Samus Returns, Sharper Than Ever in New Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Trailer

Nintendo kept their promise and just released the “Survive” trailer for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond with only a month till its release on December 4th. This early glimpse offers a good combination of old and new; if you look closely, you’ll find some nice small surprises, like Samus tearing across a desert on her beloved Vi-O-La bike.

Retro Studios basically started from scratch with this one after Nintendo axed the early version they were working on back in 2019. Luckily for us, the team who made the originals came back on board, so they were able to use their own in-house RUDE engine to give the game a bit of an upgrade. Development took a pretty long time, 8 whole years, but – as you might expect – the end result is a really solid first-person exploration game that shows that Retro can still do atmospheric stories like nobody’s business. Samus Aran steps back into her power suit as the galaxy’s top bounty hunter, and she’s got a job to do – scanning ruins for clues, blasting aliens, and generally unearthing the secrets of the uncharted planet Viewros.

Viewros itself is a pretty mixed bag – you’ve got thick jungle and vast sandy wastes, and they’re both teeming with life – not all of it friendly. At its heart, Samus’ mission is simple: get off of this rock. But its not going to be easy – ancient ruins and crumbling statues are good places to start, but you’ll need to use your visor scans to get any idea what’s going on. And then of course there are the alien beasts that just seem to be everywhere, jumping out of the shadows and forcing you to switch between your various guns and melee moves pretty fast. The psychic powers come in early too, which add a whole new level of strategy – you can use ’em to manipulate platforms, steer projectiles mid-air, and even just clear a path by shoving stuff out of the way on the fly. And then there’s the Vi-O-La bike, which just makes getting around a whole lot more fun – you can jump over dunes, hit enemies with your bike, and just generally cover a lot of ground fast when you need to – which is basically whenever you’re dealing with those wolf packs again.


Sylux is the main bad guy this time around, a rival hunter with a pretty big grudge against Samus and the Galactic Federation. We first saw him lurking in the background of Metroid Prime Hunters, and now he’s finally here – most recently making an appearance in the clip by parking himself next to Samus’ ship at the end of Prime 3: Corruption. And then there are the Lamorns – an extinct race whose presence is tied up in the mysteries of Viewros and – incidentally – is somehow connected to that mysterious message that keeps showing up. There’s a bit of teaser-trailer style dogfighting going on to suggest that there are some proper space battles on the cards as well – which will be nice, blending planetary exploration with some of that aerial tension.


Combat is all about precision, just like it was before. You have to be able to latch onto a wolf as it leaps in mid-air, charge up a shot, or glide just under its outstretched claws in one seamless motion, which Retro has perfectly portrayed. Rolling about in a Morph Ball through those tight ventilation shafts and hallways is just as smooth, and did I mention the visor saves a record of every scan you perform? Keep note of adversary weak points, landscape lore to memorize, and hidden passageways that will give you an advantage – it’s all there. The vast deserts demand to be explored on a Vi-O-La run, but the jungles will require a lot more caution – those mental puzzles and ambushes will not allow you pass without thinking your way through them. Then there are the enemies – savage bands of them, hovering drones, remnants of Lamorn… each will require a unique strategy if you want to win.



Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 owners will be pleased to learn that the game will clock in at 28.9 GB, with full support for playing on your TV, tabletop, or on the move via handheld mode. Switch 2 owners cam grab an upgrade pack if they own the base version. Multiple languages are also being implemented, including English, Japanese, French, and a few more. Pre-orders are now available on the eShop, and if you pre-order, you’ll receive some amiibo figures for Samus, her bik, and Sylux right alongside.