It’s fantastic to have my incredible friend Samus Aran back.

Considered one of Nintendo’s most iconic characters, Samus and her Metroid franchise have been largely missing since 2007, when Metroid Prime 3 premiered. I thoroughly enjoyed Metroid Dread a few years back, but that’s the sole game featuring Samus that has caught my interest in nearly two decades. On December 4, that dry spell may come to an end with the introduction of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.

I had the opportunity to play roughly an hour of the game at a recent preview event, thanks to Nintendo, and I have some insights. For the most part, based on my initial experience with Prime 4, this is still the Metroid Prime you cherish. However, I do have one significant worry. Let’s explore it.

It feels fantastic to be back in the power suit

My demonstration of Prime 4 occurred in two separate segments: a brief, 10-minute sneak peek at the game’s onset (which I had already experienced back in April), followed by a more extended view at the moment when the game truly begins. In this segment, Samus finds herself on a mysterious, seemingly deserted alien world brimming with wonder and enigma, and she must figure out how to proceed. Classic Metroid territory.

The more extended part of the demonstration took place in a jungle-like region called Fury Green. This area is very reminiscent of earlier Metroid titles; eerie bug creatures and alien foliage assault Samus every few moments, while peculiar alien relics are scattered throughout the terrain, merely waiting for Samus to acquire the right equipment or skill to interact with them. While this segment of gameplay was somewhat linear and straightforward, there were certainly doors and routes I couldn’t access yet due to lacking the necessary ability, which is exactly what you hope to see in a Metroid game. It was also, evidently, the first hour or so of the game, hence I won’t critique it for being linear.

Although it began as a Switch 1 title (and still has a Switch 1 launch), Prime 4 may be the best-looking game I’ve encountered running on a Switch 2 thus far. The demo was displayed in the 4K/60FPS mode, although the 1080p/120FPS variant looks superb as well. Beyond mere technical specifications, Fury Green is simply an extraordinarily stunning area, and the artistic direction in Prime 4 appears to align well with the rest of the series.

The series developer, Retro Studios, has also captured the essence of navigating this ancient, unfathomable world and blasting everything in sight with a weapon. Combat feels brisk, seamless, and enjoyable, and as an added bonus, this is the first Metroid Prime title to launch with standard dual-analog stick controls. It feels incredible, and Samus’s new psychic powers introduce an intriguing variety to both puzzle-solving and combat. She can manipulate small orbs of energy to activate alien machines, as well as shoot a beam that halts time, allowing you to manually navigate it around the environment for several moments. I faced a major boss battle at the end of the demo where I had to eliminate three targets simultaneously using that last skill, and it felt like classic Metroid Prime gameplay.

So, yes, I’m not particularly concerned about the parts where you engage with Metroid Prime 4. Unfortunately, my demo also, heartbreakingly, didn’t feature any motorcycle elements.

But I was somewhat hoping I’d be the only one here

This demonstration of Prime 4 would have left me enthusiastic for the game with no doubts if not for one small issue: At one point in Fury Green, Samus encounters another marooned human, an awkward Galactic Federation engineer who is fully voiced. He accompanied me through most of the remainder of the demo, partly as someone to safeguard in a brief escort mission-like section, but mainly as a character who pops up on comms occasionally to converse with Samus (who remains silent).

This isn’t the first time a Metroid game has included Samus