According to XDA-Developers, reactions to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond have been mixed, with specific criticism aimed at the writing and dialogue of new characters like a Federation Marine named Myles. The game, developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo, launched on December 4, 2025, and currently holds an 82/100 Top Critic Average on OpenCritic with an 85% Critics Recommend score. The core argument presented is that the perceived awkwardness isn’t actually the fault of these new characters, but a byproduct of the game’s rigid adherence to Samus Aran’s traditionally silent protagonist role. This creates a stark contrast in scenes where fully voiced characters interact with a completely mute Samus. The piece suggests this design choice, while faithful to earlier Metroid Prime games, fails in a narrative with more frequent character interactions.
The stoic hero problem
Here’s the thing about silent protagonists: they’re a classic video game trope for a reason. In older tech-limited games, they let you project yourself onto the hero. You *are* Link. You *are* Samus. But games have evolved, right? We have complex narratives and full voice acting now. The need for that blank-slate stand-in has seriously diminished. Characters can be characters we follow and love, not just avatars.
And that’s where Prime 4 seems stuck in the past. The analysis makes a great point: every other character in the game gets to emote and have a personality. They’re dynamic. But Samus? She’s a statue. She gives us grunts, maybe a subtle head tilt. When a character like Myles says something corny and the camera just holds on Samus’s silent, helmeted stare… of course it feels awkward. The scene has no anchor. She’s giving the other actor nothing to play off of, and she’s giving us, the players, no emotional cue. Is she annoyed? Amused? Bored? Who knows!
It’s been done better before
This is the most frustrating part. Nintendo isn’t new to this. They’ve shown Samus’s inner voice brilliantly in games like Metroid Fusion. And love it or hate it, Metroid: Other M gave us a Samus with a personality—she talked, she reacted, she had an attitude. It was controversial, sure, but it proved she *could* be more than a suit. Prime 4: Beyond seems terrified of that legacy. It’s so scared to let Samus have a voice that it makes the whole narrative feel lopsided.
Basically, the game wants to have its cake and eat it too. It wants a story with banter and character moments, but it also wants a protagonist from an era of isolation. Those two ideas are fighting each other, and the story is losing. The universe feels alive, but its main hero feels like a relic.
Admitting the issue
Look, I get the desire for faithfulness. The Metroid Prime trilogy is legendary. But slavish devotion to one aspect of its design can backfire. The analysis concludes that the backlash to the new characters is misdirected—the root cause is Samus herself. For future games, if they’re going to put her in more social scenarios, they need to let her be a person, not just a player puppet. The galaxy-saving bounty hunter shouldn’t be the most boring person in the room.
