There will always be a debate with gamers and developers/publishers about “how much a video game should be changed with each new entry.” After all, if you don’t change enough, things become stagnant. If you change too much, though, you risk losing the game’s identity. Metroid Prime 4 Beyond had a LONG development period, and yet, as my review of the game noted, in my opinion, it turned out great, and is a must-have for the Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. However, while the team at Retro Studios did insert an open-world-style area via Sol Valley, the game itself was still very “Metroidvania” in setup.
In a chat with Famitsu, which was translated by Nintendo Everything, someone who worked on the game noted that they did hear player requests for a truly open-world entry in the franchise, but that didn’t happen because that would mess with the formula that the franchise was built on:
“Metroid’s core element of ‘increasing the amount of explorable areas by unlocking powers’ is not very compatible with the ‘freedom to go anywhere from the beginning’ of open worlds. Thus we thought to design a limited area that could be freely explored, and have that be a hub that could connect to other areas. Then we thought that if one could move around on the bike in a satisfying way in that area, it could be a segment that mitigates the tension from exploration, and paces the whole game.”
For me, Metroid Prime 4 Beyond did indeed have a good balance of excitement, tension, action, and traversal, and going fully open-world might not work for Samus as well as some might think. If a next entry is made, we’ll have to see how Nintendo and Retro push things forward.
Source: Nintendo Everything
