Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Final Preview: Samus returns in a familiar but fun fourth chapter

It's getting closer and closer to a decade since Metroid Prime 4 was announced. It was all the way back in 2017 when Nintendo revealed the game's existence to the world and we're now nearing the end of 2025 and it's finally time for it to make its arrival. With launch planned for December 4, I've had the opportunity to go hands-on with the opening portion of the title, getting an early taste of the action-packed gameplay and the new mechanics that are looking to evolve the Metroid Prime formula.

Before getting into this however, it's worth noting that this preview didn't reach the open area that features Samus' bike known as Vi-O-La. It concluded just as we were heading to the zone where this vehicle is available, but Nintendo did provide a quick explanation as to what this area involved and how it's set up. The best way to describe it is that it resembles Hyrule Field from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It's an open expanse that you travel around to reach the various dungeons, with these being places you need to visit to acquire keys to activate a teleporter to escape the 'world' that Samus has been trapped upon. Yep, it's quite typical 'head to a level and collect an item' formula, but with the added caveat of the Metroidvania-like progression where there are secrets and extras in each level that can only be acquired as you discover and snag new abilities and upgrades.

Why is Samus trapped you ask? Essentially, the story begins with Samus answering a distress call and soon being tasked with helping a bunch of soldiers protect and evacuate a strange and powerful artefact from a base that is under siege. However, everything falls apart pretty quickly when the bounty hunter Sylux appears and proceeds to damage the artefact, transporting Samus and those nearby to a mysterious new world.

This place is Viewros, a distant planet that features plenty of shades of Pandora. The opening area of Viewros is a dense jungle filled with bioluminescent flora and dangerous fauna, and all beneath the shade of an enormous tree that feels very similar to the Hometree from Avatar. It's in this area that you really start to slip back into the Metroid style, as you wander through distinct areas, defeating any threats that stand in your way, and encounter obstacles that you cannot overcome... yet. You navigate, explore, wander around until you find the correct path and this leads to you powerful upgrades to access those previously inaccessible areas. It's a Metroid game and you expect Metroidvania-like progression, and that very much is present here even if it's much more scaled down and simplistic than say the original Metroid Prime or even Metroid Dread. Although this was only the opening taste so this might change as the hours roll on.

Some of the abilities and the upgrades that Samus acquires are straightforward and familiar, be it missiles to smash hardened surfaces or psychic bombs that can be placed in Morph Ball form. The main difference now however is that Samus has been blessed with psychic-powers by the ancient race of Viewros, creatures known as the Lamorn, and with these powers at her disposal she can interact and manipulate parts of the world in a Force-like manner. It's ultimately quite a rudimentary system that is in essence an extension of the scanner tool that Metroid Prime veterans are all too familiar with.

So you gather abilities and upgrades and keep progressing onwards through the level, discovering lore and information that relates to the situation that Samus finds herself in. It's very traditional Metroid Prime in this sense, at least up until you meet another fellow human, a soldier that was transported into this realm like Samus. For a short while, it has the signature isolation and silence of the beloved Metroid Prime games. Besides the chirps and background sounds of the jungle, the only other noises to break up the tranquillity are the thumps of Samus' blaster, and frankly this is exactly what you want from a new chapter in this series. It's also why the soldier companion who chats away and squeals when danger nears will likely rub many veteran Metroid Prime fans the wrong one, as it's essentially like giving the Doom Slayer a Cortana-like companion that doesn't let you just embrace the immersive moment.

The action flows well all the same and the level structure works without kinks. There's ability depth that requires trial and tribulation to understand and master, and plenty of secrets up its sleeves too. The world design is stunning and colourful, the controls are smooth and responsive (even if the mouse controls perhaps need a few tweaks to make them less of a hassle), and there's the option of two graphical modes, both of which work extremely well. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond isn't a ruthlessly fast game so you can comfortably play in 4K/60FPS while docked, or switch it up and drop the quality a tad to embrace 120FPS instead. Both options work wonderfully in my experience with them.

As a final point, it's worth mentioning that there will be some great boss fights in this game that require innovative solutions to overcome. During this session, I had the luxury to face two major enemies, one that simply required running and gunning while targeting clear weak points to make it vulnerable to damage, and a second that required using one of Samus' psychic powers to create a period of vulnerability. Both were entertaining and thrilling and if they are good examples of what to come, the boss fights will no doubt be one of the highlights of this game.

Still I do think that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond might vary in the eyes of fans depending on the person. If you're not a die-hard Metroid fan (like myself), someone who appreciates and enjoys the games but doesn't live and breathe this franchise, there's a lot to love in this game and it should make for a fulfilling action experience. If Metroid is a part of your personality and you've been waiting with bated breath for eight years for this game, there will likely be parts that rub you the wrong way and perhaps don't live up to the sky-high expectations set by past exceptional instalments. The opinion will vary on this game, but that aside, one thing that did stand out to me is that this didn't feel like a game that required eight years (at least) of development, and it also didn't strike me as a project that will be a true example of what the Switch 2 can bring to the table. It's perhaps a tad safe and familiar, but it was also fun, so like the Switch 2 era as a whole so far, you probably shouldn't expect to be blown away even if you will have a good time with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.