The Metroid Dread Vibes Are Strong In Action-RPG Platformer 'Trinity Fusion'

Inb4 Nintendo takes this down.
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Wait, what? You're telling me that this is not a fangame?

Seriously though, some of these shots looks almost identical to Metroid Dread. Several of the abilities has even been copied. So overall, this seems to be nothing but a rip off.
Assuming it'll release on Switch (if it even comes that far), I probably won't pick it up. I'd rather go back to Metroid Dread for another playthrough, even though my backlog is way too big.

Normally I don’t buy into the whole ‘X game looks like tangentially related Nintendo game’ but this very much does look like Metroid Dread.

@chreddy Yeah, how dare anybody else take an existing formula and implement their own spin on it.

Self gatekeeping when it comes to gaming must be pretty boring.

I don't see it. Other than looking very futuristic and Sci-Fi, I don't really see much similarities to Metroid Dread.

And regarding those first few enemies? None of seemed to share anything in common with the E.M.M.I. other than been obviously robotic. The E.M.M.I.s were slender and somewhat humanoid shaped, but moved very inhumanely. The first few enemies in the video were certainly not slender and were far less humanoid (one of them looks like a snake for crying out loud).

Outside that, it seems interesting, I'll keep an eye on it.

I like the look of this game but I doubt the devs will put a Nintendo level of attention into getting it to run well, so I doubt it will be an enjoyable experience on switch.

Why play this when you could play Metroid Dread?

The controls feel really awkward to me with Metroid Dread, especially aiming. If this game has a control scheme that's better than "hold down a button to stop moving and aim", I'm way more interested

@sneaky_sasquatch You might have already beaten metroid dread and want another metroid like experience.

This looks amazing!

@Chunkboi79 To be fair, I really don't mind that developers are taking their own spin on already existing formulas. But there's definitely a difference between doing that and then making an almost identical copy. This is without a doubt the latter. So overall this has nothing to do with gatekeeping.

@sneaky_sasquatch Exactly. I’d rather play Metroid Dread 100 more times than play this once.

A Metroidvania that takes cues from Dread's movement is a good thing! Just wish that the combat looked more responsive. Not much visual feedback when the enemies are struck.

Looks ok, but it ain't no Metroid!!!

Getting really strong Guacamelee vibes from this game, tbh.

Oh, Dread has three playable characters? What are they?

How the heck is anyone seeing Metroid Dread from the screens?

Visuals are much lighter and crisper in presentation.

It looks much more on the gory side than any Metroid game.

Enemies on display are unique.

Character looks nothing like Samus, other than sharing the same gender.

After watching the trailer, this looks anything BUT Dread, which is great! Let it stand on it's own!

Oh, AND THE LEVELS ARE PROCEDURALLY GENERATED

BuT iT LoOkS LiKe DrEAd

o_o

Ehh i dont think it looks that much like metroid dread , kind of concerned about the 3 in 1 gameplay...each in their own parallel universe sounds like replaying the same map with 3 different skins on...at least the gameplay looks great... platformers with 2 button gameplay just can't keep my attention anymore but this looks like it can be great

@chreddy Yeah, I remember the part where Samus air dashes...oh wait. No, I mean the part where she changes to a different loadout...whoops, I mean the part where she loads a rocket launcher on her shoulder....darn it, I mean the part where she pulls out a light sword and goes full melee....Do you remember the time in Metroid where they introduced rogue-lite game mechanics and procedurally generated levels? Oh wait, none of those things are in Dread

Yeah, I'm sure, Nintendo is going to sue them for all the things this game is doing that Dread SHOULD have done LOL

@sneaky_sasquatch Why play Dread when you could play this, which looks to be more unique and fun in every way?

^_^

@BloodNinja It looks exactly like Dread. The logo even has the same font and color scheme.

@ArcticEcho Metroid Dread: A white and red logo with solid letters and harsh angles.

Trinity Fusion: A white logo with line-breaks in the letters, and a purple, rounded font for the second word.

I'm 41, been stabbed in my right eye TWICE and can still see the difference between the fonts, champ.

I'm sure this procedurally generated rogue-lite is EXACTLY like Dread. Now, where's my eye-roll...

@Olliemar28 After reading the steam page, it's clear this game has nothing to do with Metroid. It's a procedurally generated rogue-lite:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1911360/Trinity_Fusion/

@chreddy LOL Might want to actually read about the game, before claiming it's a carbon copy. A game where the devs are "leveraging our previous experience working on fighting games," and offering a procedurally generated world with three biomes to explore doesn't sound anything like that DREADful game lol.

I really should start another playthrough of Metroid Dread

Remember a couple of days ago where I lamented the term "Undertale inspired" used to describe a new indie RPG.

well this comment section is a nice sample of evidence for why constantly comparing smaller new games to popular big games can potentially be rather inflammatory.

People are talking just about the comparison, and not about the game.

Similarities with Dread? for sure, particularly with the gun wielding character.
Doesn't look like a complete ripoff though!

