Nintendo just dropped the action-packed second trailer for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, its last major release for the uber-popular Switch console.
This time, fearless bounty hunter Samus Aran finds herself mysteriously teleported to an uncharted planet called Viewros.
Sure enough, it’s crawling with alien nasties, from giant mosquito-like bugs to deadly plants with slithery tendrils.
Your job is to vaporise them all in first-person mode using the Arm Cannon laser blaster built into Samus’s high-tech suit — only now, she can control the beams with her mind.
Metroid Prime 4 gameplay
As it turns out, our plucky explorer now has psychic powers. Alongside making short work of those pesky beasties, her mind-meld abilities let her interact with the world, operating mechanisms and opening doors as she navigates the labyrinthine environment.
When all else fails, you can blast through walls or roll into a ball (Samus’s signature move) to squeeze through tight spaces.
“Why were these powers bestowed upon Samus, and what will her fate be? The threads intertwining beyond space and time will weave a new tale,” Nintendo teased in its synopsis.
Will it be on Switch 2?
The new trailer arrived on Thursday during Nintendo’s latest Direct presentation focused on upcoming Switch games.
Yes, you read that right — Nintendo is still churning out new titles for its nearly eight-year-old console despite the imminent arrival of the Switch 2. Then again, thanks to the next-gen device’s backwards compatibility, Metroid Prime 4 will be playable on both systems.
What are the best Metroid games?
If you’re new to the series, Metroid kicked off in 1986 on the NES and (alongside the vampiric RPG, Castlevania) went on to shape an entire sub-genre known as Metroidvania. Games that fall under this category let you explore freely, power up to progress, and double back to uncover secrets. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is the best recent example.
Super Metroid (SNES), Metroid Prime (GameCube), and Metroid Dread (Switch) set the gold standard for the series, and Beyond looks set to continue that legacy.
Metroid Prime 4 release date
When can you play it? Well, after a gruelling eight-year wait, during which the game was rebooted once and went through multiple delays, we still don’t have a concrete release date. All Nintendo has said is that it will be out at some point this year.
