Metroid dread reviews are coming in at 6 a.m. Pacific time, let us have a thread about the game.

[TheMysteriousGX]

Ohh, also, Shinespark while pulling yourself up a ledge will send you into the direction you'd end up facing. Looks pretty cool, wish I'd've clipped it. Got an energy tank part that way.

Second run through is going much faster than the first for obvious reasons. Not sub 1h 30m, which is the current top 6 speeds, but faster. Not going for 100% completion this time around
Ending screen conditions:

Spoiler

Ending screens are based on in game time only, not anything to do with item %. If you get all 6 combinations of times and difficulties, you get a zero suit pic. In order to do that, you need to start a new game on the old save file, the gallery isn't shared between save files for Nintendo reasons. Cutoffs are at 8 hours and 4 hours and it doesn't matter if you skip cutscenes, their times get added regardless. Time also freezes on the pause menu and in the map, and it gets reset if you die. (Really generous, considering)
You also fill out a gallery by collecting all the items in a region, with a bonus picture for getting all the regions.

 

[Hades]

To an extend I feel a little bad for the reviewer that's not the internet's whipping boy for his ''oh how should I have even known that!?'' review.

Metroidvania's or at least Metroid seems a little different from most games due to the nonexistent handholding and the labyrinthine structure of the map. It takes a different mindset, you will get lost and sometimes things will be very unclear. Now that reviewer stumbling over the first hurdle was indeed really silly but it also helps illustrate that Metroidvania's are a different beast, and that they will give some degree of frustration to those that aren't used to them. Considering Dread is going to be the first Metroid game for a lot of people that's useful to know.

 

[Hawki]

So I'm up to the second area, and so far, I'm not impressed. I'm up to the third area, and, well, I've gotz opinionz:

STORY

It might just be me, but going into this, it's like there's a missing game between Fusion and Dread. Given the way Fusion ended, I saw a lot of people over the years theorize that any game taking place after it would feature Samus on the run from the Federation. I don't think that's a bad idea for a story per se, but I was never as onboard with it as many others. Fusion ends on an optimistic note (with Adam's words being "one of them will understand. One of them must."), so there's a chance for a different trajectory if the story did have to go past Fusion. However, Dread seems to ignore this plot hook entirely. I can understand why both Samus and the Federation would go to ZDR upon detection of the X parasite, but the status quo between them goes unexplained.

In the context of the game itself, it's...okay? Adam's back to briefing Samus, but it isn't as guided as Fusion. Furthermore, Samus has come face to face with a chozo for the first time since the Space Pirates destroyed Zebes (as far as I'm aware), and as to how she feels about that...yeah, no idea. Likely because this is a Metroid game, and story needs to be kept in the background.

GAMEPLAY

I'll be honest, the EMMIs are more irritating than intimidating at this point. It sort of reminds me of Alien: Isolation, where the xenomorph is incincible to everything, and if you're spotted, you're almost certainly dead. The EMMIs aren't that bad, but they kind of fall into a similar all or nothing approach - if you're caught, you're as good as dead. You can try Phantom cloaking, but there's a strong chance they'll bump into you anyway, in which case, you're as good as dead. The SA-X was far better at this IMO, in that it still attacked you conventionally rather than relying on an instant-death mechanic.

Aside from that, gameplay is okay, taking the control mechanics of Return of Samus. I've got to say it's kind of surreal to be this far in the game and to not have the morph ball yet, but hey, the slide's fun I guess.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Honestly: started my third run through after getting my time down to ~5 hours and the EMMI are getting predictable. Like, "hit the stun more than half the time on the off chance they catch me" predicable.

Hard mode hasn't changed any of that so far either. Only thing it does is make you take double damage and the EMMI will run like normal instead of standing upright after you blow their face shield off
It's like a reverse Dark Souls easy mode: the numbers just get bigger, but if you already aren't getting hit there's really not that much difference

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Funny comic, final boss spoilers

Spoiler

 

[Hawki]

So I'm well past Kraid at this point. How or why Kraid is even here is a question the game doesn't ask, let alone answer. At least when Ridley was brought in for Samus Returns there was an excuse there, but what's Kraid's excuse?

Overall, it's more Mehtroid than Metroid at this point.

 

[Dalisclock]

So I'm well past Kraid at this point. How or why Kraid is even here is a question the game doesn't ask, let alone answer. At least when Ridley was brought in for Samus Returns there was an excuse there, but what's Kraid's excuse?

Overall, it's more Mehtroid than Metroid at this point.

It's pretty sure both Kraid and Ridley are contractually obligated to appear in every metroid game or something. Must have had some killer lawyers for that contract, or Nintendo was high on paint fumes that day.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

I figure cloned by Space Pirates then captured by the antagonists for Metroid research.

 

[Chimpzy]

So I'm well past Kraid at this point. How or why Kraid is even here is a question the game doesn't ask, let alone answer. At least when Ridley was brought in for Samus Returns there was an excuse there, but what's Kraid's excuse?

I'm assuming either cloned by the Space Pirates, or cloned by Raven Beak.

Spoiler

probably the latter since Raven Beak says he plans on cloning himself an army of Samuses.

Wonder if that's a sequel hook? Then again, evil Samus has already been done twice.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Got 3:13 on hard to finish off the gallery, good bonus pic for getting all the ending screens.

