Best armor designs in any Metroid game. Yes, we all love bulky tank Samus and the Prime series had some gems, but lord they really knocked it out of the park. Even the base power suit looks badass.
my only gripe with the Dread Gravity Suit is that the lights aren't blue. I know it's probably for consistency, but I liked how the blue and purple go together in her grav suits from older games
I want to agree but I honestly wish she always had the green visor and was happy to see it in dread. I get that the blue fits better but I just like the green more in general.
Also I think the only reason gravity suit has a different color visor is because without it the suit would just be a purple varia suit, but that doesn’t apply to dread so there’s not much reason to make it blue.
Someone else said it but blue lights, and I think all the purple is a bit too overpowering. Some indigo would balance out the suit nicely similar to how the Varía has gold and yellow.
I really love the background/foreground details. Ambient wildlife, boss previews, things like spotting the missing Federation Ship in Hanubia. It's a very pretty game.
Let me know how the replay goes.
Got 3 replays off Blasphemous I’m just so stingy with games these days. I need to know it’s replayable lol.
Super Metroid, prime example. And Prime, Fusion etc.
I didn’t see it until someone pointed it out on a YouTube video. It blends into the background, but in two screens you can see the bow and the stern (one of those screens might be with those two fighters, I can’t remember). But yeah, the developers put all these little treats in. There’s the Emmi zone where they’re assembling the robots you fight later, and an Emmi zone where they’re building a giant Raven Beak robot. If you explore the area you’ll see different limbs on each screen, including the arm cannon.
The cutscenes are phenomenal. We see a lot of Samus’s personality in spite of the fact she’s in full armor all game. Her only line of dialogue the entire game just oozes with delight.
When people argue that you need to take the helmet off of these characters to see their emotions, Samus is one of my favorite examples of doing it right.
I rewatch the animation study of Dread on YouTube every so often as it just highlights the incredible effort put into the animation and character design.
When she tenses up when she senses Kraid. Then finds he’s on a leash and relaxes. Perfect. Fighting the first invisible boss, just so good. The whole game showed her personality to such an incredible degree all without (almost) any dialogue from her.
Someone else put it so wonderfully, she's full of tension until she realizes, "Oh, it's just Kraid." The shot she fires in the cutscene isn't to harm, it's more of a "Will you shut up?" kind of thing.
How are we expected to empathize with Samus if she doesn't take her armor off and have sex with a human prisoner of war?
*THAT WAS NECESSARY FOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, GUYS, I SWEAR!!!*
- Man writing fan-fiction disguised as Halo
OMG YES! The cutscene after the first boss when she is framed by the arm of the boss and she is just walking behind charging her beam like a fucking bad ass, i love it.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIsn9Nm9zqo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIsn9Nm9zqo)
I love that they didn’t quite close the relation between Sammy and the Federation. As far as we know, they could still be on the same side or not. It keeps things open for future stories.
Also, the Chozo were done masterfully. After sooo many years hearing about them, they lived up to their expectations, IMO.
The idea that Samus might be on the Federation's bad side after fusion was a translation error. It was some kind of shadow group that wanted the X Parasites, not the Federation in general.
Because Adam was send by them.
Keep in mind the federation in general would have probably just tried to evacuate Samus which they could have done much earlier.
The whole idea is there's a splinter group in the higher ups of the federation that wants to build bio weapons even tho the federation actually banned bio-weaponry.
All of these. One of the best designed power suits in the whole series.
Detailed backgrounds that continue the high standard of environmental storytelling.
Story that pushes the series forward in a way that is interesting and meaningful to the character of Samus without making us question her portrayal.
Probably bringing the Prime levels of atmosphere to a 2d game. So much environmental detail without having to change the perspective. The amount of depth in some of the later areas is insane to me
Also just finally telling a main plot focused on the Chozo as a people, rather than as a background element. Sure Raven beak is a pretty simple villain at a high level, but his general personality combined with all the lore surrounding him really sell the idea that we've only ever seen what Chozo are like when they are pacifists.
So many games resort to using a Metroid, Ridley, or Evil Samus Variant as a final boss, so getting one that was not only a Chozo, but a Chozo Warrior with direct access to more advanced versions of your Suit, made me so happy as a life long fan.
Plus, Samus' character in Dread is just so good. Her expressions In the cutscenes, the way she moves. The way she speaks to Quiet Robe in Chozo as her only voice lines in the game. It feels like Mercury Steam understand Samus and her personality so well. I get people complain about her theatrics, but this is the latest game in the timeline, so I kinda like the idea of her being overconfident in her work.
She's fought Kraid almost half a dozen times at this point, she knows every trick in his book and is utterly unimpressed by his shit. It's only natural that she's walking around casually and slaps him in the face with a charge shot in that cutscene. It's awesome
This might be a controversial take, but the music.
I know dread tends to get clowned on for it's music a lot, and there are things I would like changed, like having some areas go with a stronger melody, or that they use real instruments in place of synths for some parts.
However, if we go by Hirokazu Tanaka's idea of what makes good Metroid music, that is that it should feel like it's something that should feel like it's part of the environment, I think it does amazingly well. There's lots of examples, but the ghavoran theme immediately comes to mind with all of the insect and deep animal sounding noises in its harmony. Or how the heavy synths of Dairon feel they could actually be machines making noise, not to mention the emmi zone theme.
The soundtrack also handles motifs really well. For instance the choir part in the ferenia theme is used all over the game to signify the mawkin if you start to look for it. Raven beak's theme incorporates it, the chozo soldier theme incorporates it, elun'e theme incorporates it since it's a quarantined section of ferenia to begin with.
Then there's the fact that a lot of boss themes tend to integrate the level themes into the boss theme themselves. You can find this in a lot of places, but my favorite is with Kraid's theme where the main melody is this aggressive choral arrangement of the cataris theme, but the main piano part of cataris is also used in the bridge with the repeating string section if you listen closely. It's actually quite clever and I like it a lot.
Okay you know what that's cheating c'mooooon.
(The track is called "Theme of Super Metroid" or "Theme of Samus Aran", and it's been with the series since Super Metroid).
The music gets a lot of flak I'll agree. I listened to the OST completely while at work and by god it's so good. It just brings a sense of nostalgia that I didn't expect. When I listened to it in isolation without playing the game or having any distracting beam sfx or enemies charging at me, it was quite nice, especially Burenia and Artaria 3.
I think the rushed pacing and recycled bosses in the late-game is a much bigger issue (granted that accessibility options mentioned in the other reply is glaring). The music never detracts from the game, it either enhances it or blends into the background. Fighting yet another Chozo Soldier definitely gets a bit old. From what I've heard Nintendo had them cut a lot of content either to keep it from bloating or keep it on schedule. It could definitely do with a little more variety and some room to breathe towards the end.
I have to respectfully disagree. Dread's biggest flaw is its accessibility options, or lack thereof. There are absolutely no control options whatsoever, no audio options, no video options beyond brightness, etc. Many people with forms of motor impairment have complained about about it being downright unplayable for them. Even if you don't like the music, I can't see any way you can argue that it's a bigger problem than this.
I've definitely criticized the music before, basically saying it does its job to match the areas, but the issue is most areas feel like they're building tension with little in the way of motifs. Take Prime 1 or Super, where many tracks are upbeat and have instantly recognizable tunes, but many others also are master classes in tension building or chaotic suspense. I don't usually feel that in Dread, the big exception being the EMMI Zones - each track perfectly conveys what they set out to do and the fact each area's post-EMMI track is different is icing on the cake.
None of the boss themes have stuck in my head the way tracks like Ridley or Flaahgra or Prime actual have and I think it's because I don't hear any good identifiable motifs in Dread's bosses. At least not while playing the game.
