Metroid Dread

Unlikely to supplant Super Metroid’s spot on my top games of all time list, but easily and handily able to snag second best 2D Metroid title from Zero Mission. Perfect open world with a million secrets that artfully but unobtrusively guides you in the desired direction. Samus controls smooth as butter and it’s got some wonderfully challenging bosses that showed me the game over screen several times but felt great to overcome.

The best Metroid since Zero Mission. My only complaint is how overused the EMMIs are, which get tedious after a while. Everything else is exactly what you would expect and hope for in a Metroid game.

The EMMI parts were the worst parts. Could be tense, but kind of got a tad annoying. The rest of the game is stellar. Cool weapons, fun to explore, badass moments, Samus still the hottest shit--love her attitude here, like she's out of fucks to give, the way she just disrespects so many things. But the few times she looks worried are more impactful because of that. Wonderful atmosphere, music, graphics. Game plays so smooth it's ridiculous.

Quite irritating. Lots of anti-flow mechanics like the EMMIs, irritating enemies, tedious bosses and unclear direction. There have been better Metroidvanias out there for many years.

Average at best. Nothing really to explore, everything feels so linear; too many save points and cut scenes, the story is completely uninteresting and the game is to colorful for a game titled with "Dread". Its too easy overall and the E.M.M.I. are just annoying and overused. The areas are too small and uniformly designed. Also the controls could also be better, especially when you crouch. So many better Metroidvania's have come out over the years, there are no good reasons to play this one!

The exploration is unsurprisingly top-notch. While there was satisfaction to be had in learning how to beat them, bosses and EMMIs tended to aggravate me by taking me out of what the game does best. Good audio design.

The EMMI sections are truly terrible, and there are way too many cutscenes, telling a really dumb story. The whole "medium sized chunks of map separated by long loading screens" thing doesn't really work for me either. But the core gameplay is still fun. Far from the best Metroid game though.