The new game Metroid Prime 4: Beyond received mixed reviews, and the story behind its open-world-style hub is quite interesting. Developers recently told Famitsu (reported by Nintendo Everything) that Nintendo insisted on keeping the open-world hub even though opinions on open-world games had shifted since the feature was originally planned.
The game was first revealed in 2017, but development probably started even earlier. It’s well known that the game underwent several major changes and restarts during its years-long development before finally launching last month.
During the interview, the developers explained that Nintendo’s success with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild heavily influenced how Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was structured. Traditionally, Metroid games focused on players slowly unlocking new areas and abilities to expand exploration. However, the team realized this approach wouldn’t fit well with the open-world feel of Breath of the Wild. To blend both styles, Nintendo and the developers agreed on a central hub area as a compromise for the game’s level design.
The developers explained that early in the project, they noticed a lot of online discussion asking for a Metroid game with the open-world style of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. However, they realized that Metroid’s focus on gaining new abilities to unlock more areas doesn’t really fit with the ‘go anywhere’ freedom of open-world games. To address this, they designed a central, freely explorable area as a hub connecting to other locations. They then added the ability to move quickly and enjoyably on a bike within this hub, aiming to provide a relaxing break from exploration and help control the game’s pacing.
Player expectations for open-world games had shifted significantly since Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was originally announced, which created a challenge during its difficult development. The game had already been restarted once, so the developers decided to stick with their initial concept, stating that another major overhaul wasn’t possible. They were determined to move forward with the original vision.
Shooting and action games were getting faster and more dynamic during development, but we deliberately didn’t incorporate those changes into our adventure game. We felt they wouldn’t fit the pace we were aiming for, and as a result, the game feels separate from those trends – it’s almost timeless.
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2026-01-02 18:11