It defiantly looks heavily influenced. However watching the trailer the gameplay also looks pretty fun, hoping it runs that smooth on the switch

I wouldn't mind a bit more Metroid Dread. Dread was too short a game.

Oh wow yeah this game immediately jumps out at you as a very Dread-like game. Extreme Dread vibes for sure. But that ain't bad. Game looks awesome. I don't mind playing a Dread-copy as long as it plays well.

There are elements that are strongly reminiscent of Metroid Dread. Mostly the style of the backgrounds and foregrounds and the intro cinematic where the head is clamped and the player character is stabbed. That said, this is clearly a game with plenty to add and differentiate itself.

I would usually expect that anyone that loved Metroid Dread should at least be interested in learning more about the game. Looks impressively executed.

@BloodNinja I agree with your sentiment, but there is an "air dash" in Metroid Dread (flash shift) and it is a huge part of the combat gameplay.

Very interesting. Hope it comes to Switch.
I wonder if this was born from the fangame community taking their ideas "legit" or they saw Metroid Dread and really, really wanted it to feel like that. Still they are doing their due diligence to use it uniquely. The combos on the warrior hero is enough to confirm that.

@aaronsullivan Hahhaa, okay so ONE mechanic crossed over, and it's not one that Metroid did first. Still, the article is incredibly misleading, making people think this is a Dread clone when it's a rogue/procedural game.

@Bobb I thought the exact same.

@chreddy Please, do enumerate all of the different abilities this game "stole" from Metroid Dread. Because I just finished playing Metroid Dread, and about the only things I saw were "there's a grappling hook" (which tons of other games have), and "there's a missile launcher" (again, which tons of games have), and "there's a dash" (also not a Metroid Dread invention.)

What I DID see were a ton of things that you cannot find in Metroid Dread, like real melee combat - including air combos! - multiple characters, a remote drone, and like a dozen other things that gasp aren't in Metroid Dread.

The confirmation bias is strong with this one.

@topher6490 Yeah, you enjoy doing that. I'll be over here, playing 100 fun new games instead.

I'm not one to shame any game for taking inspiration from other games, or wanting to replicate the experience (and I'm sure this game has a lot of unique, fun ways to mix up the gameplay), but for someone to watch that trailer and claim to not see how much has been directly lifted (right down to some of the enemy designs almost being literally clones) from Metroid Dread, they're either being intentionally disingenuous, or they've never actually played Metroid Dread.

The fighting mechanics, the aiming scope, the landscapes, the two-armed biped enemies with dual-swords, the hulking brutes with minerals sticking out of their backs, the flying tentacled eye-balls, I mean, c'mon...

Again, I'm not affected in any personal way or bothered at all by it, but it's just silly to pretend otherwise.

@thegroundbelowme Yes, Metroid Dread didn't invent all of those mechanics you listed, but they certainly used ALL of them in a single game. You're essentially saying "oh come on, Super Marty Bros is in NO WAY a rip-off. As if Nintendo invented the idea of having mushrooms in their games, or breaking bricks, or fighting turtles, or having flying bullet enemies, or jumping on top of enemies to kill them, or shooting fireballs, or swimming in water stages, or collecting coins. It's just coincidence that they're all in this game. Besides, the main plumber character doesn't even have a mustache!"

Dude...

@FNL That's not a very sound argument...

This game has you basically swapping between three characters in a procedurally generated world. It's a roguelite. Pretty much the furthest thing from a Metroid game you can get. None of the things in both of these games are new or groundbreaking. We've been seeing stuff like it for decades. You've been brainwashed by the article!

haaaa man I wish it was more like Metroid Dread lmao the gameplay looks real fun, but I really don't care for procedurally generated levels over having a carefully designed world and layout

@BloodNinja You're arguing at a strawman. I never once said that the play style of the games is the same. It doesn't matter whether this is a roguelite, or an adventure game, or a walking simulator. I'm saying that they directly lifted mechanics, visuals and character/enemy designs from Metroid Dread. I don't personally care, it doesn't bother me. But I don't see how any reasonable person could disagree.

I don't think you've even played Metroid Dread, or else you'd see how silly your arguments are. Are you being paid by the publishing company to defend this or something? You seem to care deeply about this.

FUN FACT: I saw this trailer before I even visited Nintendo Life today and immediately said to myself "oh man, you really went b*lls-deep on the Dread "inspiration", guys."

@FNL From your post literally above mine:

"...for someone to watch that trailer and claim to not see how much has been directly lifted (right down to some of the enemy designs almost being literally clones) from Metroid Dread, they're either being intentionally disingenuous, or they've never actually played Metroid Dread."

You're contradicting yourself within a few sentences bro, clean that **** up then come talk to me.

@BloodNinja

Yes, thank you for reiterating a very strong point I made. Please point out where I contradicted myself.

If you cloned all of the gameplay code, enemy designs and powerups from Super Mario Bros and took it out of a linear platformer and plopped it into a procedurally-generated rogue-lite, is your argument that this is now a unique game full of brand-new ideas and not at all shamelessly ripping off a recent, massively-popular mainstream game?

