I love how you can actually see her relax when it's kraid, like when she first lands and knows there's a big monster she's on guard then she sees it's kraid and she's like "oh it's just this guy again"
She didn’t give a single care about him. She’s more tense after the fight than she is durning it haha. The way she readies her stance after he’s defeated, it’s as if she’s saying, “alright. Break time’s over”.
@@shlokwaghela9560 I agree, him and everyone who upvoted as well. It's common a lot of people didn't know. Most games introduced lately get more exposure.
I'm watching this after beating dread mode and when he showed Samus taking damage I was confused for a second on why she wasn't dead. Update: over the past 2 years I have probably beat dread mode over 5 times.
For like 2 months after I beat Dread Mode I would flinch whenever I saw someone get damaged in this game. Regardless, I still love Dread Mode and think its the ideal Metroid Dread experience.
@@Lion50-86 I hope you have fun! It definitely makes Raven Beak much more interesting of a fight. One thing I find cool about dread mode is how things you may not have noticed or ignored before are incredibly important now (the ways attacks are telegraphed, enemy placement and movement, ect.) When you have no room for error, you familiarize yourself with everything, and it really lets you appreciate how well-designed this game is. Let me know how your playthrough goes when you're done!
One thing that I love about this game is the speedrun/sequence breaks that are actively promoted by Mercury Steam with a morph bomb launcher in the Kraid fight, to being able to speed boost into the Experiment boss and finish them extremely quick, with Kraid getting its own special cinematic scene like the parry scenes.
Yeah those are great, though I wish there were more of those moments in other boss-fights. Beyond those two the only other boss that has something like this is the one that gives storm missiles that goes from a tough boss fight to being squashed by Samus with screw attack in a very anti-climatic way
Its interesting that the game is completely linear without much backtracking, unless you get the early grapple, at which point you can go all over the place and get flash dash, scan pulse, bombs, a bunch of expansions. Getting the varia suit and early grapple really opens the early game up
29:44 Flash shift is also pretty useful for platforming, and I feel like it's criminally underrated. You know those sections in which you have to swing like Spider-Man with the grapple beam? You can skip most of them. You know how hard it is to avoid the blue and purple E.M.M.I, walking on the ceiling with the spider magnet, or having to get in the water? You can skip a looot of that by just flash shifting.
Went back to the game this week for the first time since it came out, my brain literally only just let me flash shift instead of swinging :') I was just so caught up in playing the game the way I was "supposed to" that that was one aspect I clearly didn't experiment with
On a first playthrough, I thought Dread was alright. On a second playthrough, it became my favorite Metroid game. One of my gripes initially about the game was its linearity. There's a lot of exploring and the game does a good job locking you out of backtracking to push you to go forward (the "Artaria Loop" as I call it, going from new game to charge beam, is really clever). However, not all is as it seems. The game definitely tries to guide you along its intended path. And then I realized on a second playthrough that it opens up once you hit Ghavoran. The first time in Ferenia going through the EMMI zone is brutal. It always knows where you are, but that's not actually the difficult part. What's hard is that the zone is flooded, forcing you to traverse underwater. And you need to go through the EMMI Zone to get Storm Missile in order to get Space Jump in order to get Gravity Suit... except you don't. You can still shinespark underwater, so you can get to the Ghavoran-Burenia Teleporter once you get Ice Missile. From there, you can take an alternate hidden path for a shinespark puzzle that nets you 10 extra missiles but also a secret path right to the setpiece that opens up the room to Gravity Suit. You've frontloaded the difficulty into a shinespark puzzle, but in return make traversing Ferenia significantly easier. Experiment Z-57 isn't particularly harder without Space Jump or Storm Missiles, so it's a definite choice for me when replaying the game, and it gets me Screw Attack, which trivializes Escue as it lets you hit it through its electric shield. And speaking of shinespark, every boss that you can either speed booster within the arena or charge a shinespark entering the arena is vulnerable to shinespark. This includes the Chozo Robots, the Chozo Soldiers, the Central Units (their insides are also one-shot by Screw Attack), Escue, Golzuna, and Experiment Z-57. And while you don't have speed booster at this point, Kraid is a great showcase of how the game tells you about the multiple ways to deal with bosses. Most people on a first playthrough will do damage to his stomach until he shoots all three spikes and lowers the magnet grip. Then there is the faster way that you show in the video, where you use the spikes that Kraid launches normally to get to the magnet grip without needing to wait for it to be lowered, and careful jumps and intercepting of Kraid's projectiles means that you can stay on the grip indefinitely. And, if you manage to get Bombs early, you can insta-kill Kraid's second phase by using a hidden Morph Ball Launcher that shoots you directly into Kraid's gut. Experiment Z-57 is the other showcase. Its long wind attack that many call "Flappy Bird Phase" also gives the opportunity to activate speed booster, which is an insta-kill if you land the shinespark, making fighting it without Space Jump or Storm Missiles much easier. EMMI Zones are especially interesting on a second playthrough. In a first playthrough, you don't know where to go and are super cautious. You'd likely prefer to have Phantom Cloak ready that use Flash Shift, and you'll likely get caught by EMMIs multiple times. In a second playthrough, though, where you know where to go, the truth of the EMMI Zones is revealed: they are significantly easier if you speed through it. Speed EMMI is the only one that can keep pace with you and it relies on mines to figure out where you are (especially useful to know since it doesn't use its speed in patrol mode, only in search and pursuit mode). So long as you keep moving, you won't get caught.
This. I thought it was pretty good on my end after playing once, returned and played again and found a lot of sequence breaks and enjoyed the heck out of it. Then I played a 0% playthrough, and it is absolutely fantastic.
Great review! I've seen SO many other reviews on this game, and I can safely say that this is up there with the very best Dread reviews. No droning on about pointless nitpicks, you tended to be unbiased, you get your point across fluidly, and the jokes are quick and punchy. Will def be sticking around to see what you do next. Keep it up! :)
On the subject of the game not being "back-tracky..." Something I feel gets fundamentally misunderstood in the series is this idea that a linear Metroid is a bad Metroid. As a child growing up during the "Metroid Golden Age" that was 2002-2010, linear and non-linear Metroid were like different sides of the same three-dimensional shape. I didn't really think about which games were better or worse for how linear they were, I just played and enjoyed exploring all these different planets in my favorite gaming universe. In my humble opinion, I think it's GOOD that Metroid has varying degrees of linearity across titles. I think it helps give each individual game its own identity within the greater series. And, if this latest game wasn't quite to your taste, keep on open mind and look forward to the next entry. Who knows? Perhaps you'll grow to appreciate this current one on its own merits in the meantime. Where the problem comes in is that this was viable back in the day when it felt like we could count on a new Metroid in the next 2 years, but it felt like an unfair crapshoot in this 10-year dark age. However, Samus has returned, and with the success of Dread and Prime 4 on the horizon, I'm hoping the spark has at long last been rekindled.
Furthermore, linear Metroid games may not be that linear and nonlinear Metroid will have moments of linearity, usually in the beginning. Yes, those methods can be broken in Metroid 1 and Super Metroid, but initially there are inescapable linear parts.
24:00 Your comment about foreshadowing just reminded me that this is probably the Metroid game that best explains how Samus not only loses her abilities at the beginning of the game, but justifies how she gets them back. Her key upgrades are absorbed from the EMMIs, not picked up in icon form (with a few exceptions that largely make sense as something that might exist on a Chozo planet). She's not picking up oddly appropriate icons or finding upgrades for her suit on a world with no reason to have them: she's directly siphoning the power of her enemies and using that to gain new abilities. She's manifesting her Metroid DNA.
The Aieon abilities were very different in Samus Returns. Instead of a stamina bar it was another resource next to energy, (super) missiles and power bombs. It was kind of a big new addition to the game. You had four Aieon abilities. The scan ability functions the same as in Dread, but is given to you near the start of the game. The other abilities were an energy shield that acts like a second energy bar but is more active against certain terrain, a powerful and fast beam that acts like an omega cannon to go, and an ability that lets you slow down time. You would also gain more Aieon back when you melee counter enemies, which is also introduced in Samus Returns. It certainly makes more sense in the context of Samus Returns. I have no idea why they brought it back for Dread, because it is also connected to SR388 lorewise. My guess is that they planned more for it and then decided against it, because it doesn't fit the fast paced style of Dread. Playing SR is certainly very interesting, seeing how they fixed the flaws of the game and improved on the good parts.
An interesting detail that I don't seem to see many people talk about is the fact that Raven Beak makes use of Lightning Armor (when he's invincible) and Beam Burst during his boss fight. I'm interested to see if Aeion is here to stay in terms of the greater Metroid series. I don't think either game quite nailed the perfect balance, but I think I liked the implementation of Aieon in Samus Returns better on the whole.
