Intricate level design topped off with breathtaking atmosphere and immersion that makes you feel like you’re truly exploring this gigantic world in person - while also telling a story just through exploration. All brought together by a terrific score that you can’t find anywhere else and combat that’ll just make you feel ‘good’. You can’t forget the bosses either, easily the highlight, so many greats in here with unique designs that you’ll never forget…. like fr, hollow knight is soooo good!

Ok real review fr: Metroid Dread is a pretty good game, but it’s a little bit inconsistent. Hollow Knight kinda spoiled me and made me think all metroidvanias played a certain way, so maybe I went into this with the wrong mindset, idk. But why is it inconsistent? Well, one second I’m enjoying it and the next second I want to blow my brains out and this happened at least 10-12 times during my eight hour playthrough. There is a lot of good though, the combat is fantastic and traversal is honestly better than Hollow Knight, but the actual level design just isn’t that good. The game isn’t really immersive, at all. I never felt like I was truly exploring this world for myself while watching a story unfold right before my eyes by just taking in the atmosphere. Also, this game gives you no freedom if I’m being honest here, and this is my BIGGEST complaint with the game. In Hollow Knight there is always a ‘right’ way, a way the game wants you to go, but it also wants you to take alternate paths and explore the world in depth. So really, there isn’t a right way in HK, the way to progress is up to YOU, the player. Stuck on a boss? Simply leave and come back later. Don’t like this area? Do the same. But in dread you can’t really do this due to how linear the game is, making the 1-2 times where I got lost feel REALLY tedious. If you’re lost in HK there is always going to be some type of path that leads to something new outside the “main” path. In dread, this doesn’t exist. If you’re lost you have to find the ONE right way. But maaaaybe this isn’t a big problem because this only happened about 1-2 but I’m not gonna act like it never happened. There are also the bosses which my god these fucking suck ass. There’s only three, maybe four bosses in the game I enjoyed, and one of those bosses you fight like 6 times so by then is it really a good boss anymore? However the final boss is fantastic, peak gaming I unfortunately have to say. Just wish the entire game kept up with that quality.

Despite its faults, Metroid Dread is still a really good game and one I’d easily recommend to people trying to get into this genre… before you play Hollow Knight though, so you aren’t disappointed by how much this game pales in comparison. Still great though!