Metroid Dread

 Switch
User Score
8.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2790 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,386 out of 2790
  2. Mixed: 158 out of 2790
  3. Negative: 246 out of 2790
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  1. edreesespieces
    Aug 15, 2022
    3
    There were good parts to this game, and there were bad parts. I'll start with the good because it's shorter.

    The controls are really well done here. Adaptive, intuitive, and responsive. I like it all - except the lack of ability to use the dpad. And remapping controls via Switch isn't a solution; you cant remap the dpad to the analog. The story is super well done. I really like the    There were good parts to this game, and there were bad parts. I'll start with the good because it's shorter.

    The controls are really well done here. Adaptive, intuitive, and responsive. I like it all - except the lack of ability to use the dpad. And remapping controls via Switch isn't a solution; you cant remap the dpad to the analog.

    The story is super well done. I really like the premise and everything that happens. Cutscenes are snappy, the villian is interesting, and the ending is satisfying and meaningful. Samus characterization is well done,

    Now for the bad - the exploration aspects to this game. This game, as a good Metroidvania should do, does NOT INCENTIVIZE EXPLORATION. There is extremely minimal gameplay reward for exploration. Even when you get all energy tanks and missiles, you barely are stronger or more capable then before. It's essentially a waste of time to explore the map. The only reason you'd enjoy exploration is for the exploration itself. But the game doesnt actually reward you or make you feel good about finding secrets and new paths to areas because it's pointless and doesn't improve character progression. This is the backbone of the Metroidvania genre and it fails here.

    The game instead, chooses to focus on action and boss fights. They damage the exploration and Metrdoivania aspects in order to serve to make it a better action game. It succeeds in this, but I just don't like action games. That's why I play Metroid. Rayman and Cuphead are much better and well made action games, that get right to the point. This game is more Rayman and Cuphead than it is Hollow Knight, a game that massively rewards exploration.

    Last big negative, the areas all look and feel the same. There a dark, black filled corridoors inside a mechanical environment. It just felt stale to me. This was made even worse by the lack of melodic music. They attempted to make the music more "atmospheric" in style, which is acceptable in theory, but they did a very poor job of it. The best tracks in the game are just remixes of older themes. So, without cool music, there's even less reward for exploration and wandering around.The EMMI fights also serve to degrade the exploration experience; the game becomes a run-stealth type of game, focusing on adrenaline and repetition. It takes away from the somber, lonely feel I enjoy playing Metroid games. Instead of getting lost in the world, I have a constant reminder i am playing a video game and need to replay the level 20 times to beat it, like I did with a game like Ninja Gaiden or TMNT back on NES. Just retry the level over and over again. The world design is very gameified in this way, instead of feeling like a natural, breathing world like most Metroid games.

    Anyway, basically the game is bad at atmosphere, exploration, music, and good in gameplay and being an action game. I rated it 4 because because a good action game is not what Metroid should be about.    … Expand
  2. Ironfalcon997
    Jan 28, 2023
    0
    I could say so much about this game, but I'll just say this: Metroid is back, and it's incredible. Play it.
  3. plato1123
    Nov 18, 2021
    3
    At last a metroid sequel that's true to the original style. The graphics are pretty, the story is pretty good, and the controls are top notch.

    edit: Update: Well this game does a ton of things really well BUT the boss fights are just too hard and there's also just too much arbitrary back tracking. Who wants to fight the same boss 25 times? Nobody. I've played the entire series and    At last a metroid sequel that's true to the original style. The graphics are pretty, the story is pretty good, and the controls are top notch.

