As a pretty big Metroid fan, it's needless for me to say that the announcement of Metroid Dread had me shocked. This type of thing rarely happens, a video game company revived a game they cancelled over a decade ago due to the belief that they finally had the technology to bring to life. It's a big moment in video game history, in my opinion, and Dread immediately became my most anticipated game of the year. So did it live up to my lofty expectations? No. It surpassed them.
Story: One of my biggest fears going into Metroid Dread was how they would handle the story, though not for the obvious reason. Sure, Metroid Other M was divisive, but the 2D games typically had fantastic stories, especially Super and Fusion. No, I was worried because of the claim that this would be "the end of the Metroid saga". So not only did this game start development over 15 years ago, but now it's going to wrap up a story that has been going on for even longer? It's already hard to nail an ending, but Dread had a really tough task ahead of it. Thankfully, Dread's story is fantastic and easily one of the series's best. It perfectly strikes a balance between not too overwhelming and restricting like Other M while still having a lot to sink your teeth into, and it resolves a lot of the series's biggest plot threads on a really satisfying note. The Chozo lore does a great job of tying the events of the series together, the return of the X parasites was incredibly well-implemented, and the ending (where Samus essentially becomes a Metroid) is pretty much exactly what I wanted from a sequel to Fusion. Seriously, Dread picks up where Fusion left off as if no time has passed at all, it's truly impressive. I was surprised at how the story actually managed to include some genuinely emotional moments without completely damaging Samus's character in the process (looking at you, Other M). Speaking of which, Samus's characterization in Dread is fantastic. It really feels like MercurySteam gets the character. She's badass and stoic, sure, but not unemotional. In Dread, the giant monsters and eerie EMMIs she fights don't seem to phase her at all, but once she gets the chance to turn the tide, she does so with the utmost confident. Samus says one sentence in the entire game, yet her body language is so emotive, it's so good!
Gameplay: If I can sum up Metroid Dread's gameplay in one word, it's smooth. The controls in this game are insanely responsive and feel great. Compared to Super Metroid's clunky jumping and Samus Returns's stop-and-go gameplay, Dread feels absolutely fantastic to play. I think what makes the gameplay so great is how easy it is to keep your momentum. The game adds a slide move allowing you to roll into a morphball when on the move, it lets you dash while parrying, and streamlines the way Aeion works. I'm glad the controls feel this good because of the inclusion of the EMMIs, those invincible robots that will relentlessly chase you. The EMMI chases perfectly toe the line between terrifying and fun, since the fluid and varied moveset gives you a lot of way to try and evade them. I also found myself loving the combat in Dread, which is impressive given I never loved Metroid combat. I've elaborate more in the boss fights section, but to sum it up, dodging attacks is fluid and fun and there are a lot of ways to tackle enemies and bosses. The amount of items and upgrades in Dread is insane, it's as if MercurySteam squeezed in damn near every single item in the series while finding ways for you to chain them together in ways that benefit both combat and platforming. As a whole, every single facet of Dread just feels good to play, and while I'd say this is one of the harder Metroid games, not a single death felt like my fault.
Level Design & Pacing: With Samus Returns being a port, MercurySteam never really got the chance to show off their level design chops. Thankfully, they more than proved themselves with Dread, this is an elegantly-designed game with environmental design on par with Super Metroid (and if you've seen my review of that game, that's a very high bar). Dread doesn't have any waypoints to show you where to go, it doesn't have any linear rooms like Fusion either, this is an open metroidvania world that shows you where to go solely through the level design itself. I never ended up feeling lost because the level design expertly directs you where you need to go, which is doubly impressive given that this is the first Metroid game where you can permanently change the layout of the map. Every single platform in Dread feels purposefully placed, and I can tell there's a lot of thought put into this game's world. The pacing is also fantastic, as the game constantly throws new enemy types, bosses, setpieces, and items at you. It rarely feels like Dread drags on, the game packs in enough content to fit twice its length without feeling rushed or undercooked. I also like how Dread starts off fairly linear only to slowly open up throughout the game, once again not unlike Super Metroid. I'm not a fan of speedrunning and sequence breaking, but from what I've seen, Dread also has a lot of deliberate opportunities to do so, which makes me very excited to see what people can come up with.
