Metroid Prime 4: Beyond made its presence known during today’s Nintendo Direct with its first gameplay demonstration. Today’s trailer reveals a new world Samus unexpectedly finds herself in, the first extended look at combat, and a brand-new suite of powers.
The trailer unfolded on planet Viewros, a planet of lush jungles including a colossal tree at its center, not unlike Pandora from the Avatar films. To learn more about her surroundings, we see Samus use her trusty scanner to glean information on fauna and flora, some of which, believe it or not, are hostile.
The first-person gunplay looks familiar but polished like never before. In addition to blasting new alien threats and killer plants with her cannon, Beyond sees Samus become augmented by an ancient force granting her new Psychic powers.
These powers grant her telekinetic-like abilities, allowing her to manipulate mechanisms with her mind. We see her turning what looks to be a giant clock hand by simply waving her hand, for example. In combat, Samus can now psychically guide her arm cannon’s projectiles to her targets, essentially turning them into homing blasts.
The trailer concludes with a tantalizing tease of a new red and black suit for Samus, but we’ll have to wait and see what abilities accompany her new armor. Unfortunately, Nintendo didn’t reveal a release date, but Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is slated to launch for Switch later this year.
