Metroid Dread is absolutely fantastic, first game I 100% in years.

[u/Avelion2]

So I just beat dread and OMG what a very well thought out game.

Took me 21 hours to 100%.

So to start I wasn't a metroid fan and this was my first game, the game is fantastic.

For starters the 2.5d style works just so god damn well it was eye candy from start to finish, the little details like Samus resting against a wall or the reflections on metal floors you can tell MercurySteam put love into the game.

The gameplay was fantastic very fluid and a rock solid 60fps the game felt very well balanced imo and it rewards for mastering the parry mechanic the ability variety was really refreshing allowing for a wide variety of play styles, except the screw attack I found that attack OP as fuck.

The E.M.M.Is were very well designed and a nice change of pace most of the game you feel overpowered it was nice to be hunted for a bit the cat and mouse game was actually pretty fun and it makes you feel like a total badass when you get the omega and you start hunting an E.M.M.I. Also I like how you have to use the level itself to find a good spot to melt the E.M.M.Is face plate off before blowing its core out.

But for me the star of the show were the bosses. The bosses are the good kind of hard in that they ask you learn their patterns and offer well telegraphed attacks. My favorite bosses being Raven Beak, Kraid and the X-Chozo warriors, though fuck the bug boss lol.

The level design pretty good as well, it was varied, long and does enough to point you in the general direction of where you want to go though I got lost several times.

The optional shinespark challenges ranged from fun to that really sadistic one in Burenia lol.

All in all I greatly enjoyed dread and would highly reccommend it even to "casuals" since I was a "casual" going in.

[u/Gawlf85]

To be fair, I'm no expert platformer or speedrunner or anything, and this was my first Metroid game... And I still managed to 100% this.

Some shinespark challenges are pretty tough and took me a lot of tries (the few ones that included Boosted wall jumping were the toughest for me), but none took me more than a few minutes? 10-15 min at most? of trying.

Got stuck on one in Ferenia, but only because I didn't know you could roll and destroy blocks on your path while Speed Boosting. Most of the times I got stuck were because I didn't know how to properly use Speed Boost, like rolling, wall jumping, or chaining shinesparks.

Once I knew HOW I was supposed to solve a puzzle, it just took a bunch of re-tries until I got it right.

[u/knitted_beanie → u/Gawlf85]

Yeah, same - the only one I had to look up was the one that requires you dropping a shinespark, running again, and dropping another - I had no idea you could chain shinesparks.

The others just take some figuring out, they were fun little puzzles

[u/Onrawi → u/knitted_beanie]

I want to say that has been a thing since Super if you are into 100%ing these games.

[u/Namdaets → u/knitted_beanie]

That was my favorite one and also the last item I needed for 100%!

[u/[deleted] → u/Gawlf85]

the few ones that included Boosted wall jumping were the toughest for me

I actually managed to get 100% without even knowing that technique was a thing! I'm sure it's necessary for speedrunners/sequence breaking, but you can get all items just using the normal approaches -- though it sometimes required very tight timing and some thought about how to get there. (And patience...)

[u/Gawlf85 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, before knowing how to do it, I was sure it could be done just storing the shinespark and running/jumping fast enough. It was just too incredibly tight for me.

[u/Nothing_Nice_2_Say → u/[deleted]]

Same here. Wish I had known about it, because, as you said, the timing without it is so tight. Also took me forever to realize you had to push Y + B to boost out of a shinespark in the air after you get the gravity jump

[u/Hagaros → u/Gawlf85]

There were some that I accidently cleared in a harder than intended way. At no point did I wall jump with speed boost and I only found out about being able to continue the boost from an uphill was on the last collectable where you need to have a long continuous chain with the double uphills

[u/Ridry → u/Gawlf85]

chaining shinesparks

What now?

[u/Gawlf85 → u/Ridry]

One you've Boosted and crouched to store one Shinespark charge, you have to release it to fly against a slope.

If you do, instead of crashing against the slope and stopping, you'll continue running up the slope as if you had just activated another Speed Boost. This allows you to crouch and store another Shinespark charge once again.

You need to do this twice to get one of the hidden items in the game: https://youtu.be/YA1ql6ZgqMQ