After many years of patience and dedication, longtime fans of Nintendo’s 2D action platformer series, “Metroid” were ecstatic to hear the announcement of the series’ fifth mainline installment at the E3 gaming convention in June of this year. Fast forward to Oct. 8, where fans were finally able to get their hands on the game, officially titled, “Metroid Dread,” exclusively on Nintendo Switch.
Veteran players in particular have had high hopes, considering how series creator Yoshio Sakamoto (“Super Metroid”) has had this game in the works for the past 15 years, waiting for gaming hardware that could demonstrate the core elements of fear-based gameplay in the most effective manner possible. As such, “Metroid Dread” is a masterpiece which had been hidden in the shadows of development for too long.
In “Metroid Dread,” players control the tried and true, intergalactic bounty hunter, Samus Aran, who is tasked with exploring a planet ominously codenamed “ZDR.” On ZDR, Samus finds that the once friendly DNA capturing servant robots, known as “EMMI’s” (Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifiers), have since been reprogrammed as hostile sentries for a vast, alien facility of unknown origins. After she is captured and carried to the deepest levels of this facility, it is up to Samus to traverse all the way back up to her ship before the EMMI’s and a slew of other alien monsters do her in.
An emphasis of dread is further instilled through the gameplay, especially with the combative nature of the EMMI’s. Even back with the game’s original reveal trailer during E3, the massive white robots are depicted as nearly indestructible, versatile and above all, creepy. In actual gameplay, getting captured by one of these sentries means entering a quick time event cutscene that suddenly breaks the bounds of the game’s standard 2D camera angle.
The game emphasizes early on how unlikely it is to escape from one of these captures, and instead encourages you to expect death. With this basis, navigating the EMMI surveillance sections of the map feels like a modern take on the Metroidvania genre that draws dreadful inspiration from surveillance based games like “Five Nights at Freddy’s.”
Finally, what drives home this game’s modern innovation is without a doubt the use of cutscenes, which arguably compare to the cinematic heights of modern day sci-fi action adventure movies. However, in observing these cutscenes closely, one can see that these are not only implemented to provide action-packed spectacle-based entertainment, but to also give the player a healthy dose of subtle gameplay education.
To elaborate, the cutscenes can show off Samus utilizing the very same toolkit of actions that the player is equipped with, effectively highlighting how to go about anything from simply navigating the environment to attacking a boss’ weak point. This manner of showing tips and tricks is what allows players to feel like they can learn how to overcome their obstacles, without feeling like they are being told explicitly how to do so. Instructional delivery like this is imperative in modern gaming, especially in challenge-oriented games such as the Metroidvanias we have grown to love through many hours of strategizing and persistence.
In conclusion, “Metroid Dread” is a long awaited series entry that so far holds true to the high expectations from both its creator and long-time fans. It is a game that respects the players ability to learn and explore all at once. Overall, it recognizes the modern standard of Metroidvania titles and affirms a traditional, classic interpretation of the genre at the same time.
Image from Nintendo via YouTube
