Metroid Dread proves that Metroid deserves a place in contemporary gaming culture. For far too long, people were only able to look into the distant past to find out, how Metroid defined a genre. Now, Metroid is back and while I still think the formula could be improved (I would appreciate a less rigid order of upgrades like in Hollow Knight), Mercury Steam managed to create a Metroid game that feels modern. Gone are the clunky controls of the past games, Samus finally feels way less clunky to control.

I was a bit scared that the E.M.M.M.I. sections would kill the game, because I usually strongly dislike stealth sections in games, but they are always short enough to be challenging without being frustrating. Speaking of which, Metroid Dread absolutely nails its difficulty. I also really liked how the game tries its best to prevent you from getting too lost, without explicitly telling you where to go. You still need to explore the map yourself, but there are far less of these moments, where you are searching for that ONE spot in the world that the game now expects you to visit.