Enjoy! I can’t put it down because it’s so fun and the cutscenes are wild when you parry a boss. I’ve seen so many newcomers try metroid for the first time with Dread and loving it. Just wish Nintendo would make zero mission/fusion available one switch because I see a lot that want to now try those games.
@@chadrageus Other M was fine just needed polish and probably didn't fit as a Metroid game overall. Definitely superior to Star Fox Adventures and most others in that line of spinoff. With polish I'd say Other M would still be one of the weaker Metroid titles.
One of the things I love most about an EZA review (and a Ben Moore review in particular) is how /tight/ they are. So many reviewers, even very good ones, take twice as long to say half as much. There's a reason these kids are the best in the biz
Not just that, unlike so many other reviewers EZA are always incredibly sensitive in regards to spoilers. They never go too in depth into things (such as bosses) and keep the gameplay to early game. I appreciate that so much. Never have to worry about being spoiled when watching these.
I'm happy for MercurySteam. They had tough moments in some games in the past with bad decisions on their own, but with Metroid they're showing they are a great developer with the right direction. I hope Nintendo trust in them for more projects in the future with their direction. Maybe even to develope a future Metroid Prime (MercurySteam also have experiences un First-Person games as they developed Clive Barker's Jericho, so maybe they can also make a great Prime game). Who knows, but I hope Nintendo keep going their relationship with them.
I would say, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Let them make 2d Metroid games and let Retro Studios handle the Prime games. This way you also have two studios working on Metroid simultaneously.
@@Phoenix_1991 If Retro Studios nail it with Prime 4, for sure, that's the ideal scenario. If somehow didn't work, maybe MercurySteam it's a good "plan B", 'cause I don't know if the Retro Studios of 2021 it's the same of 2007 with MP3: Corruption. They lost key people of the Prime saga, and there's been rumours about internal troubles in the studio for many years before they started to develope Prime 4. So, as I said, the best scenario for me it's to see Retro Studios at his best and MP4 with the quality of the Prime saga, and meanwhile MercurySteam with the 2D games or other projects; but if Retro Studios doesn't live up the expectations, it's good to consider another studio capable to carry that torch.
@@t00nbink I agree. 2D Metroidvania are my preference. Samus Returns and Dread give me hopes that Mercury Steam will be our new 2D Metroid designer in the future.
If you take the guys that made lord of shadows 2 and pair them with the director that made other m, somehow you get a masterpiece. Game development is weird.
There was a point that made me literally feel like a child playing Super again... and AFTER that point the game kept up that feeling and never let go. Absolutely love this game and am enjoying my second run as much as the first.
@@gandalfandchill549 had the same feeling like damn I'm having just as much fun as I did with super when I first played it. Even though the format is familiar it keeps throwing new things at you at a steady pace. None of the modern crap game design focused on wasting your time and/or money. It's incredibly refreshing
@@benmeister Man, right before the halfway mark the game goes into overdrive and never lets up. And the EMMI's never stop being a challenge to puzzle your way through. It's even better the second time through when you have the confidence to handle them, but they still can mess your day up.
I enjoyed Lords of Shadow from MercurySteam so am happy to see they've continued to evolve. Great how faithfully they have honored the Metroid legacy here while pushing it forward. Dread is an amazing addition to franchise and metroidvania genre. If you've got a switch I highly recommend it. What a treat
have it almost 100% now and after that i will play it in hard mode...i just can't get enough of it... i think i had that the last time when i played breath of the wild in 2017
@@nuclearbeeberman No joke, I haven't had this much fun playing a game since BotW and the original Switch launch. Highly appropriate that Nintendo launched their new console model alongside it. And mercurysteam did the impossible: they made QTEs that I not only liked, but enjoyed.
I hope that Dread ends up becoming this generation's equivalent of Super. Can't wait to see this game four years from now when the community has brutally ripped it apart and has sub 30 speed runs from the most absurd optimizations and skips imaginable.
@@tgr3423 It's so good. I'm on my second run and JUST 100% item collection and I'm already revving up for my normal and hardmode speedruns. I haven't been this obsessed by a game since Breath of the Wild and Sekiro. I agree and really can see it being this generation's Super.
Dread is masterful. It somehow manages to be both fresh and familiar. I was worried it would not have a good atmosphere, but it only took a few minutes for my worries to disappear. When playing, time just disappears. It's a modern classic on the level of the greatest in the series and the genre.
This is seriously one of the best written reviews I have ever seen. As a game designer that has been in the industry for well over a decade, this reviews tackles perfectly points that would be easily overlooked since sometime with design it is easier to see when it is bad than understanding on why exactly it is that good. This game is just that, brilliant design.
100%'ed it just yesterday, and I LOVED it... it might be close, if not equal to Super Metroid for me. Cant wait for Prime 4 now. Dread and Psychonauts 2 might be my GOTY contenders for this year.
@@RandomJin_ yea both psychonauts are “don’t skips”… just looking at them in the surface they look like “oh just another platformer”…. But they have so much character and fun writing. I fully suggest playing both of them.
@@RandomJin_ if you like the original game, Psychonauts 2 will be your GoTY contender. If the Original game was alright to you, then you'll just see Psychonauts as a good sequel imo. The reason so many people put Psychonauts 2 as a GoTY contender is that if you like the game's way of doing things, it works exceedingly well
@@carterross 100% complete is probably around 15-20 hours for each. Not much replay value, no new game+ or anything. But just fun stories, worlds, and collectibles. My favorite platformer for sure.
I wouldn't be surprised if it got nominated for goty at the game awards as well. It's one of the highest rated games of 2021. Hoping both it and psychonauts 2 make it.
@@FuegodeInfierno I don't see why it wouldn't get nominated. There are 6 spots. The contenders will probably be deathloop, returnal, ratchet, metroid, shin megami tensei 5 and psychonauts 2. There's also monster hunter rise and RE8 I guess but metroid is one of the highest rated games of the year. It seems like a guatanteed nominee at least.
If you're still on the fence check out the first 30 minutes of max doods playthrough to see if it grabs you. He's a metroid newbie and it ended up being one of his 2 favorite games of the year so far!
