Are you ready for some rambles? (Reason at the bottom)
Metroid itself is a lot to many different people, something impossible to really balance altogether. It's the nonlinearity like Super but not Fusion. It's the sequence breaking like the original Metroid but not Zero Mission. It's the environmental storytelling like Prime but not the original Metroid. It's the anti-power fantasy like Metroid 2 but not Super. It's the action-oriented bounty hunting like Samus Returns but not Federation Force. (I don't actually believe some of these, just throwing out things I've heard)
I said to others while playing this that it felt like Dread was actually thinking about the DNA of the series in terms of what to focus on more than the prior games. And the last hour DEFINITELY did, what a goddamn rug pull. Samus has always toed the line between being used by a literal police imperial force to basically blow up planets and commit genocide, while also still doing so for the sake of the galaxy and saving people (although only a few games ever show a more human side to her that felt like she had her own agency around the mission itself, like saving animals). Metroid 2 was a literal genocide simulator. But Dread turns everything that came before completely on its head. She's originally here for the mission, but it immediately becomes the quest to get out, literally putting you at the bottom of the map, the furthest from her ship in any game so far. Without spoiling, the ending turns the entire concept of its formulaic approach on its head, actually using its gameplay to a strong narrative point around Samus' identity.
Spoilers
I LOVE how a lot of the strongest tools that you got in earlier games actually take longer to get. I initially thought it wasn't enough but I realized at that point you'd have to remove them wholesale. I like how the Morph Ball actually takes its time to get there to force you to find ways of navigating along with the Speed Boost.
The game rarely tells you where to go like its original idea. It's a lot closer to the DNA of the original than it has been in years, albeit an amalgamation of design quirks, focused around the concept of a hostile world that you are alien to, structured in a weird balance between structured factories made out of sprawling alien worlds. It's almost like the game is balancing on a scale, trying to connect its environmental storytelling while also being, by far, the most action-oriented title so far. It also has pretty good environmental storytelling through the regions and vibes, while trying to push the player towards being conscious of the world, and then continually doing its best to make you second-guess what you knew.
The EMMIs are the new idea to the series of adding a real stealth component that's less cinematically scripted and more dynamic. They're good on paper, especially the second and third one that genuinely challenge your pathing and stealth, but I kinda wish they weren't boxed in to the EMMI areas and they could actually surprise you outside of it. They give the greatest challenge of suddenly pushing a stealth option but around the 4th or 5th EMMI the patterns of the EMMI rooms tend to coalesce and you're more knowledgeable of the movement by then that they become a joke and more of just running away execution. The areas also look too similar so it somewhat approaches novelty if not for the ending.
I really like the emphasis this game has on its environments in terms of a factory-controlled world, where it feels more in tandem between experiments and the enemies adapting to what the Chozos have done, although I think it goes... too much on the factory. Some of the areas start to blur together in terms of color design, which is fine (it still does a good job signposting without maps, with the environmental storytelling literally helping as landmarks), but it also made the areas a bit less distinct. The starting zone in particular is bland as hell regardless of it being a "tutorial" zone or not.
Some of the item collection was a bit frustrating but I liked how much of it actually challenged my damn movement, with some really cool speed puzzles with tight as hell situations.
I'm on the fence on whether the world changes a bit too quickly is a good thing or bad thing. It's great narratively and mechanically for keeping you on your toes and feel alien, but it slightly messes with the general idea it ends on.
I think the overall vibes are good-ish. I like the factory SFX along with a few of the songs, but its imitation of previous games weren't as good this time around, and honestly I think the game should've been even quieter. There was an area where it was in darkness with very few noises but it was for such a short time! The other rooms have too much sound (even the break rooms), especially by the last hour. Some of the songs fell flat but I'm going to listen again at some point, could be audio mixing.
Didn't find the parry remotely broken and that could be because I'm just bad (>_<) but I also found the game literally challenging how you approach parrying anyway as it progressed. You could just shoot from a distance until they come at you for parrying, but then they get faster than you can even go, they get armor, and then you have to approach them. There was more attention to enemy placement in the last two zones as well.
Some of the bosses were ACTUALLY GOOD THIS TIME, albeit almost all of the good ones were in the last hour. If you include EMMIs, the speed boost one freaked me the hell out when I thought I could just figure it out while running.
I think the biggest highlights were the implementation of the Chozo Warriors (I'm always gonna dig enemies that have your movesets, even if they're still pretty weak they make you fucking learn your moveset). That and the final boss were amazing strengths of challenging combat as opposed to keyhole or puzzle bosses from prior games. You really have to be good with your mobility, the execution of space jump, flash shift, etc. The final boss really kicked my teeth in.
The bosses that suck usually are the ones that don't challenge your movement at all and just have very little error for mistakes. While I died to Kraid a few times, it had way more to do with ridiculous damage output.
People keep saying I should play Rain World because I had a lot more fun in this game when I was trying to get away and figuring out how to navigate rather than shooting and parrying. The final boss was amazing, sure, but I was drawn to Metroid moreso for vibes, its environments, and figuring out how to move forward. Something for me to think about.
Gonna come back to this game a lot for some of its environments though. That one region with all the flowers and plants that react off-screen to Samus' presence. By far the most gorgeous region.
(Note explanation: I'm doing rambley reviews instead of structured ones as soon as I finish games as an experiment to actually put something out. I have huge issues of wanting to be detail-oriented and understanding every corner of something, and unfortunately that brain worm is never going away. So a lot of these will get follow-ups at some point, but I wanted to, y'know, put something out there on why I loved a game for the time being :D.)