This game is one of my favorites of all time. As someone who started with Fusion this game finally coming out was like a dream. Samus Returns was really good too. It's definitely worth playing, but also Aieon worked pretty differently. It was another limited commodity like missiles or health. Also, I agree that the soundtrack was slightly disapointing over all to me, but Burenia and Ferenia stood out.
While I agree that the soundtrack went by almost unnoticed, the thing that plays when [SPOILER] Samus goes full Metroid is quite possibly my favorite use of music in the entire series!
I held back on watching this because I planned to play Metroid Dread and didn’t wanna get spoiled in any way. Just beat it yesterday and loved it. Great video as always!
Another great video. Life's been a little hectic lately so I'm a bit late, but I still wanted to express my appreciation for your videos, seriously top tier stuff.
Excellent review. I love Dread and I've been happy to see the majority of the Metroid fanbase feels the same. I'm hopeful and confident Retro is gonna keep this momentum going with Prime 4. Great time to be a Metroid fan!
My only gripe with the emmi's is really not even them, it's their respective aurora units. They basically sit there and let you just destroy them. The rings and lasers increase minutely with each fight but they are extremely easy, even for this game. I wish they could've changed their patterns with each one and maybe the amount of damage they do.
you're right, the EMMI counters feel fantastic when you pull them off. i got two in a row once (i kinda suck at avoiding EMMIs lol), and the rush i felt from it was absolutely incredible. great review, gonna check out your other vids too!
About aeion regeneration. I thought it was brilliant. You make a good point about the different abillities being kind of separate. But when it comes to cloaking it's a great tension mekanism. The cloak is great in Emmi engounters, encounters in which staying still can often be a must as not to draw attention. Aeion is recharged by moving. So Staying cloaked for too long ot too often means you will sooner or later have to get a move on in order to stay cloaked or to not take massive damage (from staying cloaked with an empty aeion meter). It can get very tense when an emy is looking right at your cloaked body while that aeion meter creepes towards zero.
Love Dread, I've replayed the hell out of it. I'm always shocked to hear "get good game style players" mention that Dread is actually hard. It is, especially the first playthrough or 2 but I felt it was reasonable and so too punishment. I'm one of those "non-gamers" that won't play Souls or the likes of it because it is too frustrating. But I never once thought Dread was too absurd. Honestly it felt like Ori challenging and not Hollow Knight. I replay Ori a lot still with challenge and I never finished Hollow Knight nor ever will. Big differences in difficulty there. One thing I really do miss in Dread is my ability to explore as much and freely as my other favorite Metroid games like Super and Prime 1. Dread is far more locked down. I also love figuring out my own optimal routes through those games. I'm not a speed runner as the internet would think of speed runners but I do replays with speed and efficiency in mind to a degree. I do see why the structure of the game would make that difficult to design for though. However One thing I took away from Dread when Samus fires upon Ravenbeak after he tells her just to follow orders is that was a signal too me Samus may be saying forget that to the concept of being told explicitly what to do. I felt like it was saying Samus is going to go about doing things in her own way going forward. but that could just be my wishful thinking.
Honestly, I struggled far, far more with Ori's(both Ori, but especially blind forest with all the insta death moments) main story than with Hollow Knight's main story. It has way more platforming challenges than Hollow Knight has bosses, and those challenges are much more difficult on average. However, if you start including dlc stuff, than HK is harder than Ori. Also, you can only explore freely in Prime 1 by using glitches and the unintented scan dash.
I'm a trash-tier gamer, but I think the big thing with Dread is that it never felt *unfair*. It was hard, it punished you for being sloppy about playing, but it never felt like it was pulling rugs out from under me. Even against hard/frustrating bosses, I always saw the lights at the end of the proverbial tunnel.
This was a fantastic review; it makes me giddy to play the game all over again. Metroid Dread is easily my favorite 2D Metroid game ever made. It's so smooth and satisfying to play and the bosses are absolutely insane. I hope the 3D games get ported to Switch because I never got to play them as a kid, but despite their legendary status, I think it's going to be pretty hard to top the high that Metroid Dread gave me.
You're in for a treat, the Prime series is an absolute joy. I personally prefer Prime to Dread, but they're very different games. The Prime games are the kings of atmosphere and immersion.
I am inspired by a confidence a lot of reviewers aren’t so confident on what they say they always stutter or have to retret things or just mainly sounds like they’re talking in front of a class but you talk like your a professional at this Great Job Man 👍
I really like the fact that you're nuanced in your video and don't just straight up says it's just better to be totally free and not being guided at all cause personally I have no problem with being guided in a game, I just don't care, sometimes I even like that and I actually prefer linear games. But I have the impression players and game reviewers nowadays think it's objectively better to just be lost in a game without knowing anything in advance and without any indication while some certainly don't like that and that's not what makes the game more fun for them. So again thank you for being nuanced and talking about the good points from both approaches. That's what I call real objectivity and actual observation despite personal preferences.
I'm not sure why, but Metroidvania video essays have always been some of my favorites, and you totally killed it with this one. I've become an adult since this game came out, and unfortunately I never have time to sit down and play video games anymore, but when I do, Dread is always one of them.
so, hang on. are we not going to talk about how the final x parasite that kills Raven Beak has also taken control of Kraid and it mixes them together, like that's so cool, they didn't have to do that!
I'm happy you're back! I watched all of your DMC videos and later I started to play with them because of your reviews. I hope you upload videos more often in the future!
I played Zero Mission and Fusion back in the day, but I was terrible at them and never beat either one. I got Dread recently after trying the demo out. Despite considering myself bad at games like this, the boss fights felt fair and very learnable. It took me a lot of attempts to beat some of the faster ones like Escue and the Twin Chozo Robots. But man the feeling of finally beating a boss in this game was so awesome. The exploration felt fun, and I found myself attempting all the little item puzzles everywhere. The shinespark ones were really fun, a couple of them took me like 20-30 minutes (metroid noob), but they felt so satisfying once I managed to nail them. The whole game felt like a huge learning experience. The last boss was really hard for me, I didn't know you could power bomb his sun thing. It took me a few hours of attempts. The ending made it worth it, god I love that scream she does. I died 130 times or something on normal. I didn't think I'd do hard mode but I'm like I already put in the work of learning the bosses, I might as well try it. I died 96 times on hard mode but I beat it in much less time. From the start I knew there was no way I'd ever try dread mode. But, I changed my mind. I died 262 times but I beat it. I felt like there was so much the game was teaching me on each playthrough, excellent design IMO. It almost felt like some of the rooms became puzzles on dread mode, I never realized some of the things I just shrugged off before could be such a big deal if you can't take a hit. I agree with you about the music, it's very atmospheric but I do wish it were a bit catchier too. I really loved playing this game though, still need to go back for the 4 hour runs so I'm looking forward to that
really good review with plenty of context based on prior games. this i think convinced me to finally try this out, since i'd been eyeing it for awhile but heard mixed things - and had never played a metroid game before. thanks for the detailed review and for marking when you were talking about spoilers (and for being very general otherwise).
Dread’s music is lacking but there is at least one music that I think is criminally underrated. The ferenia theme is an absolute bangner and I cool hum it from the top of my head because it is that good.
The way you appreciate this game reminds me a lot of the ori games. I highly recommend Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It's such a well done game and a bit short but FULL of content
6:03 I'm with you on that. That's one of the main reasons why I enjoyed almost every game in the Metroid franchise that I've played. It's also the main reason why I love games like Breath of the Wild, and tears of the kingdom... And to a certain extent, almost every open world game by Rockstar. Sure, your destination is marked on your map, but how you get there is up to you. Nowadays, games have GPS.
I love this game and have become a Metroid freak, playing all of the games in the series multiple times. Except the first Metroid. But this was the coolest, most in depth review of this game I've seen online.
Hey Hyve! I just came from your King Of Cards video, and I wanted to say it was top notch work! I love your video style of "I sound like a professional video game review, but like, I'm just a normal dude." One thing I wanted to say though, (and this may just be because I'm a Specter Knight fanboy cause it's the one I dumped the most time into) is that the story is actually super deep in my opinion. He got his best friend taken away from him, and when he's given an opportunity to bring him back and live his "peaceful" life, he gives it all up so a mother can have her son back and the son doesn't throw away his life due to corruption. You even showed the scene in the KoC review, where he says "Take me instead."
'Almost perfect' is actually a great description of how good Dread was. Maybe it's because the last game I played was Samus Returns, which I thought was great, but the way the story moved Samus forward was also phenomenal. I'm not sure where the series goes form here, but more of this, please!
