expand
  82. baconzaddy
    Oct 16, 2021
    5
    A fantastic return to the Metroid series! The feeling of isolation is back, Samus controls beautifully and when you master the terrain and pick up enough upgrades you’ll be zipping through the map like an unstoppable war machine. The EMMI are terrifying and add stealth gameplay that is fresh and exciting in Metroid. The bosses are unique and challenging! I’m not a super skilled player andA fantastic return to the Metroid series! The feeling of isolation is back, Samus controls beautifully and when you master the terrain and pick up enough upgrades you’ll be zipping through the map like an unstoppable war machine. The EMMI are terrifying and add stealth gameplay that is fresh and exciting in Metroid. The bosses are unique and challenging! I’m not a super skilled player and I did die a few times fighting bosses. But once you learn the attack patterns and get better at melee counters you can make quick work of them and it’s so satisfying! I definitely recommend for fans of Metroidvania games like Hollowknight and Blasphemous.… Expand
  83. Jatton
    Oct 23, 2021
    5
    Great game, I highly recommend this for anyone who’s a fan of the Metroid prime franchise
  84. Zeneko90
    Feb 12, 2022
    7
    Schönes Metroidvania Spiel. Insgesamt schöne Optik, schönes Lvl-Design. Die Boss-Kämpfe haben Spaß gemacht und die Erkundung zum Teil auch. Hingegen waren die Emmi Sektionen einfach nur krampfig. Die Steuerung zum Teil frikkelig und überladen. Das machen andere Plattformer und Metroidvania Spiele besser. Die Erkundung der einzelnen Gebiete hatte mich jetzt auch nicht mehr gereizt, da manSchönes Metroidvania Spiel. Insgesamt schöne Optik, schönes Lvl-Design. Die Boss-Kämpfe haben Spaß gemacht und die Erkundung zum Teil auch. Hingegen waren die Emmi Sektionen einfach nur krampfig. Die Steuerung zum Teil frikkelig und überladen. Das machen andere Plattformer und Metroidvania Spiele besser. Die Erkundung der einzelnen Gebiete hatte mich jetzt auch nicht mehr gereizt, da man nicht wirklich was Tolles hätte finden können. Ob ich nun 2 mehr Raketen verschießen kann oder nicht. Irgendwann hatte man im Verlaufe des Spiels so viele gesammelt, dass es egal war. Und andere Boni gab es nicht wirklich zu finden. Insgesamt war es trotz dessen ein gutes Spiel, welches aber doch durch deutliche Abstriche im Gameplay und den hohen Erwartungen, die man an ein First-Party-Titel (mehr oder weniger) hat, nicht gerecht werden konnte. Demnach vergebe ich lediglich 7 von 10 Punkten für ein unterhaltsames Spiel.
    Wer Metroidvanias sowie im Allgemeinen ein Metroid Fan ist, kann gerne zuschlagen. Alle anderen sollten vorher definitiv die Demo spielen und schauen, ob dieses Spiel was für einen ist.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Nice Metroidvania game. Overall nice look, nice lvl design. The boss fights were fun and so was some of the exploration. On the other hand, the Emmi sections were just cramped. The controls are sometimes fiddly and overloaded. Other platformers and Metroidvania games do that better. Exploring the individual areas hadn't appealed to me anymore, because you couldn't really have found anything great. Whether I can shoot 2 more missiles or not. At some point you had collected so many in the course of the game that it didn't matter. And there weren't really any other bonuses to be found. All in all, it was a good game, but it couldn't live up to the gameplay and the high expectations that you (more or less) have of a first-party title. So I only award 7 out of 10 points for an entertaining game.
    If you're a Metroidvania fan or a Metroid fan in general, you're welcome. Everyone else should definitely play the demo first and see if this game is for you.    … Expand
  85. georgiegs2408
    Nov 14, 2021
    5
    An incredible Metroid sequel with great ambience and challenge. The only missing is the memorable atmospheric music present in most of the titles.
  86. Monkeybottomley
    Dec 28, 2021
    5
    There’s every reason for this to be a great game. For some reason they decided to make it so masochistically hard (with very few periods of relief in the later game) that eventually even my successes stopped feeling rewarding. This game simply makes me feel bad. What’s the point of that?
  87. jodaze
    Jan 11, 2022
    7
    I totally get those that say this game is a 10. I say it's close but no so fast my friend! There are sections of this game that force you to play only one way. There's no avoiding it, you play the way the developers want you to play, forget freedom. Push through that crap because there is so much here to like. Why did I give it a 7? The bosses are ridiculous at times. Some I had to fightI totally get those that say this game is a 10. I say it's close but no so fast my friend! There are sections of this game that force you to play only one way. There's no avoiding it, you play the way the developers want you to play, forget freedom. Push through that crap because there is so much here to like. Why did I give it a 7? The bosses are ridiculous at times. Some I had to fight 15 times. The final boss, I can make it pretty far in the fight but can't kill him. There's a difference between tough and totally insane. I know plenty of people can get 100%. Some of the missles and what not are impossible for me. And that leads me to my final point: I am old and you need crab/lobster like hands to be able to "get good" at this game. I have carpal tunnel now thanks to this game. Did the developers try playing this game in handheld mode? My joycons are not the best.… Expand
  88. dgooding
    Jun 1, 2022
    7
    Absolutely gorgeous Art Direction, new lore was really nice.
    Emmi was obviously overused to hell.
    -
    Game Can be pretty frustrating, but around the time I had 6 Energy tanks it genuinely feels pretty good, and at the end searching around for all the hidden items felt just like old SNES.
    I'm glad a stuck through to the end.
  89. Thunder5555
    Feb 27, 2022
    5
    Good game but meant only for a small demographic of gamers.
    Unless you enjoy insanely difficult games, stay away.
  90. ninjafats
    Aug 23, 2022
    6
    I really wanted to enjoy this. One of my favorite series. Better than Other M. But it feels a lot more frustratingly designed than previous entries. Some enemies offer instant death which is annoying and mostly increases the time I spend on load screen. This is a ‘fine’ entry. But there’s a lot of entries in the series, and out of the series, that are far better.
  91. Psyclerk
    Nov 5, 2021
    5
    As a long-time Metroid fan, I was disappointed in this outing. I didn't like revisiting the SA-X gimmick in the EMMI areas. I found the bosses to rely too much on 'gotcha' gameplay, which requires you to either have incredible reflexes or simply die a few times while you learn all the patterns.