Nice review, and I completely agree. It’s an absolute masterclass in game design, and the longer I play, the better it gets. Congratulations to Mercurysteam and Nintendo for absolutely nailing it.
Woah I totally thought Blood would review this since I know he loves the series ( This is not to say I thought Blood was the only ally that loves Metroid but I feel like Blood is the one ally that actually prefers the Metroid series over Castlevania so my natural thought was that Blood would be doing the review). Great review Ben!
Don't know about that one you get lost a little to much in this game. Seems like there a hundred different paths to take but only one is the correct one
I’m have so much fun with game. Even though I got 100% in a little over 10 hours, I still want to keep going and start over from scratch and do it all over again. I need MORE.
I really love this game. I've always wanted to like 2D Metroid, but getting into them late I just couldn't push past the controls (they seemed so clunky). This plays so smoothly its actually the main highlight for me. Glad I took a chance :)
I think 9.5 is pretty spot on Ben. That's about where I landed, the only thing that brought it down from a 10 were the repeat Chozo soldier fights, and maybe a couple of the EMMIs. Everything else was perfect :)
Having a blast with it so far. Tried to beat the “chained up monster “ but couldn’t take it down, so now I’m exploring all over for upgrades. Man I love this game!! Great review guys
Yes Ben! I finished the game yesterday and I agree with everything, the map interface is also my main gripe with the game, which isn't really that significant when everything else is so well executed. The boss fights are so unbelievably good.
@@nhuertasg I know but even with the highlight I think it's a bit cumbersome, I wish they removed the icons of doors that are open and items you already collected rather than just making them a little dimmer.
Agree on the map UI being a bit funky. Could have separated them by color removed ones u got instead. The scan is a HUGE improvement though. Amazing game
100%'d it 3 times already, going to do it a couple more times just so I can get it under 4 hours AND THEN I'll go for Hard Mode. MercurySteam friggin' did it, they made a 2D Metroid game more addicting and smooth than Super, and I fucking love it. Dread is my GOTY.
My only complaint with Dread is how tiny the map reveal "hitbox" is. I wish it was a bit larger like in previous entries so I didn't need to jump in every single corner the map to relieve my OCD.
I Beat the game and there is nothing that seems to say "100% of Map" in this game so seems you don't have to worry about that. Just get all the items and try to beat the game within 4 hours in game time (this doesn't count cinematics, looking at map, save rooms, transport stations, deaths, etc).
@@LoadedKlip Thanks, but the worst part is that I'm not even filling the map because of any reward. It just bugs me to no end that the map isn't completely filled in areas I've explored. I'm probably going to beat the game with twice the play time than most other players for that reason.
@@FluffyBunniesOnFire Yeah, I hope they will patch it somehow because the game is almost flawless otherwise. But I doubt they will since it's such a minor thing.
What I love about the boss opening cutscenes is that Samus outright tells you what your gameplan should be. Slide under and aim at the head, aim at the mouth, etc.
Dread is so good I almost kind of hate it because now that I've completed it I'm having trouble finding anything that I enjoy as much right now. It's like tasting fine cuisine and then being forced to drink Huel.
If you're shopping around for metroidvanias and want something as well-executed as Dread (albeit with different strengths and design philosophy), consider La-Mulana. First one is better realized, second one has a bit more QoL. Just beware they're rather unforgiving games and really necessitate that you dig around for clues, take notes and take some leaps of logic here and there. There aren't many metroidvanias better than those two games, imo.
I’m only a couple of hours in but my impression is that it’s Nintendo’s best first party outing on the system. Greatest metroidvania since Hollow Knight.
Fantastic review Ben! Metroid Dread is one of the best games I ever played and as a Metroid fan, I'm very happy to see this masterful series return with a bang. This is one game that shouldn't be missed. Without a doubt, one of the best games of the year.
For newcomers to the series reading veterans say this game is as good or better than Super Metroid... It's insane for any game to be considered in the same tier as Super by this fan base. It's so relieving for a game this anticipated for multiple decades, in an iconic series that has been starving it's fans for new games for most of its existence, to deliver this hard. I hope this is finally the breakout hit we've wanted the series to have and it becomes a staple franchise that continuously gets games.
You say "sensory overload" for the map, maybe for beginners, but as a seasoned Metroidvania player, this is the best, most detailed map in a game I've ever seen. I WANT more information on a map, the more the better! I've never been more frustrated when there's not enough information on the map.
@@The_Ostrich I don't know where you got that idea from. All I did was saying that this game is way to hand holdy. That's the reason I gave up on playing the prime sub series after trying the original prime for 30 mins, if you like that, good for you. Hand holding is a bit too much in this game really, especially the flashing map showing you have missed something, I really enjoy the days of power bombing everything to find hidden items. Anyway, Mr. Troll, have a nice day, and don't forget to hold you mamas hand while crossing the road.
I can definitely understand missing the tunes from previous games, I just feel like they wanted to take the music in a more creepy atmospheric direction given the whole focus on "dread"
Game of year will be interesting this year because we got Dread, games you mentioned, Yakuza like a dragon, and It takes two. I personally think that It takes two is probably gonna win but I would love it if dread won.
@@randomrandom450 you're out of your damn mind it's one of the best Metroid games ever made and also honestly one of the best metroidvanias ever made it's quality is incredible do you actually agree with David Jaffe because I'm going to say it right now if you do your bad at the game simple as that
@@randomrandom450 then you're an absolute joke and are factually wrong as many people have been pointing out to David it's not unintuitive in the slightest as a matter of fact it's literally the exact opposite you're just bad the game literally tells you what you need to do and gives environmental Clues at every point stop blaming the game for your lack of awareness and your inability to read
@@randomrandom450 and as a quick little Edition if you thought it was a good idea to waste your time listening to him being whiny how about instead of making yourself look like an idiot by agreeing with him you watch the number of videos that have been uploaded recently pointing out why he's objectively wrong or once again maybe have some awareness in the slightest and look at his videos like to dislike ratio and comment section get a bit of a clue as to why what he's saying is nonsense and everyone vehemently disagrees
There are alot of bosses and mini bosses in this game, and they are all fairly challenging so if you like tough boss fights this game's got plenty of them.
