After a long old wait, Nintendo’s hugely anticipated sci-fi shooter sequel Metroid Prime 4 has re-surfaced – bringing with it a gorgeous first gameplay trailer, a new ‘Beyond’ subtitle, and confirmation it’s launching next year.
Metroid Prime 4 was, of course, first announced all the way back in 2017, almost a decade after the launch of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption on Wii. Nintendo eventually confirmed it was was being developed by Bandai Namco – but 2019 brought the news the project had “not reached the standard” Nintendo sought and was being rebooted from scratch, this time with original Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios at the helm.
Since then, updates have been scarce, but now – during an already treat-packed Nintendo Direct – the long-in-the-works shooter has re-emerged with nearly two minutes of gameplay.
Unfolding in the Cosmic Year 20X9 at the Galatic Federation Research Facility (as per the trailer’s opening caption), how better to kick things off than with a dramatic entrance from Samus Aran herself? After the toot of a very familiar musical motif, it’s straight into the action – Samus blasting and scanning her way across a beautifully desolate alien landscape.