This DLC is the epitome of average.

The story is fine. There was a lot of potential regarding where they could take it after the main game, and yet, I'd argue the route taken here was the safest. Nothing truly new is added when it comes to the state of the world (People are still trying to figure out their differences, as expected), and the character arcs only explore existing struggles or personal journeys (e.g. Alphen is still struggling with being called hero/destroyer, Kisara seeing herself and her brother in a boy and his sister and wanting to protect them.)

Even Nazamil, the new character of the expansion, despite having a few good moments, was written in a very lacklustre way with a predictable arc.

So yeah, nothing necessarily wrong with the story here. It's just... Ok.

And that sentiment echoes throughout all other aspects of the DLC. In terms of gameplay, it rehashes almost everything from the base game to an almost absurd point (Arbitrary level AND skill reset.) I have nothing against having to level up again, but at least give me new arts and equipment to look forward to!)

What saves Beyond the Dawn, in my eyes, is the stellar combat and personal stories. Yes, nothing new is introduced to us, but we get more of the solid character arcs from the base game, and that's not bad at all!

Metroid Prime was my entry point to the Metroid franchise when it first came out, and it absolutely still holds its high quality even to this day. Unfortunately, it lacks a few quality-of-life improvements made to the genre, such as a way to track which upgrades you have already acquired, but the fact that exploring the game world is such a pleasant experience helps soften the blow of the constant backtracking required at times.

At the end of the day, the remastered graphics and modern control styles do a great job of elevating this game to modern hardware, thus allowing this classic to cement itself yet again as a must-play for fans of deep 3D exploration and intricate level design.

Played this game mostly out of curiosity given it’s a significant piece of history in itself.

That said, the experimental nature of this game is very evident to me. The 3D graphics at the time were mind-blowing, but boy does it control awkwardly. Also not the biggest fan of the timers everywhere from the get go, as it puts too much pressure when trying to learn the game.

What I enjoyed the most was actually seeing how much of this game went on to become Star Fox 64 and Zero later. The Star Wolf sequences, Venom, the All-Range stages, multiple routes and the ship transformation all would eventually come back in much more polished forms. In that sense, I’m really happy this game exists and that Nintendo made it available!