    I liked getting all of Samus' toys, but there's nothing really new or compelling about her    As a long-time Metroid fan, I was disappointed in this outing. I didn't like revisiting the SA-X gimmick in the EMMI areas. I found the bosses to rely too much on 'gotcha' gameplay, which requires you to either have incredible reflexes or simply die a few times while you learn all the patterns.

    I liked getting all of Samus' toys, but there's nothing really new or compelling about her abilities in this game. When you get a new ability, you get to use it only once or twice before you're off to the next area. Controls for switching weapons and equipment seemed overly complex, making stuff like grapple beam swinging more difficult than it's ever been.

    There are a lot of cut-and-paste fights, particularly with bosses/mini-bosses. All enemies seem overtuned for damage, and getting more energy tanks doesn't alleviate that. Too many common enemies require the use of the melee counter. The time and reflexes needed to play well are higher than any Nintendo game in recent memory. Rarely did I finish a boss fight or other battle and feel a sense of accomplishment. I usually felt relief that it was over and I had made it through without dying again.

    Having said all this, it looks like a lot of people love this game and I'm in the minority. I give it a 5 out of 10, with a point of that coming from its pedigree. I'm not sure if the series is losing its touch or I've reached a point in my life that I can't commit to these types of games.    … Expand
  92. landi
    Jun 27, 2022
    5
    To difficult for my taste and also my teenage boy wasn't really able to finish it... But I really liked the style of the game
  93. Renzokuken
    Oct 29, 2021
    7
    Metroid dread is on its surface a good, classic Metroid game all about exploring, finding powerups, becoming stronger and conquering bosses in order to reach your goal. Then they added in the EMMI sections and ruined it. They frequently and repeatedly throw you into giant areas of the map where the goal is to stop exploring, stop looking for power ups, and to start running for your lifeMetroid dread is on its surface a good, classic Metroid game all about exploring, finding powerups, becoming stronger and conquering bosses in order to reach your goal. Then they added in the EMMI sections and ruined it. They frequently and repeatedly throw you into giant areas of the map where the goal is to stop exploring, stop looking for power ups, and to start running for your life from a huge one-hit-kill murder robot until you can find the powerup to kill the murder robot (and it's the same power up every single time you just lose it after each kill for no real reason). These sections are very frequent, very annoying, and run contrary to the entire point of a metroid game, exploration. The game tells you that escaping from these robots if you're caught (and you will be caught, since they can engage in all sorts of environmental shenanigans) has a 99% chance of failure. This isn't hyperbole, the window for parrying these enemies to escape is randomly generated, and requires you to pre-input a button press within such a small frame window, it makes Dark Souls' parry system look generous.

    Graphically the game is fairly good, I've noticed some frame drops, but it's very playable. Audio wise it's just OK some classic tracks, mostly ambience, as expected.

