NOTE: it would be nice if you go read my review of Samus Returns as it informs this review...
I was wary seeing mercury steam given the lead on this legendary title, I didn't think they had it in them to make Metroid
Dread. It didn't seem like their strength. I thought Samus Returns was in large part drek and feared them not being up to the game I'd waited so long for. What I got was a mixed bag, lacking what I always loved from Metroid but wholly playing to Mercury Steam's strengths and showing the unique approach they can bring to a metroid game.
Metroid Dread, as it is now, finally released, is not aptly titled. Mercury Steam do not do traditional atmospheric Metroid, they do not do dread. This game is so far from Fusion, my personal favourite in the series. Metroid Dread is the most action centric 2D Metroid. Atmosphere and tension are thrown to the wayside in favour of some of the smoothest most expressive controls I've ever laid hands on in 2D and outright the best, most engaging action ever seen in any Metroid.
This game was marketed as Metroid Dread, and a lot of people still see it as that. The EMMI are the flagship feature of this game, adorning all marketing in particular the game's release trailer. That trailer showing us the instadeath cinematic for when the EMMI catches you. This was exciting, really exciting. It seemed to be a return to Metroid Fusion's SAX and the horror it brought about. It fit the picture Metroid Dread had built in my head over all these years.
Let me cut to the chase, I don't think the EMMI are at all scary, or at least I don't think they maintain that fear factor as the game progresses. Interaction with the EMMI takes place solely in segmented areas of the game in which they roam about. This is a fair and understandable design decision, being constantly chased by the EMMI would give the player little time to breathe and soon become exhausting. The EMMI then becomes this little gauntlet you weave through every now and then. The focus is the player's gameplay experience as opposed to grander sensations of dread.
I should be clear that the EMMI is immaculately put together. Supreme attention has been put into the way it is animated. Its pathing is a kind of self correcting optimal writhing that just sluices through any obstacles. It never seems to lose momentum when following you and I think this is one of its greatest strengths. Its design is built around this flow, something I have the utmost respect for. It seems when making the EMMI they did not start with a static design but intended to have its personality and design shine through its animation, and thus preplanned for its unique method of locomotion in the intricacies of EMMI's design. All this goes a long way to making the EMMI scary but is ultimately squandered by other factors
Metroid Dread is very much a Nintendo game made in 2022. The design trend of death having as little consequence as possible persists. There's little need to save as when you die you'll typically be sent only a couple rooms back to the last hidden autosave. This was a conscious decision not to ever frustrate the player, and can be seen to rhyme with the game's dislike for backtracking that I'll talk about later. It's this excessive checkpointing that robs the EMMI of their fear factor. When the EMMI gets you and you see the epic and seamless death cinematic you are simply sent right back outside the EMMI zone. These hidden checkpoints are always triggered when entering an EMMI zone. As consequence for dying to the EMMI is so minimal they soon become less of this obscene source of dread and moreso reduced to a momentary setback. All the work gone into their presentation to make them feared is for naught when they can do so little to you. The EMMIs don't stop being fun, they are always engaging to weave around in thanks additionally to the freedom excercised by Samus' control scheme here. The issue is that this game is not called Metroid Fun, it is called Metroid Dread. Is that so damning an issue, a non-apt title. Why shouldn't I accept this game for its strengths? The things it cares about and strives to excel at. Its like the line in
Matthewmatosis' "Meta Microvideos", "Every game is bad in an endless number of things and only good in the few ways it was crafted to be". Maybe the marketing team are at fault for the way the game was put forward and the developers should not be blamed for making a bad horror game when they never meant to make a horror game. Or is it instead the fault of the weight of expectations upon the long rumoured Metroid Dread. Their sole opportunity to make the Metroid game of their dreams playing wholly to their strengths was to take on this mantle. We can never really know how much Dread changed over time. If it initially meant to be more horror focused and that Mercury Steam shifted that focus to play more to their strengths and make simply the best game they could as opposed to making something that lived up to the title Metroid Dread. The best insight we can get as to Sakamoto's initial intent and whether Mercury Steam were really what he envisioned comes in
this interview. Sakamoto does seem to insist that this is what Dread has always been. Whether or not you take his word for it is up to you. I think with this conversation on Dread lacking dread its easy to spiral and end up nowhere and saying nothing. How am I to debate someone's enjoyment of this game solely as a smooth as butter action-packed metroidvania? Am I the player expected to shift my expectations with the game's true strengths when seeing its clearly advertised ones lacking? Should I curate my own critical experience
in the way someone playing Smash Bros Melee curates a specific ruleset not explicitly put forth by the developer. I will return to this topic later in the review, for now I'll actually spend some time discussing the game itself.