Metroid Dread has found massive success in terms of sales and critical acclaim when it was released earlier this month. It helped reinvigorate life into the franchise that hasn’t seen a mainline title in more than 14 years. As it stands, Metroid Dread is in talks with many fans as to whether or not it's the best game to come out of 2021.
Metroid Dread certainly has to be the potential to be GOTY, with complex level design, highly detailed boss fights, and being generally fun as part of the reasons why. One area that hasn’t seen much discourse however was Metroid Dread’s soundtrack and sound design. During exploration, the soundtrack is mysterious and sells the idea that Samus is isolated on some foreign planet. That quickly changes when Samus is encountered by the E.M.M.I and the sound intensifies almost to a point of desperation.
During an interview with KIWI TALKZ however, Clark Wen, Metroid Prime 1 and 2 Audio Director states that he initially didn’t understand nor like Metroid Dread’s choices with its sound design. He says “The first time I played that game, I'll be honest I had a knee-jerk reaction. I was sort of critiquing all the things in the game and what I'd do differently and was like, these guys don't know what they're doing, but then after spending a couple of hours with it and finally understanding what they're going for, I think they did a really nice job with that soundtrack in that game and sound design. It holds up well to the rest of the series. I think the gameplay in Metroid Dread is pretty fantastic. They did a great job overall.”
Wen’s comments are interesting as from a sound perspective, not many have had issues with Metroid Dread’s sound design. If anyone were going to have critiques on it, it does make sense that the critiques would come from someone who has previously worked intimately with the Metroid series. This isn’t the first time the title has faced critiques from a game designer, however, as David Scott Jaffe has recently shared his opinion on Metroid Dread’s level design.
Although Wen initially had issues, he does clarify that they were only temporary, and he eventually understood what Metroid Dread was going for. It’s unsure what exactly in the soundtrack or sound design bothered Wen, nor is it understood what changed his opinion. It's likely the sound design that takes place when Samus first encounters the E.M.M.I might have been something Wen looked at in particular as the sound design there appears somewhat chaotic. Given the chance, though, it's still possible Wen would have chosen something different for these E.M.M.I encounters.
With Metroid Dread breaking sales record and the overall critical praise the title has been receiving, it's interesting to see some of the discourse Game Designers have had around Metroid Dread, especially if they've worked on the series previously as it's not always something regular fans notice. Although the discourse around Metroid Dread are interesting, come GOTY time when players are debating which game stands above the rest, it’s almost certain Metroid Dread's name will be brought up in the conversation.
Metroid Dread is available now for Nintendo Switch.