    Buy it if you're a die hard Metroid fan, newcomers to the series would probably be better off with one of the older classic style Metroid titles.    … Expand
  94. Focs
    Feb 18, 2022
    5
    Отличная игра если убрать боссов. Мне понравилось, разнообразие способностей, разные биомы (огненные, ледяные, джунгли, база). Красивая графика. Интересный подход к мелким деталям. Например некоторые враги не нападают, но когда появляется враг который может мимикрировать в разных врагов он выдает себя агрессией. В игре прямо не показывают куда идти. По этому вам интересно гонять поОтличная игра если убрать боссов. Мне понравилось, разнообразие способностей, разные биомы (огненные, ледяные, джунгли, база). Красивая графика. Интересный подход к мелким деталям. Например некоторые враги не нападают, но когда появляется враг который может мимикрировать в разных врагов он выдает себя агрессией. В игре прямо не показывают куда идти. По этому вам интересно гонять по локациям и находить секреты. Попутно разбираясь куда вам нужно идти дальше. Что не понравилось. Короткая, босы нуторыне и убиваются по одному паттерну. Нужно повторить 3-6 раз одно и тоже действия. То есть вы бьете его потом нужно либо отразить атаку либо нанести свою атаку. И так по кругу до победы. Так же они довольно однообразные. И частенько повторяются. так же они так сделаны, что вы не чувствуете прогрессии. Вы вроде открываете секретки и новые способности. Но каждый босс сильнее раза в 2 или 3 и по этому не важно на сколько хорошо вы исследовали вам со равно будет тяжело его убить. Да и бой может затянуться а это всегда скучно. Последний бос вообще при лучшем раскладе убивается за 10 минут и у него где то 6 или 7 фаз. В общем пробежать один раз сойдет. Но не более.… Expand
  95. flattyfour
    Nov 5, 2021
    6
    A 2D game that doesn't use the d-pad where the game over screen is supposed to make you want to play more. We are to mindlessly repeat deaths for progress based on pattern recognition as the game's core direction, however exploring, pondering, analyzing and discovering are mechanics that feel like they have been put aside. Maybe the map is just too small, and well too 2-dimensionsal.A 2D game that doesn't use the d-pad where the game over screen is supposed to make you want to play more. We are to mindlessly repeat deaths for progress based on pattern recognition as the game's core direction, however exploring, pondering, analyzing and discovering are mechanics that feel like they have been put aside. Maybe the map is just too small, and well too 2-dimensionsal. The weak sound track only diminishes the experience. You can only experience a game once for the first time. Nintendo was good at balancing that experience of discovery and progress, from finding that enemy weakness to stumbling on the game secrets in the older Metroid games. This one does not play like a Metroid game and this is possibly just a generational thing.

    Only Retro Studios was able to create a Metroid sequel worthy of being called a Metroid game in my opinion. Nintendo has been for a while a dying company, particularly as a console game developer since the N64/Wii days. So they concede and let MercurySteam patch their holes and take the hate. Nintendo games are supposed to be fun. This was their only redeeming quality as a game developer. At least Nintendo was able to gamble on the future of their francize in the hands of people who brought us Turok. Instead they direct and create an archaic, frustrating, and arguably outdated game that feels mediocre today. This is a genuine cop out, a lack of vision. The Other M was more of a Metroid game... wow now that is just something I did not expect to ever state.

    I don't want to play Ori or some other pain in the ass 2D platformer profiteering on nostalgia. I want to play Metroid, a Metroid true to what the technology can provide today. The spirit of Metroid was inherited in Prime, not Fusion. Nintendo, if you can't produce, just stop already.

    I 100%'ed this but I don't think I'll play this again 10 years from now out of fondness nor nostalgia. I guess Metroid is just not for me anymore.

    Prime 4 - I can't dislike this franchise and hope for the best.    … Expand
  96. SupaStaVince
    Nov 13, 2021
    6
    From buggy inputs causing Samus to either not shoot, jump, or use Shinespark properly to frustrating encounters and puzzles where the real challenge is the frame drops or figuring out how to use an ability that's not properly explained ingame and not so much the game itself.

    This game is the pinnacle of frustration and this is coming from someone who loved Torvus Bog in MP2 and acquired    From buggy inputs causing Samus to either not shoot, jump, or use Shinespark properly to frustrating encounters and puzzles where the real challenge is the frame drops or figuring out how to use an ability that's not properly explained ingame and not so much the game itself.

