4.5/5 ★ – DanteSnowcone's review of Metroid Dread.

Main objective completed in 7:32:18 40% of items found The latest 2D Metroid game is a prime example (sorry not sorry) of quality over quantity. The most important thing to get out of the way is that gameplay throughout is *incredible.* General combat and boss battles are fast-paced, fluid, and satisfying. Samus is an absolute badass from beginning to end, and controlling her feels great. The fine tuning on this game is top notch. The world is so brilliantly designed. You can plow straight through the story and still spend a lot of time getting to know each area, or you can investigate every nook and cranny for secrets (with the help of some built-in secret finders). I liked that for the most part I never truly knew when a boss fight was about to happen. The stealth sections were definitely where I struggled the most, but they were fine. Ghavoran was especially beautiful, but all areas looked great — art direction on the whole was fantastic. I don’t know much about Metroid storylines, but this one seems like pretty basic sci-fi. Foreign planet, alien warriors, killer robots, that sort of thing. I can’t believe they interrupt some incredible gameplay only for a bird person to tell five minutes of exposition in another language and then immediately die. There were a couple things I didn’t like controlling. I never got the hang of the screw attack and speed boost. I also wish the mawkin fights had a little more variety. These are small complaints, though, and they do not change how great everything else about the game is. It’s a bit challenging, but I’d recommend this to just about anyone. Looks great, feels great. Would play again.