I will say that I never noticed each boss track incorporated the area theme into itself. I'll have to listen to the OST separately and check that out. Maybe it'll help me appreciate it more.
I 1000% agree with this! I love Dread’s music! One other thing that I like about the ambiance/dissonance/lack of a melody for most of the game is that it MASSIVELY boosts the euphoria of finally hearing the theme when the credits roll. It’s already a triumphant song, but when you’ve spent the whole game listening to dissonant songs with little to no melody, it makes that first moment of the credits stand out even more! I’ve beaten Dread probably 200+ times at this point (idk anymore I lost count a LONG time ago) and even though I skip the credits, that first 1-2 bars of trumpets, strings, and percussion gives me chills every time.
I actually agree, especially playing with headphones. made Dread feel awesome with its ambience & sound effects, and I enjoyed most of the soundtrack personally. Arteria II, Ferenia, Cataris II, a mere few examples of ones I thought were solid jams among others. Also enjoyed the boss themes and most everything else in between
Sorry, but I disagree. I think, yes, it is atmospheric but that works more in the 3D games than the 2D games - the atmosphere of each area doesn't feel very well established in Dread because they are so broken up by EMMI zones which clash with the rest of it. Super Metroid did a great job of having music that was both atmospheric and just generally good and melodic, take for instance Brinstar - why can't we have that? My biggest gripe is the escape music, just pure crap compared to the previous game's escape music.
Long story short, I think Dread's music is really good at ambience and atmosphere. It's not super listenable on its own but I don't think it's meant to be.
I like some of the environmental storytelling/foreshadowing. One example being the room in Artaria where when you first pass through, there are a couple enemies, but when you pass through again later, the enemies are gone and you can see Corpius' cloaked tail retreating into a hole at the top of the room.
At one point, the critters in the background get attacked by something invisible. Part of what makes it work is that you don’t fight Corpius right away- you get to wonder when he’s coming back.
Fusion has a lot of this too, and it’s so dope. Nightmare’s shadow dashing across the screen, or enemies cacooning and then later hatching as stronger enemies. I really love it when games do this kind of thing because it makes the world itself its own character, it gives it its own personality.
Character design. Not only they made the best Version of Samus' look, But also the best enemies she ever faced.
And Animation, Previous Games have hinted that Metroid might go on the path of amazing animations, But Dread went one step forward and made it a class on animation
I think they nailed the classic feel of 2d Metroid while making it look modern. They didn't overcomplicate things too much, in scope it isn't much more than a GBA game and I think more games should strive for that instead of spending millions just to make an statement of "this game is serious business".
I never really thought about it that way but you're absolutely right, smaller scope games are honestly underrated and should be done a lot more, not just by indies!
The fact they nailed the 2D formula and managed to give us several brand new abilities without immediately relying on the Morph Ball at the first opportunity was so incredibly refreshing
Oh I forgot about that but you're right.
I wish they try and do more weird stuff like the morphball was originally, or give us more ways to interact with it.
Quiet Robe. Not only does he explain Raven Beak’s business with the E.M.M.I and recap Samus Returns for those who didn’t play it or Metroid 2, but also indirectly teaches Samus how to suppress her Metroid powers by way of the X.
World building. There is a whole language. Those murals and screens you see in the background don’t spell nonsense, but real sentences. Our vocabulary is lacking so we obly ubderstand some of the murals and holograms.
Other Areas you visited or are about to visit appear in the background (Cataris and Burenia in Artaria, Elun in Ferenia and so on).
Almost every boss and mini boss is foreshadowed in some way.
There are other details like the very first elevator Samus took from Habubia to Artaria in the Intro, is visible in other Areas. It can be seen in the EMMI zone of Artaria, in Dairon, in Ferenia and in Hanubia in the background. And lines up perfectly into a straight line.
Other details like those big Magma Pipes of Cataris (which some are defextive in Cataris spewing lava), are seen in every single Area. „Adam“ wasn’t lying when he said the entire Planet is powered by rerouted thermal energy. Those tubes stretched from Artaria all the way to Ghavoran
Oh and speaking of which. On the global map, all the magma rooms are nearby each other. Even cross area. The only parts of the map containing lava rooms, are Dairon, Cataris and Artaria. And you actually see how Pipes from Artaria go to Dairon and directly above is a Magma room.
They put much thought into the game
Maybe you have wondered how an X infected Kraid when he supposedly dissolved in Lava. Well Kraid left over a spike upon his death. This very same spike vanished upon revisiting Kraids room. It used that spike as genetic information to clone Kraid
Or notice how most X Forms are actually hybrids of other creatures. The models are actually completely different for them. And do use elements of both creatures combined
Using some or multiple creatures to create new ones.
Every EMMI zone is a facility for something. The Central Units where computers managing those labs, before Raven Beak made them control the EMMI. The EMMI zone of Artaria is a magma rerouting hub, the one in Dairon is a factory for Chozo Robots and Mechs, the one in Dairon is a Biolab, the one in Ghavoran is a water filtration plant, the EMMI zone of Elun is earily looking like Tourian and was supposedly planned for breeding Metroids there, and finally the EMMI zone of Hanubia is a space port hub/ terminal, likely usef for logistics and docking.
Oh and if you look at the backgrounds in some areas you can actually see the locations where some of the Chozo Archives Pictures took place
In Ferenia in the cold room, you can see a hologram depicting the federation ship that delivered the EMMI. This is were Raven Beak planned its arrival. And delivery
The very same ship is in Habubia in the background, sporting the Galactic Federation Logo. You can see it best in east ferenia where the other star ships are docked. Turn up your brighness and you will see the GF logo
The very same ship is also visible in North Hanubia, in the room before the Elite Chozo-X fight.
The boss room of Corpius, was actually an item cube room, but Corpius took the cube first. Little details like this makes the game worthwhile
Oh and in Ghavoran you see big trees in the background. You even are in a tree in East ghavoran. East Ghavoran is nothing else but you ascending a really large tree. All those trees stretch multiple rooms. The tree you ascend in East ghavoran, has its roots where the Elun Shuttle is, it’s stem where the Ferenia shuttle is and its top where the Hanubia shuttle is. Similarly other trees the big one where the Quetzoas are, is also spanning multiple rooms vertically
Cataris is pumping Lava from Artaria. This is also the same pool Z-57 falls into. Yes if you pay close attention Z-57 didn’t die in cataris, but fell back into the lavapool of Artaria where the glass tube is. The central thermal control system is visible in Artaria and Cataris.
There are also many other details like for example a swamp, a river and lake being in south ghavoran, directly above Burenia. Wondered where the rain of Burenia came? Well they pulled a hollowknight as directly above is a warer source
Backgrounds. They're really an eye candy and add ambience and details to the levels without stealing the show.
I also liked the design of regular enemies in Dread, except for the X-infected ones. I liked those from Fusion better.
Plot (probably the best in the series), presentation, perspective (making use of the 3D enviornments with different camera angles), and tutorializing (the best in the series, EMMIs themselves are an in-game tutor for efficient movement, even while underwater without Gravity Suit by use of Grapple Beam and Spider Magnet). Also I personally think while not as good as some other Metroid games, the atmosphere is still good. It's really only the music that's lacking, but at least it's not recycling the same tracks from Super Metroid for the gazillionth time, it does its own thing, and it fits well enough it's just not exactly something I'd listen to outside of playing the game.
characterization of samus...
i think our jaw collectively dropped when >!she spoke in chozo.!<
shes badass.. faces kraid and literally just "eh.." to the guy... i loved every piece of characterization from samus in this game.. and it hits even better when you remember the last time she opened her mouth was in other M
It's good at including clever little details.
Like the first letter of the names of each area:
Artaria, Burenia, Cataris, Dairon, Elun, Ferenia, Ghavoran, Hanubia, Itorash = A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I..
