DeVuego

“Temtem” has had a rough run. After a month in the limelight, it was left in the dark for two and a half years, with only a fraction of its players returning for each expansion, and fewer still continuing to play between them. But Crema has persisted, and in doing so, has put out what is arguably the strongest non-Pokémon monster-tamer on the market.

“Metroid Dread” was always going to struggle against its own legacy. I can’t help but think of what we’ve been missing since Nintendo left its wildly innovative spin-off “Metroid Prime” series to languish for the last 14 years. Nintendo has promised a fourth game in the main line series, and that kind of fresh look at the Metroidvania genre demands a revisit. “Metroid Dread” is a good Metroid-style game, but does little more. Even the EMMI horror aspect was previously explored at the end of the excellent remake of the first game, “Metroid: Zero Mission.”

Such is the quality of Gris’s visual art that replaying it struck me as a mandatory indulgence. I think the entirety of its composition demands to be seen.