Serra

Back in 2017, Nintendo surprised fans with a title card for Metroid Prime 4. The original Metroid Prime ranks as one of my favorite games of all time, so you can imagine my despondency when the only significant news around this title over the past four years has been the 2019 announcement that the game was not meeting Nintendo’s expectations and development was restarting. Going into E3 this year, there was a faint glimmer of hope that Nintendo would finally share some positive news on Metroid Prime 4. That did not happen. Instead, Nintendo stunned fans by announcing that Metroid Dread, a new side-scrolling Metroid game, was in development and would be out by October. It is definitely not Metroid Prime 4, but this game is an outstanding olive branch to pacify ravenous fans.

Barring a few exceptions and prologues, Samus’ adventures through the Metroid franchise have largely followed the same opening steps: Samus arrives on a planet alone and must explore and unravel mysteries while encountering and overcoming numerous obstacles by herself. Isolation and facing challenging situation are baked into the franchise’s DNA, so it was surprising to see Metroid Dread as the full title of Samus’ latest adventure. Yes, the game’s initial trailer heavily featured Samus running from an unrelenting and unyielding mechanical adversary, disconcerting audio chirps, and abrupt musical cuts, but emotions that run adjacent to dread have been core to the Metroid experience since its inception.

Metroid Dread follows 2002’s Metroid Fusion. In her last adventure, Samus destroyed Planet SR388 to wipe out the dangerous X Parasites. However, when a video reveals the presence of the X Parasites on a new planet, Planet ZDR, Samus sets out eradicate the species before they become a galactic threat. As is the norm, Samus’ adventure starts with her losing the upgrades she had amassed in her previous adventure, but in a departure from the traditional Metroid formula, Samus finds herself trapped within the planet’s underground cave systems. It is a small change, and it is far from significant, but removing Samus’ ship as a familiar safe haven for players to retreat helps bolster the sense of dread Nintendo seemingly intended to capture. Samus needs to work her way back to her ship, fighting through swamps and forests, undersea facilities, scientific labs, and various other environments filled with inhospitable foes.

The most dangerous of these foes, and the ones that are best at spreading dread, are the mechanical E.M.M.I. The E.M.M.I. are indestructible robotic enemies that will relentless pursue Samus and one-shot her, triggering a game over, if they catch her. If caught, there is a brief windows where players can counter the E.M.M.I. and escape, but the timing is difficult to pull off and often feels random. Thankfully, the E.M.M.I. only patrol enclosed areas, aptly dubbed E.M.M.I. Zones, so players do not have to spend the whole game with a constant and crippling sense of dread, and dying to an E.M.M.I. will restart players just outside the E.M.M.I. Zone. There are seven total E.M.M.I. scattered throughout the map, with the later E.M.M.I. featuring unique abilities to make them even more formidable. The E.M.M.I. zones punctuate the game, ensuring that, as Samus becomes more and more powerful, players never become too comfortable. While traversing the E.M.M.I. Zones is a tense affair, Samus is eventually able to defeat each one, opening their zones for more casual exploration.

Having said all that, I was honestly not a fan of the E.M.M.I. Even though I knew what I was getting into each time I entered an E.M.M.I. Zone, the game-play felt out of place from the rest of the game and franchise. I did not mind the emphasis on stealth and evasion, but gradually becoming stronger so you can take on tougher opponents or get past specific obstacles is a core piece of the identity of Metroid games. Regardless of how strong Samus had become or how many upgrades she acquired, the E.M.M.I. remained impervious and each E.M.M.I. encounter was an interjection that largely interrupted this progression. I dreaded the E.M.M.I. Zones, not because of a sense of fear, but because these segments felt frustrating, and I question if this is the type of dread Nintendo was looking to elicit.

Long-time fans who have been eagerly waiting for a new 2D Metroid game will be happy to hear that Metroid Dread plays like those classic games, albeit with a few smoother, more modern updates. If this is your first foray into the franchise, Metroid Dread is a side-scrolling metroidvania style game, a portmanteau derived from the Metroid and Castlevania franchises which largely inspired the genre (yes, I hate the term too, but it is what it is..). The world is comprised of a variety of different biomes and progressing through the game requires acquiring power-ups to bypass different obstacles. Finding missiles allows Samus to open missile doors; Acquiring the Morph Ball opens narrow passageways to exploration; Obtaining the Spider Magnet lets Samus traverse and hang from specific walls and ceilings; And so on. The game features a healthy collection of familiar upgrades while also introducing a handful of new abilities that I can imagine quickly becoming staples of the franchise going forward.

