Metroid Prime 4 Beyond Review: Was the 13-Year Wait Worth It?
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond carries the weight of thirteen years of anticipation, a full development restart, and the responsibility of launching Nintendo’s new hardware alongside Mario Kart World as the Switch 2’s marquee titles. It is the rarest kind of sequel — one that needed to satisfy both nostalgic Prime trilogy veterans demanding that specific flavour of isolated exploration, and new players whose first-person adventure expectations were shaped by entirely different games.
The verdict: Retro Studios delivered. Metroid Prime 4 is the best first-person adventure game since the original Prime, and a genuine contender for the best game available on Switch 2 at launch.
World Design
Prime 4’s planet — a Chozo-colonised world called Talvania — is a single interconnected landmass designed in the Metroid tradition: every zone connects logically to adjacent areas, shortcuts reveal themselves as abilities unlock, and the player’s mental map gradually resolves from confusion to comprehension.
Six major biomes (each with 3-4 sub-zones) create variety without fragmenting the world into disconnected levels. A volcanic forge connects to frozen caves via geothermal vents; an ancient Chozo archive tower overlooks a bio-luminescent swamp. The transitions between zones are architectural rather than loading screens — the game never breaks immersion with a transition fadeout.
Exploration is driven by ability-gated progression familiar to series veterans: doors locked by beam types, passages too small until the Morph Ball unlocks, vertical spaces inaccessible until the Space Jump arrives. The genius of Prime 4’s world design is how naturally these gates integrate into the environment — locked doors feel like locked doors, not like game design constraints.
Combat
The lock-on combat system returns with modernised responsiveness. Samus’s movement is faster and more fluid than the trilogy — strafing, dashing, and aerial combat feel influenced by modern action games without abandoning Prime’s distinctive rhythm of target-lock, strafe, and beam-switch.
Boss encounters are the game’s action peaks. Each of the eight major bosses demands specific ability mastery, pattern recognition, and environmental awareness. The difficulty curve is well-calibrated — early bosses teach mechanics that later bosses combine into multi-phase challenges. None felt unfair; all demanded engagement.
Standard enemies populate the world intelligently. Each biome introduces unique fauna with behaviours that reward scan-visor analysis. Scanning reveals weak points and attack patterns — a systems loop that rewards curiosity alongside combat skill.
Visor and Scanning
The scan visor remains central to Prime 4’s identity. Environmental storytelling through scanned lore entries is extensive — over 200 unique lore entries construct a civilisation history, a conflict narrative, and Samus’s personal connection to the Chozo through discovered records.
The thermal, x-ray, and a new electromagnetic visor each serve exploration and combat purposes. Environmental puzzles frequently require visor-switching to identify hidden paths, power conduits, or structural weaknesses. This mechanic has always differentiated Prime from conventional FPS games, and Prime 4 uses it more creatively than any predecessor.
Visual Presentation
Metroid Prime 4 is the Switch 2’s graphical showcase at launch. Native 4K resolution docked with ray-traced reflections on Samus’s visor (environmental reflections visible as you scan), volumetric fog in the swamp biomes, and particle systems during boss encounters that demonstrate what the hardware can achieve.
Art direction elevates the technical capability. Every room tells a story through environmental design — collapsed structures suggest ancient conflict, bio-luminescent organisms illuminate paths naturally, and Chozo architecture communicates function through form. The art team understood that atmosphere matters more than polygon counts.
Pacing and Length
A thorough first playthrough (scanning most lore, exploring side paths, finding 80% of item expansions) runs 18-22 hours. The pacing is remarkably tight — no filler sections, no forced backtracking without purpose, and ability acquisitions are spaced to maintain momentum throughout.
The game respects player time in ways the original trilogy occasionally didn’t. Fast-travel unlocks midway through (integrated as Chozo teleportation nodes), and late-game backtracking for 100% completion offers genuine new discoveries rather than empty checklists.
Who Should Buy This
Every Switch 2 owner. This is not qualified praise — Metroid Prime 4 is the launch window’s essential purchase alongside Mario Kart World. For the complete Switch 2 launch lineup, the priority order is simple: these two games first, everything else after.
Especially for:
- Fans of the original Prime trilogy seeking that specific exploration atmosphere
- Players who value world design and environmental storytelling
- Anyone wanting to see what Switch 2 hardware is capable of
- First-person adventure fans tired of open-world bloat
May not suit:
- Players who exclusively enjoy fast-paced multiplayer shooters (this is deliberate and exploratory)
- Those who dislike scanning/reading lore (it’s central to the experience)
- Completionists who get anxious about missable items (some scans are time-limited)
Final Verdict
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond delivers on thirteen years of expectations by refusing to chase modern design trends and instead perfecting what made Prime special: atmospheric isolation, interconnected world design, and the satisfaction of a mental map clicking into place. It is simultaneously a love letter to series veterans and a standalone masterpiece that needs no prior knowledge to appreciate.
The Switch 2 launched with two must-own games. This is one of them.