I’ve been thinking: if Hard Mode just totally removed all of the “points of no return” that prevent backtracking, as well as giving us back the Zero Mission wall jump (with extremely strict timing), this would pretty much be the perfect Metroid. Veterans that love getting lost would have a lot more freedom of traversal, and sequence breaks would be completely unreal. They could also change it so you can use the Power Bomb the moment you find ammo like in Super. The higher difficulty would keep this mode from being a total cakewalk. With just a few tweaks, Dread could potentially offer two pretty distinct games that cater to different audiences in one package. I’d also kill for a Speedrun Mode that trims all dialogue, cutscenes, text prompts and tutorials so pro-runners could do clean runs of the game with less stopping and starting. Even GOTY can be better with some additions.
Speaking of the sounds EMMIs make, i find it so interesting how much they sound like birds chirping. Aside from their unnatural symmetry and movements, their structure seems based on the anatomy of the Chozo, even down to their probe looking like a beak as it shoots out of their face. And even as far as movements go, when the Mawkin you fight move on all fours, they do seem to move similarly to the EMMI (not to mention that the Mawkin can also wall cling). I hope some future game goes into where they came from/how the Federation got possession of them, because there definitely seems to be more there beneath the surface.
Calling Other M a bad game is the understatement of the year. It's one of the worst games ever made. It's not bad because nonexistent budget, too small of a development team, rushed production schedule/not enough time (like Gollum). It's bad because it's bad design. The very core of the design is bad, and every level of it showed nothing but incompetence. The story isn't even the worst of it (though it's admittedly terrible). The design of the game itself is every bit as bad as the story, if not worse Sakamoto is a no talent hack that got where he was by taking credit for other people's work (primarily Gunpei Yokoi). He is not a "co creator" of Metroid, he lied. His "talent" (or lack thereof) was shown when he was given full control of a project. I might not have as much contempt for him if he had taken responsibilty and admitted he made bad choices and therefore a terrible game. But he didn't. To this day he insists he made the perfect game and blames the fans for "not getting it). He has had zero involvement with recent Metroid games (aside from attaching himself as "producer" to further the lie that he was a co creator of the series and continue to leech off of other people's work). Dread was developed by MercurySteam, the only person at Nintendo who worked on the game was Fumi Hayashi. Ultimately, Other M is can be held up as a shining example of how not to make a game. It's actually fascinating to study its development. Thankfully both Dread and Samus Returns go to actual effort to say the events of Other M didn't happen. There apparently was a real Adam at one point, but we know nothing about his history because Other M has been relegated to non-canon status. And for the corporate shills who say that because you can get Other M box art from an achievement in this game, are idiots. Box art as an easter egg is NOT acknowledgement of the events of the game. Samus Returns provides an actual references to the events of the Prime series. The events of Prime series aren't directly relevant to this game, so they aren't referenced directly, but they are referenced indirectly by way of Samus Returns. The events of Zero Mission, Samus Returns, Super, and Fusion are directly referenced. If Other M had happened, those events would be relevant, and yet they are not mentioned at all. That's awesome. Kicking Other M out of the timeline is a necessity for Metroid to recover as a series. I really enjoyed Dread, it takes everything Samus Returns accomplished and takes it up to 11 and improves on it while having a better framerate. I didn't enjoy it QUITE as much as the Ori games (which are my favorite Metroidvanias now), but it's definitely a great title and a great comeback.
Metroid 2: Remake was a great game. It feels like they started with that game as the foundation for this game. Metroid 2 is gonna feel slow after Dread though. You should still play it if you are a fan of the series. If you go back and play Skyward Sword you realize how much of what they used in that game was the foundation they perfected in Breath of the Wild. The same could be said about Metroid 2 and Dread.
A very nice review of a game I absolutely love. If you like metroidvania styles and would like to try something a little "different" in the genre, take a look at F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Tower. It has been 7 months (regularity is not your forte, I see
I completely disagree on the EMMI. Their environments the same visually, which removes the fear of "When can en EMMI show up?" You always know. They beep and boop like R2-D2 and resemble a much cooler robot from a meh Val Kilmer movie to the point where I wonder of a lawyer should be called (Seriously look up Red Planet's AMEE). They don't scare me, they annoy me, feeling predictable with patterns that are obvious after one or two tries. The instant death quick time event is practically a just a cutscene and I feel no reward when I accidentally pull it off. There is no innovation in how you kill the EMMI and the "Melt the armor, blast the head" is silly because they slowly stand up and present a target easy to hit. Essentially, there is no innovation or creativity in the EMMI. No shocking ambush from a dark corner of a creepy forest, or a sudden chase through a darkened ruins. Hell even the promise of 7 EMMI is dropped as if they couldn't consider how to use the last one and drop it for convenience. Not to mention the idea that these "Federation" built robots easily could defeat Metroids or ADVANCED BIO CHOZO armor worn by Samus. Or that a single Chozo could just... turn them off. Clearly they wanted an Alien Isolation vibe, instead I got a predictable (Always know when they are around), silly sounding (*Beep Boop*), annoying obstacle that could have been a terrifying stalking monster, unsure when it would spring out of a darkened pool, or interrupt a fight by killing your opponent and taking his place. Its the missed opportunity of the EMMI that really bothers me. In essence, I didn't experience Dread, which having to fight increasingly stronger Metroid generations actually gave me. I experienced a nuisance that could only be removed as an obstacle by doing the same thing over and over again (Which the spot you have to use to destroy the EMMI was the only real innovative part for me). This would have been a perfect Metroid game... if the EMMI had been dumped in favor of something... I dunno, that can't be conveniently turned off, or beep boop at you and annoy you with a cut scene defeat worthy of Space Ace.
Emmi sections were terrible. The emmi is never actually patrolling, its just off screen waiting for you to enter no mater where or when you arrive. So, it becomes a matter of trial and error to find the way past. There is no surprise or "dread" , except for the dread of frustration at finding the next checkered door. Otherwise , this Metriod was awesome.
i think the problem with metroid dread is that they think we are dumb enought to not remember where something is in the map. Super peroid is so good because everything that you ought to remember leaves a great impression on you, so you'll remember where it is. Same for hollowknight. I think they could've made a better experience over this, giving it a bigger sense of wonder and investigation.
Honestly if you enjoyed this I’d recommend Samus Returns as well. It’s not quite on the same level as Dread imo, but it’s still a wickedly fun Metroid game and one of the few games I’ve enjoyed enough to 100% complete
Probably the only thing stopping me from saying Dread is perfect is its odd pacing at times with certain power ups Namely the pace of the Missle upgrades and Power Bombs coming so late they frankly feel like theyre a formality here (still useful, itd just be better if it came sooner) Past that, Dread is a dream to play, and despite it being the first Ive personally beat (played Super and SR, never beat em tho) I also get the feeling the rest of the fanbase understands
my only complaint with dreads story is how the cliffhanger of "what will the federation do now that samus blew up bsl?" was dealt with. turns out: not a goddamn thing, it's easily forgiven, swept under the rug, and the federation is already hiring her with no other mention of that little cliffhanger in dread. it's a great story still, but goddamn going from fusion to dread and having fusions cliffhanger be ignored just pisses me off. at least address what happened to the mystery man adam was conspiring with in fusion.
I think that finally seeing the Chozo at the height of their power really shows why the majority of the species ultimately chose to put down their weapons and lead a more peaceful lifestyle. The Chozo we see, both X revived and Raven Beak are brutal in the extreme. Their armor and everything about the way they move and act just emanates lethality. And speaking of their armor, we also get to see what Samus' armor was based on. But we also get to see that Samus' armor, IS NOT Chozo armor. Chozo armor is sharp and generally very threatening. The armor made by the peaceful Chozo to be worn by their chosen champion, Samus, was rounder. It emanated confidence and justice, rather than violence and aggression. You can see the obvious design choices between two factions of a single species, one war loving, and the other peace loving. Yet they both are distinctly Chozo.
My only issue with the game was the "lack" of bosses. Almost every boss in the game was shown in the trailer and after experiencing Hollow Knight, I was bummed to find out the game had so few boss battles. Nonetheless the game is still amazing. Edit: I had some issues with the EMMIS as well, since it became tiresome after a while.
Well these are 2 separate franchise that has there own ways. HK is basically an very long and an Dark Soul like that will have so many bosses. While Metroid came out way before HK did and it's more fast paste & speedruns and it doesn't have an whole lot of bosses. But still good enough of them. It's an bit unfair to compare the 2.
