Every once in a while, the gaming industry saves a large release for the December holiday rush. And since 2025 has already been so great for full games, why not have just one more?
It appears that, in a year full of incredible game releases, Nintendo has one more banger left for us at the beginning of December with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Last week, I was invited by Nintendo to try out Samus Aran’s latest adventure at a special event in New York City, and after some hands-on time, I’m pretty confident that we have yet another awesome AAA release to go before the calendar flips.
First up, I was invited to try out the opening intro sequence to the FPS title that Nintendo revealed earlier this year. Samus has been called to help protect a special artifact under siege by space pirates, and wouldn’t you know it, things go awry.
On first impression, Metroid Prime 4 is a stunning game, visually. It can be played at 4K resolution and 60fps, or 1080p and 120fps in Docked mode on the Nintendo Switch 2, or 1080p and 60 FPS/720p and 120fps in Handheld mode. The imagery is crystal clear, buttery smooth, and colorful, creating the best-looking Metroid game yet, especially in Docked mode on a big screen.
As is the case in basically every Metroid, Samus shows up to help out the Galactic Federation fully kitted with her maxed-out suit, but something goes awry. This time, it is in the gift of a Psychic Crystal from an ancient alien race known as the Lamorn. This crystal opens up a whole new world of abilities and discovery for Samus as she’s sent on a quest to help the Lamorn as their “chosen one,” but equipping the crystal on her visor strips her of some of her base abilities, like Missiles and Double Jump.
In true Metroid fashion, Samus must then power up with new abilities found all over the planet of Viewros, hunting down five keys to gain a special item atop a mysterious tower to help spread the Lamorn’s legacy and message. It begins with the first area of the game, a lush jungle called Fury Green, filled with flora and fauna out to kill you.
Metroid Prime 4 offers multiple control schemes, including the JoyCon 2’s mouse controls or even gyroscopic controls, which makes it feel like a light gun shooter where you use the right JoyCon to aim at the screen. I still prefer using the Pro Controller method, but the ability to swap between the schemes is nice.
The first ability I found after mowing through some enemies is a Psychic Glove, which basically grants Samus telekinetic abilities. By pressing the X button, Samus enables the psychic version of her visor that allows her to see special psychic orbs and doorways that can be interacted with, using the glove to open doorways or solve puzzles to advance in the direction of her objectives. Using the visor to scan the environment is vital in figuring out where to go or what to do next.
Along the way, I met a new NPC named Myles Mackenzie and saved his nerdy engineer life from some local aliens. I then escorted him to the next area, where he was able to use his tech skills to help me regain my Missiles and the next ability, the Control Beam.
The Control Beam fires a guidable projectile that you can pilot through areas that Samus normally wouldn’t be able to gain access to, and I used it to fly the beam through a hole in a wall to open up a door from the opposite side. None of this function is readily apparent, however, so it takes some visor scanning and trial-and-error to figure out, further making the game feel like a puzzler at times.
With Myles’ help, I ended up at a boss fight with a giant piranha plant-like alien creature named Carvex. To deal damage, I had to use Missiles to break armored joints on its tentacle arms to expose them to damage, and then combo that with the Control Beam to fly the projectile into them to break the arms and open up its belly-like weak point, all while dodging projectiles and melee attacks.
Taking down Carvex rewards the Psychic Bomb ability, which is Samus’s classic Morph Ball Bomb with a twist: when placing it, you can then use the Psychic Glove and visor to pick them up and put them in out-of-reach places. I used this ability to open up my way to the next area, but that’s when the demo came to an end.
I must admit, this was my first Metroid Prime gameplay experience, although I have watched videos to catch up on the lore and story. I’ve played several other 2D Metroid titles (Metroid Fusion and Metroid Dread are two of my favorite games ever), but now I feel compelled to go back and try the rest because Metroid Prime 4: Beyond feels like it may very well be destined for more critical acclaim, judging from the hour-plus I’ve played.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond launches on Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch on Dec. 4.