    This game is the pinnacle of frustration and this is coming from someone who loved Torvus Bog in MP2 and acquired 100% on HK. NO the other games are NOT harder. I've played them to death so don't even go there.    … Expand
  97. kraftw33rk
    Mar 16, 2023
    5
    The game series "Metroid" has been at the top of the gaming tron for me since Super Metroid. For me, the peak of the series is Metroid Prime 1 and then nothing comes for a long time!
    I'm even a fan of the taunted "OtherM" part. Pretty much everything about this game is extraordinary and interesting.
    Of course, I pre-ordered Metroid Dread immediately when it was possible. I enjoyed    The game series "Metroid" has been at the top of the gaming tron for me since Super Metroid. For me, the peak of the series is Metroid Prime 1 and then nothing comes for a long time!
    I'm even a fan of the taunted "OtherM" part. Pretty much everything about this game is extraordinary and interesting.
    Of course, I pre-ordered Metroid Dread immediately when it was possible. I enjoyed playing this game to the max. Music, location and gameplay again create a powerful reverberation that will probably provide a sugar-sweet aftertaste for life.
    Unfortunately, the final boss is way over it, dear developers. The whole game has wonderfully delicately increasing challenges and then comes the final boss, who almost scratches the edge of unfairness and causes me far too much stress. I can't defeat it either. I bought the game at release and after a few days I was in front of the final boss. In the meantime, I've been trying to get this over with with easily five hundred plus attempts in over a year without success. Sorry dear developers, this is not well done! It would be nice if I could change the combat to "easy", but then I have to play the whole game again! I will probably never buy another Metroid game from this developer. Gaming should be fun, not frustrating!
    --
    Die Spieleserie "Metroid" steht seit Super Metroid für mich ganz oben ungeschlagen auf dem Gaming-Tron. Den Gipfel der Serie stellt für mich Metroid Prime 1 dar und dann kommt lange nichts!
    Ich bin sogar ein Fan des verschmäten Teils "OtherM". An diesem Spiel ist so ziemlich alles aussergewöhnlich und interessant.
    Metroid Dread habe ich natürlich instant vorbestellt, als es möglich war. Mit Genuss habe ich dieses Spiel bis an den Anschlag gespielt. Musik, Location und Gameplay erzeugen hier wieder einen wuchtigen Nachhall, der wohl lebenslang einen zuckersüßen Nachgeschmack liefert.
    Leider ist der letzte Endboss deutlich drüber liebe Entwickler. Das ganze Spiel gibt es herrlich zart ansteigende Herrausforderungen und dann kommt der Endboss, der schon nah an der Unfairness kratzt und erheblich zuviel Stress bei mir erzeugt. Es gelingt mir auch nicht diesen zu besiegen. Ich habe das Spiel bei Release gekauft und stand nach wenigen Tagen vor dem Endboss. Diesen versuche ich inzwischen mit locker fünfhundert plus Anläufen in über einem Jahr immer wieder erfolglos hinter mir zu bringen. Tut mir leid liebe Entwickler, das ist leider nicht gut gemacht! Es wäre ja schon gut, wenn ich den Kampf auf "leicht" umstellen könnte, aber dann muss ich gleich das ganze Spiel neu spielen! Ich werde wohl kein Metroid-Spiel dieses Entwicklers mehr kaufen. Spielen soll Spaß machen und keinen Frust erzeugen!    … Expand
  98. Jofe
    Apr 30, 2022
    7
    The first half was pretty great. It was a bit commanding, it's the modern Nintendo. It was very (too?) classic. Then comes the second half where it deteriorates. The bestiary no longer renews at all, the objects accumulate that the game itself no longer knows what to do with them, we end up collecting a power every quarter of an hour, they are used two or three times and they have no noThe first half was pretty great. It was a bit commanding, it's the modern Nintendo. It was very (too?) classic. Then comes the second half where it deteriorates. The bestiary no longer renews at all, the objects accumulate that the game itself no longer knows what to do with them, we end up collecting a power every quarter of an hour, they are used two or three times and they have no no more use for the main quest, just to recover the collectibles. Along with the storytelling, the game's ending feels extremely rushed in every aspect. The bosses, except for one, are all too simple, unfortunately. The developers were unable to give them a difficult game design other than by making them spam dozens of projectiles for the most part. In short, it's a nice game but which falls short of ideas from the middle of the game.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

9
#9 Best Switch Game of 2021
1
#1 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 124 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 116 out of 124
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 124
  3. Negative: 0 out of 124
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 18, 2022
    100
    Quotation forthcoming.
  2. IGN Adria
    Jan 20, 2022
    90
    After almost 20 years we finally have a sequel to the 2D series of Metroid games! Considering that, Dread does a great job of combining the new modern combat with the old elements of research and advancement, and it doesn't hurt that we have some of the best boss fights in the series. A true gem and a must have for all Switch gamers.
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  3. JeuxActu
    Dec 13, 2021
    85
    Taking up the torch of a series interrupted nineteen years ago is never an easy task, but the MercurySteam studio is doing it with honors! The developers have chosen the path of security while perfectly respecting the spirit of the previous episodes, to the detriment of true modernity.
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