Even veteran Metroid players will die more times in Metroid Dread than in any other installment of the franchise. This is a hard game. It’s easily one of the hardest first-party Nintendo games ever made.
Metroid Dread has around a half dozen major boss fights and twice as many minibosses. The latter are tough but manageable, frequently featuring returning enemies with slightly modified mechanics. But the major boss fights? Holy cow, they don’t mess around. These multiphase battles require near perfection, with a mistimed jump or rocket leading to an instant restart. In one of the midgame fights, I counted no fewer than seven different attack patterns, one of which could best be described as Flappy Bird meets Metroid. Shit gets wild.
These boss fights are expertly tuned and never feel unfair. With patience, they are beatable. But they are also much, much harder than the rest of Metroid Dread, in the same way that Dark Souls bosses can serve as enormous spikes in difficulty compared to the rest of the games.