Metroid Dread: early Screw Attack sequence break guide

Metroid Dread is full of sequence breaks, aka opportunities to get weapons and items ahead of schedule. The Screw Attack is one of them, and if you’ve been following our guides for early Cross Bombs and the early Gravity Suit, you’ll be in a perfect position to get it while Artaria is still frozen.

When you return from Burenia after getting the Gravity Suit, early or not, Artaria will be iced over, with most doorways frozen shut. You’re expected to make your way to Cataris, defeat Experiment Z-57 to thaw everything out, then return for the Screw Attack. Let’s do it another way.

First things first, you need to know the path back to Cataris. You need to reach the ledge in the screenshot below and Bomb through the bottom rock. It’s easy to get up there with the Space Jump, but you might not have that yet if you’ve been sequence breaking. Fear not: return to the room to the east where you fought the first EMMI (it won’t be there even if you skipped that fight), Speed Boost out to the left, charge a Shinespark before dropping off the ledge, and use it to rocket up here.

Now continue along the path to Cataris, but stop when you reach the long tunnel above the lava. Turn around, Speed Boost out of this room, then tuck into your Morph Ball in the spot shown below. You want to launch to the top-left to get through the angled tunnel there. This will get you into a room that’s normally locked off.

Shoot through the Beam Blocks and enter the Network Station. Take the top-left door and jump up to the left-hand ledge (see below). You can get through the tunnel here by dropping more Bombs. Do that, and you’ll find yourself inside the EMMI Zone, which is normally inaccessible at this point in the game.

There’s only one way through the EMMI Zone right now, so head west. Above the exit shown below is another hidden Bomb block. Hop up in the Morph Ball to blow through it and exit the EMMI Zone.

You’ll find yourself near the Red Teleportal. Use the Diffusion Beam to clear the explosive rock below, then shoot left from that spot to break a Beam Bock and reveal a small tunnel. Bomb out of that, then look up. There’s a trio of more Bomb blocks here (pictured below).

To get through these, you need to Bomb jump then deploy a Cross Bomb at the top of the jump. From there, the path to the Screw Attack is straightforward. Move through the tunnels and follow the path to a sloping zigzag room. Take the door at the bottom, climb to the ledge, drop through the Pitfall Block, and you’ll have finally reached the Chozo Statue holding the power-up. It takes some doing, but an early Screw Attack is totally attainable!