After nearly a decade of waiting, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has finally arrived — and the reaction is as complicated as the planet Viewros Samus wakes up on.
Retail numbers are the easiest part to quantify. In the U.K., Prime 4 debuted inside the top three for the week ending December 6, with a clear majority of sales coming from Switch 2 hardware. NintendoEverything reports an 83/17 split favoring Switch 2 over the older Switch, and while physical sales trail Metroid Dread by a few thousand units, the launch is solid enough that analysts are already pointing to Prime 4 as another reason Nintendo’s new console continues to gain momentum. That hardware lift is a useful backdrop for understanding why a game that mixes open desert traversal, vehicle sections, and traditional Prime-style scanning is getting so much attention; the market wants new, headline Nintendo experiences right now — something the company leaned into with trailers and a prominent Game Awards commercial push.
What the game actually feels like
Prime 4 plays like a hybrid: classic first‑person Metroid exploration folded into bigger, more open hub moments. You wake on Viewros and quickly learn there’s more than the usual assortment of tunnels and ruins. Environments run the gamut — jungles, a storm-lashed factory, frozen labs, and an active volcano — all connected by the roadless Sol Valley desert where you’ll spend a lot of time on Vi‑O‑La, a rideable vehicle left by an ancient civilization. The Vi‑O‑La turns traversal into something almost Breath‑of‑the‑Wild-adjacent: you can summon it from certain locations and use it to smash crystals that convert into the game’s energy currency.
If you want a quick checklist of practical things to know before you sink hours into Viewros, the early player guides are helpful:
- Smash the green crystals you see in Sol Valley — they feed upgrades and are more important than the game initially telegraphs.
- Rebind the Morph Ball jump so you’re not juggling two different jump buttons between forms.
- Scan everything. Many puzzles and enemy weaknesses are revealed by the scanner if you take the time.
- If you’re stuck, try the most recent ability on nearby locks or objects; Prime design loves “use the last tool you got.”
- Ice shots are extremely useful for freezing foes (and dropping fliers out of the sky), while the map’s marking tools help you remember locked doors and return points later.
Those practical tips match the in-the-field experience: the game rewards curiosity and persistence, and its map tools are actually well-implemented for revisits.
The voice problem nobody expected
The most interesting controversy to bubble up around Prime 4 isn’t about frame rates or a missing power-up — it’s about Samus Aran’s silence. Long-time franchise analysts and critics have pointed out a tonal mismatch: Prime 4 is unusually chatty with NPCs and AI, with characters addressing Samus directly and sometimes asking her simple questions. Samus, however, remains mostly silent. For many players the effect is unintentionally awkward; moments that could be meaningful or clarifying instead land as rude silence or comedic non sequiturs.
This isn’t a new debate. Samus has been mostly taciturn across the franchise, with notable exceptions: the written mission logs of Fusion and the controversial vocal portrayal in Other M. That history creates a tightrope for developers. Give Samus a voice and you risk alienating fans who prefer the stoic, projection-friendly heroine; keep her mute and you run up against scenes that expect a reaction. In Prime 4, where other characters do talk at length to her, that tension is especially visible. Some reviewers argue the choice preserves the Prime-era mystique. Others — echoing frustrations that flared after Other M — say it robs the new game of emotional clarity.
Where that fits into the larger conversation
Prime 4 sits in an odd spot: commercially successful, mechanically familiar with a few fresh wrinkles (psychic abilities, the Vi‑O‑La, the open desert), and narratively imperfect depending on who you ask. Some outlets have framed the game as a missed opportunity for redefining Metroid Prime’s storytelling conventions; others praise its levels and exploration while noting pacing and tonal inconsistencies.
If you want to revisit the buildup to this launch, Nintendo’s pre-release trailer campaign did a lot of the heavy lifting in reigniting interest — the sequence that sold many players on the mystery and scope of Viewros is worth another look at Metroid Prime 4's 'Survive' trailer.
And because Switch 2 hardware clearly helped the title’s debut, the broader industry context — including how Nintendo is now leaning into the new console’s momentum — is relevant reading for anyone tracking platform-led sales lifts: see the recent coverage on Nintendo’s Switch 2 performance and forecasts[/news/nintendo-switch-2-sales-surge].
One final note: if you’ve just picked up the game and want to avoid early annoyances, rebinding controls and learning to use the scanner and map markers will save you time. Smash crystals. Ride Vi‑O‑La. Freeze things when they fly. And be prepared for a Samus who, intentionally or not, still leaves a lot of space for you to fill in with your own interpretation.