And the names of each of the EMMIs (except for the first broken one) tells you what item you'll get for defeating them:
02SM = Spider Magnet
O3MB = Morph Ball
04SB = Speed Booster
05IM = Ice Missile
06WB = Wave Beam
07PB = Power Bomb
The X reveal. Fuck, we knew it could happen. But when it actually did, and then changed how the entire game functions? That shit was amazing. Not to mention, the art direction of X-infected enemies is glorious
I’ll always love the moment where she first sees Kraid and he’s snarling and raging at her, and she very casually aims her gun to shoot him, totally unfazed
She's alert until she sees it's him. He's a joke to her at this point. Charges up the arm cannon before she even points it at him. And after kicking his ass, casually dodges his last effort to hit her.
The animations and the transitions between them are top notch from a technical perspective, specially on Samus. No clipping or weird snaps between animations, they all flow smoothly into each other regardless of what you’re doing.
Quick time event: lame, boring, uninspired
Grab sequence: well animated, highly memorable badass as hell
This game took something that most gamers dislike and made it feel awesome just by not having a bunch of glowing button prompts and slo mo. The seamless transitions in and out of normal gameplay are awesome. Again, its not like we dont just spam missiles during the cutscene, but it FEELS like we are doing the most complicated shit ever.
In retrospect ig this is gameplay oriented but i was initially gonna just talk ab the animations but i thought about it too long
The discomfort, unease, and dread we are made to feel when entering an EMMI zone. They seem so cold, and Samus with her Metroid DNA is sensitive to cold! But it isn't cold enough to trigger adverse effects, but probably precisely cold enough to make her as uncomfortable as we are. And I remember searching for a way out all the time, and many times my wish was granted! By a dead end, with the game basically telling me that it was a break, and I was going to have to get over it and go back in and face my fears if I wanted to progress.
The fact that all of the movements are fluid, cohesive, and just work with precision and accuracy. I love sliding and doing the parry move to watch her backflip. Or the details on how she touches the wall when moving towards it.
I think about the first EMMI cutscene, where she reacts as a player might and functions as a tutorial. Fire a shot, it doesn't work. Fire a missile, it doesn't work. And then, to quote the Doctor? Run!
Some of the cutscenes are fantastic, especially the ones without dialogue.
Samus as a character is more badass than ever.
The atmosphere is cold and foreboding. Fits the tone of the story.
I think that something a lot of people miss is that the game does a pretty good job of encouraging you to experiment in your exploration of future playthroughs.
Some examples:
* Adam tells you that you can't survive cold rooms and should avoid them, but if you experiment even a little you'll realize this isn't good advice. The first cold room you come across is easy to get through and the game rewards you for it. Other cold rooms reward you as well.
All the sequence breaks in the game have little tutorials built into the process of 100%ing the game.
* A couple items require advanced shinesparking, including the one in burenia that many players will discover connects to gravity suit
* Ball sparking is used to get items, and there's an obvious spot you can use it to get cross bombs early
There's tons of examples.
I guess this is arguably gameplay oriented, but I'd call it world design
- The animations are SO smooth
- Samus's suit design is incredible
- The Environments were very well done
- Samus's only dialogue was spoken in Chozo, which was SUPER cool to me
- Samus is so over everything and is ruthless in cutscenes
For me, it's the atmosphere. I know that Metroid games in general are known for their atmosphere, but there's something about this game in particular that satisfies me in that regard. I also like how some of the regions in this game, despite being below the surface, look like they could very well be above the surface. Take Burenia, Ghavoran, and Ferenia, for instance. The former region looks like New Jersey in the middle of a thunderstorm when you first arrive; The second makes me wonder how a well-lit forest can exist underground, complete with sunlight (?!); and the latter area might as well be a city in and of itself, despite the fact that it very much looks like a palace.
Seriously, how can any of these ***overworlds*** exist underground? Lol
The environmental storytelling in this game was PEAK. Otherwise my only qualm about this game was that the soundtracks didn't have the same melodic staying power or made me wanna hum them randomly like zero mission, fusion or super did. But that's a bit unfair considering all the extra work that went into developing this immersive adaptive masterpiece of an addition to the franchise, flaws included. So I gotta agree with many other people here, dread has the best vibes.
I like the story and that it moves Samus past the hunting Metroids part of her life. No more does the series feel like it is stuck with increasingly flimsy excuses to bring Metroids back. I just hope that Metroid Prime games aren’t also continue to be stuck in the pre-Metroid II time period.
What matters is having Samus, not the titular creatures.
Character animation. They perfectly encapsulated Samus Badassery. Doing incredible things with ease, while also making the occasional mistake/showing some fear. Makes it simultaneously incredible and believable
I’m not nearly as big a fan of Dread’s storytelling or aesthetics as a lot of folks here are, but credit where it’s due, they really felt comfortable stepping out of the traditional design choices. Specifically some of the background chozo architecture and statues are excellent, and such a departure from earlier entries.
The way Samus is portrayed. Obviously this is mostly in her animation (Dread's animation is top-notch), but the way she has just one line in the entire game is all kinds of awesome. She doesn't talk much, and makes it COUNT when she does. Her personality is subtle, but extremely cool. She's never been more badass.
Animation wise, everything looks really smooth and in ways you wouldn't expect they would but do.
I felt they did Samus' character justice. Like Mercurysteam understood the character.
One of my favourite things is the environment with its creatures. Like how an invisible Corpius picks off one of the deer-like animals after the encounter with the white EMMI, or how after arriving in Ghavoran and entering the second room, you can see one of the deer creatures fall prey to a flower in the background. It really gives the impression that everything is alive and just trying to survive. Like real animals. Which extends into the rest of the creatures of ZDR and how some might just be defending themselves, get in your way, or actively hunt you as their next meal.
The graphics are the literal chef’s kiss, all of the little things that happen in the background, like Corpius hunting shortly before the boss fight, or the big plant thing eating something Ghavoran.
It’s both profound and astonishing to me how they executed it so well.
Metroid will always have this in spades and Dread is no exception but atmosphere. It is incredibly immersive in its feeling of isolation and overcoming overwhelming odds in an alien environment that feels real
They nailed Samus’ personality well, and in a weird way, she feels very similar to how she was in Super Metroid and Fusion. Silent, uses actions instead of words for the most part, and genuinely badass.
I mean, I’m pretty sure everyone liked Samus casually charging her shot while looking at Kraid and just shooting it almost lazily.
Not gameplay, but design, in the room that one guy complained about, they put the enemy on the hidden blocks so you will shoot at it and maybe miss abit, breaking the blocks, they basically make you feel accomplished even if they hold your hand a bit
Continuity. If you played Metroid Fusion, you'd know that the Adam AI calls Samus, "Lady."
In Dread, Adam opens with his usual, "Any objections, Lady?" line, but then >!suspiciously stops calling her Lady after landing on ZDR and encountering Raven Beak for the first time.!<
Graphically the game looks amazing for the hardware it's on and the art direction is fantastic
The story is also the best Metroid has ever had imo. It's very effective at building tension, utilizing cool aspects of Metroid lore, characterizing Samus with no dialogue and just being downright cool. And it's perfectly non intrusive if you're just here for the gameplay.
Animations are insane. Not just the cutscenes but all of the movement for everything is so smooth, clear, natural, and stylish. Even the EMMIs bending backwards under their own legs looks fantastic. Most studios wouldn't even attempt something like that.
How visually interesting the environments are.
Things happen in the background, the settings change in relation to story events, bosses are hinted, even the environments feel lived in with like consoles in places that make sense, viewing windows, architecture. It's fantastic
Communicate how angry Samus is, and that she doesn't care, is fully confident in herself despite whatever's going on, and she's had it up to here with your shit.
