Metroid Prime 4 Kept One of Its Most Controversial Features Because It Was Too Late

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The creators of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond recently explained that the game’s central hub world was a direct result of its difficult development process. After being announced in 2017, the latest installment in the Prime series faced years of silence and delays, becoming a source of amusement – and frustration – for fans. This extended development period ultimately influenced design choices; the team chose not to further delay the game to address a particularly debated feature.

Although Metroid Prime 4 has been mostly well-received, it currently has the lowest review scores of any main Metroid Prime game, continuing a pattern of decreasing scores with each new release. It launched with an 81 on Metacritic, and has since dropped to 78. Player reviews are also the lowest in the series, averaging 8.2 out of 10. A frequent complaint is that the game’s open world design doesn’t quite work and feels a bit old-fashioned, and it’s now becoming clear why that might be the case.

Nintendo Didn’t Give Metroid Prime 4 a Proper Open World Because It Had Spent Too Long in Development

So, Nintendo recently talked about the journey of Metroid Prime 4, and it’s pretty interesting. They initially looked at how Breath of the Wild totally reinvented Zelda with its open world, and they wanted to do something similar with Metroid. But they quickly realized that a fully open Metroid might not work – the series is known for a certain kind of exploration and gameplay that doesn’t really fit a totally free-roaming style. They ended up trying to create a main, somewhat open area with more focused levels branching off from it. The problem? By the time they figured out that players really wanted those big open worlds, they’d already spent so much time on the game that it was too late to change things drastically.

Image via Retro Studios

Nintendo noticed that players’ expectations for open-world games had evolved after Retro Studios began working on the project. However, the team had already started development over once, so they couldn’t afford to restart again. They decided to stick with their original plan of blending an open world with the traditional gameplay of the Metroid series. While it was understandable they didn’t want to delay the game further—there hadn’t been a new main Metroid game in 18 years—choosing to keep the older world design might not have been the best decision.

Some players feel that Metroid Prime 4 relies too heavily on nostalgia, strongly resembling the original Metroid Prime games. While this connection to the past is appealing, it also seems to be a major weakness. The game’s structure, particularly its hub world design, might have been more accepted when it was first announced years ago, but it now feels outdated. Expectations for games have evolved, and what once might have felt like a charming throwback now feels restrictive and linear.

Image via Nintendo

Nintendo acknowledged that modern shooting and action games are much quicker than those from 2017, which doesn’t quite fit with the traditional Metroid style of exploring new areas by improving Samus’s skills. It’s unknown whether the lessons learned from this will influence their next project. While rumors suggest Metroid Prime 5 might be in development, or soon will be, any official announcements are likely a ways off.

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2026-01-03 01:04