Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is days away and too much of it remains a mystery

REVIEW: Nintendo invited me to play two hours of the game's campaign this week. 

And while its combat and boss battles live up to the high bar set by its predecessors, there was none of the new motorcycle gameplay or any opportunity to explore the "open world" areas connecting Metroid Prime 4's biomes.  

That's not to say there weren't surprises.

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Seeing the most realistic humans ever rendered in a Nintendo game was not on my bingo card.

Nor were chatty NPCs and escort missions in a franchise famous for its sense of isolation. 

But what I played, I really liked and I did get a much better sense of the game's story.

Sylux, a deadly bounty hunter, has found a way to hatch his own metroids and is using them to corrupt and control the galaxy's space pirates. 

The sharp-shooter is after an artifact of boundless energy. 

Samus gets there first but triggers a massive surge of power which transports her (and others) to a galaxy that doesn't appear on Federation maps.

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In the process, Samus loses most of her abilities (in classic Metroid fashion).

She wakes up beside a "psychic crystal" and soon finds herself face to face with the last priest of the Lamorn; an all but extinct alien race. 

This priest deems Samus the "chosen one" after the crystal embeds itself in her helmet, and asks the bounty hunter to preserve the legacy of its kin by exploring and recording its history. 

During the search, Samus is told she'll find five keys to power up the planet's teleporter which presumably has the ability to send her home. 

It's a bit convoluted but it's enough motivation to get going. 

I got to play the opening sequence of the game and the first area after Samus is teleported. 

This isn't Metroid's Breath of the Wild moment. 

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Fans will be very familiar with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond's loop: explore an area, kill enemies, scan everything you can, solve puzzles and progress to a boss.

The good news is, its gameplay is better than ever and a powerful showcase of the Switch 2.

Environments look incredible in 4K and at 60 frames per second and playing the opening sequence in 1080p and 120 frames per second handheld looked gorgeous. 

"Mouse mode" is sharp and comfortable if you play at a desk.

The ability to swap between it and more traditional controls by simply picking up and putting down the right Joy-Con is a masterclass in seamless design.    

Encouragingly, boss fights are as excellent as ever. 

Metroid - like Zelda - is famous for blending combat and puzzle solving; and the boss fights I played do not disappoint.

The first boss - at the end of the opening sequence - demands players have mastered the ability to jump, morph into a ball, lock on, dodge and aim at enemy weak points.

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It's a perfect full stop on a well hidden tutorial. 

The second boss - a tentacled beast of a flower - demanded the use of Samus' new psychic beam, which can be controlled mid-air, to knock out all three of its weak points at once. Classic upgrade fare.

By comparison, chatty NPCs are not classic Metroid Prime. 

Miles Mackenize may be dividing the internet but I didn't find him to be a problem at all.

I actually enjoyed having a reason to kill some monsters rather than just because they were there. 

Unfortunately, he's super slow so I had to repeatedly double back and save him as I blasted my way through enemies on a bridge during an escort mission. 

If you're worried about having a yappy companion for the entire journey - you won't.

There was a fire fight to rescue him, an escort mission and a cutscene after I got him there, then it was back to solo exploring. 

Nintendo showed off more NPCs in a recent overview trailer.

If they're all treated the same way, I'm excited to see how they fit into the story and keep the momentum without robbing you of the freedom to explore at your own pace. 

Let's hope this motorcycle is handled as gracefully. 

Metroid Prime 4: beyond launches on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 on December 4, 2025.