An unfortunately unbalanced game. Visually, the game looks incredible; until this game, I'd never seen a 3D metroidvania that I didn't think would look better in 2D. Samus is animated and designed perfectly, with just the right amount of calm-and-collected professionalism I'd expect from a bounty hunter, but with a human personality seeping through as she finds herself in increasingly dangerous situations. The drip-fed nature of the upgrades feels perfectly paced, and each upgrade meaningfully enhances your movement and combat abilities in intuitive ways.

The problem is that Metroid still feels behind most of the games it inspired; the upgrades might enhance the experience more than other metroidvanias, but the controls used to engage with those upgrades feel remarkably unintuitive in comparison; the game might be one of the most visually impressive games on the Switch, but also fails to perform consistently on the hardware (especially during key moments, such as boss fights, where specific button inputs and timing are necessary). The bigger problem, however, is the cryptic nature of progression. Hiding the only way forward through unclear means, such as revisiting an old part of the gigantic, labyrinthine map you're likely to have forgotten, or shooting an inconspicuous block at the end of a hallway might be "classic Metroid," but it's also "very frustrating." The best games nudge the player in the right direction so subtly that they don't even notice, but Dread is obsessed with not giving fans an excuse to call the game "too casual".