‘Metroid Dread’ struggles to communicate the series’s true, lasting appeal. Let us help.

Professional speedrunners and Metroid fans have already cracked open the game, finding what’s called “sequence breaks” in which players discover new ways to navigate the planet and earn power-ups to access more areas of the map at earlier points in the game. While I’m still chasing a run under four hours, players like Samura1man, a Finnish speedrunner, have beaten the game in under an hour and a half and are still finding new ways to shave off time. Just on Monday, Samura1man achieved what was then the world record, beating “Dread” in one hour and 27 minutes. That record was beaten by approximately half a minute later that same day. On YouTube, his latest run clocks in at one hour, 26 minutes and 9 seconds. Such is the speed and passion of the Metroid community.