That makes 3 out of 3 with those 9(ish)ratings together with No more Heroes 3 and Psychonauts 2. 2021 just became a suprisingly stellar Year for videogames.
You love to see it! This game is incredible and is everything us Metroid fans could ask for (besides more of it!) Everything was just handled with so much care, Samus' design and animation, to the boss fights and powerups. The challenge is excellent and the controls are immaculate. I only wish to see Super Metroid remade with this feel and look, but hey, I'm not complaining. WE GOT AN INCREDIBLE NEW 2D METROID, that is victory enough!
I was admittedly aprehensive about this game, but all of that dispelled within the first hour. This is a true Metroid game, through and through, and Sakamoto made the right decision in having Mercury Steam develop it. I think they deserve recognition for making a fantastic game, and all of their past shortcomings can now be looked at as stepping stones to something greater. They say failure is the best teacher, and I'm genuinely happy to see not only Sakamoto's vision realised after 16 long years, but also Mercury Steam find their mojo. As of posting this, Metroid Dread's currently my Game of the Year. It's short but sweet, and very replayable thanks to its clear-time rewards. Shin Megami Tensei V could very well dethrone it next month, but even so, this is a modern classic. Now all I can as for from Metroid is the return of Sylux in Prime 4, which seems very likely at this point... My favourite hunter, becoming a more prominent antagonist.
Metroid Dread was so fun to play, played it through in 2 days and im planning to get back 100% it and then go into hard mode, I really love the Search action/Metroid genre routing through the map and this takes it up to another level with the bossfights and technical movement! GOTY in my eyes, im unsure though if its better than the simplicity of Super Metroid though as Dread stands out with its own unique feel.
Ben also gave Psychonauts 2 a 9.5, but yes it shares the spot with it! I tried searching for their It Takes Two video to also check it’s score but I can’t find it, did they remove the review for some reason?
Idk about Psychonauts though.. I understand the original was a classic and as a teen I played through that with much joy, but this sequel feels like trying to recreate remnants from the past. It was enjoyable but nothing noteworthy
I am impressed what Mercury Steam did with the Metroid franchise. Metroid Dread has shown us how the Spanish studio has improved since their Castlevania Lords of Shadow Days.
My only real complaint is that there were no extra "special gear" only ammo-tanks and energy tanks and that the whole experience felt abit to rail-roaded. Too many locked doors behind you and many many areas that got shut of forcing you to be in a few number of rooms until u found the way forward. This often happend in conjuction with finding a new power aswell making that "oh yea I can use this on that old puzzle"-feeling a bit soured since u couldnt go back there instantly but had to push forward for a while before u had access to the actual area again. Overall a really good game thou
I'm a lifelong Metroid mega fan, ever since i played the original back on the NES as a kid. In my mind Metroid has always been one of Nintendo's "Big 3" alongside Mario and Zelda. Too bad Nintendo never shared that sentiment. Dread is absolutely amazing, and i hope it's going to act as a wake-up call for them and that they finally start to treat this franchise better. It birthed a whole damn genre alongside Castlevania for crying out loud, it deserves more than one entry every decade.
Havent played a metroid game since Super Nintendo, skipped the FPS titels. I was nervous about wether this kind of game would be for me, but it delivers. Just a pure execution of the formula. Tons of fun and hard to put down.
Excellent review as always Ben 😍 And agree with most of your opinions, if anything I also believe the music is not as outstanding as other entries in the series like super Metroid or prime 1 but still great 👌🏾
This game is easily the game of the year, and Ben crushed this review. Excellent work as always. Personally for me the game is a 10, but I can easily see where a little could be knocked off the score for the odd framey section, or obtuse nature. Still, I think the good FAR outweigh's the bad as Ben said, it's so, so good.
@@MyStrongTower34 If a game had to reinvent the wheel to be a 10, we'd only see a 10/10 every 15 years. A 10 is a game that excels at everything it tries to do, which Metroid Dread absolutely does. It wasn't trying to reinvent the genre, it was trying to be excellent within the genre it invented 30 odd years ago. It does do quite a lot of fresh things though, but that's not the point. The point is what it does do, it does perfectly. The exploration, combat, animations, level design, atmosphere, music, and narrative are all executed extremely well. Writing this game off as "another side scroller" is a little heavy handed. Show me any other side scrolling game that does any of those things as well as Dread, without tripping over itself in every other category.
People these days are so incredibly spoiled. I don't even notice issues like this, I grew up in the 8-bit era and it blows my mind seeing people make remarks about graphical, frame rate, etc. issues when they go completely over my head.
@@xenos_n. For real, I'll see the same people who criticize Dread for its long elevator loading screens call Prime an untouchable masterpiece despite doing the exact same thing between each major area.
@@ians_parks oh that complaint made me lose my mind when I first heard it. Like oh god forbid you have to look at a really cool loading screen for a few seconds while an entire area loads. That one I just absolutely don't understand. It's not like the loading times were even that long! Compare that to Outer Worlds' loading times on the Switch. Those were infuriating.
Playing this game while listening to Ben's glorious words. Man does he nail it. Whether its an 8, 9 or 10. I really dont care, I just LOVE this game! Metroid = back baby!!!!
I agree. Who cares if it's the best? Who cares what the score is? As long the game is good and the positives outweighs the negative by alot, that's all that matters. And this game did it.
I do have one criticism about the controls, in that I wish you could aim freely and move at the same time. A dual analog control scheme would have allowed for this.
Does this make sense though? It logically makes sense that if you're running super fast, you wouldn't have laser precision, and that it takes standing still to focus on what you're aiming at. The free aim is already so good in this game, I don't think it hurts it to stand still to get the laser view of where you're aiming.
@@LETTMusic I feel like it could have been a lifesaver in boss fights. There were so many instances where I needed to move and shoot at the same time during those fights, and I kept missing.
@@davethibault6734 Yeah, I'm not saying it couldn't have been implemented, and potentially improved controls, I'm just wondering if it was a choice by design rather than limitation.
@@FluffyBunniesOnFire While you can adjust your aim without relying on freeaim while moving the stick it is incredibly sensitive, and in past metroid games you could snap to diagonal angles and still move using the L and R buttons but obviously here they serve other purposes.