@@jaretco6423 Hollow Knight is metroidvania, not souls-like, though it may have similar themes it is closer to metroid by miles than it is Dark Souls, so its more than a fair comparison, especially when one is a five year old indie game and the other is a triple A first party title. Even more so since we still got LESS bosses than in previous console metroid games, like the Prime trilogy and Other M
No boss from Hollow Knight comes close to the quality and excitement from Experiment Z-57 and Raven Beak. You could tell me the Radiance is a fantastic boss fight and I would agree but it just doesn't compare. Plus, the fights in Dread are also super cinematic, something that HK doesn't have at all. Quantity does not mean quality, or are you gonna tell me that Ummu and Mosscharger and sooo many others are great boss fights?
If you haven’t played Samus Returns I highly recommend it. Loved both games, but I personally liked Samus Returns better than Dread (even though Dread is objectively the better game). It also sets up some of the story for Dread.
I would have given 9/10 but they don’t let you play the same difficulty with the Metroid suit and hyper beam… why not give that reward, would have been awesome to tear through game with that.
I didnt know it had a dread mode. THANK YER!! I will have to go back and beat that mode then. I just beat prime remastered. It's almost perfect but the grapple swing is a little weighty and turning is a tad annoying. Dread literally has no faults I can remember and everything is just so fine tuned and smooth. Can't say for sure but Dread might be my fav. Lol Maridia Grrrr! I agree man! Fun to hear your thoughts.
I think people overestimate the linearity. Yes, it’s more linear than super, but it’s less so than Fusion and about the same as Zero Mission. The difference is that it blocks you off into smaller areas a bit more due to the size of the world, and, for the more experienced Metroid veterans, the “invisible hand” can be a bit too easy to see. It still has plenty of exploration and backtracking, especially when you’re going for 100%
Quiet “Exposition the Bird” robe may have been a little off-putting, but gosh darn, hearing Samus speak- let alone in a Chozo language- was pretty awesome.
Loved Dread. Fusion is one of my favorite games of all time so for its sequel to deliver this well was amazing. The story in Fusion really propelled my interest so I didn’t mind the game telling me where to go. I still got lost a lot and had to get creative in order to progress. I never felt lost in Dread and I never felt stuck. Maybe I just knew what to look for, but I would have liked more complicated puzzles in Dread. As for backtracking, I’ve never seen a better example of it than in Fusion. Narratively, it brought you back to an area you now had more access to with unlocked hatches or new powers and it always felt so seamless. A new problem arose and you would return to a sector and be able to access what you couldn’t before without having to go out of your way to do it.
19:57 Zero Mission's bosses usually die in well under 30 seconds when I play. Like, outside of Mother Brain, none of them are ever remotely difficult so long as you found enough ammo leading up to the encounter.
But yeah, Spot on. Especially the music bit, as a Sound Engineer and Musician I was disappointed in the Music. I mean Metroid 2 Remake did play a ton of "greatest hits" but to be fair there where some original bangers in there. (Like Diggernauts themes for example) And the songs used from previous games are obviously remixed, just like the 2 good songs in Dread. (Coincidentally both from Super Metroid.) Prime 1 was blissfully nice and fitting. Prime 2 used some greatest hits alongside some of the previously established Prime style and has a lot of good tracks, Prime 3 tried to be Halo, I guess. My hot take though is that Fusion wasn't on a GBA Soundchip, it would have had my personal favourite Metroid Soundtrack. It was fitting, atmospheric, iconic and thoughtful at the same time. Lotta emotions. (Like the underwater segment of Sector 4 AQA, just search it on RUclips and you'll find a Piano cover of it that really shows it's true potential, or the eerie odd rythm boss fight music of Nightmare).
def agree about the music in-game being a not exactly iconic other than the title screen rendition which was redone but I did like it. great review tho!!
Anyone else get stuck around the time you needed to find the Gravity suit? At that point I didn't realize the teleporters were so integral to making progress. Also felt kind of weird how the game held off on the Morph ball and bombs for so long.
I LOVED how long they put off Morph Ball and Bombs. It felt like a welcome departure from the standard formula where you get Morph Ball in the first ten minutes.
Aeion in Samus Returns takes a lot of time to recharge cause its refilled by killing enemies that drop aeion orbs (much like life orbs do) and theres an ability that’s literally an automatic blast that drains it at lightspeed, so its much better that it works like a cooldown here imo
Sorry, just cause it's the best Metroid game to come out lately doesn't mean it's one of the best Metroid games ever. It had a lot going for it - The cutscenes are great, they made Samus a badass again, they tied into the fusion story line, etc... I hated though how 'boxy' and maze-like the world is. Yeah, 2D metroids have their puzzles but this feels like a world for Pacman. The soundtrack is completely forgettable, minus the mid-story scene where they played Samus' theme. The EMMI battles were intense at first, annoying by the end. The controls were hell to get used to.
I almost want to get the game even though I've never played a Metroid game before... the movement looks really fun, but I also don't know if I can handle the difficulty (assuming it is difficult, I haven't played it before so I dunno).
cant wait to check it out and even more cant wait to see what Samus will become in her next life and journey,.. i cant imagine that with whats becoming available she couldnt and wouldnt take the oppurtunity to clone and add to her potentials between here and than.. see you there though
The counter for the Emmis is the biggest problem I have with the game. While it not being fair hammers home how much Samus is in danger, it takes away my ability to get consistently good at it. The melee counter itself has that same issue for 90% of the game, and it's only during the final boss that it finally clicks and works right. The only other problem I have with the game is the fact that the constantly blocked ability to backtrack and explore feels artificial and forces you to keep going forward along the prescribed path. I kept wanting to go back to find some of the power-ups I saw, but I wasn't allowed to because that area had become blocked off, which is frustrating since I'm used to the rest of the Metroid series and being able to explore everywhere as I'm going. The other 85 to 90% of the game is great, and this is definitely within the top three to top five of the entire Metroid series, because it does have stiff competition from all the other games.
If you like Metroidvanias then you need to check out Pseudoregalia ruclips.net/video/KNPgRnmvN9I/видео.html
I like how Samus Reacts to Kraid in this game.
Shes like:
"Oh hey Kraid. All chained up i see. Shame.." *charges blaster*
"Oh, good, it's only you. I can handle you."
@@hariman7727 that's what I thought the first time i saw the cutscene
I love how you can actually see her relax when it's kraid, like when she first lands and knows there's a big monster she's on guard then she sees it's kraid and she's like "oh it's just this guy again"
She didn’t give a single care about him. She’s more tense after the fight than she is durning it haha. The way she readies her stance after he’s defeated, it’s as if she’s saying, “alright. Break time’s over”.
epic moment 😂 she's not even remotely worried about kraid
me on the other hand suffered against him 😂
I think that the Aeon meter was just supposed to be a cleaner way of displaying three different cooldown abilities without having to clutter the UI.
I think its simply a mechanic that came from another metroid game a lot of non metroid fans didn't play. Change my mind.
@@AleXelerate8 Yeah lol the reviewer wasn't even aware the parry mechanic isn't introduced in this game
@@shlokwaghela9560 I agree, him and everyone who upvoted as well. It's common a lot of people didn't know. Most games introduced lately get more exposure.
@@shlokwaghela9560 Par for the course with RUclipsrs.
Ahh a Zero Mission fan, a man of taste
...
AHH A MARIDIA DISSENTER, A MAN OF EXQUISITE TASTE
Beautiful environment and music in maridia, but I don't want to think about those grapple blocks.
@@countlazuli8753 FUCK SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND
Maridia haters, assemble!!!!
Everytime I play Super Metroid I simply skip every optional upgrade in Maridia. That's how much I hate that part.
@@rubemevangelista3868 It's coarse, rough, and irritating. And it gets everywhere.
I'm watching this after beating dread mode and when he showed Samus taking damage I was confused for a second on why she wasn't dead.
Update: over the past 2 years I have probably beat dread mode over 5 times.
I can't express how much respect I have for you
I look up to you😊
For like 2 months after I beat Dread Mode I would flinch whenever I saw someone get damaged in this game. Regardless, I still love Dread Mode and think its the ideal Metroid Dread experience.
@@bluetoad07I’ve just started my dread mode play through because ravenbeak on hard mode is still too easy
@@Lion50-86 I hope you have fun! It definitely makes Raven Beak much more interesting of a fight. One thing I find cool about dread mode is how things you may not have noticed or ignored before are incredibly important now (the ways attacks are telegraphed, enemy placement and movement, ect.) When you have no room for error, you familiarize yourself with everything, and it really lets you appreciate how well-designed this game is. Let me know how your playthrough goes when you're done!
"Gotta replay Prime just to be sure" what a glorious time to be alive as a metroid fan
Fr tho
One thing that I love about this game is the speedrun/sequence breaks that are actively promoted by Mercury Steam with a morph bomb launcher in the Kraid fight, to being able to speed boost into the Experiment boss and finish them extremely quick, with Kraid getting its own special cinematic scene like the parry scenes.
