Metroid Dread is one of Switch's best-looking, best-playing games, giving fans of the series a brand new adventure that certainly lives up to their high expectations. But as we're about to discover, with a primarily fixed 2D camera used throughout (as well as the occasional first-person shift for cinematic cutscenes), plenty of interesting things have been left tantalisingly out of view. Until now.
In the latest episode of Boundary Break, an excellent series of videos from YouTuber Shesez that take us beyond games' usual point of view, we get to see how Metroid Dread has been put together beyond what can be seen in the main game itself. It's all thanks to a camera tool developed by another YouTuber, Postposterous, that allows Shesez to play the game, pause the action, and move the camera around at will. Spoilers discussed from here out.
There's an awful lot to see in the nearly 18-minute video, so we'd urge you to give it a watch, but perhaps one of the most fascinating elements is how the terrifying E.M.M.I. enemies move around. By letting the game play out with the camera zoomed way out, we get to see that E.M.M.I.s technically teleport behind the scenes, initially loading in one place, before being zoomed right into view ready for cutscenes to play out.
Other discoveries show what Kraid looks like under the lava, that a certain stab in the back doesn't actually take place as expected, and plenty more besides. Check it out:
Pretty cool, huh? Shesez's body of work in the Boundary Break series is certainly worth checking out if you have the time – here's a look at secrets in Animal Crossing: New Horizons to get you started.
[source youtube.com, via kotaku.com]
Comments (15)
Samus exposed
Wait, there is nobody inside the armor???!
That is a very nice amount of detail. I didn't even notice Corpius attacking that animal in both of my playthroughs. Very cool stuff!
This is so cool to see.. For games that I am absolutely ga ga or coo coo over (like this one), I love being able to see how they pulled it all off. Those backgrounds are extensive! Everything is done so well... wow
Man, watching videos like this makes me miss the old Gameshark and Action Replay disks of the PS2/Xbox era to play around with the mechanics of a game. I suppose the rise online gaming and piracy is largely why those aren't popular anymore.
It's not explicitly stated, but the only way to achieve things shown in the video is to have modded firmware, and it's a shame that's the only way to do these things or even have simple quality of life changes like themes and folders. Ah well.
I used to watch this guys channel but honestly after a few videos every trick has been shown and it's just not that interesting 9 times out of 10. Oh you mean off camera models are in weird locations until they're on camera? Duh, lad.
@Matty1988 I see these as only for a specific audience and usually an audience that is already obsessed with a game and want even more detail about how the mechanics work in-game.
I remember playing a "game" called "The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2" and it allowed me to play all the cutscenes in the game while letting pause and pan the camera wherever I wanted to, and I would see some pretty horrific things when the camera was free like that. I could also view any in-game character models and make them do certain animations. This fascinated me because I was already obsessed with this game and I was curious about what was happening in the background of these scenes.
It's not for everyone and it may even ruin the "magic" of video games for some players, but I understand the appeal.
While I do love Dread for what it is. this video proves that full 3D games take more time and effort to make than 2.5d games
"Best playing", yes, absolutely. "Best looking", no, I never found it graphically stunning at all. Maybe it's less jaggy handheld but on my 65" OLED the resolution, textures and art design often left a lot to be desired but that's not why I play Metroid games so it didn't really bother me, the overall atmosphere was still really good, I'd just love to see the creative designers crank it up to 11 for the next entry.
I finally bought Metroid Dread off the Eshop
This is why console wars are stupid.
We NEED Nintendo to develop the most functional family focused hardware that is willing to compromise power for basically any other design priority so we FORCE developers to push coding and development in ways like this, then we also need the powerhouse systems by Sony and MS to take full advantage of it and push the limits of entertainment in general.
@HeadPirate so intense. I don't need to force anyone to do anything. I like nice games though.
@Moistnado
Of course you do. We only have home gaming consoles to begin with because Nintendo wanted to build a home computer but forced the engineers to build one they could sell for $300. If Sony didn't force developers to use its horrible mathematic function libraries on the Play Station, we wouldn’t have developed modern graphics cards as early as we did. People generally don’t do things “the hard way” unless they have to, and the hard way is what drives innovation.
That’s why you learn poetry in school. If you can write while being forced into deliberate and artificial limitations, you’re going to be all that much better when you write without them.
@HeadPirate I don't need this Innovation though. I think what makes Metroid Dread good, is following the same old formula. It looks like a GameCube game, it doesn't push any limits that I can think of. But the formula is fun, I like the game.
Thumbs up for Shesez, he‘s been putting out great episodes for years now.
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