9.5? Wow. That's pretty slick. What held you from giving it a 10? Not saying it deserves it (specially since I've not played it yet) but more interested on what held that .5 back.
An amazing game totally deserving of the Metroid name, it advances the MV formula in new and creative ways, while still feeling like the classics, Mercury steam just nailed
Not watching the review until I finish the game; I just wanted to see who reviewed it. Dread has set a new standard for developing player-character movement in my opinion. The pacing is also fantastic. (Minor spoilers below) I am about 2.5 to 3 hours in and I have gotten something like 9 upgrades. That just feels good in a Metroid game.
God this game was amazing - Hollow Knight will likely always be my number 1 favorite Metroidvania of all time (would be very happy to encounter something I love more some day though), and has been for years even after playing many games in the genre in that time span, but Dread has readily become a very close second. Absolutely a must-play.
I can't believe they did it. I think this game ranks just under super metroid for me, maybe even beside super metroid. It's too early to tell, but I really hope this game continues to be relevant for years to come. It's absolutely astounding to me that MercurySteam managed to make a metroidvania in 2021 that actually succeeds in pushing the genre forward. You can really tell that the people in charge of this game had played a LOT of metroidvania titles. There are so many little design and QoL elements that I'll miss when I play other games like this.
Just seeing some of the sequence breaks folks are doing blows my mind. I just saw a guy do a 1:38 deathless any % clear and my jaw was on the floor the entire time. I'm just taking my sweet time going for a 100% first clear. No doubt I'll dive right back in after that to try and get some of the other ending cars too.
This puts tremendous pressure on prime 4, who would’ve thought
I agree. Which is crazy cause when they first announced Dread I thought the other way around!
If Easy Allies says it’s a 9.5 then I’m buying it. You’re the only reviewers I trust.
Thanks for all the help, guys and gals!
To me, Dread is one of those games where once you play it, it's hard to put down.
There's a few others reviewers that are trustworthy IMO
Enjoy! I can’t put it down because it’s so fun and the cutscenes are wild when you parry a boss. I’ve seen so many newcomers try metroid for the first time with Dread and loving it.
Just wish Nintendo would make zero mission/fusion available one switch because I see a lot that want to now try those games.
I dont trust them because they dont have enough LGBTQI representation on their team and until they do I WILL NEVER TRUST THEM AND NEITHER SHOULD YOU
@@againstthepods4316 This is a bot. It's made to create discourse by commenting a controversial topic. Just look at the creation date of the profile.
Apparently Dread has caused a spike in people looking for the older games on Wii U etc. too. You love to see it.
This one has truly made many people Metroid fans, it's amazing to see
Nintendo really should make them all available on Switch :-)
So long as they're not looking for other m blegh.
@@chadrageus Other M was fine just needed polish and probably didn't fit as a Metroid game overall. Definitely superior to Star Fox Adventures and most others in that line of spinoff. With polish I'd say Other M would still be one of the weaker Metroid titles.
I was one of those, had to get my hands on fusion
One of the things I love most about an EZA review (and a Ben Moore review in particular) is how /tight/ they are. So many reviewers, even very good ones, take twice as long to say half as much. There's a reason these kids are the best in the biz
Yeah, Ben articulates his points very well, and manages to cut out the fluff while still being informative and insightful.
Not just that, unlike so many other reviewers EZA are always incredibly sensitive in regards to spoilers. They never go too in depth into things (such as bosses) and keep the gameplay to early game. I appreciate that so much. Never have to worry about being spoiled when watching these.
I'm happy for MercurySteam. They had tough moments in some games in the past with bad decisions on their own, but with Metroid they're showing they are a great developer with the right direction. I hope Nintendo trust in them for more projects in the future with their direction. Maybe even to develope a future Metroid Prime (MercurySteam also have experiences un First-Person games as they developed Clive Barker's Jericho, so maybe they can also make a great Prime game). Who knows, but I hope Nintendo keep going their relationship with them.
I would say, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Let them make 2d Metroid games and let Retro Studios handle the Prime games. This way you also have two studios working on Metroid simultaneously.
@@Phoenix_1991 As someone who prefers the 2D Metroid games I really hope they keep developing more then in the future.
@@Phoenix_1991 If Retro Studios nail it with Prime 4, for sure, that's the ideal scenario. If somehow didn't work, maybe MercurySteam it's a good "plan B", 'cause I don't know if the Retro Studios of 2021 it's the same of 2007 with MP3: Corruption. They lost key people of the Prime saga, and there's been rumours about internal troubles in the studio for many years before they started to develope Prime 4. So, as I said, the best scenario for me it's to see Retro Studios at his best and MP4 with the quality of the Prime saga, and meanwhile MercurySteam with the 2D games or other projects; but if Retro Studios doesn't live up the expectations, it's good to consider another studio capable to carry that torch.
@@t00nbink
I agree. 2D Metroidvania are my preference. Samus Returns and Dread give me hopes that Mercury Steam will be our new 2D Metroid designer in the future.
If you take the guys that made lord of shadows 2 and pair them with the director that made other m, somehow you get a masterpiece. Game development is weird.
I'm 30 years old, have never played a metroid game and I absolutely love Dread.
Welcome, I recommend Super Metroid one of the best games ever made.
@@lordmetroid1 I second this. I also love the prime games.
I’m 57 (😅) and this is my second Metroid game (Metroid Prime on GameCube being the first). Having a blast!!!!
100%d over the weekend and I'm so happy Ben nailed the highlights worth addressing. This is a *remarkable* game.
I don't remember when I was this happy playing games last time. It's been a while. Dread nails just everything and it is glorious to see.
Same Man. Usually now n days I’m just trying to beat games as fast as possible. But this game is just pure gaming bliss. Can’t get enough.
Same here. It seems like I cant get enough of it. Sad thing that it has to end at some point.
There was a point that made me literally feel like a child playing Super again... and AFTER that point the game kept up that feeling and never let go. Absolutely love this game and am enjoying my second run as much as the first.
