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Reviews Digital Foundry || Metroid Dread on Switch - The Digital Foundry Tech Review

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ILikeFeet

Warpstar Knight


A 2.5D platformer with triple-A production values, the collaboration between Nintendo and Mercury Steam produces a stone-cold classic that's a credit to the Switch library that brings back everything great about the Metroid franchise and pushes the series in new directions.
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  • boot up is fast
  • loading into the game is fast and few loading scenes are quick
  • cutscenes are all real time
  • 900p in docked, 720p handheld
  • no AA
  • the game plays with camera in ways that can only be done in 3D and HD
  • movement is great
  • lots of animation blending
  • fluid simulation looks greats
  • environment-based film grain
  • particles update at 30Hz
  • framerate and frame time is 99% stable
  • stutter does happen, possibly due to streaming
  • cutscenes are in 30fps
  • 5.1 surround sound supported
  • John thinks it's the best audio design of 2021
  • lots of Another World allusions
  • the best Mercury Steam game yet
 
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“triple A production values”

But it’s a 2D game! It should cost $10 or Nintendo is anti-consumer! /s
 
No wonder it feels so sharp in handheld mode. This game looks great, feels so fluid and has such a fitting atmosphere.
 
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Skittzo said:
720p portable
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Mercurysteam freaking nailed with this game. Playing right now and it feels and looks incredible, it's truly everything I wanted from a new 2d Metroid.
 
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Love the game (halfway through it) but 900p with no AA is mildly disappointing and certainly noticeable. The game looks far better at native res 720p portable. It's tough not to look enviously at the game running at 4k on emulators - it looks absolutely spectacular. The high-detail backgrounds really shine through. Going from PS5/XSX back to this (as I did) - it does take your eyes time to adjust back to the jaggies of 900p.

Load times are longer than I'd like, but they're infrequent. The background streaming slowdowns are really bad and last for multiple seconds, but they're exceptionally rare. I've had about three occurrences in four hours. Not a big deal.

Overall it's a very strong effort technically, Nintendo's best in some time.
 
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720p portable was foreseeable due to the game being launched with the SWOLED. Anything sub-native wouldn't have been a suitable showcase. What strikes me more than that though is how much of the original Metroid atmosphere was retained in this game. Mercury Steam have indeed delivered the goods.
 
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"Best audio design of 2021"

From what I've seen that definitely seems like the case. It really adds to the atmosphere of the game. So props to the developers for being on point with that because it really helps sell the game. The EMMI sounds just make the game feel incredibly dreadful in a great way.

Yea it will probably have the best audio design of 2021 until SMT V :)
 
One of the better videos I’ve seen from DF. Will get this game at some point for sure.
 
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I just finished watching the video and came right after to comment here:
It's even greater than I expected it to be. It's a real tech showcase, they really took their time to polish and it's definitely a AAA 2.5D game. Samus deserved this comeback.
I loved dark1x praise to the game. I'm now sure it'll be praised again with tons of awards and I even got some hope for it winning GOTY even tho it's a tough road. I hope it gets awards and nominations for its OST and audio design.
Anyways, I'm angry I don't have a Switch already to play this game.
 
Mercury Steam obviously seems to love the Metroid series as it's been rumored they pitched multiple projects behind the scene before being put on Samus Returns and now Dread.

Question is do we now think Nintendo will keep Mercury Steam in the Metroid fold by assisting Retro Studios with Prime 4 as well as the Prime 2 & 3 remasters?

Nintendo also sees value in this company and establishing a development relationship now leads me to extrapolate that they could be the next to bring into the fold of developers. Metroid Dread just proves that a developer isn’t always the sum of the past bad games they've made and that Nintendo can pull something excellent out of a studio (most were considering mediocre when Dread was first announced).
 
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