Yeah those are great, though I wish there were more of those moments in other boss-fights. Beyond those two the only other boss that has something like this is the one that gives storm missiles that goes from a tough boss fight to being squashed by Samus with screw attack in a very anti-climatic way
Its interesting that the game is completely linear without much backtracking, unless you get the early grapple, at which point you can go all over the place and get flash dash, scan pulse, bombs, a bunch of expansions. Getting the varia suit and early grapple really opens the early game up
@TopMostFlavor I always go for early grapple due to just how open everything becomes, allowing me to do basically whatever I want
Also if you get the screw attack early escue becomes a lot easier.
29:44 Flash shift is also pretty useful for platforming, and I feel like it's criminally underrated. You know those sections in which you have to swing like Spider-Man with the grapple beam? You can skip most of them. You know how hard it is to avoid the blue and purple E.M.M.I, walking on the ceiling with the spider magnet, or having to get in the water? You can skip a looot of that by just flash shifting.
real talk, Flash-shift is an absolute bacon saver.
It's weird, I LOVE using it in combat, but I rarely ever think to use it while I'm exploring.
Went back to the game this week for the first time since it came out, my brain literally only just let me flash shift instead of swinging :') I was just so caught up in playing the game the way I was "supposed to" that that was one aspect I clearly didn't experiment with
@@VorpalSlade ;D
Flash shift is one of my favorite new abilities
On a first playthrough, I thought Dread was alright. On a second playthrough, it became my favorite Metroid game.
One of my gripes initially about the game was its linearity. There's a lot of exploring and the game does a good job locking you out of backtracking to push you to go forward (the "Artaria Loop" as I call it, going from new game to charge beam, is really clever). However, not all is as it seems. The game definitely tries to guide you along its intended path. And then I realized on a second playthrough that it opens up once you hit Ghavoran. The first time in Ferenia going through the EMMI zone is brutal. It always knows where you are, but that's not actually the difficult part. What's hard is that the zone is flooded, forcing you to traverse underwater. And you need to go through the EMMI Zone to get Storm Missile in order to get Space Jump in order to get Gravity Suit... except you don't. You can still shinespark underwater, so you can get to the Ghavoran-Burenia Teleporter once you get Ice Missile. From there, you can take an alternate hidden path for a shinespark puzzle that nets you 10 extra missiles but also a secret path right to the setpiece that opens up the room to Gravity Suit. You've frontloaded the difficulty into a shinespark puzzle, but in return make traversing Ferenia significantly easier. Experiment Z-57 isn't particularly harder without Space Jump or Storm Missiles, so it's a definite choice for me when replaying the game, and it gets me Screw Attack, which trivializes Escue as it lets you hit it through its electric shield.
And speaking of shinespark, every boss that you can either speed booster within the arena or charge a shinespark entering the arena is vulnerable to shinespark. This includes the Chozo Robots, the Chozo Soldiers, the Central Units (their insides are also one-shot by Screw Attack), Escue, Golzuna, and Experiment Z-57. And while you don't have speed booster at this point, Kraid is a great showcase of how the game tells you about the multiple ways to deal with bosses. Most people on a first playthrough will do damage to his stomach until he shoots all three spikes and lowers the magnet grip. Then there is the faster way that you show in the video, where you use the spikes that Kraid launches normally to get to the magnet grip without needing to wait for it to be lowered, and careful jumps and intercepting of Kraid's projectiles means that you can stay on the grip indefinitely. And, if you manage to get Bombs early, you can insta-kill Kraid's second phase by using a hidden Morph Ball Launcher that shoots you directly into Kraid's gut. Experiment Z-57 is the other showcase. Its long wind attack that many call "Flappy Bird Phase" also gives the opportunity to activate speed booster, which is an insta-kill if you land the shinespark, making fighting it without Space Jump or Storm Missiles much easier.
EMMI Zones are especially interesting on a second playthrough. In a first playthrough, you don't know where to go and are super cautious. You'd likely prefer to have Phantom Cloak ready that use Flash Shift, and you'll likely get caught by EMMIs multiple times. In a second playthrough, though, where you know where to go, the truth of the EMMI Zones is revealed: they are significantly easier if you speed through it. Speed EMMI is the only one that can keep pace with you and it relies on mines to figure out where you are (especially useful to know since it doesn't use its speed in patrol mode, only in search and pursuit mode). So long as you keep moving, you won't get caught.
This. I thought it was pretty good on my end after playing once, returned and played again and found a lot of sequence breaks and enjoyed the heck out of it. Then I played a 0% playthrough, and it is absolutely fantastic.
No one reading that
Great review! I've seen SO many other reviews on this game, and I can safely say that this is up there with the very best Dread reviews.
No droning on about pointless nitpicks, you tended to be unbiased, you get your point across fluidly, and the jokes are quick and punchy.
Will def be sticking around to see what you do next. Keep it up! :)
Samus does speak to Adam in Fusion, and technically monologues in Prime, but it was cut.
On the subject of the game not being "back-tracky..." Something I feel gets fundamentally misunderstood in the series is this idea that a linear Metroid is a bad Metroid. As a child growing up during the "Metroid Golden Age" that was 2002-2010, linear and non-linear Metroid were like different sides of the same three-dimensional shape. I didn't really think about which games were better or worse for how linear they were, I just played and enjoyed exploring all these different planets in my favorite gaming universe.
In my humble opinion, I think it's GOOD that Metroid has varying degrees of linearity across titles. I think it helps give each individual game its own identity within the greater series. And, if this latest game wasn't quite to your taste, keep on open mind and look forward to the next entry. Who knows? Perhaps you'll grow to appreciate this current one on its own merits in the meantime. Where the problem comes in is that this was viable back in the day when it felt like we could count on a new Metroid in the next 2 years, but it felt like an unfair crapshoot in this 10-year dark age. However, Samus has returned, and with the success of Dread and Prime 4 on the horizon, I'm hoping the spark has at long last been rekindled.
Furthermore, linear Metroid games may not be that linear and nonlinear Metroid will have moments of linearity, usually in the beginning. Yes, those methods can be broken in Metroid 1 and Super Metroid, but initially there are inescapable linear parts.
Super Metroid has one designer-intended path through the game, it also has ways to break that sequence, but that does not mean it isn't linear.
Welcome back!!! Keep the quality content coming!
I'll certainly try 👍
@@HyveMindsGames you’d be making a lot of us very happy, I guarantee. Nice to see you post again 💯
24:00 Your comment about foreshadowing just reminded me that this is probably the Metroid game that best explains how Samus not only loses her abilities at the beginning of the game, but justifies how she gets them back. Her key upgrades are absorbed from the EMMIs, not picked up in icon form (with a few exceptions that largely make sense as something that might exist on a Chozo planet). She's not picking up oddly appropriate icons or finding upgrades for her suit on a world with no reason to have them: she's directly siphoning the power of her enemies and using that to gain new abilities.
She's manifesting her Metroid DNA.
The Aieon abilities were very different in Samus Returns. Instead of a stamina bar it was another resource next to energy, (super) missiles and power bombs. It was kind of a big new addition to the game. You had four Aieon abilities. The scan ability functions the same as in Dread, but is given to you near the start of the game. The other abilities were an energy shield that acts like a second energy bar but is more active against certain terrain, a powerful and fast beam that acts like an omega cannon to go, and an ability that lets you slow down time. You would also gain more Aieon back when you melee counter enemies, which is also introduced in Samus Returns.
It certainly makes more sense in the context of Samus Returns. I have no idea why they brought it back for Dread, because it is also connected to SR388 lorewise. My guess is that they planned more for it and then decided against it, because it doesn't fit the fast paced style of Dread.
Playing SR is certainly very interesting, seeing how they fixed the flaws of the game and improved on the good parts.
An interesting detail that I don't seem to see many people talk about is the fact that Raven Beak makes use of Lightning Armor (when he's invincible) and Beam Burst during his boss fight.
I'm interested to see if Aeion is here to stay in terms of the greater Metroid series. I don't think either game quite nailed the perfect balance, but I think I liked the implementation of Aieon in Samus Returns better on the whole.
@@Thebluedud That's actually a cool detail. I only noticed that he uses the Flash Shift in his third phase. I love Dread for details like this.
This game is one of my favorites of all time. As someone who started with Fusion this game finally coming out was like a dream. Samus Returns was really good too. It's definitely worth playing, but also Aieon worked pretty differently. It was another limited commodity like missiles or health.
Also, I agree that the soundtrack was slightly disapointing over all to me, but Burenia and Ferenia stood out.
While I agree that the soundtrack went by almost unnoticed, the thing that plays when [SPOILER]
Samus goes full Metroid is quite possibly my favorite use of music in the entire series!
