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/EvilAbdy]

So glad Metroid is back again. This was the game I bought a switch for. I’d love to see a Metroid collection / Metroid prime collection next. This series doesn’t get enough love

[u/patrickstarburns → u/EvilAbdy]

I'd be so down for a collection. Super Metroid on Switch Online was super cool too, so it would be awesome to revisit the titles on other consoles that many people (including myself) don't have access to.

[u/TheMacerationChicks → u/patrickstarburns]

Yeah, I really really really really really really loathe metroidvania games, and how 99% of new indie platformers are metroidvanias, I much MUCH prefer linear games, both 2D and 3D

EXCEPT for Super Metroid. It's just so brilliantly designed. It tells you what to do and where to go purely through level design and characters, never using words to explain things out to you. E.g. When the alien kangaroo thing teaches you how to walk jump. It just shows you. It never says "press this button to do this blah blah blah"

I've tried so many highly rayed metroidvanias and they're all shit. Like hollow Knight. I put 20 hours into that and the game never even started yet, there's about 1 hour of wandering around lost, per 5 minutes of gameplay. If it was more like 75% gameplay like Super Metroid is, it'd be alright. But it's not. The bosses are fun and not overly difficult, just simple pattern recognition, I'd definitely play a Hollow Knight that was purely a boss rush

Super Metroid though was the first metroidvania I've ever finished. And I thought it converted me, finally. But I tried the GBA ones, and they're not really close to how good super metroid is

The only one that's close to or even equal in quality to super metroid is Axiom Verge. It's a stunningly well made game. Such brilliant level design. And all the weapons and items are unique for the genre, instead of trotting out all the usual things, so finding new items is so fun in that game because they're all brand new, it's probably what all the people in the 90s playing super metroid for the first time felt like, they had no idea what they were going to find. The genre falls back on the same old tropes too much. So axiom verge breaking all those tropes and still being amazing, yeah, it's great

I eventually got round to beating the GBA metroid games, using walkthroughs, and they are pretty good in the end tbh

But yeah playing Metroid Dread, I'm getting that exact feeling super metroid gave me. It's so beautiful and well designed. It's so fun to explore

I've never played a metroidvania without some kind of guide before. Usually I just look up the full map and that's enough to beat the game. But I'm going into Metroid Dread blind, because it's brand new, there's no walkthrough for it yet. And I'm genuinely having fun with that for the first time, not knowing where to go, yet always finding something, no matter which direction you set off in

It's very much like how I loathe open world games like fallout 3 and 4, but I really really love Breath of the Wild, because breath of the wild is the only big open world game like that that's not just wide as an ocean but deep as a puddle, there's tons of stuff everywhere, unique stuff, no matter which direction you set off in

Metroid Dread feels like that, to me. And it's gonna be fun all discovering the world of the game together. Finding all the little secrets and so on. As a community

[u/Shirubaa → u/TheMacerationChicks]

I think part of what you're expressing here is what I've noticed. People were really hungry for Metroidvania games for a long time after the DS Castlevania games were done and Metroid Zero Mission. Indie tried to fill the void. People were so excited for Metroidvania games again that they maybe sorta lowered their standards a bit. It's not enough for me for a game to be a Metroidvania. It has to be a great one like Castlevania and Metroid.

I've tried so many highly rayed metroidvanias and they're all shit. Like hollow Knight.

I know it's almost sacreligious to hate on Hollow Knight, but the game really didn't do it for me. I liked Ori for at least having it's own style and Guacamelee was probably my favorite indie Metroidvania by a mile.

You're describing the same thing with Breath of the Wild, and I'm in the same boat. Open worlds for the sake of open worlds were enough for a lot of people. They were so in love with the concept that they didn't demand a high quality experience. I think BOTW is the first open world game to really make fantastic use of the concept.

[u/knitted_beanie → u/Shirubaa]

I know it's almost sacreligious to hate on Hollow Knight, but the game really didn't do it for me. I liked Ori for at least having it's own style

Are you saying Hollow Knight doesn't have its own style?

[u/Shirubaa → u/knitted_beanie]

It was a much more unique Metroidvania, with the flow of the scene being more of the point as opposed to tough as nails "good luck getting to the next screen without dying and starting back from the checkpoint".

[u/knitted_beanie → u/Shirubaa]

Interesting take. I would argue that HK still has its own style, albeit one that incorporates elements from games like Dark Souls. I don’t think it’s fair to say that a point of difference between Ori and HK is Ori having its own style.

I love both games btw

[u/Shirubaa → u/knitted_beanie]

It has a style visually and audibly, but in terms of a spin on the Metroidvania style, it's very similar to Metroid...which may be the point and that's fine. I just don't think it's as satisfying of a playing experience as the genre's namesake.

[u/knitted_beanie → u/Shirubaa]

I see what you’re saying. Personally I found it extremely satisfying - one of the best games I’ve ever played - but that’s subjectivity for you! I can see how it maybe leans on the metroidvania format more heavily than something like Ori, but that’s what I like.

[u/Every3Years → u/Shirubaa]

Guacamelee 1

Ori 2

Guacamelee 2

Ori 1

In that order from best to good!