Metroid Dread on Switch – The Digital Foundry Tech Review technology background video 4k

This was one of best reviews on channel, influence of European and Japanese development shown was mind blowing info, apart from usual top notch graphics review. Good thing is that you appreciate graphics as art and not only bells and whistles of 3D, shaders, anti aliasing, ambient conclusion etc. Many people think graphics is photo realism and ray tracing which not the actual case for game to look and play beautiful !!

I'll admit, years ago I got in the habit of listening to music or having shows on in the background while gaming. This is especially so when playing a handheld, which is my primary Switch usage thus far.
Point being, I will definitely plug some headphones in and experience the sound this game has to offer.

4:48 yeeeeeah I must be fucking stupid lol. I've gotten lost more times than I can count.

I just wish the music was better in the game.

This game is so polished it doesn’t have a day one patch. That’s not common.

This game is the definition of 'those little touches'

The game-feel of this title is amazing. Maneuvering Samus through the world just feels good. Very snappy, quick, and responsive. Mercury Steam did an absolutely marvelous job with this game.

Never played Metroid, but you may have just convinced me.

A cellphone game.

This game is a masterpiece

Congrats to Mercury Steam!
I'd like to see them take another Crack at a 2D Castlevania.

I have to admit, I was a bit worried when they said Mercury Steam was developing this since I found Samus Returns to be rather underwhelming on both a technical and mechanical level. The game felt sluggish at 30fps and I wasn't too keen on the art direction. There was too much emphasis put on using the newly added counter attack ability which had an obnoxious sound effect which quickly became monotonous, and the game's boss fights consisted almost entirely of iterative battles with the different metroid types going through metamorphosis, which I found far less exciting or interesting.

The initial trailer Nintendo released for Dread was 30 fps and there was a lot of focus on the E.M.M.I in the marketing, which had me worried that they were just another iterative boss type enemy that would take the place of actually memorable boss fights that the series is known for. Visually the game looked really appealing but Mercury Steam's track record had me concerned.

But no. Dread avoids all of the shortcomings of Samus Returns. The game looks beautiful, runs buttery smooth 95% of the time and it just sounds incredible. The counter attack is more like a tool in your arsenal rather than your primary means of fighting and the sound effects associated with it are low key enough to not sound grating. The E.M.M.I. don't steal the show and there are some amazing bosses with really cool cinematic pieces that make Samus look like an absolute bad ass.

What a remarkable turnaround. I think Mercury Steam have proven that they are comparable with Retro and I think Nintendo has found another excellent studio to handle Metroid. The series is in good hands!

The EMMI "battles" make you feel like Ripley in Alien – I've never felt such tension in a 2D game.

I was pretty skeptical of this one. The overall quality of Switch titles have disappointed me more often than not, and Metroid Prime 4 seemingly living in dev hell doesn't help. But, so far, it's a real pleasure to play.

But… there are long loading times (between areas especially and no they don't work well) and there are significant framerate drops in some areas. I think people are too blinded by Nostalgia for this game to be objective. I love the game, but it is far from perfect.
Edit: OK… he mentioned the frame stutter… so at least there is that.

I understand why Metroid Dread was covered by DF but there is an equally and maybe better game out there called F.I.S.T on PS5 that's been ignored because it's not a mainstream franchise….yet.

personally , i love metroid dread , but i largely prefer super metroid , metroid fusion and metroid zero mission . the biggest flaw of metroid dread , like metroid samus returns , is the jouability : no playability with the directional cross for a 2,5d game ??? unthinkable !!!

You literally would not have any clue at all, period if you never had that frame rate graph on.

Fantastic review! Now we just need Mercury Steam to port Metroid Samus Returns to the Nintendo switch with improvements like this & give it a chance to actually thrive on. I loved it on the Nintendo 3DS but it needs this treatment. Metroid Dread is doing well & Samus Returns can too.