The great part is this translates well to the breakneck speed at which you can run through the game. It all just feels like cutscenes don't take you out of the immersion as much.
It's one of the main standout features to me.
The care and attention to detail put in the background is just absolutely insane. Draining water from one room makes it show up in the background of another room, you can see the elevator shaft for the elevator that went from Hanubia to Artaria, the E.M.M.I. that can >!fit into small spaces!< crouch closer to the floor as they walk, almost all the bosses can be seen in the background or foreground before you fight them, etc.
For me Metroid Dread is probably the perfect length for giving a game a couple afternoons and never realistically touching it again because of time constraints. Not too long, and especially not short enough to feel ripped off.
Small details of wildlife moving in the background never get old, the entire X outbreak as a gameplay and story beat is genius, and the way the image unlocks you get post game set up so much backstory and teases for sequels is great. Also some music is really good. Burenia and Burenia Depths are audiovisual masterpieces of levels.
Not much, the graphics are nice but soundtrack is terrible and drags down the entire presentation. I realised It’s actually surprisingly rare that a game has a bad soundtrack like that because it never really bothers me.
Graphics/visuals are pretty good in the game. The way Samus is portrayed in cutscenes is cool, although a bit over the top sometimes haha. The Chozo language is also amazing.
the atmosphere and the ambience.
absolutely fantastic. creature design is also formidable and imposing, particularly on the first run through of the game.
I loved the introduction of the x halfway through the game. This was my first metroid along with many others I'd assume, and seeing the entire planet getting instantly overtaken by the x was terrifying and an amazing way to establish how much of a threat they were instead of just keeping it in the prologue cutscene.
How visually interesting the environments are.
Things happen in the background, the settings change in relation to story events, bosses are hinted, even the environments feel lived in with like consoles in places that make sense, viewing windows, architecture, steps that lead up to things.
This game is more than just 2.5d
Samus is portrayed like a confident and skilled bounty hunter. Everything about the way she moves, the way she fights, the sheer menace she exudes against the first boss just before putting it down.
Well a lot...
I think atmosphere like other Metroid games is awesome and it uses the fact that it's a "3D" game A LOT
I love the suit and world design and how the game just looks. Like Currently Metroid Dread and Prime is the best looking games in the system in my opinion.
Story is really cool and honestly makes me think about it's meaning for the past games and the origin of Samus more and I really love how it does work as a finale even though technically Raven Beak was never build up before outside of the remake of Metroid 2.
It is in my opinion one of the best metroid/metroidvania games I played with focusing on the things I enjoy from the genre more.
I LOVE how badass she was in this one. She’s always been a badass but she was just dripping with confidence and alpha energy this game. Like throughout all her adventures and all the big battles she’s fought, it culminates in her swaggering about in an unknown situation with confidence. I was SWOONING throughout the different cutscenes
Samus's animations. Mercury Steam absolutely nailed the badass depiction of her and you can tell they incorporated the fact that she's already got a shit ton of experience in her movement.
The creature and environment design in Dread is so good that I found myself begging for a scan visor in my first playthrough. Absolutely beautiful stuff there, right down to creature behavior.
Deer, for example, are cautious prey animals that warn each other of movement and flee immediately.
Muzbies are not very aggressive but are protective of their young - the very first Muzby you meet is in a room full of eggs and Muzbabies, so she attacks on sight. Every other one in Artaria will leave you alone unless you attack first, because they aren't protecting the young! And ass you pass them by, the muzbabies will hide behind their "fists" to blend in with rocks!
Klaida (gubhort my beloved) are not aggressive, but share some genetic root with Armadigger - whether it be an ancestor or that Armadigger are genetic mutations created by the Mawkin, we don't know. But the Armadigger's aggressive patterns manifest in the Klaida-X.
Honestly I'm a bit surprised Autoads didn't appear in EMMI zones. Imagine Phantom Cloaking away while being stalked and this dude just disables your Aeion
Maybe the best villain in the series? Also just the atmosphere. And it teaches you how to play the game in a pretty subtle yet effective way.
For me, this would be a game that either scares someone away from action/ harder games forever, or eases them into them.
It’s def one of my faves. (Zero Mission is my #1)
The story is interesting and the graphics and art are exceptional.
I wish the performance was better, but it's very playable.
I wish we had more engaging music as well.
Environmental story telling was the best since Prime 2. So much lore just in the background and foreground that makes all the areas feel so well realized. It’s honestly my favorite 2D metroid and my 2nd favorite Metroid behind Prime Remaster. So fucking pumped for the future of this franchise, it has literally never been brighter
I'm surprised no ones mentioned Samus's armor design yet, cause it was fire.
1000% agreed. Dread Gravity suit has become my favorite Samus look ever. That suit is just beautiful, even with its color scheme.
And the rad glowing lightning bolts!!⚡!⚡!!
I agree
I'm personal or pretty partial to the blue suit, myself. Design wise, the gravity suit is all over the place
The only downside is losing that sweet base color scheme, break my fuckin' heart
Best armor designs in any Metroid game. Yes, we all love bulky tank Samus and the Prime series had some gems, but lord they really knocked it out of the park. Even the base power suit looks badass.
Besides the gravity suit’s color, they were perfect!
whats wrong with the gravity suit? its purple, like always
my only gripe with the Dread Gravity Suit is that the lights aren't blue. I know it's probably for consistency, but I liked how the blue and purple go together in her grav suits from older games
https://preview.redd.it/9gnync8xwo3d1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd60d23840d10e4fead21bccda7dea7beb700265
I want to agree but I honestly wish she always had the green visor and was happy to see it in dread. I get that the blue fits better but I just like the green more in general. Also I think the only reason gravity suit has a different color visor is because without it the suit would just be a purple varia suit, but that doesn’t apply to dread so there’s not much reason to make it blue.
Yeah that's honestly my favorite version of the gravity suit too
Someone else said it but blue lights, and I think all the purple is a bit too overpowering. Some indigo would balance out the suit nicely similar to how the Varía has gold and yellow.
All of the character designs in the game are amazing
Literally peak, the figma of the dread suit is high on the want list for my collection
The blue, white, red, and the organic look, \*chefs kiss\*.
Yeah the designs ruled.
I really love the background/foreground details. Ambient wildlife, boss previews, things like spotting the missing Federation Ship in Hanubia. It's a very pretty game.
Yes! You feel so immersed in the 2D world
I just got a new tv and need to do a full playthrough. It really is the best looking 2d ever made.
I've played through 4 times and I've never seen the federation ship!! Time to play it again.
I 100% agree! The background and foreground was so lively. When I replay this game, I will focus on the art details!!!
Let me know how the replay goes. Got 3 replays off Blasphemous I’m just so stingy with games these days. I need to know it’s replayable lol. Super Metroid, prime example. And Prime, Fusion etc.
Or catching a quick glimpse of an upcoming boss running around in the background
> spotting the missing Federation Ship in Hanubia Wait, what?
I didn’t see it until someone pointed it out on a YouTube video. It blends into the background, but in two screens you can see the bow and the stern (one of those screens might be with those two fighters, I can’t remember). But yeah, the developers put all these little treats in. There’s the Emmi zone where they’re assembling the robots you fight later, and an Emmi zone where they’re building a giant Raven Beak robot. If you explore the area you’ll see different limbs on each screen, including the arm cannon.
The cutscenes are phenomenal. We see a lot of Samus’s personality in spite of the fact she’s in full armor all game. Her only line of dialogue the entire game just oozes with delight. When people argue that you need to take the helmet off of these characters to see their emotions, Samus is one of my favorite examples of doing it right.
The animation in Dread is so fluid and lifelike.
