Metroid Dread, the latest big adventure of Samus on Nintendo Switch, now has a PC port that runs without an emulator, includes mouse support, and lets you push the FPS cap up to 240, all available to download for free from GitHub. The project is named Metroid Dread Recomp, led by a developer known as yozander2009-stack, and its most recent release, version 0.2.0, arrived on October 23, just a day after the first trial version.
The port takes the Switch game’s code, translates it into C, and compiles it on your own computer, turning it into a native Windows program through a process called recompilation. For this, it uses the SwitchRecomp engine by MZ Labs, and according to its GitHub page, the developer received assistance from artificial intelligence Claude for a significant portion of the work.
What the Metroid Dread PC port offers
In terms of performance, the port allows you to set a cap of 60 to 240 FPS from the in-game menu, while cutscenes and loading screens run at 60 FPS. That said, 240 is the maximum you can configure, and the actual speed you achieve depends on your computer, since the developer has not demonstrated tests at that speed.
Visually, the resolution can be increased up to four times the original, and it also supports 16:10 aspect ratios and ultrawide 21:9 displays, with anisotropic filtering so textures appear sharper. Furthermore, the port is quite lightweight, because according to the developer, even an Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics chip—common in many laptops—can maintain 60 FPS in most of the game at the normal resolution.
In terms of controls, it works with Xbox, Switch Pro, Joy-Con, DualShock 4, DualSense, and 8BitDo controllers, displaying the button icons for each one. The major novelty in the latest version is mouse support, which lets you aim freely while holding the aim button, something that did not exist on the Switch.
Other extras and what is still missing
The port also adds the option to skip cutscenes, which is disabled by default, a frame-per-second counter, support for mods and texture packs, save backups, and a button to add the game to Steam, making it easier to play on a Steam Deck as well.
At present, it does not include DLSS or Frame Generation in the downloadable version, and since this is a project just getting started, bugs may appear. If you plan to download it, it’s advisable to use version 0.2.0, because the 0.1.0 release page shows two different verification codes for the same file.
Requirements and how to install the Metroid Dread port
To run it, you need Windows 10 or 11 64-bit, a graphics card compatible with OpenGL 4.3, 8 GB of RAM (though 4 GB can work with slower loads), and roughly 7 GB of free space. You also need your own Switch copy of Metroid Dread with the 2.1.0 update applied, because the port does not include any game files and does not accept the update in a separate folder. Before starting, your files must be organized in a single folder containing two subfolders.
Metroid Dread/
exefs/
romfs/Once you have everything ready, these are the installation steps.
- Go to the GitHub releases page and download the zip file for version 0.2.0, which appears first in the list.
- Extract the zip into its own folder, for example in Documents, and do not run the program from inside the zip.
- Open the file Metroid Dread.exe; the first time it runs, the installation screen will appear, where you must choose the folder that contains your game files, i.e., the one with exefs and romfs.
- Wait a few minutes while the program checks that every file matches version 2.1.0 and assembles the game on your computer. This is a one-time process that uses the included compiler, so you don’t need to install anything else.
- When it finishes, the Play screen will appear, where you can configure your controls, mods, and save backups before pressing Play.
- Inside the game, press F1 or the Home or Guide button on your controller to open the menu, where you can change the resolution, the FPS cap, the antialiasing, and the volume.
If the installer tells you that files are missing or do not match, the most likely reason is that your copy does not have the 2.1.0 update applied. If Windows shows a warning when opening the program, click More information and then Run anyway, and if you want to play from Steam, use the Add to Steam option that comes with the port itself.