I held back on watching this because I planned to play Metroid Dread and didn’t wanna get spoiled in any way. Just beat it yesterday and loved it. Great video as always!
Another great video. Life's been a little hectic lately so I'm a bit late, but I still wanted to express my appreciation for your videos, seriously top tier stuff.
Excellent review. I love Dread and I've been happy to see the majority of the Metroid fanbase feels the same. I'm hopeful and confident Retro is gonna keep this momentum going with Prime 4. Great time to be a Metroid fan!
Sequence breaking in dread is a lot of fun just as much as super, hell even did one by accident on my first playthru
I love the way you review games and how you add your own humor to it, awesome videos bro keep it up
thanks!
My only gripe with the emmi's is really not even them, it's their respective aurora units. They basically sit there and let you just destroy them. The rings and lasers increase minutely with each fight but they are extremely easy, even for this game. I wish they could've changed their patterns with each one and maybe the amount of damage they do.
@Meat Head oh sorry
The best most indepth review I have ever seen, with amazing pacing. Great job sir 👏
you're right, the EMMI counters feel fantastic when you pull them off. i got two in a row once (i kinda suck at avoiding EMMIs lol), and the rush i felt from it was absolutely incredible. great review, gonna check out your other vids too!
About aeion regeneration. I thought it was brilliant. You make a good point about the different abillities being kind of separate. But when it comes to cloaking it's a great tension mekanism. The cloak is great in Emmi engounters, encounters in which staying still can often be a must as not to draw attention. Aeion is recharged by moving. So Staying cloaked for too long ot too often means you will sooner or later have to get a move on in order to stay cloaked or to not take massive damage (from staying cloaked with an empty aeion meter). It can get very tense when an emy is looking right at your cloaked body while that aeion meter creepes towards zero.
Love Dread, I've replayed the hell out of it. I'm always shocked to hear "get good game style players" mention that Dread is actually hard. It is, especially the first playthrough or 2 but I felt it was reasonable and so too punishment. I'm one of those "non-gamers" that won't play Souls or the likes of it because it is too frustrating. But I never once thought Dread was too absurd. Honestly it felt like Ori challenging and not Hollow Knight. I replay Ori a lot still with challenge and I never finished Hollow Knight nor ever will. Big differences in difficulty there.
One thing I really do miss in Dread is my ability to explore as much and freely as my other favorite Metroid games like Super and Prime 1. Dread is far more locked down. I also love figuring out my own optimal routes through those games. I'm not a speed runner as the internet would think of speed runners but I do replays with speed and efficiency in mind to a degree. I do see why the structure of the game would make that difficult to design for though. However One thing I took away from Dread when Samus fires upon Ravenbeak after he tells her just to follow orders is that was a signal too me Samus may be saying forget that to the concept of being told explicitly what to do. I felt like it was saying Samus is going to go about doing things in her own way going forward. but that could just be my wishful thinking.
Honestly, I struggled far, far more with Ori's(both Ori, but especially blind forest with all the insta death moments) main story than with Hollow Knight's main story. It has way more platforming challenges than Hollow Knight has bosses, and those challenges are much more difficult on average. However, if you start including dlc stuff, than HK is harder than Ori.
Also, you can only explore freely in Prime 1 by using glitches and the unintented scan dash.
I'm a trash-tier gamer, but I think the big thing with Dread is that it never felt *unfair*. It was hard, it punished you for being sloppy about playing, but it never felt like it was pulling rugs out from under me. Even against hard/frustrating bosses, I always saw the lights at the end of the proverbial tunnel.
@@Kuribohcoast same was true for Ori and the Blind Forest for me.
What the hell are you talking about, Dread is just as sequence breakable as Super Metroid, just in a more subtle way (and intended as well).
This was a fantastic review; it makes me giddy to play the game all over again. Metroid Dread is easily my favorite 2D Metroid game ever made. It's so smooth and satisfying to play and the bosses are absolutely insane. I hope the 3D games get ported to Switch because I never got to play them as a kid, but despite their legendary status, I think it's going to be pretty hard to top the high that Metroid Dread gave me.
You're in for a treat, the Prime series is an absolute joy. I personally prefer Prime to Dread, but they're very different games. The Prime games are the kings of atmosphere and immersion.
I am inspired by a confidence a lot of reviewers aren’t so confident on what they say they always stutter or have to retret things or just mainly sounds like they’re talking in front of a class but you talk like your a professional at this
Great Job Man 👍
I actually really hated all the points of no return that locked off areas till the game decided it was ok for you to return to explore.
My man that's the whole point of metroidvanias 😅
I really like the fact that you're nuanced in your video and don't just straight up says it's just better to be totally free and not being guided at all cause personally I have no problem with being guided in a game, I just don't care, sometimes I even like that and I actually prefer linear games. But I have the impression players and game reviewers nowadays think it's objectively better to just be lost in a game without knowing anything in advance and without any indication while some certainly don't like that and that's not what makes the game more fun for them. So again thank you for being nuanced and talking about the good points from both approaches. That's what I call real objectivity and actual observation despite personal preferences.
I've been a Metroid fan since 1996 and this game was such a breath of fresh air. Gives me a feeling of exploration that I hadn't felt since Prime 3.
I'm not sure why, but Metroidvania video essays have always been some of my favorites, and you totally killed it with this one. I've become an adult since this game came out, and unfortunately I never have time to sit down and play video games anymore, but when I do, Dread is always one of them.
so, hang on. are we not going to talk about how the final x parasite that kills Raven Beak has also taken control of Kraid and it mixes them together, like that's so cool, they didn't have to do that!
I'm happy you're back! I watched all of your DMC videos and later I started to play with them because of your reviews. I hope you upload videos more often in the future!
Thanks, and I will!
I played Zero Mission and Fusion back in the day, but I was terrible at them and never beat either one. I got Dread recently after trying the demo out. Despite considering myself bad at games like this, the boss fights felt fair and very learnable. It took me a lot of attempts to beat some of the faster ones like Escue and the Twin Chozo Robots. But man the feeling of finally beating a boss in this game was so awesome. The exploration felt fun, and I found myself attempting all the little item puzzles everywhere. The shinespark ones were really fun, a couple of them took me like 20-30 minutes (metroid noob), but they felt so satisfying once I managed to nail them. The whole game felt like a huge learning experience. The last boss was really hard for me, I didn't know you could power bomb his sun thing. It took me a few hours of attempts. The ending made it worth it, god I love that scream she does. I died 130 times or something on normal. I didn't think I'd do hard mode but I'm like I already put in the work of learning the bosses, I might as well try it. I died 96 times on hard mode but I beat it in much less time. From the start I knew there was no way I'd ever try dread mode. But, I changed my mind. I died 262 times but I beat it. I felt like there was so much the game was teaching me on each playthrough, excellent design IMO. It almost felt like some of the rooms became puzzles on dread mode, I never realized some of the things I just shrugged off before could be such a big deal if you can't take a hit. I agree with you about the music, it's very atmospheric but I do wish it were a bit catchier too. I really loved playing this game though, still need to go back for the 4 hour runs so I'm looking forward to that
really good review with plenty of context based on prior games. this i think convinced me to finally try this out, since i'd been eyeing it for awhile but heard mixed things - and had never played a metroid game before. thanks for the detailed review and for marking when you were talking about spoilers (and for being very general otherwise).
Customizable controls, and a more memorable soundtrack, and this is a 10 out of 10. As it is now 9 out of 10.
Amazing video, what a treat!
🙂
Dread’s music is lacking but there is at least one music that I think is criminally underrated. The ferenia theme is an absolute bangner and I cool hum it from the top of my head because it is that good.
The way you appreciate this game reminds me a lot of the ori games. I highly recommend Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It's such a well done game and a bit short but FULL of content
Love your vids man! Hope you keep posting and showing off games that I wouldn’t normally play!
I didnt plan to watch this whole vid, but you did such a great job with it that I stayed to the end -huge metroid fan who doesnt own a switch. Thanks
Just binged watched your Devil May Cry reviews. Keep the content coming! SUBSCRIBED!
Metroid Samus returns is a ''must play!''
6:03 I'm with you on that. That's one of the main reasons why I enjoyed almost every game in the Metroid franchise that I've played. It's also the main reason why I love games like Breath of the Wild, and tears of the kingdom... And to a certain extent, almost every open world game by Rockstar.
Sure, your destination is marked on your map, but how you get there is up to you. Nowadays, games have GPS.
this was my very first ever Metroid game and man I love this game, I am currently almost done with Metroid prime but I cannot wait for the next entry
What a great vid. Echos a lot of
Thoughts I had.. just a hell of a lot more eloquently!
