Metroid Dread [NSW]

[fuse]

A new Metroid probably doesn't need much in the way of introducing.

In terms of controls it definitely feels similar to what little I played of Samus Returns - melee counters and the timing of them seem particularly important to your ongoing survival. It shifts about very smoothly, and generally the controls feel pretty great. There's some smart lighting effects, particularly when rooms are just barely lit by the features of your suit, but eventually light up to reveal a whole load of neat additional detail. The map seems revised in really effective ways, auto-marking useful details as well as allowing you to stamp your own reminders on top.

I'm a few hours in and liking it, and although I'm not going to talk about any particular story beats, my biggest gripe by far is the game's need to be cinematic and how that stifles the atmosphere. Super Metroid's an all-timer for me, and part of that stems from the mood it creates of isolation and independence. Instead, walking into a new area here has taken things out of my hands to show me a cut scene a few too many times already, boss fights have relied more on launching into lengthy scripted counter-attacks than my general fighting capability, and there are regular check-ins with an overbearing AI with an inexplicably "80s robot" voice. Hopefully these are just early-doors blues, and the game lets off a little as I get further in.

Still, new Metroid! That's nice.

[hudson]

Loving this. Big Super Metroid fan and I feel that the formula is here big time. Really well executed by Mercury Steam. It's taking a little getting used to. Whilst the controls are a lot better than Super Metroid, they are taking a little getting used to. Especially in panicky moments where I need Samus to stay routed whilst firing. It can be a bit messy having to hold L, then aim and fire in hurried moments. I appreciate the detail in the map now, although it can look super busy! All this just goes away with time spent.

EMMI bits can be frustrating, but I am finding them a welcome addition. At least they are tied down to closed off to zones.
I fought the first boss and it can take a few goes and felt slightly worried thinking it could take a good lot of tries, but thankfully once I learned the patterns it was very doable.

Looking forward to being super powerful so I can run through all the world like a boss. Which I imagine inevitably happens at some point. The start of a Metroid game can seem a bit daunting at first.

So far, a really really great start. Can't wait to get back on it.

[Neon Ignition]

I've started this and passed a few save points worth of progression but not much more. It seems broadly lovely but with 2D Metroids I have to be in the right mood for them so it's been sparing so far. Everything feels spot on bar the EMMI bits, for me the few I've done so far feel overly prescripted in approach and already have a sense of detracting from the rest of the gameplay so I'm hoping they either become less frequent or better designed as the game goes on.

[hudson]

Running into an EMMI is probably

->Open Spoiler<-

gonna always end the same way and require you to hit that very small window of a counter attack, but primarily, you want to escape it. There are ways to get it to lose the scent of Samus as you go on.

[fuse]

Quite a way into this now - would continue to praise the environments and lighting, which are total winners. It's not an easy game and that's fine, but it is very aggressively checkpointed, which sometimes (read: during EMMI segments) turns the flow of the game up on its head a bit. They definitely serve a purpose of making you very tense, but I'm not sure how much I needed that?

[fishbowlhead]

Some positive impressions here. I did read a few reviews that said it was unbelievably frustrating and obtuse after the half way mark, doesn’t sound that bad.

[dataDave]

I've only done an hour so far, but Christ, some of this dialogue. A lot of the lore from the Prime games is written to an Arthur C. Clarke standard, and now this:

E.M.M.I made from "the strongest stuff in the universe".

Who wrote that!? How did it get a pass? I demand that get patched out, pronto. Fusion is one of my favourite Metroids, so it's not like I'm averse to an in-your-face narrative. There's a lot of other little things about the game rubbing me up the wrong way (like the 'sexy' pose at save stations and similar), but it's still very early of course. I'm only an hour in.

Quite a way into this now - would continue to praise the environments and lighting, which are total winners. It's not an easy game and that's fine, but it is very aggressively checkpointed, which sometimes (read: during EMMI segments) turns the flow of the game up on its head a bit. They definitely serve a purpose of making you very tense, but I'm not sure how much I needed that?

Yeah, some of the darkened rooms that bring out the illuminated parts of Samus' suit work really well. I'm also not a fan of the checkpoints, I sense I'm losing tension with the E.M.M.I encounters if I can just mindlessly spam attempts. If I had to trek a bit each time I'd perhaps put more thought in.

[fuse]

Finding the odd hour here and there to spend on this; feel like I'm getting towards the end and am mostly still enjoying it. The pace of suit/weapon upgrades is pretty constant and keeps things moving along nicely, and despite being quite subtle about its signposting, I've only really gotten stumped on where to go next the once... but I'm also still finding the die often / restart fast aspect is not its strongest suit. Bosses will definitely highlight this issue less on subsequent replays provided you remember the patterns, but I'm not sure the same will be said of EMMI. Throughout the whole thing I've been thinking how I'm really looking forwards to seeing how the speedrun community handles these sections and whether there's anything to be learned from there for people playing casually.

