Definitely there on Other M too. The story is pretty mindless but the gameplay is pretty addicting and the FPS missile context switching is as fascinating and creative as it is awkward.

In general, I’m tired of seeing this trend of open world being just a superior format to linear gameplay. It feels like this encroaching new version of “3D is objectively better than 2D”, and watching Nintendo IPs fall into this trap one by one is kind of depressing. Open world is for players crafting their own story, and linear is more fitting if you want to tell a story. It’s certainly why the delivery of TOTK’s story is so repetitive, and how most open world games aren’t really open world because it just ends up on a linear track as soon as you reach an objective. Meanwhile, Metroid Dread the first go around honestly feels like an open world game despite being a total rollercoaster because the game design pushes the player’s intuitions so well, combining what the industry learned from games like Half Life, Mirror’s Edge, Uncharted, etc.