Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

Overall, I think there is fun to be had with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, but the lack of meaningful exploration and the meandering desert stretches from one zone to the next really drag down what should have been an amazing return to form for the series. How much of this came from the prior development issues the game faced I’m not sure, but something about Prime 4 feels really disjointed and not nearly as polished as the original trilogy. I hope Nintendo does give the Prime series another chance, maybe this time without all the starts and stops that Prime 4’s development had, which will ideally give us the next-gen Metroid Prime game I was hoping this one would be.

Metroid Prime 4 Beyond feels torn between old and new. After nearly twenty years of waiting, you’d expect a bold comeback, but the game never fully commits to its ideas. It tries to modernize (more action, more dialogue, a wider world), yet keeps clinging to old habits, resulting in something unsure of itself. The empty desert hub, the awkward motorbike, and the constant over-explaining don’t help. There are good moments, and you can see the potential, but they get buried under technical compromises and repetitive design. In the end, it’s not a bad game, just a disappointing one ; fine for newcomers, but far from the glorious return fans hoped for.

Whether it is to try to appeal to a broader audience or to bolster a game whose level design doesn’t match up to the original trilogy, the focus on elements that are unusual for the series leaves Metroid Prime 4: Beyond in the awkward position of being an enjoyable adventure that doesn’t stack up as a top Metroid game. There are the makings of a solid title featuring classic Prime traits, and for that reason alone Beyond can be worth experiencing, but longtime fans may need to brace themselves…and then wash away the taste by replaying Metroid Prime Remastered while praying for the same treatment for Prime 2 and 3.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, shines in sound, visuals, controls, and performance, but level design is flat and NPC chatter nags.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond arrives as an ambitious title that attempts to reinterpret what a Metroid game means in 2025. At its core, when it sticks to exploration and environmental design, it's brilliant. But when it tries to take the game into open structures, chatty companions, and unpolished new mechanics, it loses a lot of its power.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond does not seek to innovate. It is a remarkable entry on a technical, visual, and audio level, but it has some rough edges in terms of difficulty, puzzles, and the very backtracking that defines the Metroidvania genre. At times it holds the player’s hand and tries to connect its world through a somewhat sparse and linear desert, even if it delivers solid technical performance. It may not be a complete package within the genre, but it will still manage to move and excite fans of the saga.

Metroid Prime 4 Beyond is undeniably a strong entry in the series. It captures the core elements that made the franchise a classic 18 years ago, while adding a few new twists. The joy of revisiting those nostalgic sensations in a fresh adventure is undeniable, but it also works against the game. Unlike Metroid Dread, which successfully modernized the series' formula, Metroid Prime 4 Beyond plays it safe, sticking to the familiar without taking bold risks. Beyond a few new abilities, features like the desert setting and the motorcycle feel lackluster, and its more linear, guided design feels like a step back compared to previous titles. However, Metroid Prime 4 still stands out as a highly enjoyable adventure, and arguably one of the most visually impressive games on the Nintendo Switch 2. Its stunning visuals and hauntingly beautiful soundtrack are sure to leave a lasting impression.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a meticulously crafted sequel with a fantastic soundtrack, excellent boss fights, and impressive enclosed locations that prove Retro Studios has not lost its craftsmanship. However, just as strongly as the game can amaze, it can also disappoint: the open desert with the motorcycle stretches the pacing in an unwelcome way, backtracking feels more exhausting than it used to, and after a seventeen-year wait, the amount of new ideas is noticeably smaller than the series deserves. Beyond therefore remains most appealing to long-time fans.

Almost exactly what fans didn’t want from a new Metroid Prime but while it is widely inconsistent the majority of the game is undeniably entertaining.

Metroid Prime 4 is a fun mix of action and puzzles, but it is severely hampered by some modern design decisions.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is finally here after an 18 year wait. At its best moments, it feels like no time has passed at all, as I'm awed by the melancholy and mysterious vibes of this exploration-focused FPS. But, at many other moments, it's bogged down by odd new features that detract from what's almost one of Samus' best. Being so close to greatness can sometimes be the bitterest feeling of all.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is just fine—a whiplash of an experience that has some really memorable moments and others that are just grating.

Everything good in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is inherited from its illustrious predecessors, while everything bad stems from futile attempts to tamper with the familiar gameplay formula in pursuit of vague, ill-defined trends. Thanks to its finely tuned optimization, the fourth entry may appeal to a less demanding audience, but the obvious lack of fresh ideas and the absence of a clear creative vision lead to a sobering conclusion: the greatness of Metroid Prime seems to have been left far behind in the past.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is half the classic adventure we love and partly a step into the next evolution of the franchise. Sadly, it refuses to fully commit to either one, leaving this adventure halfway between the two.