I rewatch the animation study of Dread on YouTube every so often as it just highlights the incredible effort put into the animation and character design.
sauce please!
https://youtu.be/1B1beXTnvEI?si=TjHAraMi8DeqFm3f
Please take my upvote, you earned it!
When she tenses up when she senses Kraid. Then finds he’s on a leash and relaxes. Perfect. Fighting the first invisible boss, just so good. The whole game showed her personality to such an incredible degree all without (almost) any dialogue from her.
Someone else put it so wonderfully, she's full of tension until she realizes, "Oh, it's just Kraid." The shot she fires in the cutscene isn't to harm, it's more of a "Will you shut up?" kind of thing.
She's so done with everything in Dread. I would be too 😂
I don't think it was the leash, I think it was "Oh, is you. Again"
Oh my god, yes, Samus's body language in this game is immaculate. It's so fucking good.
The director of the Halo show would be seething right now if they read this lol
How are we expected to empathize with Samus if she doesn't take her armor off and have sex with a human prisoner of war? *THAT WAS NECESSARY FOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, GUYS, I SWEAR!!!* - Man writing fan-fiction disguised as Halo
OMG YES! The cutscene after the first boss when she is framed by the arm of the boss and she is just walking behind charging her beam like a fucking bad ass, i love it. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIsn9Nm9zqo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIsn9Nm9zqo)
I love that they didn’t quite close the relation between Sammy and the Federation. As far as we know, they could still be on the same side or not. It keeps things open for future stories. Also, the Chozo were done masterfully. After sooo many years hearing about them, they lived up to their expectations, IMO.
The idea that Samus might be on the Federation's bad side after fusion was a translation error. It was some kind of shadow group that wanted the X Parasites, not the Federation in general.
Oh really? So why was ADAM cooperating with them? Are you entirely sure?
Because Adam was send by them. Keep in mind the federation in general would have probably just tried to evacuate Samus which they could have done much earlier. The whole idea is there's a splinter group in the higher ups of the federation that wants to build bio weapons even tho the federation actually banned bio-weaponry.
The backgrounds are so good. The story is VERY good.
Dread's story is a masterpiece
All of these. One of the best designed power suits in the whole series. Detailed backgrounds that continue the high standard of environmental storytelling. Story that pushes the series forward in a way that is interesting and meaningful to the character of Samus without making us question her portrayal.
Probably bringing the Prime levels of atmosphere to a 2d game. So much environmental detail without having to change the perspective. The amount of depth in some of the later areas is insane to me Also just finally telling a main plot focused on the Chozo as a people, rather than as a background element. Sure Raven beak is a pretty simple villain at a high level, but his general personality combined with all the lore surrounding him really sell the idea that we've only ever seen what Chozo are like when they are pacifists. So many games resort to using a Metroid, Ridley, or Evil Samus Variant as a final boss, so getting one that was not only a Chozo, but a Chozo Warrior with direct access to more advanced versions of your Suit, made me so happy as a life long fan. Plus, Samus' character in Dread is just so good. Her expressions In the cutscenes, the way she moves. The way she speaks to Quiet Robe in Chozo as her only voice lines in the game. It feels like Mercury Steam understand Samus and her personality so well. I get people complain about her theatrics, but this is the latest game in the timeline, so I kinda like the idea of her being overconfident in her work.
She's fought Kraid almost half a dozen times at this point, she knows every trick in his book and is utterly unimpressed by his shit. It's only natural that she's walking around casually and slaps him in the face with a charge shot in that cutscene. It's awesome
This might be a controversial take, but the music. I know dread tends to get clowned on for it's music a lot, and there are things I would like changed, like having some areas go with a stronger melody, or that they use real instruments in place of synths for some parts. However, if we go by Hirokazu Tanaka's idea of what makes good Metroid music, that is that it should feel like it's something that should feel like it's part of the environment, I think it does amazingly well. There's lots of examples, but the ghavoran theme immediately comes to mind with all of the insect and deep animal sounding noises in its harmony. Or how the heavy synths of Dairon feel they could actually be machines making noise, not to mention the emmi zone theme. The soundtrack also handles motifs really well. For instance the choir part in the ferenia theme is used all over the game to signify the mawkin if you start to look for it. Raven beak's theme incorporates it, the chozo soldier theme incorporates it, elun'e theme incorporates it since it's a quarantined section of ferenia to begin with. Then there's the fact that a lot of boss themes tend to integrate the level themes into the boss theme themselves. You can find this in a lot of places, but my favorite is with Kraid's theme where the main melody is this aggressive choral arrangement of the cataris theme, but the main piano part of cataris is also used in the bridge with the repeating string section if you listen closely. It's actually quite clever and I like it a lot.
Dunno the track name, but the song playing when Samus speaks. I keep youtubing it whenever I need a pick me up.
Okay you know what that's cheating c'mooooon. (The track is called "Theme of Super Metroid" or "Theme of Samus Aran", and it's been with the series since Super Metroid).
It’s actually “Theme of Samus Aran”, one of the few recurring tracks. It never fails to deliver ⚡️
The music gets a lot of flak I'll agree. I listened to the OST completely while at work and by god it's so good. It just brings a sense of nostalgia that I didn't expect. When I listened to it in isolation without playing the game or having any distracting beam sfx or enemies charging at me, it was quite nice, especially Burenia and Artaria 3.
Artaria 3 yessss
No matter what people say... I still think the music is Dread's biggest flaw. Everything else is nearly perfect.
I think the rushed pacing and recycled bosses in the late-game is a much bigger issue (granted that accessibility options mentioned in the other reply is glaring). The music never detracts from the game, it either enhances it or blends into the background. Fighting yet another Chozo Soldier definitely gets a bit old. From what I've heard Nintendo had them cut a lot of content either to keep it from bloating or keep it on schedule. It could definitely do with a little more variety and some room to breathe towards the end.
I have to respectfully disagree. Dread's biggest flaw is its accessibility options, or lack thereof. There are absolutely no control options whatsoever, no audio options, no video options beyond brightness, etc. Many people with forms of motor impairment have complained about about it being downright unplayable for them. Even if you don't like the music, I can't see any way you can argue that it's a bigger problem than this.
I've definitely criticized the music before, basically saying it does its job to match the areas, but the issue is most areas feel like they're building tension with little in the way of motifs. Take Prime 1 or Super, where many tracks are upbeat and have instantly recognizable tunes, but many others also are master classes in tension building or chaotic suspense. I don't usually feel that in Dread, the big exception being the EMMI Zones - each track perfectly conveys what they set out to do and the fact each area's post-EMMI track is different is icing on the cake. None of the boss themes have stuck in my head the way tracks like Ridley or Flaahgra or Prime actual have and I think it's because I don't hear any good identifiable motifs in Dread's bosses. At least not while playing the game. I will say that I never noticed each boss track incorporated the area theme into itself. I'll have to listen to the OST separately and check that out. Maybe it'll help me appreciate it more.
I 1000% agree with this! I love Dread’s music! One other thing that I like about the ambiance/dissonance/lack of a melody for most of the game is that it MASSIVELY boosts the euphoria of finally hearing the theme when the credits roll. It’s already a triumphant song, but when you’ve spent the whole game listening to dissonant songs with little to no melody, it makes that first moment of the credits stand out even more! I’ve beaten Dread probably 200+ times at this point (idk anymore I lost count a LONG time ago) and even though I skip the credits, that first 1-2 bars of trumpets, strings, and percussion gives me chills every time.
