Yup.
There are advantages to buying Nordisk Games beyond just Avalanche and Super massive.
1 Like
This is shaping up to be my GOTY… 2-3 hours in, so good…
The movement of Samus is the best of the series.
3 Likes
We’re back in business people. This game is the good stuff.
Explored as much of the first main zone as I could. Took down the boss & the EMMI. It felt awesome. Onward & upward to the second zone.
It’s tough but save stations & checkpoints are plentiful. It’s a throwback to that classic sense of difficulty, in a more convenient style for the modern audience. It looks, sounds & feels wonderful.
Basically it’s everything I wanted (so far) & I love it.
2 Likes
Everyone was hyped about the game so I bought it not really ever having played metroidvanias and it was so boring I fell asleep, I don’t get what people like. Not trying to bash, thought I’d love it with everyone raving but it was just so boring.
Huge fan of Super Metroid and Prime 1 here, but I’m really underwhelmed by Dread so far, sorry to say. It feels far more like Fusion than any other Metroid game, and that is a bad, bad thing. Too linear so far (I understand this will change further in), too much exposition, too much Adam. I want zero story, zero dialogue, total isolation, and this ain’t that. I want weird, organic, gooey, sludgey alien environments, and this overly clinical industrial setting is doing nothing for me at all. At times it feels more like Samus is exploring an Amazon warehouse in Milton Keynes than a disgusting alien world.
whaa really? i only played about an hour but, not that it was the funnest game ever but the EMMI parts were high tension for me.
It was marketed as a direct sequel to Fusion… so I don’t know what you were expecting.
Zero story wouldn’t make sense for what will be the last title in the Metroid series chronologically…
Just not my game I guess
I wouldn’t say I was ‘expecting’ anything - hoping, rather, for a return to Metroid’s strengths, rather than a continuation of a lot of stuff that made Fusion one of the weaker entries in the franchise. I’m only three E.M.M.I.s down though, so there’s time for it to improve.
Ok so I sort of caved in when I went to my local Gamestop this morning and they had it in Stock. Which is a first for a non pre ordered title. Went back home to pick up some games to trade in and then came back and bought a copy. I do have a 3 day return policy if I want to beat it an return it. Thats the beauty of buying physical. You can sell it after.
I’ve played for about 2 Hours got done with 2 EMMI and the first boss.
Here are my thoughts positives and negatives…things could change however.
- Game Runs 60FPS 95% of the time a few hiccups during counters. Any Switch game that can run at 60FPS gets bonus point for me. Samus moves fantastically well. Sharpest and tightest 2D metroid. Not saying much considering most of them have been on handheld hardware but still.
- Visually its pretty nice.
- Level design is really interesting so far
Now here’s a few things I either don’t like or am a bit skeptical about
- Soundtrack is mediocre. Really disappointing when Prime games and Super have GOAT tier soundtracks.
- Can’t map Controls. This can be fixed I Hope. Default controls are fine but wish you could map some of the controls to different buttons.
- EMMI encounters aren’t fun at all. Not hard but just annoying. Far too much trial and error. The counter attacks are too harsh but really these are pace stopping encounters. Now I’ve only faced 2. But I really hope they aren’t frequent. Kind of take away from the exploration. Not finding them fun at all. The only time they’re ok is when you have the Beam to kill them…then It sort of makes them easier to deal with. Just running away it just a bit of a nuisance. I hope its not as frequent. Kind of ruins the pacing. Especially restarting so many times trying to figure out how to escape. Its not hard just a bit annoying.
- Game is linear but I understand it opens up later. The Map isn’t great. Looks cluttered and should have way less info than it does or some sort of filter to get rid of stuff you don’t need to see. Easy enough to follow but you sort of have to focus more than you need to to know where you want to go.
Thats pretty much it for first 2 hours. I’m enjoying it though. Much better than Samus Returns which was disappointing for me. This could be in that sort of 2nd tier of Metroid games if it can deliver more on the positives.
