I Waited 4 Years to Play Metroid Dread — What a mistake.

Metroid Dread was an experience I was so glad to have finally taken, and I was captivated by the silky smooth and fast gameplay. Dread reminded me a lot of Super Metroid and did a great job of capturing that sense of isolation and foreboding. At the start of the game, the Galactic Federation receives evidence that the X parasite, which was thought to be extinct, is inhabiting a desolate planet called ZDR. The Federation dispatched seven E.M.M.I. robots to ZDR to check things out. E.M.M.I. standing for "Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifiers, by the way. The Federation loses contact with the EMMI and eventually send Samus herself to ZDR to figure out what's going on. When Samus gets on site, she encounters a Chozo warrior who nearly kills her in combat, seals off the exit to her ship and strips Samus' power suit of most of its abilities. When the game begins, Samus and you as the player have only one mission. Get back to the surface of ZDR, board your ship, and get the hell out of there.

If you've played at least one Metroid game, you probably know what to expect here and that's actually a very good thing. You're on your own to figure out how to get off the planet and you have free reign over the game world. The kicker is that certain areas aren't accessible until you find the right weapon or ability. The game's biggest draw is exploring ZDR in order to find the right way forward, keeping in mind some of the roadblocks you find so you can come back later with the right tool to keep going. It's a very satisfying gameplay loop, one that gives you as the player complete autonomy, and you're rewarded by finding something new and using it either the way the developers intended, or more so if you can master your new abilities and toys and break the sequence of progression. There's no wrong way to play Metroid Dread. The tools you need are all over the place, and while you get a small tutorial on how to use something new when you find it, that's it, it's on you to figure out the rest.

One of my favorite parts of Metroid Dread are the E.M.M.I. These robots, which move like a silent predator, have been reprogrammed and are actively on the hunt for Samus. They can only stalk a specific area, but any time you're in their territory the mood of the game shifts. These are enemies you can't defeat until you find the right item, so you're constantly on the defensive. E.M.M.I will stalk a zone and if it spots you, I'll pursue you until it loses sight of you or it happens to grab you. If it grabs you, it's a game over, unless you can parry one of its two attacks, but the timing always changes and has to be extremely precise. It's genuinely fun trying to sneak past these enemies and I always found my heart beating just a little faster when I was in their territory. They can be pretty easy to bypass after you gain some experience, but I loved this new addition. The best thing about the Metroid franchise in my opinion is how the game can make the player feel helpless and alone, even with a ton of awesome weapons and abilities at your disposal, and the E.M.M.I amplify this feeling ten fold.

The visual and audio presentation is top notch. This is one of the sleekest, best looking games on the Switch and the audio experience is almost unrivaled. I absolutely recommend playing this game with a pair of headphones if you can. I played this game mostly on my flight to and from our vacation destination and completely forgot I was miles in the air.

If there is one thing that I didn't like about the game, it's how big the game world is. There's multiple zones, each with tons of individual rooms and areas to explore. The one thing I don't like about this genre of game is how I will inevitably get lost and not remember that one door I need to open now that I have the right skill or ability. While Dread has a great map system and I used it a ton to prevent myself from getting lost, the sheer amount of time it took me to remember where to go and then the time needed to physically get where I needed to go agitated me, but only a little. I recognize this is a me problem, so no points off the game for this.

All in all, Metroid Dread is one of the best games I've played all year and it's one of my favorites on the Switch now. It has earned every accolade attached to it and it's a game you should absolutely give a try if you somehow haven't already. Don't be like me and wait 4 years to try this. Get on this game, and get on it soon.