"Out of the Question" One of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond's Most Controversial Features Couldn't Be Changed Because It Was Too Late

The team behind Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has revealed the game's hub world design was a consequence of its time in development hell. First announced in 2017, the newest in Retro Studio's Prime franchise was in development for so long and with so few updates that it became a running joke among fans. It seems that long dev cycle took its toll on the game design, too, as the team didn't want to delay things again to fix one of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond's most controversial features.
While it received generally favorable reviews, Metroid Prime 4 is the lowest-rated mainline game in the series, which continues a trend of falling review scores with each subsequent release. Upon launch, the game was sitting at an 81 on Metacritic, and it has since fallen slightly to a 78, and its user score, at 8.2, is likewise the lowest in the franchise. One of the most common criticisms has been that Metroid Prime 4's approach to an open world falls flat and, for many, feels outdated, and now it's clear why that may be.
In an interview with Famitsu, Nintendo shed some light on Metroid Prime 4's development, including how its lengthy delay impacted its world design. Originally, the team was inspired by how Breath of the Wild started a new generation of open-world Zelda games and wanted to incorporate similar elements into Metroid. At the same time, developers thought the freedom of a fully open world didn't mesh with the core mechanics the Metroid Prime series had become known for. As a compromise, Nintendo opted for a central, semi-open hub surrounded by more linear areas, but by the time it realized tides had changed, and modern gamers now appreciated open worlds more than ever, development had already taken too long.
As Nintendo puts it, "players' impressions toward open-world games had changed" after Retro Studios took over the game. But because the team had already restarted once, "backtracking development again was out of the question," so it stuck with its older approach to combining an open world with classic Metroid gameplay. The desire not to delay the game again is understandable, considering there was an 18-year gap between Metroid Prime 4 and the last mainline title, but the decision to keep the older, even outdated, world design may not have worked out in Nintendo's favor.
Some fans have said Metroid Prime 4 feels like a one-way nostalgia trip, with it strongly evoking the first three Metroid Prime games, but its adherence to these elements also being one of the biggest things holding it back. The hub world design may not have been so contentious back in 2017 when Nintendo first announced the title, though it's impossible to say that with any certainty, but the extra time didn't help. Games and people's expectations of them have changed a lot since then, so the linear, limited exploration that may have once felt like a throwback now feels stuck in the past.
Nintendo admitted in the interview that shooters and action games are faster-paced now than they were in 2017, which conflicts with the classic Metroid rhythm of unlocking areas through upgrading Samus' abilities. It's unclear if the team will incorporate what it learned from the experience in the next game. It's rumored that Metroid Prime 5 will begin development soon if it hasn't already, but fans likely won't hear anything about it until further down the line.
Source: Famitsu