@@gandalfandchill549 had the same feeling like damn I'm having just as much fun as I did with super when I first played it. Even though the format is familiar it keeps throwing new things at you at a steady pace. None of the modern crap game design focused on wasting your time and/or money. It's incredibly refreshing
@@benmeister Man, right before the halfway mark the game goes into overdrive and never lets up. And the EMMI's never stop being a challenge to puzzle your way through. It's even better the second time through when you have the confidence to handle them, but they still can mess your day up.
I enjoyed Lords of Shadow from MercurySteam so am happy to see they've continued to evolve. Great how faithfully they have honored the Metroid legacy here while pushing it forward. Dread is an amazing addition to franchise and metroidvania genre. If you've got a switch I highly recommend it. What a treat
Ben Moore reviews, always a pleasure.
I am such a massive fan of Metroid Dread, game of the year for me.
@ironzombi: Same here broskie! Game is super fun and i am hooked. If I didn’t have to work I would have beaten the game already.
I've already beat it 100% on hard
Best 2d Metroid since Super IMO, just 100% completed it and want to replay ASAP.
have it almost 100% now and after that i will play it in hard mode...i just can't get enough of it... i think i had that the last time when i played breath of the wild in 2017
@@nuclearbeeberman Seriously. :) I haven't immediately and deliberately put this much time into a game since BOTW.
@@nuclearbeeberman No joke, I haven't had this much fun playing a game since BotW and the original Switch launch. Highly appropriate that Nintendo launched their new console model alongside it.
And mercurysteam did the impossible: they made QTEs that I not only liked, but enjoyed.
I hope that Dread ends up becoming this generation's equivalent of Super. Can't wait to see this game four years from now when the community has brutally ripped it apart and has sub 30 speed runs from the most absurd optimizations and skips imaginable.
@@tgr3423 It's so good. I'm on my second run and JUST 100% item collection and I'm already revving up for my normal and hardmode speedruns. I haven't been this obsessed by a game since Breath of the Wild and Sekiro. I agree and really can see it being this generation's Super.
Dread is masterful. It somehow manages to be both fresh and familiar. I was worried it would not have a good atmosphere, but it only took a few minutes for my worries to disappear. When playing, time just disappears. It's a modern classic on the level of the greatest in the series and the genre.
Well said, Sir.
This is seriously one of the best written reviews I have ever seen. As a game designer that has been in the industry for well over a decade, this reviews tackles perfectly points that would be easily overlooked since sometime with design it is easier to see when it is bad than understanding on why exactly it is that good. This game is just that, brilliant design.
Ben is really good at conveying stuff like that, especially with a nuance that far too many game reviewers lack.
If you allow me to pick your brain for a minute, what are the points from the review that you think are most interesting or differentiated?
@@r.f.switch5847 Ben... You mean old Ben Kenobi?
@@REE-Animation Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time...
@@REE-Animation Nah, I meant the Boomer of the Easy Allies, Ben Moore.
This has been my first real Metroid game since Super Metroid when I was a kid and I’ve fallen in LOVE this game is perfect!
100%'ed it just yesterday, and I LOVED it... it might be close, if not equal to Super Metroid for me. Cant wait for Prime 4 now.
Dread and Psychonauts 2 might be my GOTY contenders for this year.
Damn Psychonauts 2. Might have to pick that one up if it‘s that good. Still need to play the first one though
@@RandomJin_ yea both psychonauts are “don’t skips”… just looking at them in the surface they look like “oh just another platformer”…. But they have so much character and fun writing. I fully suggest playing both of them.
@@RandomJin_ if you like the original game, Psychonauts 2 will be your GoTY contender. If the Original game was alright to you, then you'll just see Psychonauts as a good sequel imo. The reason so many people put Psychonauts 2 as a GoTY contender is that if you like the game's way of doing things, it works exceedingly well
How long to reach those 100%? And how's the replay value?
@@carterross 100% complete is probably around 15-20 hours for each. Not much replay value, no new game+ or anything. But just fun stories, worlds, and collectibles. My favorite platformer for sure.
seems like a goty contender for easy allies at least,
I wouldn't be surprised if it got nominated for goty at the game awards as well. It's one of the highest rated games of 2021. Hoping both it and psychonauts 2 make it.
I think it’s gonna be top 3. What other games are there really that came out? Every other game is getting tons of shit but not this one
@@reed1645 nah they'll give it "best familiar game" or some bs like that
@@FuegodeInfierno I don't see why it wouldn't get nominated. There are 6 spots. The contenders will probably be deathloop, returnal, ratchet, metroid, shin megami tensei 5 and psychonauts 2. There's also monster hunter rise and RE8 I guess but metroid is one of the highest rated games of the year. It seems like a guatanteed nominee at least.
Had no plans to buy this one, but now I might
If you're still on the fence check out the first 30 minutes of max doods playthrough to see if it grabs you. He's a metroid newbie and it ended up being one of his 2 favorite games of the year so far!
I have never played a Metroid game before and it is excellent. So much fun.
Felt the same. Bought it and it’s absolutely blown me away.
Metroid vs Returnal for game of the year. What a time for use gamers who love these kind of games.
Only a couple hours into the game, but it's feeling like a strong GOTY contender for sure.
This year's list is going to be interesting.
This my first Metroid game. So far, I love it.
This one should get an insta-entry to the Hall of Greats!
Some games don't really need the debate for sure
chill
Nice review, and I completely agree. It’s an absolute masterclass in game design, and the longer I play, the better it gets. Congratulations to Mercurysteam and Nintendo for absolutely nailing it.
With Dread, Psychonauts 2, and Rift Apart, GOTYs is gonna be so much fun this year
Yep.
Woah I totally thought Blood would review this since I know he loves the series ( This is not to say I thought Blood was the only ally that loves Metroid but I feel like Blood is the one ally that actually prefers the Metroid series over Castlevania so my natural thought was that Blood would be doing the review). Great review Ben!
Easily one of the best games of 2021 :)
...yet.
@@CowboyKing ??
for me its so far the best game this year :)
Don't know about that one you get lost a little to much in this game. Seems like there a hundred different paths to take but only one is the correct one
@@zachjennings5320 So like Zero Mission and Fusion? Yet those two are regarded the best in the franchise alongside super metroid ofc
Alright, just ordered it at my local game store, gonna pick it up tomorrow. Just want those Super Metroid vibes again man.
