I have seen nothing but glowing reviews for Metroid Dread and how it is nothing short of GOTY for a lot of people. After playing through the entire game myself in about 7.5 hrs, I can see the good but a lot of articles left out the bad. I wanted to share my thoughts here.
Just note, this is all opinion. If you are a hard core Metroid fan, there will be things that I didn't like that you will have loved about Dread. That should not take away from your love of the game if you truly enjoyed it.
If you would rather watch a video, you can listen to it all here:
The good:
- Exploration was awesome
- Figuring out how to get to different areas, puzzle solving, just exploring in general
Backgrounds were beautiful and amazing
- You could see hints of bosses to come or animals moving in the background. Looked awesome
Lots of secrets to find
- I am new to Metroid games otherwise this would be a no brainer
Plenty of upgrades both abilities and health/ rockets
- Upgrades came at a grate pace, every 10-15 min or so you would find a new ability, rockets or something
Boss fights were amazing
- Challenging with out being overly so
- Counters causing a little cut scene where you could control the attacks was really fresh and unique
Chase scenes when the environment was being destroyed around was epic
The Bad:
Exploration was awesome but environments felt really ‘samey’
- A lot of the areas did not stick out a ton.
- Most were metal, cold, space station
None of the music while exploring was memorable
- I personally could not recall any area that stood out because of the music
Exploration has hampered by the inability to back track
- There was only forward
- Getting a new ability would usually lock out a previous path that needed the ability you just got!
Game was VERY linear.
- There was one and only one path to take.
- Sure there are sequence breaks like early grapple, bomb and gravity suit but you would have to be a speedrunner to find any of that stuff and would not likely find skips on first playthrough
Boss fights were great just wish there was more of them
There were a lot of mini bosses we fought over and over again.
Lots of enemies that were re-skins.
- It just feels lazy seeing the same enemies with MAYBE a slightly different attack ore more health but a different color.
Some people Loved the EMMI but I Didn’t
- It was fine that they were one hit kill
- The counter timing was really tight. I know, I need to Git Gud
- When they hear you, if you go hide, the EMMI would just stay in that room
- Emmi Would randomly just accidentally hit you
- Lots of just waiting around or leaving the room to come back
- After the dread faded away I was just left with annoyance.
Double jump was annoying
- This one is on me, I have built up muscle memory of doing a 2nd jump at the peak of the 1st jump.
- Needing to spin jump and fall just a bit before doing a 2nd jump threw me off and I just didn't like the way it felt.
Conclusion:
I know the things I brought up were small. That is because they are. Metroid Dread was a great game and I think it is worth playing. There were just some sticking points for me that I wanted to mention.
I hope you enjoyed the game and this review!
Also I am new to Hive, I will keep testing posting content here to see how it goes. So far everybody has been super welcoming and I appreciate it.
Hey! Welcome to this amazing community, you really know how to articulate ideas properly, I loved your video!
About Dread: I’m just starting with the Metroid franchise and i was hyped about it, all the points you made sounds valid and it’s great to see an objective view on those “bad” parts of the game.
This seems to kind of go against everything the Metroid franchise has ever stood for. I wonder why the decided to do that? I have heard others complain about how where you are supposed to go next is too cryptic at certain points as well.
The game looks fantastic though and I still want it... but I don't have a Switch so it doesn't really matter :)
I am not sure why they choose to do it but the style keeps you on track and from getting too lost. I play a lot of metroidvania games and felt like the way to go was always forward. It was usually pretty easy to find where to go... except one time I got pretty lost for about an hour and still beat the game in about 7.5 hours.
I see a missed your introduction a few weeks back. Welcome to Hive and the Gaming Community! So awesome to have an experienced content creator here. I haven't gotten around to Metroid: Dread yet but I've read several reviews in the community that has made me play it. I'm a slow gamer.
I'd say it is totally worth playing and checking out!