Metroid Dread Is Getting Free Updates, And The First Arrives Today

Oh good, now I can finally play the damn game.

No way I am brave enough to try Dread Mode, that is going to be one tough cookie, I thought normal was challenging enough, haven't tried hard yet. Free updates especially to Metroid games are welcome though!

Ah yes dread mode AKA masochist mode
Also rookie mode AKA the mode that elitist’s will mock you for playing.

METROID ÉLITE MODE

I'm not playing Dread mode.

I'm cool with the new easy mode. Made it all the way to the final boss, then stopped caring after the umpteenth death

This is a great update. Thanks

@Greatluigi IF THAT IS THEIR PATH TO ÉLITENESS, I WILL NOT MOCK THEM

I love hard modes like this in video games, Now I have more reason to pick up the game.

Boss rush mode will be fun.

But dang, I don't think I could do that Dread mode. 😅

They should make a mode with the final suit.

The game is hard already, and now they add the option to make it a nightmare.

Dread mode is designed to keep you playing while you wait for metriod prime 4

Great to see Nintendo realised a lot of people are stuck on the final boss.

This is personal from Nintendo to push sales over 3 Million within the year so that RGT has to play Balan Wonderworld.

Rookie mode still too hard for me. Might there be a Nabbit mode?

Dread mode, good luck.

I'll give Rookie mode a go for an easier 2nd play

Dread mode will be hell with the Robot Chozos.

Hard Mode was Hard enough!

Double robot warriors will be literally impossible

Well someone knows how to start a Speedrun war.

Yes I'm all for Dread Mode, this should had been there on day one but I could see why Nintendo brought it up now since no one wants to feel like a failure with the game.

Not too interested in the new difficulties, but I will take that Boss Rush, heck yeah!

Nintendo added Rookie Mode specifically for Game Journalists. lol

If Rookie Mode makes the EMI counters easier, honestly I’d play this for my second playthrough. Might make the game a little less frustrating in areas.

As for Dread Mode, yeah I ain’t a psychopath who enjoys rubbing sandpaper with chilli powder on my face and crotch; so will be skipping that.

Would be funny if that rookie mode would highlight the breakable blocks just to tease that God of War developer who wasn’t able to find them.

@Friendly: I was thinking about that myself and I'm willing to bet there's going to be a good number of memes to come in the next few weeks at his expense.

I won't deny that Dread is a hard game, but his actions online regarding that room were just sad.

I love how Nintendo knows how to make a game both accessible and challenging.

This was not the Metroid Dread Update I was hoping for. I was hoping for paid DLC that adds something new. However maybe this means something more could come in the future?

Don’t get me wrong, I love Metroid Dread and I think it has plenty of content for the price (I played normal mode twice and hard mode once already), but it is just so good I’d love more.

Definitely won’t be trying rookie or dread mode. I feel like dread mode is just to add a crazy challenge for streamers/speed runners.

Rookie mode is a welcome addition to make the game more accessible though.

Maybe I’ll try the boss rush when it is available.

Rookie mode will be very welcome. The EMI encounters were just annoying and taking the enjoyment out of the game for me.

Well some youtubers will get millions of hits beating this in Dread Mode. I'll watch. 😂

Now we need a Funky Mode.

Good on Nintendo for establishing a super-hard mode in their games. Whenever they instill masochism in a game (think the final level of later 3D Mario games) it’s one of the most nostalgic feelings ever. This isn’t quite there, but extreme difficulty stuff with Nintendo polish is always great.

finallly Rookie mode...not for me...but for the weaker me

The final boss was hard enough on normal, so no dread mode for me thanks. Or rookie, but good to see this excellent game getting more support. Will definitely try boss rush though

Honestly, just want to try easy mode against Kraid. If that’s quicker, I’ll be happy.

@Purgatorium or a funky mode lol

Can't wait to not try this Dread Mode.

Dread Mode is a major "Nope" from me.

The streams/videos for Dread Mode will be full of glorious rage.