I love this game and have become a Metroid freak, playing all of the games in the series multiple times. Except the first Metroid. But this was the coolest, most in depth review of this game I've seen online.
Hey Hyve! I just came from your King Of Cards video, and I wanted to say it was top notch work! I love your video style of "I sound like a professional video game review, but like, I'm just a normal dude." One thing I wanted to say though, (and this may just be because I'm a Specter Knight fanboy cause it's the one I dumped the most time into) is that the story is actually super deep in my opinion. He got his best friend taken away from him, and when he's given an opportunity to bring him back and live his "peaceful" life, he gives it all up so a mother can have her son back and the son doesn't throw away his life due to corruption. You even showed the scene in the KoC review, where he says "Take me instead."
One of the best sound design things in Dread is when you can hear Kraid roaring in the background as you get closer to him.
he's back!
Excellent review
Thanks!
'Almost perfect' is actually a great description of how good Dread was. Maybe it's because the last game I played was Samus Returns, which I thought was great, but the way the story moved Samus forward was also phenomenal. I'm not sure where the series goes form here, but more of this, please!
Lawd have mercy… he’s gonna be thankful for that melee counter on DREAD MODE… promise you that! 😂
Holy moly you came back wow 🤯
The reports of my death were greatly exaggerated
@Hyve Minds nice to see you man keep it up pls bcuz I like your content
I’ve been thinking: if Hard Mode just totally removed all of the “points of no return” that prevent backtracking, as well as giving us back the Zero Mission wall jump (with extremely strict timing), this would pretty much be the perfect Metroid. Veterans that love getting lost would have a lot more freedom of traversal, and sequence breaks would be completely unreal. They could also change it so you can use the Power Bomb the moment you find ammo like in Super. The higher difficulty would keep this mode from being a total cakewalk. With just a few tweaks, Dread could potentially offer two pretty distinct games that cater to different audiences in one package.
I’d also kill for a Speedrun Mode that trims all dialogue, cutscenes, text prompts and tutorials so pro-runners could do clean runs of the game with less stopping and starting. Even GOTY can be better with some additions.
I'd play the hell out of a mode like this
Okay sheesh. You blew my mind. I've beaten this game about 10 times and I did just learn that you can do this: 11:30...
Speaking of the sounds EMMIs make, i find it so interesting how much they sound like birds chirping. Aside from their unnatural symmetry and movements, their structure seems based on the anatomy of the Chozo, even down to their probe looking like a beak as it shoots out of their face. And even as far as movements go, when the Mawkin you fight move on all fours, they do seem to move similarly to the EMMI (not to mention that the Mawkin can also wall cling). I hope some future game goes into where they came from/how the Federation got possession of them, because there definitely seems to be more there beneath the surface.
Good video. I hope you get all the subscribers in the world.
I hope so too
Calling Other M a bad game is the understatement of the year. It's one of the worst games ever made. It's not bad because nonexistent budget, too small of a development team, rushed production schedule/not enough time (like Gollum). It's bad because it's bad design. The very core of the design is bad, and every level of it showed nothing but incompetence. The story isn't even the worst of it (though it's admittedly terrible). The design of the game itself is every bit as bad as the story, if not worse
Sakamoto is a no talent hack that got where he was by taking credit for other people's work (primarily Gunpei Yokoi). He is not a "co creator" of Metroid, he lied. His "talent" (or lack thereof) was shown when he was given full control of a project. I might not have as much contempt for him if he had taken responsibilty and admitted he made bad choices and therefore a terrible game. But he didn't. To this day he insists he made the perfect game and blames the fans for "not getting it). He has had zero involvement with recent Metroid games (aside from attaching himself as "producer" to further the lie that he was a co creator of the series and continue to leech off of other people's work). Dread was developed by MercurySteam, the only person at Nintendo who worked on the game was Fumi Hayashi.
Ultimately, Other M is can be held up as a shining example of how not to make a game. It's actually fascinating to study its development. Thankfully both Dread and Samus Returns go to actual effort to say the events of Other M didn't happen. There apparently was a real Adam at one point, but we know nothing about his history because Other M has been relegated to non-canon status. And for the corporate shills who say that because you can get Other M box art from an achievement in this game, are idiots. Box art as an easter egg is NOT acknowledgement of the events of the game. Samus Returns provides an actual references to the events of the Prime series. The events of Prime series aren't directly relevant to this game, so they aren't referenced directly, but they are referenced indirectly by way of Samus Returns. The events of Zero Mission, Samus Returns, Super, and Fusion are directly referenced. If Other M had happened, those events would be relevant, and yet they are not mentioned at all. That's awesome. Kicking Other M out of the timeline is a necessity for Metroid to recover as a series.
I really enjoyed Dread, it takes everything Samus Returns accomplished and takes it up to 11 and improves on it while having a better framerate. I didn't enjoy it QUITE as much as the Ori games (which are my favorite Metroidvanias now), but it's definitely a great title and a great comeback.
Hey the homeboy is back
Edit: 15:52 that sounds like something I watched that involved Samus
It's nice to listen to Dread reviews that aren't always comparing and contrasting to Super the entire time
Great video, seems like a cool game! Can't wait for more content!
Metroid 2: Remake was a great game. It feels like they started with that game as the foundation for this game. Metroid 2 is gonna feel slow after Dread though. You should still play it if you are a fan of the series.
If you go back and play Skyward Sword you realize how much of what they used in that game was the foundation they perfected in Breath of the Wild. The same could be said about Metroid 2 and Dread.
A very nice review of a game I absolutely love.
If you like metroidvania styles and would like to try something a little "different" in the genre, take a look at F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Tower.
It has been 7 months (regularity is not your forte, I see
I completely disagree on the EMMI. Their environments the same visually, which removes the fear of "When can en EMMI show up?" You always know. They beep and boop like R2-D2 and resemble a much cooler robot from a meh Val Kilmer movie to the point where I wonder of a lawyer should be called (Seriously look up Red Planet's AMEE). They don't scare me, they annoy me, feeling predictable with patterns that are obvious after one or two tries. The instant death quick time event is practically a just a cutscene and I feel no reward when I accidentally pull it off. There is no innovation in how you kill the EMMI and the "Melt the armor, blast the head" is silly because they slowly stand up and present a target easy to hit.
Essentially, there is no innovation or creativity in the EMMI. No shocking ambush from a dark corner of a creepy forest, or a sudden chase through a darkened ruins. Hell even the promise of 7 EMMI is dropped as if they couldn't consider how to use the last one and drop it for convenience. Not to mention the idea that these "Federation" built robots easily could defeat Metroids or ADVANCED BIO CHOZO armor worn by Samus. Or that a single Chozo could just... turn them off. Clearly they wanted an Alien Isolation vibe, instead I got a predictable (Always know when they are around), silly sounding (*Beep Boop*), annoying obstacle that could have been a terrifying stalking monster, unsure when it would spring out of a darkened pool, or interrupt a fight by killing your opponent and taking his place. Its the missed opportunity of the EMMI that really bothers me.
In essence, I didn't experience Dread, which having to fight increasingly stronger Metroid generations actually gave me. I experienced a nuisance that could only be removed as an obstacle by doing the same thing over and over again (Which the spot you have to use to destroy the EMMI was the only real innovative part for me). This would have been a perfect Metroid game... if the EMMI had been dumped in favor of something... I dunno, that can't be conveniently turned off, or beep boop at you and annoy you with a cut scene defeat worthy of Space Ace.
Emmi sections were terrible. The emmi is never actually patrolling, its just off screen waiting for you to enter no mater where or when you arrive. So, it becomes a matter of trial and error to find the way past. There is no surprise or "dread" , except for the dread of frustration at finding the next checkered door. Otherwise , this Metriod was awesome.
I died so many times in this metroid game. 248 deaths total and I've been playing metroid games sense 2008
i think the problem with metroid dread is that they think we are dumb enought to not remember where something is in the map. Super peroid is so good because everything that you ought to remember leaves a great impression on you, so you'll remember where it is. Same for hollowknight. I think they could've made a better experience over this, giving it a bigger sense of wonder and investigation.
Wait: the teleporters are linked in the end?
You can highlight icons?