    edit: Update: Well this game does a ton of things really well BUT the boss fights are just too hard and there's also just too much arbitrary back tracking. Who wants to fight the same boss 25 times? Nobody. I've played the entire series and am really comfortable with the controls. Even after watching the youtube videos it can take dozens of tries to beat a boss. Nintendo scr3wed up this title because of this. Maybe they want you to pay them real dollars for health tank add ons. Nope, not doing it.    … Expand
  4. Xepher
    Dec 27, 2021
    4
    Controls are crap. So many buttons yet it takes like 5 inputs just to do 1 thing.
    Input latency is noticeable. The switch just can't handle quick time events.
    Making every enemy a bullet sponge isn't a good way to ramp up difficulty, it's just crap.
    Easily the worst metroid so far.
  5. matt1184
    Dec 27, 2021
    1
    This game... Nostalgia is there and it is definitely updated and polished from the old games, but the new counter and the forced use of duck and aim makes the game need precision that is impossible with a controller. This would make for a decent mouse and keyboard game, but as it is now, it simply isn't worth the price.
  6. vidalte
    Dec 26, 2021
    0
    Fantastic. Story, gameplay, graphics, art, music and ambience. If you like Metroid games, you gonna love this one.
  7. HONGYP
    May 21, 2022
    0
    I have to rate 0 to tell the developer how much I hate on the difficulty cannot be changed after started the game. After I played around 8~10 hours, I found that the some of the bosses are very difficult to handled. I have tried over 40 times but still not successfully kill the boss. I hope that the difficulty can be changed so that I can finish the game. Life is busy. I bought this gameI have to rate 0 to tell the developer how much I hate on the difficulty cannot be changed after started the game. After I played around 8~10 hours, I found that the some of the bosses are very difficult to handled. I have tried over 40 times but still not successfully kill the boss. I hope that the difficulty can be changed so that I can finish the game. Life is busy. I bought this game to have some relax after works, but seems like the game is tougher than my works.… Expand
  8. Omerm
    Nov 27, 2021
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Terrible level design. Since you need almost the full energy bar to beat the final boss, you end up going back to the previous maps to collect them all which requires you to spend so much time and this really sucks. I regret spending my hours for this game. Stay out of it and play other indie platform games that are more fun to play.… Expand
  9. BritishPerson
    Nov 4, 2021
    2
    i really like being able to play as samus from smash bros but the robots are too scary. if i wanted to constantly avoid being killed by mutant space creatures i would just play among us
  10. mvi_irl
    Nov 9, 2021
    3
    The main thing I'll give the game is that it is consistent. On the positive, it looks nice (not amazing but nice) and it sounds fabulous. However, the exploration feels like a dumbed-down version of its predecessors (never fear, you will never have to think about where to go next) and the combat consists of spamming the fire button and twitchy quick-time events (where you only press X).The main thing I'll give the game is that it is consistent. On the positive, it looks nice (not amazing but nice) and it sounds fabulous. However, the exploration feels like a dumbed-down version of its predecessors (never fear, you will never have to think about where to go next) and the combat consists of spamming the fire button and twitchy quick-time events (where you only press X). The story, in short, is dreadful and silly (like Other M silly). Maybe I'm getting old but the controls also felt more convoluted as well but that could just be me.… Expand
  11. Aticus
    Jan 9, 2022
    3
    Despite the name, don't expect this to be in the metroidvania genre -- it's much too linear for that. Rather than exploring an world that gradually opens up, you're ferreted down a set of corridors where the set dressing could pretty much be swapped out for another. There's no world building, no environmental storytelling. I think part of what made Super Metroid, SotN, Hollow Knight,Despite the name, don't expect this to be in the metroidvania genre -- it's much too linear for that. Rather than exploring an world that gradually opens up, you're ferreted down a set of corridors where the set dressing could pretty much be swapped out for another. There's no world building, no environmental storytelling. I think part of what made Super Metroid, SotN, Hollow Knight, and even Dark Souls so appealing was that they presented a cohesive and interconnected world. That feeling is lost as you're through teleporters to completely unrelated areas. So far, it feels like Metroid:Dread is to Super Metroid what Final Fantasy XIII was to Final Fantasy VI.

    The new gimmick added to the game is a set of enemies which are all carbon copies of each other which can instakill you and most of the time are unkillable. This tries to be suspenseful as you run around the portion of the map that they're in -- hence the "Dread" subtitle. They even rumble the joycons like a heartbeat to let you know that you're *supposed* to be scared. But this ends up being tedious, annoying, and boring more than anything else. So it seems like it tried and failed at being a survival horror as well.

