I played Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on the Switch 2 and it was absolutely worth the wait despite a few quirks

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond takes the tried and true gameplay of the classic Prime formula and successfully brings it to modern consoles after an 18-year hiatus. The core 3D Metroid experience remains and shines on the Nintendo Switch 2, but some of the new additions, like the overworld, don’t quite live up to the intricate and detailed design of its dungeons.

As a fairly new Metroid Prime player, I was quickly sucked into the world of Viewros just as bounty hunter Samus Aran is at the beginning of the game. Playing on the Nintendo Switch 2 in both handheld and docked mode feels incredibly smooth, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s detailed environments had me stopping to take in the scenery at every new locale I visited. Traveling to them also felt great on the new motorcycle, but I couldn’t help but wish there was more to see and do scattered across Sol Valley, which serves as an overworld hub.

Combat feels incredibly smooth and responsive, and I was thoroughly impressed by just how well the game’s developer, Retro Studios, managed to pull this off. The same goes for the visuals, which are jaw-dropping on Switch 2, and the music and sound design, which really made me feel like I was experiencing this new world through Samus’ eyes. You can play Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on the original Nintendo Switch, but I’d recommend playing on Switch 2 for the visuals alone.

My Metroid Prime 4: Beyond review will help you decide if this is one of the best Nintendo Switch games and whether it was worth waiting for the launch of the Switch 2 to release it.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond: The Basics

• What is it? An action-adventure game with plenty of first-person shooting and puzzle solving, as well as exploration.
• Who is it for? Fans of the Metroid Prime series and those who want to experience some of the best visuals on the Switch 2 yet.
• What is the price? Metroid Prime 4: Beyond costs $69 on the Switch 2 or $59 on the original Switch, and there is a $10 Upgrade Pack to move up to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of the game.
• What other games has the developer made? Retro Studios is best known for its work on the Metroid Prime series, but it also developed Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch.
• What games is this similar to? Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is similar to first-person shooters with a heavy focus on exploration, like Prey and Bioshock, as well as Hollow Knight and Metroid Dread when it comes to its level design.

A new yet familiar world

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond begins with Samus Aran at full power, protecting a mysterious artifact at a research facility. Things quickly go south as a firefight breaks out, which leads the artifact to become activated, transporting her and a handful of Galactic Federation soldiers to an unknown planet called Viewros.

Of course, Samus’s suit is stripped of its powers as a result, and it’s up to you, the player, to help her get them back. The first area you explore is called Fury Green, and it bears a striking similarity to the original Metroid Prime’s Tallon Overworld. Here, I got a feel for the game’s controls and various systems as I searched for Samus’s first major combat ability. For seasoned players, they’ll feel like they’re right back in the world of Metroid Prime, while newbies like myself get a nice introduction to the 3D Metroid formula.

As I journeyed through the forest, I came across the now infamous Myles MacKenzie, who acts as your guide through the game’s opening section and then later serves as your engineer, helping you install upgrade chips while giving you hints as to where to go next. He’s one of several Galactic Federation soldiers you encounter throughout Viewros. While his dialogue is a bit wordy compared to the series’ strong, silent protagonist, breaking the traditional isolation, I didn’t mind his banter and found some of his suggestions to be quite helpful during Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s opening hours.

Once you encounter Viewros’s original inhabitants, the Lamorn alien race, you’re tasked with ensuring their civilization won’t be lost to time and obtaining five teleporter keys to help you return home. It’s a pretty standard setup, but I did like learning more about the Lamorn and the tragedy that befell their planet.

If you’re expecting a story-heavy game thanks to the inclusion of Myles and the other Galactic Federation soldiers who briefly join you along the way, you’ll likely be disappointed. Instead, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (like previous Metroid Prime games) tells its story through research notes you find throughout the world and info from your scan visor on Viewros’s creatures, fauna and structures. I found the story to be interesting enough that I wanted to learn more, but it was the puzzles, combat and Samus’s new motorcycle that really hooked me.

Explore, scan and solve

Although shooting plays a big role in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, exploration is just as, if not more, important. Whether I was looking for which dungeon to head to next or just trying to find my way to the next corridor when I was inside one, I found myself constantly exploring and, more importantly, scanning each environment I came across.

From metal grates that can be blown up to ice walls that can be melted, your scan visor is a trusted companion in your journey across Viewros. You bring it up with a tap of the "X" button, and then from there, you can scan outlined objects, enemies and more with the left trigger, revealing some of the game’s lore and often providing incredibly helpful hints during boss fights.

In Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Samus also gets psychic abilities for the first time. Not only do they tie into the lore of Viewros and the Lamorn, but they also lead to some new puzzles and challenges. For instance, you may have to move objects with telekinesis, or, my favorite use of these new psychic powers, the Control Beam. After charging up a psychic shot, this ability lets you steer its trajectory so that you can activate switches, and it even plays a part in some boss fights.

Samus's ability to morph into a ball is also used in a number of puzzles and to open various doors throughout Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Like with her other abilities, you can upgrade this one over time as you progress through the game.

One thing I wasn’t really prepared for when I dived into Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was the backtracking. You see, you’ll come across certain doors and areas that you won’t be able to access until you have the required ability. Keeping track of all of them as you make your way through each dungeon and then remembering their location later on led to an awful lot of backtracking during my playthrough.

