It has been 18 long years since the last Metroid Prime. Nintendo has not produced one since Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, so the question lingering over the announcement of Prime 4 has been: Does anyone still know how to make one of these? A lengthy hands-on ahead of its release in December reassured me that Retro Studios has the look and feel of Metroid Prime well in-hand, but more importantly, has its objective marker set on expanding the world with new psychic powers that feel just as natural as Samus’s other abilities.
Our first taste of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, playable at the debut event for the Switch 2 itself, was composed of an initial tutorial section–an action spectacle as Samus comes to the aid of Federation forces under assault. That initial mission was meant to be a showpiece for both the game and the new hardware, and I walked away suitably impressed. This second hands-on event took place shortly after that slice of the game, still early enough to walk me through some of the core pillars of Prime 4, but more open-ended and familiar to Metroid fans.
In the midst of Samus lending aid to the Federation, she gets transported to a strange planet, cut off from communications and not entirely sure where she is–and of course, missing some key pieces of her equipment. At that point she discovers a psychic crystal, which fuses itself to her helmet and imbues her with the ability to interface with the planet’s technology. The Lamorn, an ancient race native to the planet, believes Samus is their people’s Chosen One, as the crystal chose to fuse itself to her. So in a way similar to how Samus has traditionally found Chozo artifacts that augment her suit, now she’s finding psychically imbued Lamorn power-ups. It’s familiar territory for Metroid Prime.