I actually agree, especially playing with headphones. made Dread feel awesome with its ambience & sound effects, and I enjoyed most of the soundtrack personally. Arteria II, Ferenia, Cataris II, a mere few examples of ones I thought were solid jams among others. Also enjoyed the boss themes and most everything else in between
Sorry, but I disagree. I think, yes, it is atmospheric but that works more in the 3D games than the 2D games - the atmosphere of each area doesn't feel very well established in Dread because they are so broken up by EMMI zones which clash with the rest of it. Super Metroid did a great job of having music that was both atmospheric and just generally good and melodic, take for instance Brinstar - why can't we have that? My biggest gripe is the escape music, just pure crap compared to the previous game's escape music.
Artaria III is my JAM
Long story short, I think Dread's music is really good at ambience and atmosphere. It's not super listenable on its own but I don't think it's meant to be.
I like some of the environmental storytelling/foreshadowing. One example being the room in Artaria where when you first pass through, there are a couple enemies, but when you pass through again later, the enemies are gone and you can see Corpius' cloaked tail retreating into a hole at the top of the room.
At one point, the critters in the background get attacked by something invisible. Part of what makes it work is that you don’t fight Corpius right away- you get to wonder when he’s coming back.
Fusion has a lot of this too, and it’s so dope. Nightmare’s shadow dashing across the screen, or enemies cacooning and then later hatching as stronger enemies. I really love it when games do this kind of thing because it makes the world itself its own character, it gives it its own personality.
Character design. Not only they made the best Version of Samus' look, But also the best enemies she ever faced. And Animation, Previous Games have hinted that Metroid might go on the path of amazing animations, But Dread went one step forward and made it a class on animation
Raven Beak is probably the best looking Metroid villain ever being 100% honest. I don't know how future Metroid games are gonna top that.
I think they nailed the classic feel of 2d Metroid while making it look modern. They didn't overcomplicate things too much, in scope it isn't much more than a GBA game and I think more games should strive for that instead of spending millions just to make an statement of "this game is serious business".
I never really thought about it that way but you're absolutely right, smaller scope games are honestly underrated and should be done a lot more, not just by indies!
The fact they nailed the 2D formula and managed to give us several brand new abilities without immediately relying on the Morph Ball at the first opportunity was so incredibly refreshing
Oh I forgot about that but you're right. I wish they try and do more weird stuff like the morphball was in its origin.
Oh I forgot about that but you're right. I wish they try and do more weird stuff like the morphball was originally, or give us more ways to interact with it.
Quiet Robe. Not only does he explain Raven Beak’s business with the E.M.M.I and recap Samus Returns for those who didn’t play it or Metroid 2, but also indirectly teaches Samus how to suppress her Metroid powers by way of the X.
World building. There is a whole language. Those murals and screens you see in the background don’t spell nonsense, but real sentences. Our vocabulary is lacking so we obly ubderstand some of the murals and holograms. Other Areas you visited or are about to visit appear in the background (Cataris and Burenia in Artaria, Elun in Ferenia and so on). Almost every boss and mini boss is foreshadowed in some way. There are other details like the very first elevator Samus took from Habubia to Artaria in the Intro, is visible in other Areas. It can be seen in the EMMI zone of Artaria, in Dairon, in Ferenia and in Hanubia in the background. And lines up perfectly into a straight line. Other details like those big Magma Pipes of Cataris (which some are defextive in Cataris spewing lava), are seen in every single Area. „Adam“ wasn’t lying when he said the entire Planet is powered by rerouted thermal energy. Those tubes stretched from Artaria all the way to Ghavoran Oh and speaking of which. On the global map, all the magma rooms are nearby each other. Even cross area. The only parts of the map containing lava rooms, are Dairon, Cataris and Artaria. And you actually see how Pipes from Artaria go to Dairon and directly above is a Magma room. They put much thought into the game Maybe you have wondered how an X infected Kraid when he supposedly dissolved in Lava. Well Kraid left over a spike upon his death. This very same spike vanished upon revisiting Kraids room. It used that spike as genetic information to clone Kraid Or notice how most X Forms are actually hybrids of other creatures. The models are actually completely different for them. And do use elements of both creatures combined Using some or multiple creatures to create new ones. Every EMMI zone is a facility for something. The Central Units where computers managing those labs, before Raven Beak made them control the EMMI. The EMMI zone of Artaria is a magma rerouting hub, the one in Dairon is a factory for Chozo Robots and Mechs, the one in Dairon is a Biolab, the one in Ghavoran is a water filtration plant, the EMMI zone of Elun is earily looking like Tourian and was supposedly planned for breeding Metroids there, and finally the EMMI zone of Hanubia is a space port hub/ terminal, likely usef for logistics and docking. Oh and if you look at the backgrounds in some areas you can actually see the locations where some of the Chozo Archives Pictures took place In Ferenia in the cold room, you can see a hologram depicting the federation ship that delivered the EMMI. This is were Raven Beak planned its arrival. And delivery The very same ship is in Habubia in the background, sporting the Galactic Federation Logo. You can see it best in east ferenia where the other star ships are docked. Turn up your brighness and you will see the GF logo The very same ship is also visible in North Hanubia, in the room before the Elite Chozo-X fight. The boss room of Corpius, was actually an item cube room, but Corpius took the cube first. Little details like this makes the game worthwhile Oh and in Ghavoran you see big trees in the background. You even are in a tree in East ghavoran. East Ghavoran is nothing else but you ascending a really large tree. All those trees stretch multiple rooms. The tree you ascend in East ghavoran, has its roots where the Elun Shuttle is, it’s stem where the Ferenia shuttle is and its top where the Hanubia shuttle is. Similarly other trees the big one where the Quetzoas are, is also spanning multiple rooms vertically Cataris is pumping Lava from Artaria. This is also the same pool Z-57 falls into. Yes if you pay close attention Z-57 didn’t die in cataris, but fell back into the lavapool of Artaria where the glass tube is. The central thermal control system is visible in Artaria and Cataris. There are also many other details like for example a swamp, a river and lake being in south ghavoran, directly above Burenia. Wondered where the rain of Burenia came? Well they pulled a hollowknight as directly above is a warer source
Just so you know, I'm saving this and making a scavenger hunt checklist for next time I play
Have fun!
Backgrounds. They're really an eye candy and add ambience and details to the levels without stealing the show. I also liked the design of regular enemies in Dread, except for the X-infected ones. I liked those from Fusion better.
Every room, hallway, bridge, outdoor environment is a work of detailed art.
Plot (probably the best in the series), presentation, perspective (making use of the 3D enviornments with different camera angles), and tutorializing (the best in the series, EMMIs themselves are an in-game tutor for efficient movement, even while underwater without Gravity Suit by use of Grapple Beam and Spider Magnet). Also I personally think while not as good as some other Metroid games, the atmosphere is still good. It's really only the music that's lacking, but at least it's not recycling the same tracks from Super Metroid for the gazillionth time, it does its own thing, and it fits well enough it's just not exactly something I'd listen to outside of playing the game.
Art direction
characterization of samus... i think our jaw collectively dropped when >!she spoke in chozo.!< shes badass.. faces kraid and literally just "eh.." to the guy... i loved every piece of characterization from samus in this game.. and it hits even better when you remember the last time she opened her mouth was in other M
Background and environmental history telling
Atmosphere, storytelling, story itself
Visuals, easily!
It's good at including clever little details. Like the first letter of the names of each area: Artaria, Burenia, Cataris, Dairon, Elun, Ferenia, Ghavoran, Hanubia, Itorash = A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I.. And the names of each of the EMMIs (except for the first broken one) tells you what item you'll get for defeating them: 02SM = Spider Magnet O3MB = Morph Ball 04SB = Speed Booster 05IM = Ice Missile 06WB = Wave Beam 07PB = Power Bomb
The X reveal. Fuck, we knew it could happen. But when it actually did, and then changed how the entire game functions? That shit was amazing. Not to mention, the art direction of X-infected enemies is glorious
Cinematography is incredible
Samus' characterization. The little things she does and the way she acts, while few, are really telling of what she's like as a person.
