feels like every time I check a thread about Metroid Prime 4, the conversation has completely fallen off the rails. People are taking one minor flaw or one disliked choice and acting like it single-handedly makes the entire game “0/10 Concord-level trash.” It’s wild how fast things get exaggerated.
The best example is the NPC discourse. He says, what, two lines where he tries to joke about his situation, gets excited when he sees Samus, and occasionally gives a one-sentence hint if you go out of your way to talk to him. That’s it. But somehow this tiny thing has become the meme of the game as if he’s narrating every five seconds or turning the whole atmosphere into Borderlands or something.
And look, I get why people are sensitive about tone. Metroid is known for its environmental storytelling, isolation, and meditative pacing. After Other M and the long gap before Dread, people are defensive about anything that feels out of place. But turning a few minor NPC moments into “the downfall of Prime 4” is an insane leap.
What makes it worse is the idea floating around that “we have to support it even if it’s bad, because maybe we’ll get more Metroid.” No. Blindly supporting bad decisions just signals that those decisions were good. That’s how you get more of the same problems. Criticism is necessary.
But at the same time…
Telling a dev “you’re cancer” or “you’re the reason Metroid sucks” isn’t criticism, It’s harassment. And it makes the whole fandom look unhinged.
I’m just tired. The conversation around this game has become so warped and polarized that it barely resembles actual discussion anymore. I just want to enjoy Metroid or ANYTHING without sifting through meltdown posts, doom predictions, and people reviewing the game based on a few NPCs
Can we please chill?
Nintendo can't find the sliding scale between fash Samus gleefully participating in ultraviolence in Metroid Dread and Samus having having to ask her father for permission to wear the Varia suit after being melted half to death in a lava filled cave
Sorry I'm going to be the annoying Internet pedant. It's fine to dislike Dread if it's not your cup of tea, but doing ultraviolence doesn't make Samus a fascist. There's no society or people who she's subjugating
I hated Dread for the right reasons. It doubled down on everything I didn't like about Samus Returns: melee counters, QTEs, linearity, and limited backtracking.
The game feel was really good in dread but the level design was ass
"Let's take those annoying little bat things that you have to QTE parry or take damage, but instead of a little chunk of health, let's make it an instant death!"
The point where I gave up on Dread completely was when I got insta-gibbed by one of the identical insta-gib bosses, then respawned not back in the last save room I used, but at an autosave point a few rooms back. It felt like the game admitting that its own mechanics were so bad they couldn't work with normal Metroid saves.
In a general sense, I think Nintendo has forgotten what made their classics good
I liked Metroid Dread I just thought it was funny when she went Warhammer 40K on the rogue Chozo leader's QTEs