Metroid Dread Needed New Content, Not New Modes

Two new difficulty modes have come to Metroid Dread, but the game would have been better off receiving more substantive new content instead. The announcement of a free update was one of the reveals during Nintendo’s February 2022 Direct, and while it’s a surprising and welcome addition to Samus’ latest adventure (with another update promised for an April 2022 release), it’s not exactly the most exciting development for the game. Dread isn’t necessarily in desperate need of more content but it could help justify the full price tag for what is a relatively short game.

After nearly 20 years, Metroid Dread became the fifth entry in the iconic series following 2002’s Metroid Fusion for the Game Boy Advance. There were plenty of games in the interim, including the entire Metroid Prime trilogy, but fans had begun to lose hope for another classic Metroid title. Luckily Dread was finally delivered, and was met with generally high praise. One of the few widespread criticisms was how inaccessible Dread is because of its difficulty – an issue Nintendo is both addressing and leaning into with this free update.

Metroid Dread includes some of 2021’s most difficult video game boss fights, and there is now an option to make them exceptionally more dangerous with the new Dread Mode difficulty setting. Just a single hit from any enemy, not just bosses, will result in Samus’ death. On the opposite end of the spectrum is the new Rookie Mode difficulty, which offers players hoping to ease the challenge a chance to acquire more hit points whenever health is recovered.

Metroid Dread Could Use More Story Content Instead Of Difficulties

It may be difficult to immediately build on the finale of Metroid Dread, but additional story content would be a much more compelling addition to the game. The most robust update is coming in April, and will bring a Boss Rush game mode, where players can fight Dread‘s bosses one after another in a single gauntlet. Same as the new difficulties, the Boss Rush is a nice addition, but hopefully there is more in the pipeline after the game’s first six months post-launch. Metroid Dread doesn’t end Samus’ journey, according to series producer Yoshio Sakamoto, and there could conceivably be more coming for the fifth entry before a new game entirely.

Throughout Fusion and Dread, Samus has been dragged into galaxy-threatening situations, but when the dust settles, she’s still a bounty hunter. With such an open-ended line of work, there are near limitless narrative opportunities for a Metroid Dread expansion. She doesn’t have to be thrown into her next big conflict, but getting more content out of Dread would be nice; it’s a $60 game that most manage to complete in under a dozen hours. Those few hours are all of a very high quality, and any significant DLC would likely have an extra charge anyway, but regardless, Metroid Dread deserves to have new content that’s more substantial than a few bonus modes.

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