10 best gaming surprises of 2021 (and 5 terrible ones)

06) Great Moment – Metroid Dread is challenging in all the right ways

I don’t always enjoy games that are really difficult. I’m kind of a casual. I’ll admit it. Enjoy what you like. Beside’s, I’m the site’s resident Animal Crossing buff, what do you expect? But if I play a difficult game it can win me over with one simple thing, make me fully aware that my death was my fault.

Not like in Risk of Rain where you die because the game just relentlessly dumps enemies on you. Not Dark Souls where you die because of the combat difficulty. I’m talking about the kind of game where when you die your immediate thought was, “next time I should do this instead.” It’s the kind of game that when you die, and you will in this game, often, you know that you goofed and it wasn’t because of some terrible or mean game mechanic.

This remarkably difficult Metroid game was only difficult because you had to learn the world along with Samus. Many of the bosses were giant, screen-filling, beasts that required you to learn their movements lest you suffer a room-sized fist to your entire body. And the last boss? The last boss has so many forms that it even drops a subtle Sephiroth reference in the middle of it when it finds itself left with a single wing.

Metroid Dread is a game that has you swearing at a new challenge one minute, and having a brain filled with serotonin the next minute when you realize you weren’t tackling the problem correctly.

Filled with beautiful graphics, wonderfully ambient music, fun enemies, and a silly but enjoyable story, Metroid Dread is a welcome return to Nintendo’s oft-neglected franchise.