Metroid is back! When the review score revealed. Not going to lie I thought it would get that 10 😅.
I’m have so much fun with game. Even though I got 100% in a little over 10 hours, I still want to keep going and start over from scratch and do it all over again. I need MORE.
I really love this game. I've always wanted to like 2D Metroid, but getting into them late I just couldn't push past the controls (they seemed so clunky). This plays so smoothly its actually the main highlight for me. Glad I took a chance :)
Metroid really needed to be modernized and they did it perfectly.
just found out you can use the counter on those fire shooting tank dudes that take 6 rockets for a 1 hit.
It really is that damn good. I'm trying to stretch it out, but I'm still consuming it so fast because it's so freaking well-designed!
I think 9.5 is pretty spot on Ben. That's about where I landed, the only thing that brought it down from a 10 were the repeat Chozo soldier fights, and maybe a couple of the EMMIs. Everything else was perfect :)
Chozo fights were quite enjoyable I think. It was like playing smash with better controls.
@@hododod246 I liked when we got to fight both of them at once, but the one against the soldier with the spear/shield got a little samey.
Glad I found this channel, still remember that voice from the good old gametrailers reviews I grew up with
Having a blast with it so far. Tried to beat the “chained up monster “ but couldn’t take it down, so now I’m exploring all over for upgrades. Man I love this game!! Great review guys
Kraid is having a rough time.
@@uncreativearro Finally got past him after I realized you could block his big punch.
If you get morph ball bombs early you can insta-kill the second phase and they even added a unique cutscene. Amazing game
Yes Ben! I finished the game yesterday and I agree with everything, the map interface is also my main gripe with the game, which isn't really that significant when everything else is so well executed. The boss fights are so unbelievably good.
Press Y to highlight is the best thing about the map.
@@nhuertasg I know but even with the highlight I think it's a bit cumbersome, I wish they removed the icons of doors that are open and items you already collected rather than just making them a little dimmer.
Agree on the map UI being a bit funky. Could have separated them by color removed ones u got instead. The scan is a HUGE improvement though. Amazing game
Just beat it ... LOVED it. Masterpiece in terms of level design, combat and use of playable cinematics.
100%'d it 3 times already, going to do it a couple more times just so I can get it under 4 hours AND THEN I'll go for Hard Mode. MercurySteam friggin' did it, they made a 2D Metroid game more addicting and smooth than Super, and I fucking love it. Dread is my GOTY.
My only complaint with Dread is how tiny the map reveal "hitbox" is. I wish it was a bit larger like in previous entries so I didn't need to jump in every single corner the map to relieve my OCD.
I Beat the game and there is nothing that seems to say "100% of Map" in this game so seems you don't have to worry about that. Just get all the items and try to beat the game within 4 hours in game time (this doesn't count cinematics, looking at map, save rooms, transport stations, deaths, etc).
@@LoadedKlip Thanks, but the worst part is that I'm not even filling the map because of any reward. It just bugs me to no end that the map isn't completely filled in areas I've explored. I'm probably going to beat the game with twice the play time than most other players for that reason.
@@FluffyBunniesOnFire Yeah, I hope they will patch it somehow because the game is almost flawless otherwise. But I doubt they will since it's such a minor thing.
What I love about the boss opening cutscenes is that Samus outright tells you what your gameplan should be. Slide under and aim at the head, aim at the mouth, etc.
When you tell me "Must play title". I buy. Thanks Ben!
Dread is so good I almost kind of hate it because now that I've completed it I'm having trouble finding anything that I enjoy as much right now. It's like tasting fine cuisine and then being forced to drink Huel.
You ever play hollow knight?
If you're shopping around for metroidvanias and want something as well-executed as Dread (albeit with different strengths and design philosophy), consider La-Mulana. First one is better realized, second one has a bit more QoL. Just beware they're rather unforgiving games and really necessitate that you dig around for clues, take notes and take some leaps of logic here and there.
There aren't many metroidvanias better than those two games, imo.
@@nolanlehman6392 Ofcourse
@@morganagod Ah ok cool. Returnal has some metroid and alien influence but ps5 is still a bit tough to get currently
I’m only a couple of hours in but my impression is that it’s Nintendo’s best first party outing on the system. Greatest metroidvania since Hollow Knight.
Fantastic review Ben! Metroid Dread is one of the best games I ever played and as a Metroid fan, I'm very happy to see this masterful series return with a bang. This is one game that shouldn't be missed. Without a doubt, one of the best games of the year.
For newcomers to the series reading veterans say this game is as good or better than Super Metroid... It's insane for any game to be considered in the same tier as Super by this fan base. It's so relieving for a game this anticipated for multiple decades, in an iconic series that has been starving it's fans for new games for most of its existence, to deliver this hard. I hope this is finally the breakout hit we've wanted the series to have and it becomes a staple franchise that continuously gets games.
You say "sensory overload" for the map, maybe for beginners, but as a seasoned Metroidvania player, this is the best, most detailed map in a game I've ever seen. I WANT more information on a map, the more the better! I've never been more frustrated when there's not enough information on the map.
my biggest complaint about this game is how hand-holdy it is compared with the older titles
@@blvk3
You never played the older titles then
@@The_Ostrich I have played all the 2D ones. Never played prime. All I know about the 2D ones have hardly any hand-holding
@@blvk3
Naahh you haven't, nice try though 👍👍
@@The_Ostrich I don't know where you got that idea from.
All I did was saying that this game is way to hand holdy. That's the reason I gave up on playing the prime sub series after trying the original prime for 30 mins, if you like that, good for you.
Hand holding is a bit too much in this game really, especially the flashing map showing you have missed something,
I really enjoy the days of power bombing everything to find hidden items.
Anyway, Mr. Troll, have a nice day, and don't forget to hold you mamas hand while crossing the road.
I just wish the music was a little bit more memorable. If it was I’d give it 10/10. I love what I’ve played so far.
I can definitely understand missing the tunes from previous games, I just feel like they wanted to take the music in a more creepy atmospheric direction given the whole focus on "dread"
My game of the year list is very hard.