[Stakers]

I’m glad to see this getting broadly positive reviews here. I was worried after Deathloop! I’m also nearing the end I think. I’ve found the bosses to be a decent challenge and the EMMI sections not too overdone and break things up nicely. It has a flowing map design and Ive only been slowed down significantly once. The exploring is enjoyable though and plenty of upgrades picked up. Have to concur with the controls comment, some places I find myself holding down 3 buttons and then getting on a flap about releasing the right one

[gordon]

Finished this over the weekend. Took me about 14 hours (my son took 9) and I enjoyed every minute. I’m a pretty average gamer in terms of skill so the difficulty was just about right - most bosses took me 4-5 attempts, but a couple took 20-30. The feeling of power by the end is awesome and really frees up movement around the map if you want to chase down every secret (I didn’t). As for the moments of confusion as to where you should go next, the game is pretty good at forcing you down certain paths without you fully realising it, and when you are stuck, you just need to look for areas that have been unlocked by your most recent upgrade. Anyway, the best Metroid since the first Prime for me, and up there with Super Metroid.

[Lebowski]

Played bit of this last night really like the counter mechanic and its got a great atmosphere, i can tell i'm really gonna enjoy this.

what was less than great was I ordered this form amazon as i had vouchers with them and the only one they had in stock was the poster and mouse mat edition, i thought OK i need a new mouse mat so ill get this version of it. What turned up was two separate packages one with the game and one with what where quite clearly pre-order bonuses from Nintendo ( that they thought they could charge a ten pound premium for) . The mouse matt is a very thin rigid piece of plastic it really is laughable, I've sent the Extra items back and got a refund its costing them more for me to return them than their worth not sure why they didn't just ask m to throw them in the bin



i mean come on look at it that's not a mouse matt its a thin piece of plastic with no backing or anything.

[dataDave]

The difficulty has been massively overstated. It's very easy to get into a flow of unlocking item after item while sweeping up the EMMIs, as things do seem pretty linear. It's like the game wants you to progress without getting hung up too much. I had a solid four hours on it just now and must have cleared a huge chunk of the game - nearly three whole areas explored with two big bosses down and two suit upgrades. I think I'm into the final third of the game.

The submerged research lab is gorgeous. Easily one of the most beautiful areas ever to grace a Metroid game.

[fuse]

Just finished it last night. Went on a bit of a hunt about for some more power-ups upon realising I was at the end, and then came back and gave the big bad what for. 74% items and just under 10 hours on the in-game clock. Only after finishing it, did I now realise that the map has an overlay effect on parts of the map where there are still goodies to be found - would have been better to have noticed it before, but at least this might be the inspiration to shoot for 100% before hanging up my space suit.

Overall I liked it quite a lot. I thought the bosses were good (last one in particular was great) and that I actually learned something from them, whereas anything I figured out from the EMMI sections were typically by dumb luck and likely to be annoying all over if I were to play it again. It looks, controls, and plays well though, and I quite enjoyed the minimal story. Congrats MercurySteam - you finally made a game I liked enough to finish!

edit: one thing I did forget to mention, with ref to controls, is that making analogue stick usage mandatory does kinda suck though. Some of the more complex sequences are pretty awkward as a result, and I'd much prefer to use the d-pad.

[dataDave]

I'll be jumping straight onto hard mode for the 100%.

To be honest I can't wait to get back to Breath of the Wild, Splatoon, ARMS, and MK8. I've missed those games badly.

[Dogg Thang]

I started playing this today and first impressions are pretty good, although it’s so close to Samus Returns that it almost feels like an expansion of that one. The first EMMI encounters really frustrated me and I don’t like seeing the game over screen so often - it pulls me right out of the game. And while I still haven’t a clue what to do if caught, those sections settled very quickly once into the third encounter and they aren’t quite as intrusive as I worried they would be. Still, in a game where I want to explore, I find them a barrier to gameplay rather than being fun themselves. But they’re okay.

Beyond the EMMI encounters, it’s business as usual and follows Samus Returns very closely. The control is wonderful, although there are lots of moves so they can get slightly fiddly but generally it works well and she is so smooth. Nice animation and she just feels good to control. The layout of the levels so far seems interesting with stuff to discover. But I do feel it repeats something from Samus Returns that, to me, mean it isn’t quite as strong as it could be - I don’t feel the areas have enough of a sense of visual identity. There is lots of variety within each area which you would think is a good thing but then there isn’t enough to separate the feel of each new area discovered. So I feel that affects how rewarding the progression is - a lot of my enjoyment from this type of game comes in finding out what’s next.

That said, the visuals are lovely and, again like Samus Returns, it integrates the 3D details into the 2D levels beautifully. It looks gorgeous. And I like Adam’s robot voice. All our devices should speak like that.