Make no mistake: this isn’t the triumphant return of Metroid Prime in the same way that Dread was for the 2D series. But most of Metroid Prime 4’s issues feel rooted in a lack of focus, rather than a lack of talent. In fact, the first half of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond makes it clear that Retro Studios still has everything it takes to make a spectacular Metroid Prime game, and moments of sheer brilliance occasionally shine and sparkle in its eerie corridors until the final couple of hours. But once things went south, there was no going back. Still, I’d like to see Retro take another crack now that the burden of expectation has been lifted.

The core exploration and combat mechanics of the Metroid Prime franchise are fun and engaging. Unfortunately, the rest of the experience is marred with bizarre story beats, awkward character moments, and forced interaction with an empty, boring open world. Metroid Prime 4 had all the elements to be a slick, cohesive experience, but the game feels like the dev team maliciously complied with a mandate to make the game open-world. It’s still a Metroid Prime game, and there’s fun to be had, but go into this knowing it won't likely live up to what you were hoping for.

This is a Metroid game infected with elements from modern open-world titles, and every single one is a poor fit.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond aims for modernity but falls into the traps of modern games. The result is a shallow, mixed experience, far from the quality of the first two games in the Prime series.

Metroid Prime fans have been waiting 18 years for Beyond but it doesn’t quite live up to the hype. Sure, blasting aliens and exploring sci-fi ruins is as thrilling as ever – but zipping about the deserted world of Viewros on your new motorbike is nowhere near as fun as it should be. A lot of the puzzles are similarly underdeveloped. There are flickers of greatness during this perilous mission of survival but more often than not, it all feels a bit pedestrian. It’s not really what anybody wanted from swaggering intergalactic hero Samus Aran’s grand return.

Eighteen years after the last installment, Samus Aran finds herself lost in her most linear, easiest game yet. Nevertheless, the unique atmosphere, solid foundations, excellent visuals, and several neat dungeon ideas make Viewros well worth a visit.

Metroid Prime 4 has occasional moments of brilliance, especially when it approaches the original trilogy, but the Metroidvania design seems to have been oversimplified, the open world does not work, and parts of the progression involve bizarre decisions.

As the biggest Metroid Prime game to date yet it’s fallen into the trap that many open-world games succumb to, an overwhelmingly feeling of emptiness. The actual levels themselves are good, look great, but are dragged down by interfering NPCs and linear layouts that defeat the point of a metroidvania entirely.

Ultimately, much of Metroid Prime 4 feels like a failed experiment. As great as it is to explore the lightning-struck Volt Forge or pick through the haunted remains of the Ice Belt facility, the game’s standout moments are buried in drudgery.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is enjoyable enough, and has glimpses of vintage Metroid shining through, but this game could and should have been so much more.

It’s obvious: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is the weakest entry in the Prime series. Is the full restart from scratch to blame? We will probably never know, but this central desert that impoverishes the overall level design is a major flaw one simply cannot overlook, as its harmful influence can be felt throughout the entire game. Add to that an omnipresent and irritating hand-holding, a story that handles its antagonist and secondary characters very clumsily — not outright terrible, but of questionable interest — and we end up with an experience that does not live up to our high expectations… Even so, it’s hard not to enjoy a proposal that is technically very solid, with a dynamism and freedom in combat that feel genuinely pleasant and are supported by plenty of good little ideas.

With severe pacing issues in the first and third quarter, with frequent let-downs, and with a lukewarm ending, only fans like me will want to complete it, and even if there's some great talent involved here, the best news is that the technology is now ready to maintain more, and hopefully much better, games in the future.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond feels like a game stuck between two worlds. When it’s emulating previous entries, Beyond is a blast, with excellent boss battles, and some truly gorgeous environments to explore. But this is eventually bogged down by out-of-place additions, awkward storytelling, and overly aggressive hand-holding that spoils the discovery.

Metroid Prime 4 is an ambitious yet uneven installment that struggles to balance its legacy with experimental design. While the game introduces bold ideas like open-world segments and vehicle traversal, its execution often undercuts the core strengths that define the Prime series. Longtime fans may enjoy moments of classic exploration and well-designed boss battles, but weak character integration and unmemorable environments drag the experience down.