•Resident Evil Village
•Lost Judgment
& now
•Metroid Dread
Game of year will be interesting this year because we got Dread, games you mentioned, Yakuza like a dragon, and It takes two. I personally think that It takes two is probably gonna win but I would love it if dread won.
Hands down my GOTY! This was a blast to play through. If it keeps up like this, Metroid will have a bright future 👏
What games have you played for this to be your GOTY?
@@MyStrongTower34 Pretty much everything.
A Ben Moore review is always a must watch!
You hear that David Jaffe a masterclass in game design I can't believe he had the ego to say this game was bad in terms of it
This game is a solid case of blind fanboyism, it has A LOT of issues.
@@randomrandom450 you're out of your damn mind it's one of the best Metroid games ever made and also honestly one of the best metroidvanias ever made it's quality is incredible do you actually agree with David Jaffe because I'm going to say it right now if you do your bad at the game simple as that
@@msbkaioken136 I do agree with him yes. "Git good" is not an argument for unintuitive game design.
@@randomrandom450 then you're an absolute joke and are factually wrong as many people have been pointing out to David it's not unintuitive in the slightest as a matter of fact it's literally the exact opposite you're just bad the game literally tells you what you need to do and gives environmental Clues at every point stop blaming the game for your lack of awareness and your inability to read
@@randomrandom450 and as a quick little Edition if you thought it was a good idea to waste your time listening to him being whiny how about instead of making yourself look like an idiot by agreeing with him you watch the number of videos that have been uploaded recently pointing out why he's objectively wrong or once again maybe have some awareness in the slightest and look at his videos like to dislike ratio and comment section get a bit of a clue as to why what he's saying is nonsense and everyone vehemently disagrees
Wonderful review ^^ This is why i always loved gametrailers too
Without spoiling. Are there more cool bosses like that crocodile-like boss?
The bosses are satisfyingly varied and unique in how you have to go about beating them. And there's not too few of them either.
there are tons of cool bosses I can promise. some are the best bosses in all video games
The bosses in this are pretty incredible, you won't be disappointed.
There are, even some minibosses pose a challenge.
There are alot of bosses and mini bosses in this game, and they are all fairly challenging so if you like tough boss fights this game's got plenty of them.
Easily the best game ive played in years.
Miss this dude on gametrailers, glad to see hes still doing his thing!
What a lovely review Metroid Dread deserves!
Literally my favorite Metroid game of all time. Could not put it down all weekend.
That makes 3 out of 3 with those 9(ish)ratings together with No more Heroes 3 and Psychonauts 2. 2021 just became a suprisingly stellar Year for videogames.
You love to see it! This game is incredible and is everything us Metroid fans could ask for (besides more of it!) Everything was just handled with so much care, Samus' design and animation, to the boss fights and powerups. The challenge is excellent and the controls are immaculate. I only wish to see Super Metroid remade with this feel and look, but hey, I'm not complaining. WE GOT AN INCREDIBLE NEW 2D METROID, that is victory enough!
With the success of Samus Returns and now Dread, I think MercurySteam should be one of the go-to studio's for the Metroid franchise =)
Ben, the line with the cast shadows was incredible.
I was admittedly aprehensive about this game, but all of that dispelled within the first hour. This is a true Metroid game, through and through, and Sakamoto made the right decision in having Mercury Steam develop it. I think they deserve recognition for making a fantastic game, and all of their past shortcomings can now be looked at as stepping stones to something greater. They say failure is the best teacher, and I'm genuinely happy to see not only Sakamoto's vision realised after 16 long years, but also Mercury Steam find their mojo.
As of posting this, Metroid Dread's currently my Game of the Year. It's short but sweet, and very replayable thanks to its clear-time rewards. Shin Megami Tensei V could very well dethrone it next month, but even so, this is a modern classic.
Now all I can as for from Metroid is the return of Sylux in Prime 4, which seems very likely at this point... My favourite hunter, becoming a more prominent antagonist.
Metroid Dread was so fun to play, played it through in 2 days and im planning to get back 100% it and then go into hard mode, I really love the Search action/Metroid genre routing through the map and this takes it up to another level with the bossfights and technical movement!
GOTY in my eyes, im unsure though if its better than the simplicity of Super Metroid though as Dread stands out with its own unique feel.
Just got it yesterday- can’t wait to play it this weekend!
In terms of score, Metroid should be the best game of the year for Easy Allies haha
Ben also gave Psychonauts 2 a 9.5, but yes it shares the spot with it!
I tried searching for their It Takes Two video to also check it’s score but I can’t find it, did they remove the review for some reason?
Idk about Psychonauts though.. I understand the original was a classic and as a teen I played through that with much joy, but this sequel feels like trying to recreate remnants from the past. It was enjoyable but nothing noteworthy
@@CyberneticHype they didn't do a review for It Takes Two. I hope they would reconsider.
@@gelonolasco I thought I’ve seen it before and Damiani reviewed it, so I’m probably wrong lol.
I could cry knowing that I beat such a hard, rewarding game with Dread. So damn good on all fronts.
I am impressed what Mercury Steam did with the Metroid franchise.
Metroid Dread has shown us how the Spanish studio has improved since their Castlevania Lords of Shadow Days.
Dread is my Game of the year at least for the Switch...and it's not close.
My only real complaint is that there were no extra "special gear" only ammo-tanks and energy tanks and that the whole experience felt abit to rail-roaded. Too many locked doors behind you and many many areas that got shut of forcing you to be in a few number of rooms until u found the way forward. This often happend in conjuction with finding a new power aswell making that "oh yea I can use this on that old puzzle"-feeling a bit soured since u couldnt go back there instantly but had to push forward for a while before u had access to the actual area again.
Overall a really good game thou
I'm a lifelong Metroid mega fan, ever since i played the original back on the NES as a kid. In my mind Metroid has always been one of Nintendo's "Big 3" alongside Mario and Zelda. Too bad Nintendo never shared that sentiment. Dread is absolutely amazing, and i hope it's going to act as a wake-up call for them and that they finally start to treat this franchise better. It birthed a whole damn genre alongside Castlevania for crying out loud, it deserves more than one entry every decade.
They say good editing is invisible but I noticed the editing in this because of how superb it was.
