Rage Quit: Metroid Dread

Metroid Prime's difficulty is one of its greatest selling points, but is it also to its detriment?

Peter Lennon
16th May 2022
Samus readying her arm cannon as enemies swarm her from behind.
Released in October last year, Metroid Dread made a return to the 2D side-scrolling gameplay of the originals, placing a greater emphasis on stealth than combat. The stealth elements were implemented to avoid the new E.M.I. robots, who mercilessly hunt down protagonist Samus based on her movements. Metroid Dread is a tense and compelling game – and I left it to collect dust after the second boss fight.
Samus evading an E.M.M.I. robot.

Metroid Dread is my first – and thus far, only – Metroid game. Based on its horror-esque elements and glowing reviews, I thought that this would be the perfect entryway into the franchise for me. At first, everything was going well. The combat and gear were built up slowly, allowing me to adjust to the new components of Samus’ kit as the general map enemies became more varied. Even the E.M.I. robots were more exhilarating than frustrating.

this pimped-up King K. Rool was so infuriating

Eventually, I came to the end of the initial section Artaria where I was met with the game’s first proper boss fight: Corpius. A boss fight divided into phases, it’s a classic fight-die-learn-repeat scenario which, to be fair, is most boss fights. Overcoming the scorpion-like creature was incredibly satisfying – for one brief moment, I truly believed that I would complete the game and begin a new love affair with the series.

And then I met Kraid: an upright crocodile, who vomits balls of fire while you stand helplessly on a claustrophobic platform. I wish I could say I fought the good fight. That I adapted and overcame. But this pimped-up King K. Rool was so infuriating, eating up your missile supplies and depleting your health to close-to-nothing before you even get to the second phase.

I don’t doubt that I will be able to push through the Kraid boss fight if I kept at it and fully realise this new love affair. But for the moment, I rage quit.

AUTHOR: Peter Lennon
English Literature undergraduate. Although I primarily write for the Courier's Film section, I do love helping out in the Televsion and Gaming sections as well. I also organise and host livestreams/radio shows as FilmSoc's inaugural Head of Radio. Twitter: @PeterLennon79

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