It’s been four years since the last Metroid title graced us with it’s presence and nearly twenty since a brand new side-scroller was introduced. Metroid Dread is the first title to hit Nintendo’s ever hot selling Switch hybrid console and it has big shoes to fill. Those shoes are not only filled, but they even reach a point of overflow. With classic Metroid action and an entertaining storyline as well as a high quality Nintendo may have inadvertently put themselves in a rather unfortunate and interesting position.

Metroid Dread is a 2021 action-adventure game, it is developed by MercurySteam & Nintendo EPD, it is published by Nintendo. It is available exclusively on Nintendo Switch.

Editor’s Note: Slight to medium spoilers for Metroid Dread and perhaps the Metroid franchise may be present within this review.

Samus Aran returns in Metroid Dread.

In June 2021 a bit of history was made as Nintendo announced Metroid Dread a follow-up to 2002’s Metroid Fusion. This announcement was historic for a handful of reasons. Originally hinted at & discussed back in 2005 for the DS and years later for the 3DS it’s perhaps the only game cancelled by Nintendo to be revived. It’s the first original 2D Metroid since the aforementioned Fusion in nearly 20 years, and it’s of the biggest pre-ordered video games in quite some time. According to reports Dread smashed the record for pre-orders since E3 2021 becoming the most pre-ordered game on Amazon in three countries (US, UK, and Japan) and GameStop. It also was the first Metroid to launch with new hardware showcasing Nintendo’s absolute confidence in the project since it’s initial reveal.  With the admitted poor hand Metroid had been dealt throughout the years Dread as well as the upcoming Prime 4 has most definitely secured the title’s position as an important Nintendo IP for the foreseeable future.

Fight or flight the dangerous E.M.M.I.

THE GOOD: Metroid Dread canonically (?) takes place after the events of Metroid Fusion in which Samus defeated the deadly X parasites. Or at least that’s the case that appeared to be at the time. The Galactic Federation received a video seemingly confirming that the X have survived and are on a planet known as ZDR where their E.M.M.I are located. After losing communication with the E.M.M.I Samus is sent to investigate. Upon landing and exploring the last signal for the robots Samus is attacked by a rogue E.M.M.I. She narrowly escapes and learns from ADAM that all the E.M.M.I have been corrupted by the X hiding on ZDR. She also learns of another race of beings who have been weaponizing Metroid DNA in a plan to take over the galaxy. Samus now attempts regains her abilities to defeat the E.M.M.I and the race responsible behind everything.

First, let me start this review by providing Metroid fans some integrity by openly admitting that I am not a major fan of this franchise. It’d be more accurate to say I’m quite casual with the series dipping my toes in here and there. Like for example I remember playing all three Metroid Prime titles and seem to recall beating Prime 1 on GameCube. I absolutely bought, played, and beat Samus Returns on 3DS and reviewed it rather poorly. This was likely due to my disconnect with the franchise at the time and my diminishing mental health which I should probably re-do with a review more reflective of my current standards. That being said I liked the game a lot it was at the time a memorable experience. However, I find myself lacking many of those memories today. The excuse could be that Samus Returns was a remake and not an original title, but I doubt that’s the case as it was an original Metroid experience for me. One thing that definitely stuck to me was the counter mechanic featured in the game. It was crazy satisfying when you successfully pulled it off. That’s very much the case here in Metroid Dread especially if you’re lucky enough to counter an E.M.M.I. The first time I pulled it off I jumped in excitement and pure joy. I can only imagine how seasoned Metroid fans feel playing another side scrolling entry like it.

I mentioned earlier that Metroid had been dealt a poor hand and I stand by it. I think even the most hardened Nintendo fans will agree with me on this one. There aren’t many games in the franchise that could be considered decent or even flat out bad yet the series has sold poorly. While Nintendo themselves have these weird blow ups with certain console generations Metroid felt like a franchise that just didn’t resonate with a large group of people such as Pokemon or Zelda. That’s certainly changed with the release of the Nintendo Switch and it went on to create an abundance of new gamers as well as new Nintendo fans for the first time just as the Wii before it. It’s kind of funny honestly. When you look at Nintendo’s more obscure IP like Animal Crossing & Pikmin getting tons of hype and breaking franchise sales records at the start of the pandemic thanks to their Switch releases it felt only natural that Metroid would feel the effects of this. Even so the resurgence of new life Metroid has felt recently is still a bit of a shock to the system to anyone that’s had a long time connection to Nintendo overall like myself.

The counter mechanic from Samus Returns is back in Metroid Dread.

Gameplay is true to form in Metroid Dread. You traverse a strange alien planet and regain your signature power ups throughout the play. This includes an increasingly powerful beam canon, ball mode, the screw attack, etc. You also upgrade Samus’ suit to gain more ammo, health, and the ability to survive harsh conditions such as frost and burning heat. The E.M.M.I were surprisingly terrifying enemies even with their reveal in the initial trailer. You have to use strategy to escape including some abilities such as cloaking at the opportune time. If they spot you there’s a very high probability that you will die due to their quick speed. Every second counts and a delay in planning for the escape is most certainly death. Killing E.M.M.I also gives Samus new abilities to progress further within the world.

The boss designs are excellent and provide a challenging but easy enough learning curve in order to conquer them. Some abilities such as dashing and the counter give Samus an edge in battle and the player a bit of variety in strategy. The story was surprisingly dark in tone and without going too much into detail with spoilers there was some moments with genuine shock to them. Also I was not expecting this game to have voice acting which was a fun bonus.

Use Samus’ large array of weaponry and gadgets to dispose of alien threats.

THE BAD: For those not privy to the Metroidvania style I can see them having a particularly tough time with Metroid Dread. There were moments where I was stuck and I had to use a guide at least three times throughout my run. Younger players are going to be rather frustrated trying to understand the map and how to acquire the gear necessary to move forward and unlock further progression.

Survive the elements of a hostile alien world.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Metroid Dread will go down as one of the most memorable Nintendo games of all time due to it’s circumstances from development to release as well as it’s quality. Most were waiting for Metroid Prime 4 and Nintendo gave us a gem we never could have saw coming. For what it’s worth, in 2019 there were rumors of Nintendo reviving a game that was long cancelled that never got confirmed and we can only assume that to be Metroid Dread. I said that Nintendo may have inadvertently placed themselves in a rather unfortunate and interesting position with Dread’s release. Allow me to explain just what I mean by that. Metroid Prime 4 was announced at E3 2017 and it’s been scarce on updates since. In fact the biggest update we received was the fact that the game had it’s development restarted from scratch with a new team. Now that Dread has been released to universal acclaim Nintendo may have pit two Metroid games against each other in quality. Currently Metroid Dread is THE definitive modern Metroid experience.

And with Prime 4 already having some issues people are going to expect it to be just as good, perhaps even better than Dread. This is kind of scary to think about when you consider that Dread may very well have been a make or break moment for the franchise’s future. Hopefully this doesn’t put any insane amount of pressure on the Prime 4 team as they push forward with it’s development. The world is already crazy enough with issues concerning mental health and I hope the devs are doing ok with everything going on especially with how ridiculous some fandoms can be towards their community with the negativity and what not. For the sake of not ending this review on a sour note I will say that Metroid Dread whether played on the original Switch, Lite, or the new OLED is 100% worth every cent spent and I commend MercurySteam & EPD for their quality. As well as Nintendo for taking a huge chance on this franchise that deserves so much more than it’s gotten.