Man,that will help me a lot on my second playtrough! Thank you!
what song is that at 25:47 I feel like I can just barely remember what it is but not quite lol its driving me mad
titanic monarch act 1 from sonic mania
11.27 - 11.33
how do you connect all of the teleporters to each other? i've finished the game and didn't unlock this feature
Honestly if you enjoyed this I’d recommend Samus Returns as well. It’s not quite on the same level as Dread imo, but it’s still a wickedly fun Metroid game and one of the few games I’ve enjoyed enough to 100% complete
I enjoy your reviews! hope to see some more yakuza aswell ;)
Probably the only thing stopping me from saying Dread is perfect is its odd pacing at times with certain power ups
Namely the pace of the Missle upgrades and Power Bombs coming so late they frankly feel like theyre a formality here (still useful, itd just be better if it came sooner)
Past that, Dread is a dream to play, and despite it being the first Ive personally beat (played Super and SR, never beat em tho) I also get the feeling the rest of the fanbase understands
36:54 Samus was canonically speedrunning during Zero Mission confirmed
The canon sequence break holy shit you're right
my only complaint with dreads story is how the cliffhanger of "what will the federation do now that samus blew up bsl?" was dealt with. turns out: not a goddamn thing, it's easily forgiven, swept under the rug, and the federation is already hiring her with no other mention of that little cliffhanger in dread.
it's a great story still, but goddamn going from fusion to dread and having fusions cliffhanger be ignored just pisses me off. at least address what happened to the mystery man adam was conspiring with in fusion.
It lives up to its title.
I think that finally seeing the Chozo at the height of their power really shows why the majority of the species ultimately chose to put down their weapons and lead a more peaceful lifestyle. The Chozo we see, both X revived and Raven Beak are brutal in the extreme. Their armor and everything about the way they move and act just emanates lethality.
And speaking of their armor, we also get to see what Samus' armor was based on. But we also get to see that Samus' armor, IS NOT Chozo armor. Chozo armor is sharp and generally very threatening. The armor made by the peaceful Chozo to be worn by their chosen champion, Samus, was rounder. It emanated confidence and justice, rather than violence and aggression. You can see the obvious design choices between two factions of a single species, one war loving, and the other peace loving. Yet they both are distinctly Chozo.
My only issue with the game was the "lack" of bosses. Almost every boss in the game was shown in the trailer and after experiencing Hollow Knight, I was bummed to find out the game had so few boss battles. Nonetheless the game is still amazing. Edit: I had some issues with the EMMIS as well, since it became tiresome after a while.
Well these are 2 separate franchise that has there own ways. HK is basically an very long and an Dark Soul like that will have so many bosses. While Metroid came out way before HK did and it's more fast paste & speedruns and it doesn't have an whole lot of bosses. But still good enough of them. It's an bit unfair to compare the 2.
@@jaretco6423 Hollow Knight is metroidvania, not souls-like, though it may have similar themes it is closer to metroid by miles than it is Dark Souls, so its more than a fair comparison, especially when one is a five year old indie game and the other is a triple A first party title. Even more so since we still got LESS bosses than in previous console metroid games, like the Prime trilogy and Other M
No boss from Hollow Knight comes close to the quality and excitement from Experiment Z-57 and Raven Beak. You could tell me the Radiance is a fantastic boss fight and I would agree but it just doesn't compare. Plus, the fights in Dread are also super cinematic, something that HK doesn't have at all. Quantity does not mean quality, or are you gonna tell me that Ummu and Mosscharger and sooo many others are great boss fights?
If you haven’t played Samus Returns I highly recommend it. Loved both games, but I personally liked Samus Returns better than Dread (even though Dread is objectively the better game). It also sets up some of the story for Dread.
I would have given 9/10 but they don’t let you play the same difficulty with the Metroid suit and hyper beam… why not give that reward, would have been awesome to tear through game with that.
I didnt know it had a dread mode. THANK YER!! I will have to go back and beat that mode then. I just beat prime remastered. It's almost perfect but the grapple swing is a little weighty and turning is a tad annoying. Dread literally has no faults I can remember and everything is just so fine tuned and smooth. Can't say for sure but Dread might be my fav. Lol Maridia Grrrr! I agree man! Fun to hear your thoughts.
I think people overestimate the linearity. Yes, it’s more linear than super, but it’s less so than Fusion and about the same as Zero Mission. The difference is that it blocks you off into smaller areas a bit more due to the size of the world, and, for the more experienced Metroid veterans, the “invisible hand” can be a bit too easy to see. It still has plenty of exploration and backtracking, especially when you’re going for 100%
Quiet “Exposition the Bird” robe may have been a little off-putting, but gosh darn, hearing Samus speak- let alone in a Chozo language- was pretty awesome.
Loved Dread. Fusion is one of my favorite games of all time so for its sequel to deliver this well was amazing.
The story in Fusion really propelled my interest so I didn’t mind the game telling me where to go. I still got lost a lot and had to get creative in order to progress. I never felt lost in Dread and I never felt stuck. Maybe I just knew what to look for, but I would have liked more complicated puzzles in Dread.
As for backtracking, I’ve never seen a better example of it than in Fusion. Narratively, it brought you back to an area you now had more access to with unlocked hatches or new powers and it always felt so seamless. A new problem arose and you would return to a sector and be able to access what you couldn’t before without having to go out of your way to do it.
Sick video
Also I would love to see a video about king of cards new game + mode
19:57 Zero Mission's bosses usually die in well under 30 seconds when I play. Like, outside of Mother Brain, none of them are ever remotely difficult so long as you found enough ammo leading up to the encounter.
But yeah, Spot on. Especially the music bit, as a Sound Engineer and Musician I was disappointed in the Music. I mean Metroid 2 Remake did play a ton of "greatest hits" but to be fair there where some original bangers in there. (Like Diggernauts themes for example) And the songs used from previous games are obviously remixed, just like the 2 good songs in Dread. (Coincidentally both from Super Metroid.) Prime 1 was blissfully nice and fitting. Prime 2 used some greatest hits alongside some of the previously established Prime style and has a lot of good tracks, Prime 3 tried to be Halo, I guess.
My hot take though is that Fusion wasn't on a GBA Soundchip, it would have had my personal favourite Metroid Soundtrack. It was fitting, atmospheric, iconic and thoughtful at the same time. Lotta emotions. (Like the underwater segment of Sector 4 AQA, just search it on RUclips and you'll find a Piano cover of it that really shows it's true potential, or the eerie odd rythm boss fight music of Nightmare).
29:01 Samus Returns is a phenomenal game, still sucks it didn’t sell well
samus returns is the 2nd best metroid 2 game that exists, the first being am2r, the last being the original metroid 2
That's because it came out on the 3DS after the Switch was released.
Completed this 100% four times! Great game IMO!!
19:52 do you guys know what song plays at this section?
Cool Edge night - Sonic unleashed
def agree about the music in-game being a not exactly iconic other than the title screen rendition which was redone but I did like it. great review tho!!
Anyone else get stuck around the time you needed to find the Gravity suit? At that point I didn't realize the teleporters were so integral to making progress. Also felt kind of weird how the game held off on the Morph ball and bombs for so long.
probably to get you used to sliding & shooting walls to create gaps which you would then slide through
I LOVED how long they put off Morph Ball and Bombs. It felt like a welcome departure from the standard formula where you get Morph Ball in the first ten minutes.
Aeion in Samus Returns takes a lot of time to recharge cause its refilled by killing enemies that drop aeion orbs (much like life orbs do) and theres an ability that’s literally an automatic blast that drains it at lightspeed, so its much better that it works like a cooldown here imo
One of my favourite moments in the game was when Samus killed the red Emmi with her Metroid powers and then the Metroid theme started playing
Sorry, just cause it's the best Metroid game to come out lately doesn't mean it's one of the best Metroid games ever. It had a lot going for it - The cutscenes are great, they made Samus a badass again, they tied into the fusion story line, etc... I hated though how 'boxy' and maze-like the world is. Yeah, 2D metroids have their puzzles but this feels like a world for Pacman. The soundtrack is completely forgettable, minus the mid-story scene where they played Samus' theme. The EMMI battles were intense at first, annoying by the end. The controls were hell to get used to.
I almost want to get the game even though I've never played a Metroid game before... the movement looks really fun, but I also don't know if I can handle the difficulty (assuming it is difficult, I haven't played it before so I dunno).
cant wait to check it out and even more cant wait to see what Samus will become in her next life and journey,.. i cant imagine that with whats becoming available she couldnt and wouldnt take the oppurtunity to clone and add to her potentials between here and than..
see you there though
The counter for the Emmis is the biggest problem I have with the game. While it not being fair hammers home how much Samus is in danger, it takes away my ability to get consistently good at it.
The melee counter itself has that same issue for 90% of the game, and it's only during the final boss that it finally clicks and works right.
The only other problem I have with the game is the fact that the constantly blocked ability to backtrack and explore feels artificial and forces you to keep going forward along the prescribed path.
I kept wanting to go back to find some of the power-ups I saw, but I wasn't allowed to because that area had become blocked off, which is frustrating since I'm used to the rest of the Metroid series and being able to explore everywhere as I'm going.
The other 85 to 90% of the game is great, and this is definitely within the top three to top five of the entire Metroid series, because it does have stiff competition from all the other games.