Metroid Prime 4 Vs Metroid Dread

The long-awaited release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has brought Samus Aran’s spectacular (and often surprisingly terrifying) adventures back into the spotlight where they belong. This fourth instalment is a strong entry in many ways, but a difficult question remains: is it the best place to start with modern Metroid titles?

While the Prime games have attracted notable praise for successfully reimagining the formerly side-scrolling series in a transitional era for gaming, Metroid Dread succeeds in showing off exactly why this formula was a hit in the first place. Each of these titles provides a very different yet compelling Metroid experience.

The Escapist recaps

• Metroid Prime successfully reinvented the Metroid series formula in 3D.
• Metroid Prime 4 is a throwback to an earlier period of Nintendo game design.
• Metroid Dread reinvigorated classic Metroid 2D gameplay with fleshed-out atmosphere and tense horror.
• Prime 4 serves as a jumping-off point, but is slightly undercut by its supporting cast.

Metroid without the ‘Vania 

The Metroid series skipped the Nintendo 64 era but bounced back in a big way with Fusion and Prime, the two titles that have defined the legacy and diverging paths of Metroid ever since. 

Arriving in North America several months prior to its release in Japan, Metroid Prime had been a long time coming, and was a smash hit that shaped the future of the franchise in the years ahead.

Prime completely redefined what a Metroid game could be. While Prime 4 definitely succeeds on its own merits, it does not come with a similar reinvention of the series’ core tenets.

Instead, Metroid Prime 4 completely eschews the conventions of modern FPS gameplay in favour of what made Prime a success in the first place. Lush environments packed with personality, detail-rich exploration, and bursts of frantic combat with intimidating but eminently defeatable alien foes.

In fact, Metroid Prime 4 feels more of a piece with other classic Nintendo titles than their more modern instalments. Its distinct elemental zone design echoes that of pre-Breath of the Wild Zelda games and a vast number of Mario‘s 3D adventures. In this, Metroid Prime 4 hews closer to some of Nintendo’s time-tested design philosophies than previous games in its own series.

Anything but Dread-ful

The Prime series’ first-person shift was so popular and influential that, for a time, it seemed as though new Metroid games would exclusively be developed in this style. The faltering response to Prime’s Nintendo DS spin-offs, however, eventually led to the ill-fated hybrid perspective of Metroid: Other M. 

Thankfully, the team at MercurySteam sliced through the bloat and shaky characterisation that sunk Other M‘s reputation. Originally conceived as a remake of the series highlight Metroid Fusion, MercurySteam’s Metroid Dread brought the series’ gameplay back to basics, drawing on the overwhelmingly positive fan reaction to remakes such as Zero Mission and MercurySteam’s own Samus Returns.

Is Metroid Dread worth it, compared to simply revisiting some of Samus’ classic adventures? Absolutely. Dread is a 2.5D adventure that successfully apes all the strengths of Metroids of old, while retaining a modern, polished visual style and incredible sense of atmosphere. 

The hostile planets that Samus blasts her through with single-minded determination have always been one of Metroid‘s greatest strengths. But Dread really dials up the suspense with regal, echoing ruins, sterile labs, and bone-chilling hide-and-seek segments featuring lethal E.M.M.I robots. 

To make a Metroid Dread vs Hollow Knight comparison, Dread is to Fusion as Silksong is to Hollow Knight, retaining the structure but ramping up the difficulty to frustrating yet compelling levels.

Dread requires real skill – and possibly the aid of a Metroid Dread walkthrough – to successfully pilot Samus through in one piece, with the bounty hunter feeling both more vulnerable and more lethal than ever before. It’s not an easy balance to strike, but Dread allows you to flip from hunted to hunter in a thrilling rhythm that never fully settles down or wears out its welcome.

Samus Vs Samus: Metroid’s modern identity 

With Retro Studios’ Metroid Prime 4 in position to kick off a whole new series of 3D Metroid adventures, and MercurySteam showing no sign of moving on from the franchise, both Dread and Prime 4 can serve as a jumping-on point for players looking to finally give Metroid a try.

Which Metroid game is harder? The answer is Dread, and it isn’t a particularly close competition. Dread’s difficulty can be off-putting for players who have grown accustomed to Nintendo’s more forgiving titles. However, since Metroid frequently works as such a break from Nintendo’s norms, regardless, this can work in the game’s favour as a breath of fresh air.

Prime 4’s excellent explorable world is among Nintendo’s best modern settings, but its overly chatty supporting cast has been much focused on in the discussion around the game as a somewhat overblown source of frustration. Unfortunately, these supporting characters do undercut some of the lonely, atmosphere-rich exploration that sets Metroid apart from many of its louder, eager-to-impress peers in the Nintendo stable.

In successfully welding together the series’s past and future, Metroid Dread works as the superior gateway to more Metroid games. Still, Prime 4 released in a surprisingly solid state following the series’ dormant years, and proves that Metroid Prime is well worth keeping an eye on for future developments.

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