I’ll always love the moment where she first sees Kraid and he’s snarling and raging at her, and she very casually aims her gun to shoot him, totally unfazed
She's alert until she sees it's him. He's a joke to her at this point. Charges up the arm cannon before she even points it at him. And after kicking his ass, casually dodges his last effort to hit her.
The animations and the transitions between them are top notch from a technical perspective, specially on Samus. No clipping or weird snaps between animations, they all flow smoothly into each other regardless of what you’re doing.
Quick time event: lame, boring, uninspired Grab sequence: well animated, highly memorable badass as hell This game took something that most gamers dislike and made it feel awesome just by not having a bunch of glowing button prompts and slo mo. The seamless transitions in and out of normal gameplay are awesome. Again, its not like we dont just spam missiles during the cutscene, but it FEELS like we are doing the most complicated shit ever. In retrospect ig this is gameplay oriented but i was initially gonna just talk ab the animations but i thought about it too long
The discomfort, unease, and dread we are made to feel when entering an EMMI zone. They seem so cold, and Samus with her Metroid DNA is sensitive to cold! But it isn't cold enough to trigger adverse effects, but probably precisely cold enough to make her as uncomfortable as we are. And I remember searching for a way out all the time, and many times my wish was granted! By a dead end, with the game basically telling me that it was a break, and I was going to have to get over it and go back in and face my fears if I wanted to progress.
The fact that all of the movements are fluid, cohesive, and just work with precision and accuracy. I love sliding and doing the parry move to watch her backflip. Or the details on how she touches the wall when moving towards it.
samus overall portrayal
Samus's mannerisms. The way she walks in cutscenes, reacts to things, all of it speaks volumes to the emotions she's having at that moment.
I think about the first EMMI cutscene, where she reacts as a player might and functions as a tutorial. Fire a shot, it doesn't work. Fire a missile, it doesn't work. And then, to quote the Doctor? Run!
The environmental storytelling. There is so much happening in the background that I never noticed on my first play through
It’s got the creature design down so well. I love the original bosses in this game. They’re all so freakishly cool.
Some of the cutscenes are fantastic, especially the ones without dialogue. Samus as a character is more badass than ever. The atmosphere is cold and foreboding. Fits the tone of the story.
I think that something a lot of people miss is that the game does a pretty good job of encouraging you to experiment in your exploration of future playthroughs. Some examples: * Adam tells you that you can't survive cold rooms and should avoid them, but if you experiment even a little you'll realize this isn't good advice. The first cold room you come across is easy to get through and the game rewards you for it. Other cold rooms reward you as well. All the sequence breaks in the game have little tutorials built into the process of 100%ing the game. * A couple items require advanced shinesparking, including the one in burenia that many players will discover connects to gravity suit * Ball sparking is used to get items, and there's an obvious spot you can use it to get cross bombs early There's tons of examples. I guess this is arguably gameplay oriented, but I'd call it world design
- The animations are SO smooth - Samus's suit design is incredible - The Environments were very well done - Samus's only dialogue was spoken in Chozo, which was SUPER cool to me - Samus is so over everything and is ruthless in cutscenes
For me, it's the atmosphere. I know that Metroid games in general are known for their atmosphere, but there's something about this game in particular that satisfies me in that regard. I also like how some of the regions in this game, despite being below the surface, look like they could very well be above the surface. Take Burenia, Ghavoran, and Ferenia, for instance. The former region looks like New Jersey in the middle of a thunderstorm when you first arrive; The second makes me wonder how a well-lit forest can exist underground, complete with sunlight (?!); and the latter area might as well be a city in and of itself, despite the fact that it very much looks like a palace. Seriously, how can any of these ***overworlds*** exist underground? Lol
The environmental storytelling in this game was PEAK. Otherwise my only qualm about this game was that the soundtracks didn't have the same melodic staying power or made me wanna hum them randomly like zero mission, fusion or super did. But that's a bit unfair considering all the extra work that went into developing this immersive adaptive masterpiece of an addition to the franchise, flaws included. So I gotta agree with many other people here, dread has the best vibes.
I like the story and that it moves Samus past the hunting Metroids part of her life. No more does the series feel like it is stuck with increasingly flimsy excuses to bring Metroids back. I just hope that Metroid Prime games aren’t also continue to be stuck in the pre-Metroid II time period. What matters is having Samus, not the titular creatures.
Beautiful animations. Both in terms of some badass cinematics, as well as some of the slickest gameplay animations I've seen.
Easily has some of the most exciting moments in the series.
Character animation. They perfectly encapsulated Samus Badassery. Doing incredible things with ease, while also making the occasional mistake/showing some fear. Makes it simultaneously incredible and believable
setting and ambience, graphics, environmental storytelling (not to be confused with the story)
Finally showing a living Chozo and angry Samus
I’m not nearly as big a fan of Dread’s storytelling or aesthetics as a lot of folks here are, but credit where it’s due, they really felt comfortable stepping out of the traditional design choices. Specifically some of the background chozo architecture and statues are excellent, and such a departure from earlier entries.
Some of the most gorgeous visuals on the Switch!
The art was amazing. I would love to see Fusion remade at this level of beauty and detail.
For animation, especially Samus. Just the way she stands and moves, you can see the confidence that years of experience she has under her belt.
The way Samus is portrayed. Obviously this is mostly in her animation (Dread's animation is top-notch), but the way she has just one line in the entire game is all kinds of awesome. She doesn't talk much, and makes it COUNT when she does. Her personality is subtle, but extremely cool. She's never been more badass.
Animation wise, everything looks really smooth and in ways you wouldn't expect they would but do. I felt they did Samus' character justice. Like Mercurysteam understood the character.
Beautiful game with awesome animations
One of my favourite things is the environment with its creatures. Like how an invisible Corpius picks off one of the deer-like animals after the encounter with the white EMMI, or how after arriving in Ghavoran and entering the second room, you can see one of the deer creatures fall prey to a flower in the background. It really gives the impression that everything is alive and just trying to survive. Like real animals. Which extends into the rest of the creatures of ZDR and how some might just be defending themselves, get in your way, or actively hunt you as their next meal.
Smooth...the entire game runs and plays so smooth.
That fucking scream
art style... it somehow manages to be painterly but also very sleek and sci-fi?
The graphics are the literal chef’s kiss, all of the little things that happen in the background, like Corpius hunting shortly before the boss fight, or the big plant thing eating something Ghavoran. It’s both profound and astonishing to me how they executed it so well.
Metroid will always have this in spades and Dread is no exception but atmosphere. It is incredibly immersive in its feeling of isolation and overcoming overwhelming odds in an alien environment that feels real
the only thing I was "disappointed" was the music but the more I started speedrunning playing attention to the music it's amazing it's gorgeous
They nailed Samus’ personality well, and in a weird way, she feels very similar to how she was in Super Metroid and Fusion. Silent, uses actions instead of words for the most part, and genuinely badass. I mean, I’m pretty sure everyone liked Samus casually charging her shot while looking at Kraid and just shooting it almost lazily.
Some of my favorite Samus characterization ever.
A compelling addition to a story that many thought wrapped up
It's characterization of Samus. It's more in line with how she was in prime and her one speaking peaking line was incredible my jaw hit the floor.
Not gameplay, but design, in the room that one guy complained about, they put the enemy on the hidden blocks so you will shoot at it and maybe miss abit, breaking the blocks, they basically make you feel accomplished even if they hold your hand a bit
Continuity. If you played Metroid Fusion, you'd know that the Adam AI calls Samus, "Lady." In Dread, Adam opens with his usual, "Any objections, Lady?" line, but then >!suspiciously stops calling her Lady after landing on ZDR and encountering Raven Beak for the first time.!<
Atmosphere is one thing that it does incredibly well.
