Metroid Prime 4 Beyond announced for 2025 and it looks like it'll melt your Switch

Seven years after its announcement, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is finally 'primed' and ready. Originally revealed at E3 2017, development has moved from Bandai Namco to Retro Studios, which has been silently going about its business until now.

The next chapter in the acclaimed Metroid universe has now returned from its orbit to land on the Nintendo Switch. As announced during June 2024's Nintendo Direct, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is coming next year! 

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond announced for 2025 

Reportedly eyeing more "emotion" and "interesting and innovative scenes that elevate the narrative", at least according to a Retro Games job posting, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is now officially penned in for a 2025 release.

Ending the Nintendo Direct showcase in style, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond's trailer showcased Samus in all of her natural glory, sporting the iconic bronzed armour as she tackled the parasitic Metroid creatures with cannons of plasma.

The trailer was short and sweet, but the graphics already appeared to be incredible, with the movement and gunplay matching that same energy.

But, there's a little bit of a problem because Metroid Prime 4: Beyond looks so great that it's hard to imagine that the Switch will be able to keep up. Instead, it looks like a title that should have the full power of a PC behind it.

Metroid Prime 4 might be poised for bigger things than just Nintendo Switch

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Nintendo ruled out any notions of a new console being announced at the Direct showcase, which seems to be a familiar theme for the next wave of hardware after Xbox also chose to snub its own game preview reel for next-gen hardware announcements.

Still, the Switch 2 is rumoured to be in the works, and while an announcement seems imminent, Metroid Prime 4 looks destined for release on more than one Nintendo console. 

So, maybe we've just seen the first Switch 2 title. Maybe, just maybe, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is intentionally super-optimised so that when the Switch 2 does land, a port shouldn't take too long to arrange.

Not everyone will be jumping from ship to ship and Switch to Switch as seamlessly as Samus Aran though. Hopefully, her plasma beams won't be melting our consoles through the grips of our hands.