Boss Fights: I've always had a big issue with Metroid's boss fights and that's just how hard it is to avoid taking damage. Samus tends to take up a large part of the screen, and the attacks just don't really seem to accommodate for that, especially in the GBA games (though that's mostly due to screen crunch). Metroid Dread, however, makes a point of stating that every single attack in the game is avoidable. Not to say that the boss fights aren't hard, because they definitely are. As a matter of fact, Dread probably has one of the toughest lineups of boss fights in the series (outside of Prime 2, of course). However, as hard as the fights are, every attack is avoidable. Between the smooth gameplay and well-done attacks, it never feels like my deaths aren't my fault during these fights. Even more, the fights themselves are generally fantastic, especially the major ones. Bosses like Corpius, Kraid, and Experiment Z-57 have multiple phases, plenty of ways to effectively defeat them, and a lot of fun attacks to dodge. I especially love how the opening cutscene before each battle subtly shows you how to take them down, so you don't have to frantically shuffle through your weapons and options until you find something that works. I think Fusion still has the best boss lineup as a whole, since Dread does reuse fights fairly frequently, but it's definitely still up there.
Art Direction & UI: Metroid games tend to be some of the nicest-looking games on their respective systems (it's still hard for me to believe Prime is a GameCube game), and Dread is no exception, especially in terms of its astonishing art direction. The environmental design, especially the background, is so detailed, the animations for all the characters (especially Samus) are fluid and dynamic, and the lighting system is so striking. I love how each location has its own color scheme, how the foreground becomes darker so that the background can pop out more, the fuzzy static texture during the EMMI sections, the terrifying designs of the enemies and bosses, and the incredibly badass cutscenes that show off Samus's personality in full-force. The framerate is also a smooth 60fps with rarely any drops, which helps the gameplay feel that much more fluid. The UI is also pretty great, especially the incredibly detailed map screen that feels like a nice blend between the previous 2D map screens and the ones from the Prime games. The soundtrack isn't one of the series' best, and doesn't hold a candle to any of Yamamoto's scores (Super, the Prime games), but I still found it to be pretty solid. I'd definitely rank it over Fusion, Samus Returns, and Other M on the music front. The dark and moody ambiance works really well to heighten the game's eerie tone, and there was a nice balance of great remixes (Theme Of Super Metroid, Lower Brinstar) and solid original themes (Corpius, Artaria, Burenia). As a whole, Metroid Dread's presentation is top-notch, and I can easily say this is the best-looking game in the series.
Overall, Metroid Dread is a phenomenal Metroid game, taking the best aspect of all the previous 2D entries and blending them together perfectly. It has the setpieces and horror of Fusion, the openness and strong level design of Super, the great combat and style of Samus Returns, and the smooth movement and speedrun-friendly design of Zero Mission. It looks great, plays great, and exudes confidence in its level design, story, and boss fights. In an era with phenomenal metroidvanias like Hollow Knight, Luna Nights, Ori, and Axiom Verge, Metroid Dread shows just why the series remains the queen of the genre. While I still think Prime is my favorite even with its flaws, Dread is far and way the best 2D entry in the series and I couldn't be more happy it exists. It's everything I wanted from a Fusion sequel and more.
5/5 Stars
Update: It's been almost three years since Metroid Dread came out and I have pretty much the same exact thoughts on it. From the movement, to the level design, to the story, to the boss fights, to the art direction, Dread still stands out my favorite 2D Metroid game on pretty much every level. I'll be using this post for the Top 100 Games list since I feel everything on here holds true. The fact that Metroid Dread even exists and is as good as it is still feels like an absolute miracle, and I will always love it dearly.
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