But if you want to see some absolute buffoonery, here's the current world record run:

 

[Hawki]

It's pretty sure both Kraid and Ridley are contractually obligated to appear in every metroid game or something. Must have had some killer lawyers for that contract, or Nintendo was high on paint fumes that day.

Ridley, yes, Kraid, no.

It's not as if Ridley's much better, but there's at least some in-universe excuses for his regeneration, and you can see how his appearance shifts to accomodate his defeats at times (see Metroid Prime and Samus Returns). But Kraid? Peh.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Got 3:13 on hard to finish off the gallery, good bonus pic for getting all the ending screens.

But if you want to see some absolute buffoonery, here's the current world record run:

Side note, that thumbnail has a good picture of Samus's boot. With the way the leg is postured, you can have a good argument for Samus having heels in the zero suit.

But, wearing heels as the underwear for a flat footed boot would be stupid, so I have a counter proposal: due to Samus being infused with Chozo DNA as a child, Samus has a hallux!

So it's less a heel and more a shoe

 

[Specter Von Baren]

I figure cloned by Space Pirates then captured by the antagonists for Metroid research.

I initially thought this too but all of the scars and damage on his body seems to indicate to me that he's the real deal. If I were to guess, it could be that when Zebes blew up, he survived somehow, maybe his species is tough enough to survive the shockwave and he was on a chunk of the planet or something before getting captured by Ravenbeak.

 

[Fallen Soldier]

Congrats to Metroid Dread on a successful release.

 

[BrawlMan]

Dread Dunkey!

​

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

I initially thought this too but all of the scars and damage on his body seems to indicate to me that he's the real deal. If I were to guess, it could be that when Zebes blew up, he survived somehow, maybe his species is tough enough to survive the shockwave and he was on a chunk of the planet or something before getting captured by Ravenbeak.

In Super Metroid you see him sink into the ground not really exploding. I think it's believable that he survived and got off the planet when everything started exploding. After that he became space pirate leader because everyone else was dead and then got his ass kicked by Raven beak. That is what I like to think happened

Spoiler

There's also some implications that you don't actually kill kraid in your initial fight in dread, Just render him unconscious. Considering if he really burned up in the lava the X would have nothing to infect later.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

In Super Metroid you see him sink into the ground not really exploding. I think it's believable that he survived and got off the planet when everything started exploding. After that he became space pirate leader because everyone else was dead and then got his ass kicked by Raven beak. That is what I like to think happened

Spoiler

There's also some implications that you don't actually kill kraid in your initial fight in dread, Just render him unconscious. Considering if he really burned up in the lava the X would have nothing to infect later.

Given that he was just standing in the lava for who knows how long until Samus arrived, I don't think he'd have died to that at least.

 

[Hawki]

In Super Metroid you see him sink into the ground not really exploding. I think it's believable that he survived and got off the planet when everything started exploding.

The countdown is a few minutes, you think Kraid is going to move his fat arse quickly enough to escape Zebes?

It also raises the fact that if so, Kraid will have survived being 'killed' by Samus twice, joining the ranks of Ridley and Mother Brain. If this is a universe where death doesn't matter, why should we be invested?

 

[Specter Von Baren]

The countdown is a few minutes, you think Kraid is going to move his fat arse quickly enough to escape Zebes?

It also raises the fact that if so, Kraid will have survived being 'killed' by Samus twice, joining the ranks of Ridley and Mother Brain. If this is a universe where death doesn't matter, why should we be invested?

Ridley is officially dead though. There was a dead clone in Fusion but it was infected by X and was killed by Samus.

 

[Hawki]

So I've met Quiet Robe. I'm...extremely mixed on this.

From a writing perspective, this is a blatant info-dump with a character that's had no introduction, and he's promptly killed off as soon as that introduction is given. And poor guy, Samus really doesn't give a shit after looking at his body. The second living chozo she's seen since the Zebesian chozo were wiped out, and one apparently of the same tribe that raised her, and...yeah, she doesn't care.

On the other, the revelations as to what Raven Beak and the Mawkin were up to, plus the notion of an X disguising itself...these are nice revelations. It arguably ties in with the wider series as a whole, the idea that multiple groups have tried to control the metroids (the Space Pirates, the Federation, the Mawkin), and each attempt has ended with failure. For a series that obstensibly takes inspiration from 'Alien', it's an idea that's rue to the source material.

Oh, and that chozo robot. Yikes. Fun, but yikes.

Ridley is officially dead though. There was a dead clone in Fusion but it was infected by X and was killed by Samus.

I know Ridley's dead, but by the time of his final death on Zebes, he's been 'killed' four times prior, and there's nary an explanation to be had as to why. Nor is there any in-universe speculation as to why (as far as I'm aware).

I don't think Mother Brain is as egregious as the others, as being a machine, it's easy enough to say that she's repaired, but what's Ripley's excuse? And if, by Samus Returns, Samus knows that Ridley keeps coming back, maybe leaving him on the surface of SR388 wasn't the best idea in the world?

But heck, at least we know how Ridley was cloned for Other M, and by extension, how the X copied him in Fusion. So what's the excuse for Kraid? Because if he can survive a planet blowing up, then Samus shouldn't be able to scratch him.