@FNL My argument is that whatever this game is, it’s got nothing in common with a Metroid game besides moving on a 2D plane and it’s a girl in a futuristic setting. You contradicted yourself when you said “I never once said the play style is the same,” and then proceeded to say how much it looks like Metroid. You’re getting so hot and bothered over nothing bro, cool off a little.

You don’t even have an icon, probably a troll account for a banned user.

@bloodninja I don't think you understand the difference between "play style" and "visuals".

Visuals, set pieces, character designs, mechanics, doesn't matter that all of these are pretty much identical, this game doesn't have you exploring a linear system of caves - this game has you exploring a *procedurally-generated system of caves! It's 100% different!

Haha oh man.

> You don’t even have an icon, probably a troll account for a banned user.

Yikes, attacking the user and not the argument. Not looking good here, friend. I know your shtick is to be this contrarian about every "popular" opinion, but it seems as if you and I are just living in two completely different realities here. I don't think we'll see eye to eye on this one. Have a good one.

@FNL I don't think you're capable of forming a clear and concise argument, though. Why are you here to start arguments, anyway! That's a big yikes bro, and indicative of a troll account.

This looks almost nothing like Dread, doesn't seem to be any enemies that resemble the EMMI (other than the fact robots are in this and the EMMI are robots...), I saw only one ability that is similar to Samus's (Flash Shift, but news flash, that's not a new move for platformers), plot sounds NOTHING like Dread's and the protagonist's skill kit is different than Samus's by miles.

I've played Dread for 150+ hours. This game has almost no similarities, don't feed into the groupthink.

Was this clickbait or a genuine difference in opinion? Either way, the game looks good, so whatever I guess.

People pretending it has nothing do with Dread is just ridiculous. Look at the animations from the very beginning of the trailer and you‘ll see it. Heck even the death animation is the exact same thing. They probably have their own level design, etc. but the similarities are just too obvious.
It‘s like Greta van Fleet‘s singer telling you he doesn‘t base his style off of Led Zeppelin.

In an alternate reality where the title for this article didn’t mention Dread, I can guarantee all the people right now would not say it’s copying Dread.

I don't think this looks like dread, it's more combat heavy than dread and dread normal enemy design is more animal-like (and later alien) rather than robotic like this one.

@Snow-Dust There exist other websites outside of Nintendo Life discussing this game that feature a number of other commenters also drawing comparisons to Metroid Dread, but that's ok.

Another one for the ever growing wishlist! This game looks silky smooth, can't wait to play it

Dread clone, or no Dread clone, this looks good on its own. Looking forward to a review.

Came here expecting to leave a comment along the lines off 'wish devs would stop making second rate clones of Nintendo IP's.'

Watched the trailer and instead will say.... Looks fantastic. And you know what? Given that it will probably be another 10 years till Nintendo does a sidescrolling metroid, bring on the clones!

Lmao it’s absolutely taking a LOT from Metroid dread but looks just as fun so hell yeah I’m getting it

Looks pretty slick. 2023 is shaping up to be a good year so far.

I don't think I'll ever get tired of the Metroidvania formula.

@FNL I've seen several articles over time (speaking in general) where the exact same wording is used on every site to publish the same news, NintendoLife included in this. That's just how the media is; once news gets out to the mainstream that it's deemed important enough to publish, news sites/TV stations/whatever will all run with the same source material and many of them won't deviate from it (i.e. copy and paste). Have you ever watched comedy shows or podcasts that play video/audio of 5, 10, 15+ different news sources all using the exact same verbiage? It's not a coincidence.

So, it's only natural that you'll see gaming news sites besides NL that will compare this with Dread. Doesn't mean it's correct.

@Kilroy

I don't know if outside links are allowed, but I'm talking about articles where it literally just links the trailer and says "Trinity Fusion Launching In 2023" or "Angry Mob Games announces Trinity Fusion for 2023 launch". Not a single mention of Dread in the headline or article body. But there sure as heck are a lot of people comparing them in the comments sections.

Same with the reveal trailers on YouTube. Even the one posted by Angry Mob Games themselves. None of these mention Metroid Dread. And yet go through the comments...

"Heavy Metroid Dread vibes here"
"Wow, like a sequel to Metroid Dread"
"Looks like Metroid Dread"
"And the first game inspired by Metroid Dread appears"
"We have Metroid Dread at home"

I don't know why you're working so hard to pretend that people didn't naturally come to the conclusion that this game lifts a lot from Metroid Dread. And again, it doesn't matter, Dread is a great game, and this game looks pretty cool from the trailer too. I hope it's great and that it's successful. But it's so weird to pretend that people are only making the comparison because they're "told to" and that there are no similarities to Dread. Truly bizarre.

Yeah I'm on team "this looks an awful lot like Metroid Dread."

Doesn't leave a great first impression, with it looking so derivative on first glance. I'll credit that the game may have its own concepts going, but without having played dread in the last six months, I could have mistaken those settings for areas in Dread. And the face clamping thing looks very heavily inspired by EMMI.