It’s finally here. After multiple cancelled attempts over the years, Metroid Dread is finally here. Nintendo’s collaboration with Spanish developer Mercury Steam pays off beautifully for Switch – this is the first entirely new side-scrolling series entry since 2002’s Metroid Fusion and this is a true return to form for the franchise, breathing new life into the ageing Switch hardware thanks to a pristine presentation. Not only that, but the style of its aesthetic also makes it a brilliant showcase for the new Switch OLED model too.
By this point, the history of side-scrolling Metroid games has been told time and time again – but what makes this entry interesting is the way in which it was developed. Like Metroid Prime, Dread represents a fusion of eastern and western influences to create something that feels supremely polished: Nintendo brings its incredible production values to the party, while Mercury Steam’s signature technical excellence shines through. Together, it’s a brilliant match and a much better result than the prior collaboration between the two parties – the patchy Metroid: Samus Returns for Nintendo 3DS.
What I love about Dread is how finely tuned the technical presentation is – all too often, Switch releases run into the limitations of the hardware: frame-rate troubles, long loading times or poor image quality can detract from the experience. That’s not the case here, Metroid Dread is fluid and fast. That starts right when you first fire up the game – boot-up is quick, taking you straight to the main menu with none of the usual corporate logos or lengthy loading times. Jumping into the game is also relatively brief and it’s virtually seamless once in, though elevators and tram-rides are deployed to mask background streaming.
Metroid Dread embodies what I love about classic console gaming. The technology serves the presentation and you’re never left feeling as if it gets in the way of your enjoyment. Once into gameplay, the first thing you’ll notice is how much sharper it looks than the typical Switch release. In docked mode, the game delivers a resolution of 1600×900 – the game does not use anti-aliasing, but this works to its benefit. Due to its side-scrolling design, you never see far enough into the distance to experience significant shimmering, so it winds up looking sharper. In portable mode, however, things are even better as the game runs at the native 720p of the internal screen. You can imagine that this was done in service of showcasing the new Switch OLED display which, of course, looks incredible with Metroid.