    Lastly, the load times. The game has them. For a 2.5D platformer. In the year 2021.

    All in all, if you remove the Nintendo and Metroid branding you end up with a harmless but forgettable title that would have sold on steam for $15-$20 but few people would pick up unless it as on sale for $10 or less. Certainly not with the money.    … Expand
  12. Gais
    Oct 12, 2022
    0
    It's an excellent videogame. It's the best Samus' adventure in 2D of the whole saga
  13. DolphinReviews
    Jan 14, 2023
    0
    Metroid does not know how to make video games. It takes forever to load and when it does the gameplay is straight out of the Gameboy colour. 60$ for a 2D game is a SCAM! The only 2D game that should be $60 is Monkey Kong.
  14. chasky
    Nov 13, 2022
    0
    El mejor metroid y mi juego favorito, el diseño de niveles es muy bueno, el apartado grafico tambien, sigue manteniendo la esencia de anteriores metroid pero innova lo necesario para que no se sienta repetitivo.
  15. OmegaJ17
    Jan 21, 2023
    1
    Good thing I only bought a demo for this mess. I was really looking forward to this game, and I bought a demo to make sure I was ready. But boy was I wrong…

    The intro makes NO SENSE AT ALL. So, Samus basically gets word that the x-parasites (from fusion) are on a new planet she probably never heard of and found on complete accident. There are also some robots that they’re using to kill    Good thing I only bought a demo for this mess. I was really looking forward to this game, and I bought a demo to make sure I was ready. But boy was I wrong…

    The intro makes NO SENSE AT ALL. So, Samus basically gets word that the x-parasites (from fusion) are on a new planet she probably never heard of and found on complete accident. There are also some robots that they’re using to kill the x-parasites? Couldn’t the maker of the Robots just notify Samus that they’ve got the situation under control? The robots stop working ( because the game would’ve been over before it began if that wasn’t the case), so Samus ( with a hideous close up on her face to boot) beams down to the planet And encounters this Bird who drains all her power and turns her armor blue? WHAT!?

    The Combat in this is so boring and simple it’s not even funny. The way you kill every single enemy in this is to shoot them with your laser, that’s it. There’s this punch you can do to randomly instakill an enemy, which is actually a bit cool. Maybe there should’ve been some enemies that can only be damaged by that. But nope! Every enemy in this game can be considered palette swaps since they all die the same way.

    The only reason this is not a 0 is because the EMMI chases are actually quite fun. They’re big mazes that you have to get out of to defeat the EMMI, but you have to make sure the EMMI doesn’t catch you and trigger the game over screen. It’s a blast of adrenaline and challenge to an otherwise easy and boring game. If there was a game based entirely off this alone, I’d give it a solid 9 out of 10.

    But alas, the game itself is just tedious and I cannot imagine shelling out 60 bucks for this. Nintendo should fire mercury steam for ruining the Metroid IP. “Metroid Dread”? More like, “Metroid, I Dread what your next installment is if this is the direction you’re going”!    … Expand
  16. GamerDad2023
    Feb 28, 2023
    4
    Fans of great Metroidvanias like Hollow Knight or Ori will likely be disappointed by what amounts to 4 hours of quality content stretched into 8 hours of annoying gameplay. Great art and some cool concepts can't make up for the tons of quick-time events, sub-par controls (which start great), punishing bosses, terrible story, mediocre music, limited back-tracking (it funnels you), andFans of great Metroidvanias like Hollow Knight or Ori will likely be disappointed by what amounts to 4 hours of quality content stretched into 8 hours of annoying gameplay. Great art and some cool concepts can't make up for the tons of quick-time events, sub-par controls (which start great), punishing bosses, terrible story, mediocre music, limited back-tracking (it funnels you), and attacking every other block (not-so-fun exploration). 3 mini-bosses (one of which one-shots you) are each rehashed 6 times.… Expand
  17. triadne
    Mar 15, 2023
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I can't remember the last time I played a game with such a ridiculously complex and unintuitive controls. I'm spending the majority of the time trying to remember which button combination I need to press, rather than enjoying the game world. it's incredibly furstrating, a mess of cussing and frayed temper. not satisfying at all. the level design is bad. the entire map is a mess, with not much in the way of recognisable areas that would be familiar when you look at the map. you spend most of the time lost, with arbitrary roadblocks shoved in your way for no discernible reason. the suit design is nonsense, with 'lights' behaving like painted lines and meandering all over her body without rhyme or reason. puzzle design is inconsistent. for example, the game tells you specifically that your scan ability will show you blocks that you can break with your abilities, HOWEVER there is a wall that can be destroyed by power bombs that is not marked in any way. just one example. the narrative is disjointed and nonsensical. there is ample opportunity for various concepts and character history to be dripfed to us so we are reminded of context of the situation, instead it feels like the end is one massive context dump and shock reveal all in one. the game just expects you to accept all this stuff seemingly out of the blue.
    lastly, when did they decide to blow up a planet, and how exactly did they physically do that?

