Finished Metroid: Dread and I've been seeing a lot of people claiming it's the best 2D entry in the series and I honestly don't really agree with that. I've waited just as long as everyone else for this game and I absolutely loved my time with it as well, but it's always been hard for me to ever put any Metroid game above another, let alone one above all the rest.
They've all been truly amazing for different reasons. Take Metroid: Fusion for instance, which was often criticized for its more linear design compared to the likes of Super Metroid. It's a criticism I never truly understood as the game was designed around the fact that it's a handheld game, which was true about the previous handheld game Return of Samus.
Fusion still employed the same masterful design philosophies of Metroids past despite its more bite sized approach to progression and exploration, but what ultimately set it apart from previous entries was just how frequently it subverted returning player's expectations, which kept its design and ideas feeling fresh rather than reused or rehashed.
A problem Zero Mission couldn't really avoid after Super Metroid more or less already remade the original Metroid despite also acting like a sequel. Sort of like what A Link Between Worlds is to A Link to the Past. Because of this, I've often struggled to call one game better than the other when they both pretty much get the same idea across very well.
This leaves us with Samus Returns, Mercury Steam's first foray with the Metroid series which I enjoyed very much for how it modernized the classic Metroid formula regardless of the natural limitations put in place by being a remake. It offered us a glimpse of what a true brand new sequel could achieve.
Enter Metroid: Dread. Mercury Steam's first original entry in the Metroid series and they've really proven themselves with just how much this game not only evolves the ideas they introduced with Samus Returns, but in the way it pulls from the series' entire history to bring us what feels like the culmination of the franchise.
Samus has never felt better to control and movement has never been more fluid thanks to the new slide ability, running melee counter, and 360 degree shooting while moving. The 360 aim was one of my favorite mechanics from Samus Returns because of just how much it changed the way you interact with the environment, enemies, and bosses which kind of opened the game up in a way that hadn't been done before and it really gets to shine in Dread.
The melee counter on the other hand was a neat addition I didn't mind too much as it added yet another layer to combat that felt natural to the series, but my main criticism of it in Samus Returns was just how overused it was. Almost every single enemy you would encounter would lunge at you, turning combat into a melee fest.
Dread however remedied this issue by implementing far more unique attack patterns, making enemies and combat far more diverse. But most notably, melee counters are most effective on bosses as they trigger beautiful cinematic sequences that allow you the opportunity to exert a massive amount of damage without consequence as in Samus Returns, which itself justified the entire mechanic for me.
Speaking of boss fights, I've never had a harder time with bosses in any 2D Metroid game than with Dread. These boss fights are just incredible and take a lot of learning and skill mastery to defeat, which is exactly what you want from a boss fight. Almost every boss felt like I had to give it everything I had to overcome, even after learning their patterns and getting the rythm of the fight down, you can't slack on shooting all your missiles at every given opportunity. I walked away from a few of those fights with sore hands and a little stressed, not gonna lie.
Though I also really enjoyed all the encounters with the Chozo Warriors and Robots. They don't exactly feel like bosses and definitely aren't as intense as any of the major boss fights, but it always feels good to be able to test your mettle with an opponent of equal standing in any game. That and they offered us an excuse to flash shift around during combat which will never not be fun. Seriously, I can't imagine another Metroid game without this ability. I can only hope it becomes a staple of the series as the pulse scan has become as it further enriches the flow of combat in the same way the melee counter has.
They've also drastically improved the shinespark ability, giving us a lot more control over it as we can now activate it ourselves rather than it being automatically triggered by running after a while like previous entries. It can even be exploited in so many ways and be kept going after a slide and multiple wall jumps which creates so many new possibilities and interesting shinespark puzzles.
Where things begin to feel strange for me in regards to its overall fan reception is in the game's level design as Metroid fans often reject the idea of streamlining progression as seen with Metroid: Fusion and sometimes even Zero Mission despite how vague your objectives were. Metroid: Dread feels like a mixture of both Metroid: Fusion's linear progression and Super Metroid's more open design.
The game is deliberately designed to keep blocking the player from going backwards and very clearly guides the player to specific destinations without telling you, but exploration also feels very restricted until you gain specific abilities that open the world up to you more and more, but the game still naturally guides you through previous locations as part of its progression.
It's clever game design for sure and perfectly in tune with the rest of the series, but after revisiting Metroid: Fusion before Dread, I don't really comprehend what the issue is considering how similar both games are in its design yet how vastly different the response has been to both. The only difference I can think of is the absence of sequence breaking in Fusion, which would honestly not even be a factor for casual players as you really have to deliberately want to sequence break in Dread in order to do so.
