Honestly, it felt like it was never going to happen. After years of radio silence and a complete development reboot that saw the project shifted from Bandai Namco back to the original masters at Retro Studios, we finally have a clear look at Metroid Prime 4 gameplay. It’s real. It’s snappy. It looks exactly like what fans have been begging for since the Wii era ended. If you watched the Reveal Trailer from Nintendo, you probably noticed that Samus Aran hasn’t lost her step, but there’s a lot more bubbling under the surface of those scan visor UI elements than most people realized on a first watch.
The game is officially titled Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
The Scan Visor is Still the Soul of the Game
Walking into a new Metroid game usually feels like coming home, provided "home" is a hostile alien planet trying to melt your face off. From the initial footage, the Metroid Prime 4 gameplay loop appears to lean heavily into the environmental storytelling that made the first GameCube entry a masterpiece. You see the scan visor activate almost immediately. This isn’t just a gimmick for reading lore; it’s the primary way the player interacts with the world’s geometry.
Retro Studios knows that Prime fans don't just want to shoot things. They want to investigate. The UI has been updated for the Switch’s hardware—which, let's be real, is showing its age, but Retro is using every trick in the book to make these textures pop. The visor icons are cleaner. The circular reticle pulses with a familiar blue hue. When Samus scans a terminal or a strange biological specimen, the transition is seamless. No clunky menus. It’s just immersion.
Combat, Mobility, and the Return of the Space Pirates
Combat looks fast. Much faster than the deliberate, almost tank-like controls of the original Prime 1. We see Samus engaging Space Pirates in a facility that looks suspiciously like a Galactic Federation research outpost under siege. She’s using the classic Power Beam, but the fire rate seems tuned for a more modern FPS audience.
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One thing that caught my eye? The movement.
Samus isn't just shuffling around. There’s a weight to her landing, yet a fluidity to her strafing that suggests Retro has looked closely at how Metroid Dread modernized her 2D movement and tried to translate that "feel" into 3D. She feels agile. You see her using the Morph Ball to navigate tight vents mid-combat, which isn't a new mechanic, but the speed at which she transitions from first-person shooting to third-person rolling is noticeably snappier than in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
- The arm cannon looks incredible with heat-distortion effects after sustained fire.
- Missile locks are instantaneous, cutting down on the "wait for the beep" downtime of older titles.
- Environmental destruction seems to play a bigger role, with cover chips flying off as Space Pirates lay down suppressive fire.
That Forest Planet and Graphical Fidelity
Let’s talk about the environments. The footage showcased a lush, tropical world that many are speculating is a new planet entirely, though it carries the DNA of Tallon IV. The foliage reacts to Samus’s presence. When she fires her beam, the light reflects off the raindrops on her visor—a classic Retro Studios touch that still hits hard in 2026.
The lighting is the real hero here. Despite the Switch's limitations, the baked lighting in the corridors and the volumetric rays in the forest scenes give the Metroid Prime 4 gameplay a sense of depth that Metroid Prime Remastered only hinted at. You can see the glow of Samus's suit lights reflecting on nearby metallic surfaces. It creates an atmosphere of isolation, even when things are exploding.
Who is Sylux and Why Does He Change Everything?
If you blinked, you missed the most important part of the gameplay reveal. Sylux is back. For those who didn't play Metroid Prime Hunters on the DS or see the secret ending of Federation Force, Sylux is a bounty hunter with a massive grudge against the Galactic Federation and Samus herself.
Seeing him step out of a ship flanked by two Metroids—on leashes, no less—changes the stakes of the Metroid Prime 4 gameplay significantly. This implies we aren't just fighting mindless monsters. We are fighting a tactician. This suggests boss fights that might play out more like duels than traditional "shoot the glowing weak point" encounters. Sylux uses experimental Federation tech, which means players will likely have to counter weapons that mirror Samus’s own abilities.
The Mystery of the "Beyond" Subtitle
Nintendo didn't pick the word "Beyond" out of a hat. There is a heavy suggestion of interdimensional or time-travel mechanics. In the trailer, we see a rift-like effect. If the Metroid Prime 4 gameplay incorporates shifting between versions of a map—think Titanfall 2's "Effect and Cause" or Metroid Prime 2: Echoes' Light and Dark worlds—the complexity of the puzzles is going to skyrocket.
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Imagine scanning an object in the "present" to unlock a door in the "past" or a parallel dimension. This would fit the "Prime" formula of backtracking but give it a fresh, mind-bending layer. Retro Studios is famous for its "lock and key" level design. Adding a dimensional layer is the logical evolution.
Real Talk: Performance and Hardware
There’s a lot of chatter about whether this was running on the original Switch or the rumored "Switch 2." To be honest, the frame rate looked like a locked 60 FPS, which is a hallmark of the Prime series. If Retro hits 60 FPS with this level of visual fidelity on the base Switch, it’s a technical miracle. However, the lack of jagged edges suggests some form of modern upscaling is at work.
The HUD is also worth noting. It’s less cluttered. The health bar and missile count are tucked away, giving the player a wider field of view. This is a subtle change, but it makes the world feel much larger. You aren't looking through a helmet as much as you are the person inside it.
What’s Missing?
We haven't seen the Screw Attack in 3D yet. We haven't seen how the Grapple Beam functions in a combat setting rather than just as a traversal tool. Most importantly, we haven't seen the map system. A Metroid game lives or dies by its map. If Retro has moved toward a more seamless, 3D holographic map that doesn't break the flow of exploration, that will be a massive win for Metroid Prime 4 gameplay fluidity.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Players
While we wait for the final release, there are a few things you should do to prep for the jump into Beyond.
Revisit the Remastered Original
If you haven't played Metroid Prime Remastered on Switch, do it now. It’s the closest thing we have to the engine and control scheme that Prime 4 is utilizing. Specifically, get used to the "Dual Stick" control setup, as the trailer suggests this is the intended way to play the new entry, moving away from the pointer controls of the Wii era.
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Study the Hunters Lore
The rivalry with Sylux isn't just flavor text. Understanding his origin in Metroid Prime Hunters will likely give you a leg up on understanding his motivations and weapon types in Prime 4. He uses the Shock Coil—an electrical weapon that heals the user while damaging the enemy. Expect to face this in gameplay.
Keep Your Expectations Balanced
This is a Switch game at its core. While the art direction is world-class, don't expect 4K ray-traced shadows. Retro Studios excels at "faking" high-end effects through brilliant art design rather than raw horsepower. Focus on the atmosphere and the tight mechanical loops.
Watch the UI, Not Just the Action
In future trailers, pay attention to the icons on the left side of the screen. Those usually represent your visor types (Thermal, X-Ray, etc.) and beam types. The moment a new icon appears, we’ll know exactly what kind of environmental puzzles to expect.
Metroid Prime 4 is clearly trying to bridge the gap between the classic isolation of the first game and the grander, cinematic scale of the third. It’s a tough tightrope to walk. But from the look of the Metroid Prime 4 gameplay revealed so far, Retro Studios hasn't forgotten why we fell in love with Samus in the first place. It’s about the quiet moments of discovery interrupted by flashes of high-octane violence. And, of course, that perfect, haunting music.