Havent played a metroid game since Super Nintendo, skipped the FPS titels. I was nervous about wether this kind of game would be for me, but it delivers. Just a pure execution of the formula. Tons of fun and hard to put down.
well deserved. currently 100%ing the game and then i will continue play the hard mode
This is gaming perfection right here.
I've been waiting for this one!
Good review by Ben, slick edit by Don.
Excellent review as always Ben 😍
And agree with most of your opinions, if anything I also believe the music is not as outstanding as other entries in the series like super Metroid or prime 1 but still great 👌🏾
This game is easily the game of the year, and Ben crushed this review. Excellent work as always. Personally for me the game is a 10, but I can easily see where a little could be knocked off the score for the odd framey section, or obtuse nature. Still, I think the good FAR outweigh's the bad as Ben said, it's so, so good.
How are y’all saying this ? It’s just a side scroller that isn’t doing anything fresh
@@MyStrongTower34 If a game had to reinvent the wheel to be a 10, we'd only see a 10/10 every 15 years. A 10 is a game that excels at everything it tries to do, which Metroid Dread absolutely does. It wasn't trying to reinvent the genre, it was trying to be excellent within the genre it invented 30 odd years ago.
It does do quite a lot of fresh things though, but that's not the point. The point is what it does do, it does perfectly. The exploration, combat, animations, level design, atmosphere, music, and narrative are all executed extremely well. Writing this game off as "another side scroller" is a little heavy handed. Show me any other side scrolling game that does any of those things as well as Dread, without tripping over itself in every other category.
I love when Ben and Jones merge into BeJones, with the best qualities of each.
Seems like they would’ve given it a 10/10 if the switch was just a little more powerful to avoid the minor performance and loading issues.
People these days are so incredibly spoiled. I don't even notice issues like this, I grew up in the 8-bit era and it blows my mind seeing people make remarks about graphical, frame rate, etc. issues when they go completely over my head.
@@xenos_n. I'm totally with you.
@@xenos_n. For real, I'll see the same people who criticize Dread for its long elevator loading screens call Prime an untouchable masterpiece despite doing the exact same thing between each major area.
@@ians_parks oh that complaint made me lose my mind when I first heard it. Like oh god forbid you have to look at a really cool loading screen for a few seconds while an entire area loads. That one I just absolutely don't understand. It's not like the loading times were even that long! Compare that to Outer Worlds' loading times on the Switch. Those were infuriating.
Hot damn a Nine Point Five. Great review!
GREAT review, Ben! Captured all of my feelings about this game perfectly. Can't wait for the next Frame Trap.
Playing this game while listening to Ben's glorious words. Man does he nail it.
Whether its an 8, 9 or 10. I really dont care, I just LOVE this game!
Metroid = back baby!!!!
I agree. Who cares if it's the best? Who cares what the score is? As long the game is good and the positives outweighs the negative by alot, that's all that matters. And this game did it.
Bought an OLED Switch just for this game. Been waiting soooo long for Metroid 5!!!!
Easily Game of the Year
Saw the big shoulders - went back to watch Bosman's Metroid song.
Wow. What a review. I was always interested in getting it, but yeah, it's a foregone conclusion at this point.
I do have one criticism about the controls, in that I wish you could aim freely and move at the same time. A dual analog control scheme would have allowed for this.
Does this make sense though? It logically makes sense that if you're running super fast, you wouldn't have laser precision, and that it takes standing still to focus on what you're aiming at. The free aim is already so good in this game, I don't think it hurts it to stand still to get the laser view of where you're aiming.
@@LETTMusic I feel like it could have been a lifesaver in boss fights. There were so many instances where I needed to move and shoot at the same time during those fights, and I kept missing.
@@davethibault6734 Yeah, I'm not saying it couldn't have been implemented, and potentially improved controls, I'm just wondering if it was a choice by design rather than limitation.
@@FluffyBunniesOnFire With a dual analog setup. The fire button would be ZR, just like any standard shooter out there.
@@FluffyBunniesOnFire While you can adjust your aim without relying on freeaim while moving the stick it is incredibly sensitive, and in past metroid games you could snap to diagonal angles and still move using the L and R buttons but obviously here they serve other purposes.
I loved every second of this game. It was a hell of a wait, but it delivered for me.
Thanks Allies
Nintendo should buy MercurySteam.
Did not expect a Lord of the Rings reference in a Metroid review.
9.5? Wow. That's pretty slick. What held you from giving it a 10? Not saying it deserves it (specially since I've not played it yet) but more interested on what held that .5 back.
Metroid is back!
An amazing game totally deserving of the Metroid name, it advances the MV formula in new and creative ways, while still feeling like the classics, Mercury steam just nailed
So at this point I think it's safe to say that Mercury Steam are the Retro Studios of 2D Metroid.
It's not 100% chance that it will spawn you right before the EMMI. It keeps spawning me way back due to sequence breaking.
“Means meat is back on the menu”
11/10
Not watching the review until I finish the game; I just wanted to see who reviewed it. Dread has set a new standard for developing player-character movement in my opinion. The pacing is also fantastic. (Minor spoilers below)
I am about 2.5 to 3 hours in and I have gotten something like 9 upgrades. That just feels good in a Metroid game.
God this game was amazing - Hollow Knight will likely always be my number 1 favorite Metroidvania of all time (would be very happy to encounter something I love more some day though), and has been for years even after playing many games in the genre in that time span, but Dread has readily become a very close second. Absolutely a must-play.
I can't believe they did it. I think this game ranks just under super metroid for me, maybe even beside super metroid. It's too early to tell, but I really hope this game continues to be relevant for years to come. It's absolutely astounding to me that MercurySteam managed to make a metroidvania in 2021 that actually succeeds in pushing the genre forward. You can really tell that the people in charge of this game had played a LOT of metroidvania titles. There are so many little design and QoL elements that I'll miss when I play other games like this.
Just seeing some of the sequence breaks folks are doing blows my mind. I just saw a guy do a 1:38 deathless any % clear and my jaw was on the floor the entire time. I'm just taking my sweet time going for a 100% first clear. No doubt I'll dive right back in after that to try and get some of the other ending cars too.