Overall I was never overhyping this game. Now Prime 4 is a different story. But that game has way more to live up to.
Theyre tense the first couple of times. But with the backtracking back to those areas they lose that tension. Thats just me though
Also this game is NOT hard lol. I’ve heard people call it hard
Sorry. This is the EASIEST 2D metroid game I’ve played. Beat the boss first go. THe only times I’ve died was being caught by EMMI which doesn’t really count due to the nature of those encounters.
I think reviewers even say its one of the easiest. The only hard parts are some late game bosses. We’ll see.
Also something about OC and MC. For single platform games. The OC and MC scores are going to be nearly identical. OC takes into account all platforms. Thats why MC scores differ from OC for multiplats. OC and MC are sort of the same when it comes to 1 platform games because they involve virtually the exact same reviews. MC separates platform.
1 Like
I’m enjoying my time with this a lot more today. Having found a bunch of abilities and unlocked the (really lovely looking) fourth and fifth areas of the game, it’s given much more opportunity for unguided exploration and feels closer to old Metroid than the SA-X-esque E.M.M.I. antics of yesterday. It’s nowhere near the nadir that Fusion was overall. I didn’t even mind the huge new exposition dump, which thankfully managed to avoid Other M’ing itself. Looks really great too - 3D sidescrollers are so often hideous, but they’re stuffing these new backdrops with a lot of lovely, intricate details.
Yeah this game is the good stuff, my first impression was not wrong. It’s tight, focused, polished & so much fun to play.
I’m in the 3rd zone, 2 EMMI & 2 bosses down, got the varia suit & the morph ball, started teleporting around… I’m having such a good time.
The balls on Nintendo. To just bring Metroid back in such style, after all this time. Absolute mad lads.
1 Like
Here’s my list after completing Dread (very satisfying end to the story arc…)
- Super Metroid
- Metroid Fusion
- Zero Mission
- Metroid Dread
- Metroid Prime
- Metroid Samus Returns
- Metroid Prime 2
- Metroid Prime 3
- Metroid
- Federation Force
- Other M
1 Like
In an always-online gaming climate of season passes, microtransactions, achievements and trophies, there’s something almost blissful about playing a short, lean, laser-focused little game with such immensely high production values. I do enjoy my achievements and occasional bits of DLC and the like, but the AAA space could do with a much healthier dose of content like this.
After something of a rocky start, Metroid Dread is now up there with Psychonauts 2 as best thing I’ve played this year.
1 Like
Just out of curiosity, what’s everyone’s counter game like against the EMMI?
I’ve experimented a bit, letting them catch Samus. Been able to land the first counter (the hand) a few times now, but I just can’t get the timing for the second one (the eye attack that actually kills her).
You aren’t supposed to counter it. Thsts like a last resort. Also every EMMI has different timing to the counter making it harder to learn. And by the time you learn to counter you’re killing it anyway.
These sections for me are just die a few times trial and error to get out.
Yes I’m aware it’s a last resort. The game makes that clear right at the start. I’ve enjoyed trying to learn the timing so far though, it’s made the EMMI encounters more fun for me.
I beat Metroid Dread after nearly throwing in the towel because I had an hour and a half left. It was ok but kinda a letdown overall. Controls are lousy, design is mostly stuck in the Super Metroid/Fusion era without those games’ killer atmosphere and endearing simplicity (seriously, QOL features like emergency autosave would be nice), story is good, visual design excellent, QTEs annoying as hell and bosses aggrivating. It’s far from bad, but with so many great Metroidvanias offering more and better for a third of the price, hard to recommend urgently unless you’re a megafan. Still nice to see a 2D Metroid again at least. I think the team has a masterpiece in them, I just don’t think Dread is it.
1 Like
I’d prefer it if they took like 80% or 50% of health and it was a 2 hit KO or something. It gets irritating have to keep resetting. The timing for coutners is too tight for it to be fun. Luckily these sections have easier pathways to exit
The only time its fun for me is when I’ve got the ability to Kill it.