I struggled with Samus Returns and the Prime games weren’t my vibe, so I have to go back a long way for great Metroid. After seeing good reviews and a lot of positive word-of-mouth for Metroid Dread, it was near the top of my list of games to play when I’d finally pick up a Switch.
I was finally able to get my hands on my own copy of the game recently, and it started out promising, tapping into some of my Super Metroid memories. Unfortunately, I never really did get on with the game’s stealth sections–if you want to call it that–with the EMMIs. Frustrating doesn’t even begin to describe it. I hit game over more in this game than in every other Metroid game I’ve played, combined.
The game does eventually open up and it quickly grabbed me when it did. There is some incredible boss design here and (mostly) good map design. Locking map connection shortcuts behind power bombs wasn’t a good move considering when you get them, but that faded to a minor annoyance by the end. After Samus Returns, it’s easy to forget that you’re supposed to get a bit lost.
What may be the highlight for me was, surprisingly, an interesting story. It’s mostly told through atmosphere and subtle storytelling, like Hollow Knight, but there are some well-crafted cinematics sprinkled in. Samus is as expressive here as I’ve ever seen her. A really satisfying ending caps it off.
I’m excited to see what’s next for the series. It’s just a shame Dread has the EMMI sections because it just about guarantees I’ll never replay it.
Totally valid. In this particular case, I had seen enough flashes of things I’d like to be reasonably sure I’d like the game more later on (although I didn’t know at the time that the EMMI sections are mostly front-loaded). There may have been a bit of undue faith in the genre and the property involved, too.
That said, I certainly have no problems dropping a game early if I’m not connecting with any of it.