Visually, Metroid Dread is a 2D game in a 3D world. While there is nothing exceptional about the game’s graphics, it is pretty much exactly what you would expect from a modern 2D Metroid game. As I said earlier, isolation has been part of the Metroid franchise for many years, and the sterile, abandoned, and rundown environments of Metroid Dread help carry that mood forward. Samus wanders through a variety of different locations and the visuals and musical cues help capture the sense of being alone on a foreign planet. Apart from occasional interactions with her computer, often featuring some variation of, “you’re not strong enough,” there is very little guidance to figure out where to go next in this strange, inhospitable world. There were times I felt the game's pacing was a bit too fast and new abilities came too quickly, but that is a fairly minor complaint. For the most part, the game flows seamlessly from area to area, with the only load times being the awkward elevator and train rides that separate the biomes.

While Nintendo has not released a side-scrolling Metroid game in nearly twenty years, the genre has not stood around idly and there have been numerous games that have continued to carry the torch, some which have garnered high praise. Going into this game, one of my concerns was how Metroid Dread would stack up against games like Hollow Knight and the Ori franchise. The short answer is, not only can Metroid Dread stand with the other recent great games in the genre, it might be the best metroidvania in recent years. A huge part of my evaluation comes from the game’s combat. It isn’t the core running and gunning that stood out (although that aspect feels great for the most part -- the free aiming is not the most intuitive at times), but the general challenge and combat that felt great. Metroid Dread is a surprisingly difficult game and there were plenty of encounters with generic enemies that put me near death. Of all the metroidvanias I have played in recent years, I only recall Hollow Knight giving me the same sense of challenge or satisfaction. While not my favorite feature, the game also brings back some creative and challenging Speed Booster and Shinespark puzzles that really push players to understand the game’s mechanics and movement.

However, the game’s bosses are where the combat and game-play really shine as many are punishing encounters where damage can quickly spiral and players are pressured to execute these tense fights flawlessly (or as close to flawless as possible). It always surprised me how quickly I could go from full health to struggling to survive after just a few hits. These battles are heavily structured around learning mechanics and attack patterns, reacting quickly to cues that precede screen-covering attacks, finding brief openings to dish out damage, and taking advantage of melee counters, a technique introduced in Samus Returns which players will learn to make liberal use of to replenish health throughout the game, whenever possible. There is undoubtedly a lot of trial and error involved in these boss fights and more than a bit of frustration when the exuberance of finally getting past a challenging boss is replaced by the crushing realization that you have only overcome its first phase.

Another reason Metroid Dread feels like a strange title for this game is because Metroid games put players in control of the coolest and most bad-assed female character in gaming, bar none. Ignoring Metroid: Other M (which Nintendo is apparently doing too), Samus has always been cool, collected, and largely emotionless, even when faced with daunting and enormous tasks. For example, in the game’s second trailer, Samus faces off against one of her long-time adversaries, Kraid. As the lumbering behemoth howls at her while chained to a wall, Samus casually stands before him, just out of reach and unmoved by his fury. This is only one example, and Metroid Dread is littered with moments that reinforce the powerful image of Samus as a character who faces fear head-on.

When the original Metroid was released in 1986, it started what Nintendo is now calling the Metroid Saga. Metroid Dread’s reveal was also paired with the announcement that it would be the final entry in the Metroid Saga. To this point though, the Metroid franchise has only consisted of the Metroid Saga, so it is hard to imagine what the games look like without the titular metroids featured as a core focal point. On its own, Metroid Dread is a great return to the side-scrolling Metroid experience, but as the final piece in this saga, it does not feel as epic or grandiose as you might expect for a thirty-five year journey. The game did not feel short (although I admittedly played through it twice in a row -- once on normal and a second time after unlocking hard), but I also wanted more from it. Some of this undoubtedly stems from the game being a surprise reveal instead of news about Metroid Prime 4, but another part is because Metroid Dread is seemingly intended to set the stage for something unknown.

When people talk about the transition from 2D to 3D, Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time are often cited as games that perfectly evolved over time. And while the Metroid franchise skipped the Nintendo 64 and that early transitional period, Metroid Prime deserves its place in those conversations. As such, I was a little apprehensive about Metroid Dread. When it was announced, it felt like it was a game that was cobbled together to satiate fans who have been eagerly waiting for any morsel of news on Metroid Prime 4. No one is going to argue that Metroid Dread pushes the Metroid experience forward, but it is a game that adheres to the franchise’s side-scrolling roots and can hold its own against some of the best contenders in the genre. Metroid Dread is not Metroid Prime 4, but that does not take away from the fact the game is fun and challenging and that is just downright enjoyable to play.

Cowardice, the dread of what will happen ~ Epictetus

All images owned by Nintendo.