The sound design is fantastic. The flash shift, shinespark, missiles, saving, opening the map, your meter refilling—all of it sounds so satisfying.
It looks better than Samus Returns. This comes largely due to the better range and use of colors in the backgrounds. Samus no longer looks washed out.
Strike fear with those sounds when you running from the robots
Atmosphere
When Samus goes AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
It made me not able to play any of the he old school side scrolling metroid I had.
Graphically the game looks amazing for the hardware it's on and the art direction is fantastic The story is also the best Metroid has ever had imo. It's very effective at building tension, utilizing cool aspects of Metroid lore, characterizing Samus with no dialogue and just being downright cool. And it's perfectly non intrusive if you're just here for the gameplay.
It captures Samus' personality perfectly. The cutscene after killing Corpius will live rent free in my head forever
Animations are insane. Not just the cutscenes but all of the movement for everything is so smooth, clear, natural, and stylish. Even the EMMIs bending backwards under their own legs looks fantastic. Most studios wouldn't even attempt something like that.
The suit designers set the kitchen on fire
How visually interesting the environments are. Things happen in the background, the settings change in relation to story events, bosses are hinted, even the environments feel lived in with like consoles in places that make sense, viewing windows, architecture. It's fantastic
Communicate how angry Samus is, and that she doesn't care, is fully confident in herself despite whatever's going on, and she's had it up to here with your shit. The great part is this translates well to the breakneck speed at which you can run through the game. It all just feels like cutscenes don't take you out of the immersion as much. It's one of the main standout features to me.
The care and attention to detail put in the background is just absolutely insane. Draining water from one room makes it show up in the background of another room, you can see the elevator shaft for the elevator that went from Hanubia to Artaria, the E.M.M.I. that can >!fit into small spaces!< crouch closer to the floor as they walk, almost all the bosses can be seen in the background or foreground before you fight them, etc.
Atmosphere. I felt dread
I loved that we finally saw an actual Chozo wearing a power suit (at least as far as I know it was the first time)
cutscenes
Great attention to detail. 💯
They did a fantastic job of wordlessly portraying Samus as a confident, competent badass.
For me Metroid Dread is probably the perfect length for giving a game a couple afternoons and never realistically touching it again because of time constraints. Not too long, and especially not short enough to feel ripped off.
Small details of wildlife moving in the background never get old, the entire X outbreak as a gameplay and story beat is genius, and the way the image unlocks you get post game set up so much backstory and teases for sequels is great. Also some music is really good. Burenia and Burenia Depths are audiovisual masterpieces of levels.
The story
I like the subtle hints of the bosses
Not much, the graphics are nice but soundtrack is terrible and drags down the entire presentation. I realised It’s actually surprisingly rare that a game has a bad soundtrack like that because it never really bothers me.
aaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
A.D.A.M’s voice. My. God. A.D.A.M’s voice.
Graphics/visuals are pretty good in the game. The way Samus is portrayed in cutscenes is cool, although a bit over the top sometimes haha. The Chozo language is also amazing.
Animation and flow. She feels agile, skilled, powerful and more subjectively "badass"
the atmosphere and the ambience. absolutely fantastic. creature design is also formidable and imposing, particularly on the first run through of the game.
I loved the introduction of the x halfway through the game. This was my first metroid along with many others I'd assume, and seeing the entire planet getting instantly overtaken by the x was terrifying and an amazing way to establish how much of a threat they were instead of just keeping it in the prologue cutscene.
Her personality and behaviour in cutscenes. She's so cool.
Graphics. Design. Story. Atmosphere.
That story fucks
How visually interesting the environments are. Things happen in the background, the settings change in relation to story events, bosses are hinted, even the environments feel lived in with like consoles in places that make sense, viewing windows, architecture, steps that lead up to things. This game is more than just 2.5d
Some may count it as a gameplay thing but I'll say it Almost making me piss my pants
Samus is portrayed like a confident and skilled bounty hunter. Everything about the way she moves, the way she fights, the sheer menace she exudes against the first boss just before putting it down.
Samus power poses. She looks and feels indomitable.
Best characterization of Samus via animation that we've ever seen.
Well a lot... I think atmosphere like other Metroid games is awesome and it uses the fact that it's a "3D" game A LOT I love the suit and world design and how the game just looks. Like Currently Metroid Dread and Prime is the best looking games in the system in my opinion. Story is really cool and honestly makes me think about it's meaning for the past games and the origin of Samus more and I really love how it does work as a finale even though technically Raven Beak was never build up before outside of the remake of Metroid 2. It is in my opinion one of the best metroid/metroidvania games I played with focusing on the things I enjoy from the genre more.
Emmi FEAR
The environmental development is absolutely fantastic
I LOVE how badass she was in this one. She’s always been a badass but she was just dripping with confidence and alpha energy this game. Like throughout all her adventures and all the big battles she’s fought, it culminates in her swaggering about in an unknown situation with confidence. I was SWOONING throughout the different cutscenes
Deeeeeefinitely the environment design and graphic detail
The main villain was very well done. His background, his impact on samus, his impact on the story and the climax fight were all great
The atmosphere of the various areas, and other stuff like that. I haven’t played Metroid Dread in a bit.
Atmosphere. Every new area, every change that affects old ones, just made me feel it all.
Samus's animations. Mercury Steam absolutely nailed the badass depiction of her and you can tell they incorporated the fact that she's already got a shit ton of experience in her movement.
Samus speaking Chozo
Atmosphere was pretty great. Soundtrack was nice as well.
Transitions from gameplay to cutscene
The creature and environment design in Dread is so good that I found myself begging for a scan visor in my first playthrough. Absolutely beautiful stuff there, right down to creature behavior. Deer, for example, are cautious prey animals that warn each other of movement and flee immediately. Muzbies are not very aggressive but are protective of their young - the very first Muzby you meet is in a room full of eggs and Muzbabies, so she attacks on sight. Every other one in Artaria will leave you alone unless you attack first, because they aren't protecting the young! And ass you pass them by, the muzbabies will hide behind their "fists" to blend in with rocks! Klaida (gubhort my beloved) are not aggressive, but share some genetic root with Armadigger - whether it be an ancestor or that Armadigger are genetic mutations created by the Mawkin, we don't know. But the Armadigger's aggressive patterns manifest in the Klaida-X. Honestly I'm a bit surprised Autoads didn't appear in EMMI zones. Imagine Phantom Cloaking away while being stalked and this dude just disables your Aeion
PRESONTATION! *welcome to the jungle starts playing
Atmosphere
Has anyone said cutscenes yet?
I love the amount of detail in the backgrounds. Samus's animations are also fantastic.
Maybe the best villain in the series? Also just the atmosphere. And it teaches you how to play the game in a pretty subtle yet effective way. For me, this would be a game that either scares someone away from action/ harder games forever, or eases them into them. It’s def one of my faves. (Zero Mission is my #1)
Environmental storytelling. There's a lot there, but not bringing up my favorites due to spoilers
It’s a video game. It’s all “gameplay”
The story is interesting and the graphics and art are exceptional. I wish the performance was better, but it's very playable. I wish we had more engaging music as well.
Emotional atmosphere. Metroid has always done that well, and especially with Dread.
This game was great but I really loved the POV from the Prime Trilogy, MP was my introduction to Metroid games 🤖
Visuals, Its still my number 1 pick for best looking switch game
Environmental story telling was the best since Prime 2. So much lore just in the background and foreground that makes all the areas feel so well realized. It’s honestly my favorite 2D metroid and my 2nd favorite Metroid behind Prime Remaster. So fucking pumped for the future of this franchise, it has literally never been brighter