As a more experienced Metroid player, I often found myself playing this way. Not deliberately trying to play out of order, but more so trying to obtain items earlier than intended, which in one instance, led me straight to the penultimate boss long before I was supposed to fight it, which left me frustrated at how impossible the fight was until I realized I wasn't even supposed to be there yet as I wasn't properly equipped.
I've also seen people complain that you're not given the morph ball early enough in the game, which I honestly don't understand how this is even a legitimate complaint. It's very much done by design, especially since we now have the slide maneuver by default, and is once again just another way Metroid: Dread pulls from Fusion by subverting player expectations by giving the morph ball the newfound purpose of opening up old areas to the player again.
The biggest addition and the main gimmick of the game on the other hand seems to have fans rather mixed. I for one appreciate how the E.M.M.I. harken back to different ideas presented in past games. There being a total of 7 E.M.M.I. is reminiscent of hunting a set number of Metroids in Metroid II, except you are now the hunted and not the hunter. This even goes back to the dynamic between the SA-X and Samus in Fusion, with a higher emphasis on stealth like in the Zero Suit portion of Zero Mission.
It's a natural evolution of the games it was supposed to succeed way back in 2005 when it was first announced and is the only element that I truly believe ties 2021's Dread with the original's concept. If only we knew more about the game's development and whether certain story beats were planned all along or just happened to come together after Samus Returns.
But I can also see why some people didn't quite enjoy the E.M.M.I. portions in Dread with the 2 common criticisms being how devoid of life and samey their sections look and death not really being much of a consequence as you just restart from the nearest checkpoint. While I do take issue with the environment often looking quite bland, I don't agree with the other criticism because the E.M.M.I. are simply obstacles you must overcome by finding the right path within the maze like structure all while avoiding contact with the enemy.
It's a puzzle you're meant to overcome and get better at until they no longer feel like a threat. The same could be said about Mr. X in the Resident Evil 2 remake, yet he's widely regarded as a scary figure despite skilled players knowing how to outmaneuver and toy with him. For the most part, I thought they did a great job at making the E.M.M.I. feel unpredictable with some of the later ones even being downright formidable, forcing the player to get better at using everything in their arsenal to not get caught and traverse the map more efficiently.
This is especially true after you get the Omega Cannon and you're given access to a specific region that you as a player must be able to read well and analyze which part of the map will work best in your favor to destroy the E.M.M.I. You're also given 2 small and unpredictable windows of opportunity to counter an E.M.M.I. after getting caught, which is also part of the thrill. Sure, you'll likely fail more times than not, but those rare occurrences when you do counter an E.M.M.I. and make your escape are undeniably satisfying.
Where I think the game lacks unfortunately is in its atmosphere and soundtrack which pretty much go hand in hand. The music goes for a more muted and ambient sound, with the most memorable bits being various beeping sounds evocative of the cold lifeless machinery that's trying to kill you. However, that's as much as I truly remember after having just finished it aside from the Super Metroid theme that would play in various cutscenes.
I strongly believe music has a power over people to evoke strong emotional feelings and create personal connections to things. It's why we're often overcome with nostalgia whenever we hear familiar notes in trailers for movies like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, or Ghostbusters. It's why I still get chills whenever I hear Kass' rendition of the Zelda theme in Breath of the Wild as it takes me all the way back to my childhood as I reflect on the long journey and passage of time that has occurred between then and now.
It's been 19 years since Metroid: Fusion and 11 years since Metroid was last relevant seeing as nobody played Samus Returns 4 years ago and Metroid's music is still in the minds of gamers today because it was so important in getting across the game's narrative and atmosphere without any words. The lack of it in Dread does unfortunately create a sense of lifelessness and while some might argue that's the point, I don't think a lack of personality is doing it any favors no matter how valid it may be.
On paper, Metroid: Dread is the ultimate 2D Metroid game, but every entry is honestly too unique and has stuck with people for various reasons to even attempt to make a case for this being the best Metroid game. Some may not enjoy the main gimmick or the difficulty of the bosses in Dread, others might just prefer the overall genre defining Super Metroid for establishing the template in which all future entries will work off of, and others might just like the more horror themed Metroid: Fusion for how it plays with the series' formula.
It's hard to judge, but that doesn't stop Metroid: Dread from being yet another excellent entry in the Metroid series, one of 2021's best games, a Switch library essential, and just a damn great example of the genre it helped create. It's easy to disappoint people after a 19 year hiatus, but they really nailed it and left me satisfied and interested in where the series will go next. Hopefully this time, it won't take another 19 years before we see Samus on her next mission.
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