This would have been simple enough if there had been a fast travel mechanic, but sadly, you're forced to make your way back on your own, though it is a bit more fun on Samus’s new motorcycle, making the tedious travel more bearable.

From the factory to the desert

The biggest addition to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, besides the game’s overworld hub Sol Valley, is Samus’s new motorcycle: Vi-O-La. It makes traveling across the Sol Valley’s vast desert a lot faster, but you can also use it in combat to mow down enemies while performing a slide after a boost.

While Vi-O-La initially looked like a gimmick in the game’s promotional materials, I was very impressed by how the motorcycle was introduced. During the opening dungeon set in the Volt Forge factory, you come across one that you can sit on but can’t actually ride at first. Instead, you need to power up two towers and get the factory running again in order to get the special Vi-O-La Suit required to operate it.

Making my way through the dungeon and fighting off the various enemies within it really made me appreciate the first time I was let loose in Sol Valley with Vi-O-La. From there, I was able to freely explore all of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s overworld on my new motorcycle. Sure, I couldn’t necessarily enter each dungeon until I had the prerequisite ability, but I could travel to them and unlock their locations on my map for later.

Besides dungeons, there are also a handful of challenge zones and unlockables for you to find. Enemies will also try to fight you while you’re riding Vi-O-La, but they can be taken down with a rocket blast while driving or with a well-timed slide.

I really enjoyed how Vi-O-La handles and liked being able to explore Sol Valley more freely after making my way through what seemed like endless corridors within the game’s dungeons. However, I just wish there was a bit more to do and to see in the overworld. At the same time, having to get on Vi-O-La and trek all the way across Sol Valley to return to the game’s Base Camp to get equipment installed for an upgrade or to turn in my green energy crystals took me out of the exploration and fast-paced action of its dungeons.

An old school shootout

While there are certainly new gameplay elements in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, like Samus’s psychic abilities, I’m happy to report that the combat feels just as tight as it did in previous entries in the series.

Unlike other first-person shooters on both PC and console, this one was designed specifically for consoles. As such, you don’t have to rely on free aiming, and you can use the left trigger to lock onto enemies in combat. Doing so also allows you to dodge in all four directions, maintaining the series’ signature strategic rhythm.

Whether I was taking on the game’s main enemies, called Grievers, or fighting off local wildlife using Samus’s Arm Cannon, shooting felt really good. While you can lock onto enemies, you don’t have to.

Free aim feels quite good on a controller, but if you’re playing on Switch 2, you also have the option to use Motion Control Aiming with the detached Joy-Cons. If you prefer the original Prime feel, you can seamlessly switch between standard dual-stick aiming and using the right Joy-Con to directly aim, which grants mouse-like precision.

If you enjoyed the combat of the previous Metroid Prime games, you’re in for a treat here, but the graphics and overall presentation are my favorite part of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

Dripping with details

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s overworld area may feel sparse at times, but it’s still a sight to behold. From the wispy clouds in the sky to the ripples in the sand, it really reminded me of the Great Plateau in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, albeit at a smaller scale. However, it’s when you actually step into a dungeon that the attention to detail Retro Studios put into the game’s graphics really shines.

Even though the Lamorn are long gone by the time Samus steps foot on Viewros, all of the dungeon environments have a lived-in feel to them. Even in the Volt Forge area, which was heavily automated back when it was fully operational, it really felt like a real factory when I was exploring it. The same is true of the abandoned Ice Belt Lab, which I headed to shortly after.

I spent an even amount of time playing Metroid Prime 4: Beyond in both handheld and docked mode. However, while the game looked good and performed well in handheld mode, I’d recommend playing this one docked with a Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller to really take everything in. The corridors of both of those areas are gushing with details throughout, and the slower pace when exploring and scanning really helped me appreciate the game’s art direction and scenery. I also liked how, when you switch to Samus’s Morph Ball mode, the game shifts from a first to third-person perspective, and you get to see each environment in a new light.

The soundtrack hooked me just as much as the game’s visuals did, and I loved how haunting instrumental tracks would start playing as I was in the midst of exploring a new area. Likewise, the sound effects that played when I got an upgrade perfectly captured the feeling of being able to survive longer in a fight, thanks to having more ammo or being able to reach a new area after unlocking a new ability.

When combined, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s graphics and audio are the kind of thing that works so well that they’ll have you thinking about the game long after you put down your controller, and I know I did.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond: Verdict

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond manages to capture the essence and core gameplay of past games in the series incredibly well, while also adding in new elements like Samus’s psychic abilities and an overworld hub. In the same way that Half-Life 3 will have big shoes to fill if it ever releases, so too did this game after so much time has passed since the last Metroid Prime installment.

While I would have liked for the overworld to be a bit more fleshed out with more to do and see, its barrenness does tie back to the story well, since the Lamorn have been gone for hundreds or even thousands of years. Exploring it on Vi-O-La is also a fun way to break up the almost claustrophobic feeling that some of the dungeons’ corridors give you, too. I also appreciated how the game’s first dungeon revolves around you getting the Volt Forge factory back up and running before you actually get to ride it. Still, being forced to backtrack across an entire desert instead of just a level to equip new upgrades felt unnecessarily tedious at times and took me out of the exploration and fast-paced action inside Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s dungeons.

If you’ve played and enjoyed past entries in the Metroid Prime series, you’ll be right at home here. However, if you haven’t, there’s plenty to explore and enough lore to sink your teeth into while getting acquainted with the 3D Metroid experience.