Why one hit death mode instead of something like Doom’s ultra nightmare? I can’t imagine not taking hits in this game it’s not as tightly designed as something like Mega Man.

Seriously? As if playing on Normal Mode wasn't hard enough for me, now you wanna go arcade style with one-hit deaths?

I may replay it in Rookie Mode, however, just to see if I can unlock more of the art gallery.

I am SO ready for this! It’s going to be insanely hard, but I’m up for the challenge!

Rookie mode would have been welcome for this busy dad with slowing reflexes a month ago! I’m already at the final boss (after many, many nerve wracking fights). Back in the day I could beat Mike Tyson, Double Dragon, Contra (without dying) and the original Zelda (also without dying) and this game almost made me rage quit, lol.

That’s really cool how they expanded the demo. It’s original ending was very anticlimactic!

Awesome. I already beat 0% Hard mode, which gives one hit kills in the second half of the game, so this completes that idea. So far it's very fun, but EMMI are still just as slow as ever. That gives reason to still play the Hypermode mod.

Made several other fixes to improve playability and enjoyment of game. This concerns me a little bit though. Hopefully the speedrunning community isn't hindered at all by this update.

I would like to see more content, like bosses and new areas on the map, not just difficulty modes, which is a simple tweak. All is forgiven if they are too busy working on the sequel.

Sooooooo, should I feel bad that I'm going to play this now that I saw rookie mode? Because that just bumped this game out of my storage case and into my currently playing case.

Does anyone know if you can swap to rookie mode mid game. I am about 3/4 the way through and would love to swap to rookie

Aside from rookie mode being a good thing for accessibility, this announcement was such a tease. I thought for a second it would be more game, not just a don’t die mode lol

@Ryu_Niiyama No you shouldn't feel bad for playing on an easier mode. I've played some difficult games to the very end like Zelda II and Dark Souls 3 and some moments in them were more frustrating than fun. Games being too difficult can definitely ruin the experience so play the mode you're comfortable with. (Although it's a nice feeling when you finally do triumph over a challenge)

@brendon987 Unfortunately it sounds like you can't change difficulty mid way through, couldn't do it in any Metroid before so Dread is probably the same.

Doesn't make me want to play it again. Add some DLC, & I'll think about it. Still disappointed i bought the digital version.😔

I can't believe anyone would play in Dread mode. I will try hard mode, and then perhaps experiment with Dread mode. I just don't see myself avoiding any hits from the bosses. The regular parts of the game might be possible.

No one should feel guilty about playing Rookie Mode; instead feel guilty that modern games dumb down our skill levels so much. In the "old days", most games were about building and refining skills, and these could transferred to other games. Being from the "old days" myself, I typically start on the default difficulty (presuming it's not the lowest), and will soon quit and restart on the next difficulty if I'm finding it too easy. If it's a racing game, I always start on a difficulty higher than default.

This mode looks stupid hard and I'll have fun watching speed runners complete it instead

Not interested too much in the difficulty levels (unless they unlock things) but the boss rush mode I’ll be all for in April! The latter is a no-brainer to have for this game!

Only a truly insane person will go for that difficulty. I know a friend that will dare to.

@Dpishere Enable God mode, problem solved.

I hope the boss rush mode includes additional bosses. Would be cool to fight Ridley, Nightmare and the SAX. Perhaps, the giant mech that lingers in the background? In my opinion, the game is good, but a bit lacking in content for $60, so I hope they offer more than just tweaks on difficulty and the ability to play the bosses that are already in the game. I hope they add some secret rooms.

Already sold my copy. Finished both Hard and Normal. Glad they didn’t add anything essential Good game but I’m over it.

I have already beaten the game five times and now Dread mode is going to make me come back for a sixth. It's going to be hellish but I really love this game, any excuse is good enough for me.

Awesome. I'm a rookie without shame. Finally I can continue playing it (stuck at some 3rd boss or something). I'm an aging gamer with the attention span of an orange.

