Introduction
Today we are going to review a game that is highly anticipated, Metroid Dread. This will come with a new video walkthrough of the complete game, this review starts off course with part 1 continuing with episodes releasing every week. Metroid Dread is a Metroidvania game, that has actually been in development hell for a long time. This means that the people have been waiting for a long time for this game!
What did I think before playing Metroid Dread?
It should come as no surprise to anyone that we had pre-ordered this game. It was also the special edition of Metroid Dread, with an amazing art book and a steel case to house the game card. I was very glad that they made this game in 2D and keep the 3D elements for the Metroid Prime series! This game follows up on Metroid Fusion, let us go to the Nintendo Page for more information!
The Nintendo Page
https://metroid.nintendo.com/
There is a lot of information on this page, but the headlines make some things clear, this game will fill you with dread as murderous instant kill robots will hunt you down. Parrying them is possible, but extremely hard unless you have the timing pinned down correctly. I was very eager to learn how the parrying system would work in Metroid Dread.
Rating
I rate Metroid Dread with a 10 before playing,
What can I say? The hype for this game is insane, it seems that the developers have made a good game to finish the Metroid Saga, but what is next for our bounty hunter?
Story
The story starts with a recap of the events that transpired in Metroid Fusion. The Galactic Federation has received a video of an X-parasite alive on the planet ZDR. Since Samus is the only one that is immune to X-parasites as she is part Metroid. Once Samus arrives at ZDR she gets ambushed by a Chozo Warrior, after losing all of her abilities, she decides to go back to her ship to escape but soon she learns that the E.M.M.I are hunting her.
Rating
I rate the story of Metroid Dread with a 10 for the story.
The multiple plot twists are amazing and unexpected, I cannot wait to see where the next saga is going to take us!
Gameplay
Metroid Dread approaches things differently than other 2D Metroid games, while improving upon old elements. The first thing that you will need to know is that Metroid Dread is extremely hard! You will need to learn the patterns of bosses and enemies. Any mistake in Metroid Dread will most likely kill you, and there is even a hard mode!
As in most Metroidvanias you will start with almost zero abilities and with low health. You will need to scour the planet of ZDR and its different biomes to find new abilities and upgrades. Whereas Metroid Fusion is quite linear, Metroid Dread is not linear at all, but you will encounter network stations for information and lore. There are also a lot of sequence breaks that are possible. Some of these sequence breaks will give you the ability to kill bosses quickly, like Kraid!
You will need to parry a lot of attacks in this game, parrying will not only stun the enemy but also increase the items that they drop. However, a parry can also save you when you encounter an E.M.M.I. These robots will try to capture you and will instantly kill you. There is a chance that you can save yourself, but it has only 1% chance of succeeding. There will be two openings to parry and stun the E.M.M.I.
In Metroid Dread, you will have Aeion abilities like the phantom cloak. The cloak can be used to hide yourself from the E.M.M.I. Later you will find even more abilities to use like the pulse radar to find secrets! There are even more things in Metroid Dread, but I will let you figure that out for yourself!
Rating
I rate the gameplay of Metroid Dread with a 10.
The gameplay is unique and a casual and slow play through should take around 12 hours with 100%, however if you are fast you can easily clear the game in a few hours with any %!
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The graphics in Metroid Dread are insane, off course the last 2D Metroid game that we had was Metroid Fusion. Technology has advanced a lot since then. I am not including the remake of Metroid 2 where the parry feature was introduced. I am only counting new Metroid games since Metroid Fusion! The X-parasite look amazing!
Sound
The sounds are perfect and follow the trend of Metroid Fusion to create a creepy atmosphere, however the sound effects of the E.M.M.I are what kicks in the creepy factor. The first time playing this game, you will feel your spine tingling when you hear the beeping sound of death. The trailer was amazing IMAX 3D in the cinema!
Rating
I rate the sound and graphics of Metroid Dread with a 10.
Metroid Dread has amazing graphics and sound effects!
What did I think after playing Metroid Dread?
My wife and I took turns while playing, and we enjoyed Metroid Dread a lot while exploring ZDR. My wife had a though time with bosses, as you need a lot of patterns to win the boss fights. The upgrades are hidden very well and there are a lot of shinesparking puzzles, this can be though for some people.
If you enjoyed previously Metroid games, you will enjoy Metroid Dread. There are a lot of fun gameplay mechanics and the normal difficulty can be hard for some people.
Rating
I rate Metroid Dread with a 10 after playing.
It has been a while since I have played a fun but extremely difficulty Metroidvania.
What are my personal thoughts about Metroid Dread?
I had a lot of fun when playing this game, I am glad that I pre-ordered this game. I am looking forward to completing the video walkthrough!
Rating
My personal rating of Metroid Dread is a 10.
I liked this game more than Metroid Fusion! However hard mode seems impossible for now, I will need more practice!
Last Words
Pros
- Experience the story of what happens after Metroid Fusion
- Amazing graphics and soundtracks
- Metroid Dread uses the parry system, you will need this to escape the E.M.M.I robots.
- Find out if the X-parasite are still alive on ZDR!
- Find new upgrades and abilities on ZDR!
- Explore many regions on ZDR.
- Fight epic bosses and learn their patterns!
Cons
- There are to much shine sparking puzzles
Metroid Dread has great gameplay mechanics with fun parrying systems. If you enjoy Metoridvanias, you should give Metroid Dread a try!
Final Rating
10
Let me know what you think of Metroid Dread in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
If you liked reading this review, maybe you would like to share this review with your friends!
Seems interesting
As usual a great Metroid game
Good review! “Any mistake in Metroid Dread will most likely kill you, and there is even a hard mode!” The dread intensifies…
wish this game released on PC
It looks very polished and beautiful
A solid 10/10 Is what I love to see! Great review sven!
Thanks! This is a perfect Metroid game, the Metroid 2 Remake was a good test for some Metroid Dread functions!
Never played this game before but after review would like to try it
You really should!
It seems like good old school sci-fi massacre we all wanted. Thanks for nice review!
Until you meet the E.M.M.I and you get slaughtered!
Physical copy? Nice!
Heck yea, even the special one!
A 10 for story sounds promising
The hype did not let us down, even after many years of waiting! The saga ends here but let us hope the journey continues!
Looks really fun. Gonna have to play the other games before this one!
Metroid is amazing!
WOW, amazing game! Thanks for the review!
You are welcome!
GOTY?
Everything “10” wow 😉
Deserved!
Looking awesome. Thx for the review.
You are welcome!
good review
I love how MercurySteam literally has the name “Steam” in their name, and yet this game isn’t on Steam. I only buy Steam games lol
Technically Steam is from the developers of Valve.
I love the mix of classic metroidoidvania crawling with the aesthetics from prime.
yeah, it is amazing!
literally ‘perfect game’
Perfecto!
Played many similar games but never any of the series, some day I have to play at least one
Looks like that’s probably great game. It’s a pity that’s only for Nintento Switch.
I’ve actually never played any Metroid… I’m not very good at sidescrolling jump’n’run and thus most of the Metroidvania games get me frustrated too fast. But people loving Metroid games so much that they even called the whole genre after them and seeing reviews like this make me try them every once in a while 😀 About the Cons… there is no such thing as too many puzzles XD
indeed ^^
That special edition physical copy looks sooo cool. 😳
I’ve never had the chance to play any Metroid games, but since I like metroidvania games, I should like those!