DeVuego

Metroid Dread is a culmination of everything the series has been up to this point but afterwards it needs to evolve into something genuinely new. Whether that will be Metroid Prime 4, or if the first person games will continue to be regarded more as spin-offs, remains to be seen but if this is a send off for the 2D Metroid games as a whole then it’s the best one anyone could’ve asked for.

Once you get past They Are Billions’ multiple barriers to entry, and start to dig into its complexities for yourself, you’ll discover a fabulously complex and challenging game that’s not afraid to test you. For the right sort of masochist, it’ll be the start of dozens of hours of joyous yet cautious experimentation.

A thoroughly entertaining and highly playable Metroidvania, that goes beyond being a simple retro homage and offers some memorable gameplay twists and storytelling surprises.

A significant improvement on the original and undoubtedly the best 2D Soulslike game so far, with a macabre and imaginative style all of its own.

A solid reworking of a brutal but characterful retro platform game, which offers a fascinating insight into the earliest days of the genre.

A well executed and impressively detailed mix of Metroidvania exploration, Soulslike combat, and role-playing style customisation that’s marred only by its demanding controls.

An absurdly generic Dark Souls clone whose general competence is all the more frustrating for the fact that it refuses to come up with a single new idea of its own.