Metroid Dread has won Game Of The Year at the BandLab NME Awards 2022.
The long-awaited side-scroller beat out 343 Industries’ Halo Infinite, IO Interactive’s Hitman 3, indie puzzle game Unpacking and Arkane Studios FPS game Deathloop for the win.
Metroid Dread was developed by MercurySteam and Nintendo EPD exclusively for the Nintendo Switch, both of which also worked on Metroid: Samus Returns, the hit 2017 instalment in the Metroid series.
In a statement about the win, a spokesperson from Nintendo of America said: “We are honoured to receive the Best Game award for Metroid Dread at the NME Awards. Metroid Dread is the first brand-new game in the 2D Metroid franchise in around 19 years, and was a close collaboration between Nintendo and Spanish development studio MercurySteam working as one team.”
“The development team paid special care to make sure that all players, including those who’d never encountered the series before, could jump in and enjoy this game. We’d like to deliver a big ‘thank you’ to all the players on behalf of all the staff that worked on bringing the development vision to reality,” they added.
In a glowing five-star review, NME said that the game is “a decades-in-the-making celebration of 2D Metroid that’s unafraid to take risks by stretching into horror”. It added that the game not only “lives up” to the long-running series, but also “as a satisfying cap” to the story.
Metroid Dread was also recently featured in NME’s list of the best games available on the Nintendo Switch in 2022, alongside hits like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Hades and more.
The BandLab NME Awards 2022 returned to the O2 Academy Brixton tonight (March 2) and was co-hosted by Daisy May Cooper and Lady Leshurr. The ceremony celebrates the most brilliant people in music and pop culture right now, and was closed out by Bring Me The Horizon.
Check back for the latest news, interviews, winners and more from the BandLab NME Awards 2022.