Nintendo's Half-Life 3? Hype around Metroid Prime 4: Beyond explained

Last week, a new trailer for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was released, finally revealing some gameplay details. As of now, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is the most anticipated game in Nintendo’s lineup — at least among those officially announced. Still, if you’re not familiar with the GameCube and Wii classics, you might be puzzled by all the excitement. Let us explain what’s behind the hype.

To understand just how important Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is, we need to go back and revisit the earlier games — specifically, the very first entry in the Prime series.

Among Nintendo console owners, the original Metroid Prime is considered one of the most important FPS games of all time. It’s often compared to Halo for Xbox or PC titles like Half-Life 2 or the classic DOOM games. But it didn’t earn that recognition right away.

Before Metroid Prime’s release, the idea of a first-person 3D Metroid game sparked outrage among hardcore fans of the older 2D entries. Many doubted the complex level design and gameplay structure of something like Super Metroid could be successfully adapted to the increasingly popular 3D format. And then out of nowhere came a bunch of “nobodies” from the unknown American studio Retro Studios, promising to do exactly that.

Early info and trailers didn’t help either — Metroid Prime looked like a generic shooter focused on action rather than a methodical adventure. Ironically, today many gamers unfamiliar with the game make the same mistake, dismissing the original Prime as “just a shooter” without digging deeper into its mechanics.

When the game finally launched in 2002, both critics and players couldn’t stop praising it. Metroid Prime proved that metroidvanias can thrive in 3D — and it did so despite the GameCube’s rather awkward controller, which wasn’t exactly made for first-person shooters.

Even by today’s standards, Retro Studios’ project holds up remarkably well. You can see for yourself in the recent remaster for Switch. Metroid Prime still impresses with its intricate world design.

The map is made up of tightly interconnected labyrinths, each ending with a valuable reward or major character upgrade. Nearly every new power-up unlocks additional areas to explore. For instance, some zones become accessible only after acquiring the double jump or the morph ball ability.

What makes Metroid Prime so compelling isn’t just its non-linear structure, but also its immersive atmosphere. The game’s visual style and music create a mysterious, yet surprisingly welcoming ambiance. You feel like a tourist on an alien planet. There’s tons of lore to discover by scanning various items, logs, flora, and fauna.

After Metroid Prime, Retro released two direct sequels. While the follow-ups didn’t quite reach the same heights, they were still great games — and most importantly, they preserved the unique charm of the Prime series. Sure, the series inspired tons of other titles (including Dark Souls), but Prime still has no direct imitators. So it’s no surprise that fans have been waiting so patiently for a new chapter.

Just like Half-Life fans have been waiting for a third installment since 2007, when the last episode dropped, Metroid Prime fans started their long wait after the release of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. They were luckier: Prime 4 was officially announced back in 2017. However, the development dragged on — according to leaks, Retro was unhappy with an early version and decided to reboot the project from scratch.

Fortunately, things seem to have stabilized in recent years. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has finally stepped out of the shadows: we now have two trailers and a release year — 2025. No specific month or day yet, but it’s something.

The game’s first trailer revealed a major plot detail — the main antagonist will be a mysterious bounty hunter named Sylux. That confirms Beyond as a direct continuation of Metroid Prime 3, which ended on a cliffhanger showing Sylux secretly tailing Samus Aran.

The trailer released last week focused more on the atmosphere and gameplay of Metroid Prime 4. The good news? It definitely feels like a true Prime game. That signature magic is still there: chill ambient music, lush visuals, ruins of a long-lost alien civilization nestled in deep jungle — the vibe is just right.

As for gameplay, it’s harder to draw firm conclusions. The footage seems to be taken from the first half hour after Samus lands on the new planet. She doesn’t have many upgrades yet, so it’s hard to tell how similar or different Metroid Prime 4 will be compared to its predecessors. Judging by the intro alone, it sticks to the mechanics of the Prime remaster: shooting works the same way, and environmental scanning is still present.

What’s new is Samus’ psychic abilities. These can be used to solve puzzles and access new zones. The most unusual known ability so far allows her to pause time and manually control a shot fired from her energy cannon.

If you browse forums or social media sites like Reddit, you’ll notice that while reactions to the Metroid Prime 4 trailer have been mostly positive, some users have expressed disappointment.

The main complaint? The graphics. Since the game is being developed for the original Nintendo Switch, its visuals are exactly what you’d expect. No surprises there. However, some fans have outright said they wish Metroid Prime 4: Beyond were a Switch 2 exclusive built specifically for next-gen hardware.

Finally, people are confused about why Metroid Prime 4: Beyond still doesn’t have a concrete release date — just the vague “2025.” Could it be that development is still facing some hurdles?

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The skepticism is understandable, especially with a long-delayed game like this, but there’s probably no reason to worry. It’s more likely that the lack of a release date is due to plans for a simultaneous launch with the Switch 2. And chances are, the version for the new console will look significantly better. Whether that’s the case — we’ll find out very soon: this Wednesday, Nintendo will host a presentation of Switch 2 games, and there’s little doubt Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will be there.

What about you — are you planning to play it at launch? Let us know in the comments.