Metroid Dread is the most redefining release in the Metroid series since Super Metroid on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994. Fans now debate which of the two releases is the peak of the series. I believe that attests to how polished Metroid Dread is, being compared to one of the greatest Metroidvanias of all time—and there’s a lot of competition there. It is the game that truly pushes the series forward, more than any game in the franchise, frankly. I say this in part because Metroid has generally not gotten any new entries until recently. Prior entries, however, tended to be iterative. What makes Dread different is that it naturally has a backtracking and puzzling element, all the while increasing the depth of combat.
Combat Immersion
Combat was previously a battle of attrition, like in typical action games. You shot the monsters until their health depleted, with hardly any other obstacles besides their projectiles and their body damaging you. You jump and shoot, avoid attacks by moving, and that is that. Dread went further by adding parrying, new movement options, and special moves. When you parried successfully, you would get a big damage payoff. During boss battles, you would even get unique animations that allow you to keep the fight going stylishly, continuing the interaction. You felt like Samus, could express yourself more, and fought harder than before. It is a simple thing, executed brilliantly. If compared to Dread, what would the next Metroid game have to do to compete? It feels like an evolution in game design, as it perfectly balances puzzles and combat, heightening both elements.
Puzzles and Progress in Metroid Dread
The first thing you’ll notice in Dread is the puzzle element. In typical Metroid fashion, Samus loses a lot of her suit abilities, only being able to use her basic moves. Jumping, shooting, parrying, and launching the regular red rocket. As you progress, discover, and avoid or confront enemies, Samus gradually recovers her equipment and becomes increasingly capable. Different from other entries, Dread includes more upgrades through smaller changes in the moveset, allowing for more backtracking than before. The map is something you are incentivized to explore and experiment with, through each ability, being rewarded for doing so.
Once you get most of your equipment, you can start overcoming obstacles that you once couldn’t get through. If you decide to explore more than you need to, you can find upgrades that increase your maximum health or rockets, crucial in combat. It’s a gameplay loop that feeds itself, as much as you can swallow. It scratches that itch in your brain and satisfies that need for “completion.” It is one of the strongest qualities of Metroidvanias, done exceptionally. Instead of going straight to Space Jump, you get a double jump. Instead of the early Morph Ball, you get Slide. These allow you to progress without immediately invalidating large parts of the map. It feels like more tools, not less efficient ones, and it excites you for the eventual upgrade.
You also get more interesting puzzles, with areas being layered by several obstacles requiring different moves to get through. Big, new moves come in the form of Aeion abilities. Phantom Cloak allows Samus to turn invisible, and Pulse Radar scans her surroundings for hidden, breakable blocks. You get to scratch that itch, more and more. And the best part of the Metroid series, generally, is that you also get to use some upgrades in combat.
Intricate and High-Pressure Combat
Enemies are no longer just health bars waiting to be depleted by a barrage of beams and missiles (although the weaker ones might). Parrying invites risk and reward, pushing the player to exercise timing and reflexes. In the combat of Metroid Dread, you are also pressured to use specific upgrades to finish off the enemy. There are times when special moves are required, while at other times they help clear an enemy quicker. This, again, increases the interactivity of the game, adding to its complexity. It causes the player to make more decisions than previous entries, engaging them in different ways. Especially during boss fights, it feels nearly like an exclusively action game. It’s just that good.
But the real game changers are the newer combat-focused upgrades. Particularly, Flash Shift is monumental. Flash Shift allows you to dash back and forth swiftly: both a defensive and an aggressive option. You can zip over an enemy to avoid them, or use Flash Shift to meet them and get off a big punish. The double jump also does this to some degree, helping you get perfect spacing or avoid projectiles. Another cool new combat move is the Storm Missiles upgrade, barraging an enemy with several rockets targeted at them. It adds risk and reward, taking time to charge up. But if you do manage to hit it off, you get massive damage. This expressive form of battle is just as satisfying as the puzzles, if not more. Metroid becomes what it appears to be: a badass sci-fi explorative journey with heated battles. The boss fights are a real showcase, in that respect.
The Peak of Metroid Boss Fights
One thing players will notice in boss fights is how fast-paced and methodical they are. The battles emulate the boss fights in modern Metroidvanias. This is arguably the best addition to the series. Bosses react to the player more often, feature more battle animations, and use different kinds of obstacles. There’s a boss who is melee-dependent, one that is stage-dependent, and another that requires you to parry. However, they all take damage from missiles, have weak points, and undergo phases. Before Dread, I did not imagine Metroid to be so high-octane, as a lot of its acclaim came from its puzzles, backtracking, and sequence-breaking. But playing through the entire series, towards Dread, made me realize it can do everything at once. And the series should continue to do so.
Raising the Bar
The difficulty with this is that, in my eyes, Dread seems to be the exception. It is the first Metroid game to have combat become equivalent to its puzzles in game design. Metroid: Samus Returns is a remake of the second Metroid game, made by the same developers as Dread. This is the game where they officially introduced parrying and somewhat more intricate boss fights. It was effectively the blueprint for Dread’s gameplay. It would seem to me that having experimented with the series for this long, in this way, could make it stale. More importantly, would the game be an iteration of Metroid Dread? What expectations will we have from an “improvement” on Dread, and would those expectations work against it? There’s a lot for the developers to consider, especially on moving the series forward. It is the iterative nature of Metroid: Zero Mission and Metroid Fusion that makes them unimpressive to some hardcore fans, especially those who hold Super Metroid in the highest regard.
It would not hold well to make just another game like Dread. That would-be approach is the reason that I see the Metroid Prime trilogy as having staled. The first installment was amazing, so they made more of the same. Visually and technically, the sequels of the first gameplay are very similar to the first, not pushing the series to new heights. Even Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, as seen in trailers and gameplay footage, seems to be another iteration. The 2D Metroid series, through new upgrades, enemies, and graphics, has avoided this to a degree.
Expectations
To bring the next entry to Dread’s height of game design would not embolden it if they have already peaked in their game concept. It would need more experimentation and new mechanics to avoid the issue many franchises have. They had a good idea with the horror element, including the E.M.M.I., with the claustrophobic areas. I could see a continuation of this, complicated with Dread’s combat and puzzles to spice things up.
But can they balance it all? Will it all be executed to perfection, just like in Metroid Dread—or even Super Metroid, for that matter? Perhaps they could add more sequence-breaking, more lore, unique species, and more. It’s going to take a lot to match any of these expectations that won’t make for just another lackluster entry. Luckily, as Metroid is a Nintendo franchise, we can expect something good. The hope is that, in Nintendo fashion, the future entry will exceed our expectations, or at the least, goes in an unexpected, interesting direction.
