Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was one of many games Nintendo showed off at PAX Australia 2025, and we were one of the few who got to dive in and try it out – here’s what we thought.
PAX Australia 2025 came and went earlier this month, and brought along a number of big name devs eager to show off some of their major titles. Nintendo was one such developer who gave Aussies the chance to play some of their upcoming titles like Pokemon Legends: Z-A, Kirby Air Raiders and of course, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
Fans have been urging Nintendo for years to release a brand new Metroid Prime game, and while the franchise has had a few interesting curveballs and faithful remasters, gamers have still been eyeing a follow-up to one of the company’s most daring and unique franchises by far.
The game’s development would first be announced in 2017, in what almost feels like a lifetime ago. However, we only got an official update last year with an announcement trailer that would show us some of the new abilities, equipment and worlds set to feature in the upcoming game.
So, getting the chance to get our hands on the game after waiting 18 years since the title’s last major release was sure to be top of most people’s ‘to-do’ lists at PAX this year.
Thankfully we won’t have to wait too long to get our hands on the full game, as it’s set to release on December 17th this year for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.
So, without further ado, let’s get into everything we saw in the demo and give our thoughts on what we played.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Impressions
The PAX AUS 2025 Metroid Prime 4: Beyond demo felt as though it was tailor picked to show off enough of the new game, while not spoiling anything that would make it stand out from previous titles.
The demo that was made available at PAX Aus took us through the same demo shown six months ago at Nintendo’s Treehouse: Live event. In it, players will have a quick 15-minute snippet, showcasing exploration, minor puzzle solving and a string of combat encounters to prepare you for an oppressive big boss battle by the end.
You play as Samus once again, disembarking from her ship in the midst of a chaotic battle between space soldiers and space pirates. You’ll join in on the battle, shooting at space aliens, scanning the environment and scoring some neat power-ups along the way.
For the most part, the demo is your standard Metroid Prime gameplay loop. You’ll land on a planet, shoot a few enemies, scan them for clues and lore, pick up some neat upgrades and fight a big boss at the end.
One of the big unique features Nintendo were showing off however, was the game’s new free-aim mechanic,made possible with the Switch 2’s brand-new Joy-Cons. If you’re out of the loop and didn’t buy The Welcome Tour for your Switch 2, the new Joy-Cons, when undocked, can be used like a mouse. These let you glide the controller across a surface like a mouse, making for a far better aiming experience on a console while letting you fire quick and precise shots.
Getting to free aim in fights can help you target weak spots during fights or shoot at incoming projectiles. Overall, I didn’t feel like the specific boss fight they had us play lent itself best to try out the free aim mechanic, but I can see the potential for more throughout the game.
While we’re talking about the boss fight, let’s get into it a bit more.
At the end of the demo, players had to fight a great big monster that merged with a Metroid, which is lucky for us, because now it has some convenient weak spots to shoot at.
The monster, named Aberax, will lurk towards you while shooting projectiles. As it shoots, weak spots across its chest will open up, letting you damage it. If the monster gets close enough, it’ll grab you and take a bite out of you, taking a chunk of your health. Thankfully, the boss will throw balls at you that you can shoot (easily with free aim) that’ll drop some health packs to regen yourself back up.
The boss will also spawn these arena-wide attacks that you have to dodge by either jumping over them or quickly morphing into your ball form.
After attacking this weak spots enough, the boss will suddenly hunch over, exposing its true weak spot, which you can start blasting to deal big damage to its health bar. Rinse and repeat, and the boss will go down.
It’s not the most mechanically intense fight, but it was a serviceable tutorial experience. I saw a few players ahead of me in the queue die to the boss, which is fair, as relearning the controls while playing with undocked controllers can be a bit of an information overload at the start.
After the battle, you’re greeted to a brief cutscene which shows Samus making strong eye contact with the game’s supposed main antagonist Sylux. And that’s the demo!
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to check out a lot of what will make Metroid Prime 4: Beyond stand out from its predecessors. If anything, the demo played it safe, giving a familiar experience to those already aware of the series.
So, sadly we didn’t get to play around with the new telekinetic abilities, or drive Samus’ motorcycle, which are shaping up to be two of the more unique powers introduced in the Metroid series by far.
Thankfully, we won’t have to wait long before getting our hands on the full game. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is set to launch on December 17th on the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.
Sure, the demo showed us a lot of what we were already expecting from a Metroid experience, but after 18 years, more Metroid does feel better than ever and I’m keen to see what the rest of the game has in store for us.
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