    also, whoever came up with the idea of QTE as a major required game mechanic, fire them. that trash gimmick does not belong in a metroid style game.    … Expand
  18. Hack
    Jul 29, 2023
    2
    One of the most frustrating, unfun games I have ever played. I got about halfway through and turned it off and put it onto eBay. It just has zero redeeming features, nothing about Metroid Dread made me want to continue playing but the constant one-shot deaths, obscure puzzles and backtracking certainly made me want to turn it off. Don't go in expecting rewarding difficulty like Dark Souls,One of the most frustrating, unfun games I have ever played. I got about halfway through and turned it off and put it onto eBay. It just has zero redeeming features, nothing about Metroid Dread made me want to continue playing but the constant one-shot deaths, obscure puzzles and backtracking certainly made me want to turn it off. Don't go in expecting rewarding difficulty like Dark Souls, it's just pure BS that will infuriate you. I feel like the game just assumes you've played every Metroid game which I haven't, and that made it a terrible experience as someone new to the franchise.… Expand
  19. DinoBeam
    Aug 5, 2023
    2
    Got stuck in the demo, had to use a guide to progress because it is very poor at communicating, then I got to these annoying enemies you have to run away from. First of all that isn't fun, second of all you have to be fast so then you can't get your bearings and memorize the level, which is very important in these games. No I'm looking at other reviews and hearing of repeated bossGot stuck in the demo, had to use a guide to progress because it is very poor at communicating, then I got to these annoying enemies you have to run away from. First of all that isn't fun, second of all you have to be fast so then you can't get your bearings and memorize the level, which is very important in these games. No I'm looking at other reviews and hearing of repeated boss fights, that's just sad, what an overhyped mess.… Expand
  20. 113
    May 12, 2023
    4
    This game is revolutionizing, They have never made a game like this before. The only downfall of this game is that I dont like having a cute girl (which is my wife to be) being put in horrifying situations... 7/10
  21. RaggyB
    May 29, 2023
    0
    Incredible game, best since Super Metroid maybe even slightly better. Metroid Returns was just a warmup act, this is the main attraction. Best in show graphics, music, gameplay, and map of the Switch (excluding the current era of Zelda perhaps). Does a far stronger job of establishing character than all of the cutscenes Metroid Other M.
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Awards & Rankings

9
#9 Best Switch Game of 2021
1
#1 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 124 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 116 out of 124
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 124
  3. Negative: 0 out of 124
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 18, 2022
    100
    Quotation forthcoming.
  2. IGN Adria
    Jan 20, 2022
    90
    After almost 20 years we finally have a sequel to the 2D series of Metroid games! Considering that, Dread does a great job of combining the new modern combat with the old elements of research and advancement, and it doesn't hurt that we have some of the best boss fights in the series. A true gem and a must have for all Switch gamers.
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  3. JeuxActu
    Dec 13, 2021
    85
    Taking up the torch of a series interrupted nineteen years ago is never an easy task, but the MercurySteam studio is doing it with honors! The developers have chosen the path of security while perfectly respecting the spirit of the previous episodes, to the detriment of true modernity.
    Read full review
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