I think this is such a small update it really doesn't deserve a video, you end up feeling like "is that it?".

Nice, free updated are always welcome. Looking forward playing boss rush

Well there you go, a “game journalist/Jaffe mode” and a Hardcore mode. Maybe the journalist/Jaffe mode could let those people have access to the Pulse Radar from the start and make it so it’s constantly on, just so they don’t get lost.

Wow, with the rookie mode I finally have an excuse to play this game. I mean I got it but I hated how punishing it was, not my thing.

Boss Rush mode will be fun as hell. A way to go back and play the game again without having to go through the entire thing playing it as a metroidvania. The only thing though is that how will it determine what weapons and items and abilities you'll have when tackling each boss? Will it be based on your play through of the full game, so whatever you had when you encountered each boss, that'll be the stuff you had available at the time you fought the bosses originally? Or will the game just give you the items you're SUPPOSED to have in a normal playthrough? Even though technically you may not have had everything when you organically stumbled upon the bosses when you played through the normal metroid dread, the game will give you the items that they intended for you to have when you encountered each boss.

You mean I have to START OVER if I ever intend to finish it? :C

I've already 100% the game and found the overall difficulty balance was just about perfect. Challenging but without being nightmare inducing. So Rookie mode isn't for me, and Dread mode just sounds way too frustrating... It's great that they're releasing free updates though.
The boss rush mode will be a fun way to jump back into the game.

@AnorakJimi these are the exact things I was wondering.

I just beat Normal Mode, had I known about this upcoming update I would've waited a little bit for my second playthrough. Oh well.

Only the bosses really handed my @$$ to me and I got the hang of the counters in E.M.M.I. encounters.
With all the accumulated deaths, I think I must have gotten like somewhere between 50 and 75 deaths, save for two that were due to glitches, one of them intentional. Not bad for someone who's not into Metroidvanias.

The glitch that happened to me was in the underwater sections of Burenia without the Gravity Suit. Maybe you've experienced/seen it, if not I'll upload the video later to show you how it happened.

@HotGoomba you could play it before. There are tons of games with way more issues than this had. There was no issue at all on release to be able to play this game.

@Dirty0814 I was referring to the difficulty, not the bugs. Do I look like a Bethesda fan to you?

I got chased down by the robot thing and gave up

The update seems a little tone deaf. The biggest criticism I could lodge at the game is that the last third of the game already is a boss rush. Why does it need a dedicated boss rush when there's already too many back to back boss battles in regular play?

Which plugs into the dread mode. The existing hard mode is pretty good until you start getting to the harder bosses that were already frustrating on normal. I couldn't imagine bothering with that horrible last boss on hard let alone "dread" mode.

@Ryu_Niiyama For most of the game with metroidvania exploration you should feel bad. When you get to the robot bosses, you should feel grateful you got a much less frustrating way to play it. When you get to the final boss, you should be so grateful that you will ever see the ending thanks to rookie mode.

I did manage to beat it on normal because I couldn't stand the idea of not beating a 2D Metroid game now that I finally had a new one, but it was not remotely fun in any way whatsoever, it was miserable work, I would never do it again for any reason, ever, and I can't believe I didn't break the joycons trying.

Besides, I would never have beat the NES game without a Game Genie....#noshame.

@NEStalgia lol I have to edit my post to say “this is rhetorical” lol. But at least I’ll finish the game now!

@Dpishere Hard is that much tougher than Normal, TBH. The place where you die the most is against bosses. Since all bosses are relying on patterns, you just have to remember how to react to each of thoses. Eventually, you won’t get hit much and win the fight. However, finishing Hard Mode doesn’t get you anything really exciting (a few new pictures in your collection)…

Boss rush modes are so dumb and useless in any game. And what's with all the difficulty levels? Makes me think this is all Mercury Steam and no Nintendo, the developer is not confident about the default balance of the game.

So far I’ve made it to Cataris in Dread mode, but I’m really nervous for later parts lol

@andyg1412 Nothing several hours and RSI can’t overcome.