Some may argue that putting this much of the game’s potential value in playing it for a second or third time is a waste, and resources would be better spent building a longer game to extend the fun of the initial experience.

Anyone who’s replayed a favorite game multiple times will tell you about the feeling of looking back at your initial time playing the game breezing past sections that once had you scratching your head, taking down bosses in a fraction of the time it used to take you.

With a shorter length, even later stages can remain fresh in players’ minds, allowing them to tackle repeat playthroughs with a growing sense of prowess and efficiency. In addition, having a shorter length that can be beaten in mere hours only heightens the sense of intimacy players form with the game. You’re playing a linear 3D platformer, and you’ve somewhat lost the feeling of working your way through a series of interconnected labyrinths. But at this point, you aren’t really playing Metroid anymore. This could potentially be alleviated by having players progress through zones in a more linear fashion, either by reducing the need to jump from one zone to the other to find the next area to progress, or locking off previous zones entirely once all necessary upgrades have been obtained to maintain forward momentum. Given that even light backtracking can feel tedious when done poorly, increasing the distance needed to travel between upgrade-locked points of progression simply to meet an arbitrary length requirement would only cause the pacing to suffer. Were Metroid Dread to increase its playtime by adding more zones for players to explore, it would also lengthen the amount of time it takes to move from one zone to another. RELATED: Top 5 Metroidvanias of All Time You Can Play Right Now

Average dread length