To be entirely blunt: Metroid Dread is a pretty challenging game. Many of its boss fights will have even the most seasoned Metroid veterans repeatedly dying while many newcomers debate if finishing the game is even worth it. It's worth it for those looking to experience one of the hardest and most satisfying Metroidvanias in recent years. Still, after rolling the credits following the bombastic final boss fight, players will discover that they've finally unlocked "hard mode." That's right, to reward players for a job well done after fighting tooth and nail to complete the game, Nintendo and MercuryStream decided to allow players to ramp up the difficulty even further.
For most Metroid fans, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise as "hard mode" has been included in most games in the series, but as Metroid Dread is the first proper title in four years, newcomers might have been surprised to see that the game offered an even more formidable challenge. The game is already plenty tough, but the Metroid community has been doing speed runs and challenging "no damage" runs on the franchise's various hard modes for years, so it's good to see that Dread is continuing the tradition of including the mode.
What's Different About Metroid Dread's Hard Mode?
Unfortunately, when starting it up, Metroid Dread's hard mode doesn't give the player a specific breakdown about what's different in the new mode. Its description simply reads "a mode for expert players," which is certainly ominous but not helpful when it comes to the actual differences between normal and hard. There are two significant changes that players will notice when starting up hard mode for the first time in Metroid Dread:
- All enemies have more health
- All enemies deal more damage to Samus
While that might not seem like a lot on the surface, making all enemies stronger and tougher does change how the game is played. Players will need to balance being on the offense and defense much better as Metroid Dread's boss encounters get much more lethal and leave far less room for error on hard mode. It goes without saying that the already high skill ceiling for the title grows immensely for those wanting to complete it on hard mode.
Hard mode isn't without its rewards, however, as completing it unlocks new art gallery pieces that can be viewed in the game's menus. More art gallery pieces can be unlocked depending on how fast players complete Metroid Dread as it shows the final playtime at the end of each run, a tradition in the Metroid franchise.
Metroid Dread is available for Nintendo Switch.
