Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Review – Refined but Restrained

As someone who considers the original Metroid Prime one of the greatest games of all time, and practically perfect and flawless to this day, it brings me no great pleasure to report that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a bit of a letdown.

There was, of course, always that possibility – this is a game that was announced in 2017, rebooted development entirely in 2019, swapping out the original developers for the custodians of the original trilogy Retro Studios, and then spent an additional six years in development, across a whole pandemic and a generational transition. The development was so prolonged and protracted, it’s no shock it would reflect in the final product.

And it does reflect in the final product. Metroid Prime 4 is almost baffling, because it simultaneously feels like it is too slavishly adhering to the format and template of the original game, without taking into account the more than two decades of game design evolution and development that have followed since, while also feeling like it’s not doing enough to be like Metroid Prime. It feels too much like Metroid Prime and not enough like Metroid Prime in all the wrong places, and the end result is a game that can feel frustratingly held back.

"Retro Studios made the absolutely correct decision to prioritize 60fps gameplay for this game even on the Switch as a baseline, which then allowed them more overhead to push things further on the Switch 2."

Which feels particularly galling, because to be honest, there is a lot that this game does right. More than anything else, this game is the tech showcase that Nintendo players may have been looking for. It’s a beautiful, gorgeous game, thanks to Retro’s typical smart blend of leveraging the tech available to them with art and stylization. On the Switch 2, which is where I played, this game runs at 4K and 60fps (which honestly feels shocking), or 1080p and a blistering 120 fps.

That it can achieve this is, of course, down to the fact that at its core, this game is a game made for the original Switch. Retro Studios made the absolutely correct decision to prioritize 60fps gameplay for this game even on the Switch as a baseline, which then allowed them more overhead to push things further on the Switch 2. The game’s Switch roots can often be visible if you squint – the geometry in particular can be extremely simplistic, and some areas of the game, such as the by-now infamous desert hub world, can look jarringly sparse and ugly compared to the rest of the game.

But on the whole, the game’s great art style does wonders to cover for any technical weaknesses the game may have. This should come as no surprise to anyone at all – this is what Metroid Prime has always been known for, and Prime 4 Beyond continues that legacy. It also doubles down on all the great embellishments with the presentation and immersion that these types of games are known for – charge up your arm cannon in a darkened room and release fire, and the flash of light causes Samus’ face to reflect in her visor.

Raindrops slowly trickle down her visor, and her cannon. Steam fogs up her vision. In every way possible, Metroid Prime 4 places you firmly in Samus’ power suit and behind her visor, truly immersing you in the setting and in her character.

"The problem, like I said, comes down to how the game feels the rest of the times. Before I talk about that, I want to talk about the first of the game’s major problems, the level design."

Another area where the game deserves credit is the control options it offers. You get dual analog, gyro assist, and the new signature control scheme offered by this game, joycon mouse controls. The Dual analog and gyro assist work pretty much identically to how they did in 2023’s Metroid Prime Remastered, which is to say, both are excellent and have great game feel. As for the mouse controls, they are sublime. Their implementation is completely seamless, because at any point while playing the game, you can choose to turn one of your joycons sideways, and the game automatically switches to mouse controls.

These mouse controls are great, and probably the best showcase for the otherwise neglected feature the Switch 2 has had since its launch earlier this year. They also allow for the gameplay to feel a lot faster and more dynamic than it otherwise does, because you are able to move, strafe, and aim a lot more freely and spontaneously than you are otherwise.

The problem, like I said, comes down to how the game feels the rest of the times. Before I talk about that, I want to talk about the first of the game’s major problems – the level design. The design is largely streamlined and simplified, mostly linear and funnelling you forward through its levels and environments, without the kind of sprawl and maze like traversal you would find in the original Metroid Prime.

A part of the issue here is the game’s structure. Beyond is structured like an old Zelda game, with a central hub area and multiple biomes you can enter from it, completing their central “dungeon” to gather an item for progress. This, of course, prevents the game from having the kind of global sprawl and design that Metroid Prime had. However, even with this style of design, Beyond could have done a lot better – Prime 2: Echoes, for example, also similarly broke down into three independent areas, the difference being that the design of each of those areas was significantly better than most, if not all, of the regions within Beyond.

I honestly don’t begrudge Retro the decision to make the game with this structure – it is what helps them keep things manageable for players who may be new or daunted by the prospect of a game with backtracking – but I would have liked them to do a much better job with it than they did.

The level design here is not bad. It’s fine. It’s good a lot of the times. But it rarely, if ever, becomes more than that. You can even be playing through the game and enjoying a lot of it, but no part of it sticks with you like the Phendrana Drifts in the original Metroid Prime.

Another problem I often have with the game is its insistence on companions and NPC chatter. Now, to be honest, this issue isn’t as prevalent as I had feared going into the game – you usually get a chattering companion for a small section of an area once you enter it and rescue them, and after that they occasionally chime in to tell you what should be doing. But to me, the problem is that any prevalence of this problem is too much.  Prime in particular, is about isolation and atmosphere, which are both qualities that take a backseat when you have an NPC character telling you how to solve a puzzle, or that there is a crack in the wall you should be examining, or that you just walked by a door with something interesting.

"Prime 4 is not that bad, but the presence of this at all is a problem."

This is the exact thing modern Sony games are criticized for NPC characters telling you what to do the second you entered a new room or encounter, without even giving you the chance to look around and figure things out for yourself. Prime 4 is not that bad, but the presence of this at all is a problem.

I understand considerations around helping players who may feel stuck, so I don’t really take any issue with them deciding to implement the feature, but my complaint is the same as it was for any other game that did this – at least let me turn this off, or, if nothing else, give me the option to not engage with NPC chatter, so I can just try and figure things out myself, and fall back on them for hints should I need those. Naughty Dog solved this problem more than a decade ago with Uncharted and The Last of Us. It boggles the mind that other studios consistently miss the boat on this.

One thing about the game that I think does deserve credit is the sound design and soundtrack. This, again, is not a surprise – Prime  games, more often than not, have incredible music, including ambient soundtracks, and that remains true in this game as well.

The sound design, as well, is fantastic, and contributes so much to the incredible sense of immersion. The audiovisual presentation aspects of this game pull their weight so well when it comes to delivering on a next generation realization of Metroid Prime… it’s honestly a shame to see the actual design decisions made with the title not do their part as well.

"After nearly 20 years since the last Prime game, a lot has happened in the world of game design, but Prime 4 barely seems to acknowledge that."

Because, yeah, ultimately, there is so much the game does do well that it is, frustratingly, not a total write off. There’s a lot Prime 4 does that is great, which makes it that much more frustrating that there is so much more it completely drops the ball on.

After nearly 20 years since the last Prime game, a lot has happened in the world of game design, but Prime 4 barely seems to acknowledge that. Even that would have been okay with me – just more Metroid Prime would be great! I love Metroid Prime, I would gladly take more of it. But it has to be good, and Prime 4 very often misses the mark, at least when it comes to things that matter most, such as the level design and traversal.

My hope is that this game is what it is due to the unique circumstances of its development. Hopefully, Retro will be allowed to put out a follow up, and hopefully, that follow up will be a lot less confused and conflicted, and a lot more cohesive with its overall vision and design. Until then, Prime 4 is what we have – the worst of the four mainline Prime games.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch 2.