5/5 ★ – kimchia's review of Super Metroid.

Probably the most technically brilliant game I’ve ever played. The level design in this game is mind blowing. The world is expertly hand-crafted to open up different areas at the exact right times, teaching you and then giving you control by letting you go free. I’ve played this game four times or so, and each time I feel that I can take a slightly different route and do something slightly different. I love metroidvanias as a genre, but some of them have just not worked for me. Hollow Knight was ridiculously large, sprawling outwards so much that, for a good chunk of its playtime, I felt I was just playing a forward-moving Mario game. Super Metroid is not like that - it’s small and intimate and forces you to get familiar with its world despite its hostilities. And yet, it still manages to add variety throughout, and is mostly helped by the INCREDIBLE atmosphere. The world truly feels hostile and mysterious and alive. Much like the movie Alien, of which the entire Metroid series is overtly based on, this game starts out slowly, building atmosphere. The world slowly and elegantly envelops the player, drawing you in more and more until, a couple hours in, it’s impossible to put down. You can’t put it down now! There’s a room back up that shaft which you can get through now! No time to stop! While this game starts slow, it ends explosively, a burning bolt of lighting, as everything successfully builds up and reaches one of the most perfect climaxes I have ever seen. And then, silence. Play this game.