Metroid itself is a lot to many different people, something impossible to really balance altogether. It's the nonlinearity like Super but not Fusion. It's the sequence breaking like the original Metroid but not Zero Mission. It's the environmental storytelling like Prime but not the original Metroid. It's the anti-power fantasy like Metroid 2 but not Super. It's the action-oriented bounty hunting like Samus Returns but not Federation Force. (I don't actually believe some of these, just throwing out things I've heard)
I said to others while playing this that it felt like Dread was actually thinking about the DNA of the series in terms of what to focus on more than the prior games. And the last hour DEFINITELY did, what a goddamn rug pull. Samus has always toed the line between being used by a literal police imperial force to basically blow up planets and commit genocide, while also still doing so for the sake of the galaxy and saving people (although only a few games ever show a more human side to her that felt like she had her own agency around the mission itself, like saving animals). Metroid 2 was a literal genocide simulator. But Dread turns everything that came before completely on its head. She's originally here for the mission, but it immediately becomes the quest to get out, literally putting you at the bottom of the map, the furthest from her ship in any game so far. Without spoiling, the ending turns the entire concept of its formulaic approach on its head, actually using its gameplay to a strong narrative point around Samus' identity.
Spoilers
I LOVE how a lot of the strongest tools that you got in earlier games actually take longer to get. I initially thought it wasn't enough but I realized at that point you'd have to remove them wholesale. I like how the Morph Ball actually takes its time to get there to force you to find ways of navigating along with the Speed Boost.
The game rarely tells you where to go like its original idea. It's a lot closer to the DNA of the original than it has been in years, albeit an amalgamation of design quirks, focused around the concept of a hostile world that you are alien to, structured in a weird balance between structured factories made out of sprawling alien worlds. It's almost like the game is balancing on a scale, trying to connect its environmental storytelling while also being, by far, the most action-oriented title so far. It also has pretty good environmental storytelling through the regions and vibes, while trying to push the player towards being conscious of the world, and then continually doing its best to make you second-guess what you knew.
The EMMIs are the new idea to the series of adding a real stealth component that's less cinematically scripted and more dynamic. They're good on paper, especially the second and third one that genuinely challenge your pathing and stealth, but I kinda wish they weren't boxed in to the EMMI areas and they could actually surprise you outside of it. They give the greatest challenge of suddenly pushing a stealth option but around the 4th or 5th EMMI the patterns of the EMMI rooms tend to coalesce and you're more knowledgeable of the movement by then that they become a joke and more of just running away execution. The areas also look too similar so it somewhat approaches novelty if not for the ending.
I really like the emphasis this game has on its environments in terms of a factory-controlled world, where it feels more in tandem between experiments and the enemies adapting to what the Chozos have done, although I think it goes... too much on the factory. Some of the areas start to blur together in terms of color design, which is fine (it still does a good job signposting without maps, with the environmental storytelling literally helping as landmarks), but it also made the areas a bit less distinct. The starting zone in particular is bland as hell regardless of it being a "tutorial" zone or not.
Some of the item collection was a bit frustrating but I liked how much of it actually challenged my damn movement, with some really cool speed puzzles with tight as hell situations.
I'm on the fence on whether the world changes a bit too quickly is a good thing or bad thing. It's great narratively and mechanically for keeping you on your toes and feel alien, but it slightly messes with the general idea it ends on.
I think the overall vibes are good-ish. I like the factory SFX along with a few of the songs, but its imitation of previous games weren't as good this time around, and honestly I think the game should've been even quieter. There was an area where it was in darkness with very few noises but it was for such a short time! The other rooms have too much sound (even the break rooms), especially by the last hour. Some of the songs fell flat but I'm going to listen again at some point, could be audio mixing.
Didn't find the parry remotely broken and that could be because I'm just bad (>_<) but I also found the game literally challenging how you approach parrying anyway as it progressed. You could just shoot from a distance until they come at you for parrying, but then they get faster than you can even go, they get armor, and then you have to approach them. There was more attention to enemy placement in the last two zones as well.
Some of the bosses were ACTUALLY GOOD THIS TIME, albeit almost all of the good ones were in the last hour. If you include EMMIs, the speed boost one freaked me the hell out when I thought I could just figure it out while running.
I think the biggest highlights were the implementation of the Chozo Warriors (I'm always gonna dig enemies that have your movesets, even if they're still pretty weak they make you fucking learn your moveset). That and the final boss were amazing strengths of challenging combat as opposed to keyhole or puzzle bosses from prior games. You really have to be good with your mobility, the execution of space jump, flash shift, etc. The final boss really kicked my teeth in.
The bosses that suck usually are the ones that don't challenge your movement at all and just have very little error for mistakes. While I died to Kraid a few times, it had way more to do with ridiculous damage output.
People keep saying I should play Rain World because I had a lot more fun in this game when I was trying to get away and figuring out how to navigate rather than shooting and parrying. The final boss was amazing, sure, but I was drawn to Metroid moreso for vibes, its environments, and figuring out how to move forward. Something for me to think about.
Gonna come back to this game a lot for some of its environments though. That one region with all the flowers and plants that react off-screen to Samus' presence. By far the most gorgeous region.
(Note explanation: I'm doing rambley reviews instead of structured ones as soon as I finish games as an experiment to actually put something out. I have huge issues of wanting to be detail-oriented and understanding every corner of something, and unfortunately that brain worm is never going away. So a lot of these will get follow-ups at some point, but I wanted to, y'know, put something out there on why I loved a game for the time being :D.)