Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Review – New World, Old Rules

Metroid Prime became one of Nintendo’s iconic series in the 2000s, but the wait for the next installment on Switch was over 18 years—even longer than the next-generation console itself. Despite a difficult development path, the new Metroid Prime 4: Beyond finally saw the light of day, officially ending the series’ trilogy status. Was the latest chapter in Samus Aran’s adventures worth the nearly two-decade wait? We find out in our review.

• Developer: Retro Studios
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch , Nintendo Switch 2
• Release date: December 4, 2025

A review copy was provided by Achivka, the country’s largest video game distributor.

The opening scenes of Metroid Prime 4 are deceptively cinematic, as if it weren’t Metroid, but some Halo – in an attempt to protect and evacuate some artifact, we find ourselves in the thick of a massive battle against space pirates , with a large number of soldiers and equipment, radio communications, and the appropriate atmosphere… But this is only an overture, after which, under the influence of the protected artifact, we find ourselves on an unknown planet, having lost all abilities, except perhaps the ability to curl up into a ball – Metroid is back to square one.

We’ve seen all of this, to varying degrees, in other games in the series—both 2D and 3D. The planet is now called Vyuros, once inhabited by the ancient civilization of Lamorn, who for some reason consider Samus the chosen one, granting her access to the planet’s still-functioning facilities and urging her to share their legacy with the universe. Except, of course, Phazon is gone. But the apparent banality can be forgiven, as Metroid in general, and Metroid Prime in particular, have never been about story—it has always simply served as a backdrop for exploration and engaging first-person adventure gameplay. Calling Metroid Prime a shooter wouldn’t be entirely accurate.

Essentially, the fourth installment, Metroid Prime 4, replicates the gameplay and overall structure of all previous installments in the series. It’s more than expected from one of the genre’s pioneers : playing as the titular protagonist, Samus Aran, we explore various locations on an unknown planet in search of teleporter keys that will help us escape.

As the game progresses, we gain knowledge about the planet and its past inhabitants, solve puzzles , gain new abilities—after all, for plot reasons, we lost almost all of our powers at the beginning of the game—and return to previously visited regions to use our new abilities to reach previously inaccessible corners—and once again gain something new that will help us get to places we haven’t been before.

A proven system that hasn’t become any less engaging or addictive over the years—at times, it’s simply impossible to put down. Moreover, the diverse range of abilities is perfectly distributed across a well-thought-out, highly responsive control structure. Shooting supports automatic targeting, and to solve puzzles and delve deeper into the lore, scanning most of the interesting environmental objects and even enemies is possible—and you need to scan them repeatedly in different states to obtain the full information.

The progression order is somewhat random, but this is largely an illusion. We’ll have to visit the first few locations in the order the developers have designed, after which we’ll receive a cool-looking bike and the opportunity to travel across the desert separating the key locations . However, subsequent levels are structured in such a way that certain abilities are required to progress further, and to obtain them, we need to visit the designated locations in the designated order.

Naturally, there are combat elements – but, as always in Metroid Prime, they’re far from the main focus, despite the game’s deceptive first-person shooter feel . However, there are some truly challenging combat sequences that require the player to exert maximum effort and utilize a variety of abilities.

However, one of the game’s best moments lies in its combat system —and that, of course, is the boss fights. Multi-phase battles, in the spirit of the genre’s best, will repeatedly challenge your brain and test a wide variety of approaches—from exposing weak points and then shooting at them, to curling into a ball, and employing a variety of shooting techniques.

While Samus’s only weapon, as always in Metroid, is her suit-mounted cannon, thanks to various upgrades, we actually have access to five types of ammunition—a basic attack, three types of elemental shots, and missiles —as well as charged attacks from all weapons, one of which can be aimed manually, which is useful both in puzzles and in combat.

And that’s not counting the bike attacks—though they generally seem like they’re just for show, with the motorcycle’s main function remaining relatively quick travel between locations (in the absence of proper fast travel), exploring the open world , and collecting resources scattered throughout it.

In some places, we’ll be assisted by Galactic Federation fighters found on the planet, and towards the end of the game, we’ll even be able to assemble a combat mech, the missing parts of which are scattered across the planet. This is a welcome addition, as team play isn’t exactly a staple of Metroid, save for the co-op spin-offs, but overall, it doesn’t have a dramatic impact on gameplay.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond offers no technical flaws. We played on a Switch OLED , and the game impressed us with excellent graphics for a console , both on the handheld and in the dock, a stable frame rate, and high-quality artistic work —the new world looks vibrant, beautiful, and diverse, even though the biomes featured here— jungles , snow-capped mountains, and a volcano—are familiar to us in the series.

The series’ traditional epic soundtrack is also present . However, there’s no Russian localization, not even a text one. After its inclusion in Metroid Dread, we’d confidently give the game a slight “minus” because, despite its genre and focus primarily on gameplay, the game has quite a bit of text. Another drawback is a number of frankly inconvenient and pointless quality-of-life flaws.

For example, there is no proper fast travel system between previously visited locations, and it is also impossible to skip most of the cutscenes, which have absolutely no value in terms of plot development and are simply animations of entering/exiting a certain location.

To sum it all up in just a few words, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is the safest possible sequel, offering players virtually the same experience as all previous games in the series, but on a new hardware platform. On the one hand, this is precisely what fans have been waiting for, albeit for far too long. On the other hand, critics will likely complain about the “monotony, repetition, and lack of growth and development of the series.” Ultimately, the decision is up to you, of course, but in our opinion, four equally good games are better than ten diversely bad ones. And Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is undoubtedly a good game.