Posted December 09, 2025 by Neon Brain
#Think piece
Disclaimer: these are my personal thoughts and feelings. If you played this game and do not like it at all or have issues with things that I had no issues with, it is perfectly fine. If you liked the things I didn't like at all, that is also fine. I won't think any less of you and you should freely express said thoughts. The discourse around this game has been fairly obnoxious, you're either a brain dead fanboy to some or negative nancy to others and I do not like how this is essentially every discourse online. No nuance or civil discussions anymore. The uncomfortable truth is if you imagined the best game ever for 18 years after Prime 3, it won't meet that expectation. No game would ever meet such expectations.
Opinions on art always change over time. Maybe you'll slowly dislike this game over time, maybe you'll learn to love it slowly and surely. Maybe you'll hate it even more, maybe you'll love it even more. Can't wait to see what people think after 2–3 years.
I played the game with tutorial off and if I missed out on any details, correct me. I've never done a review like this before and english is my second language.
I am fully aware I have the unique position that I am making my own FPS Metroidvania, literally tailor making it for my own weird taste so the state of the Metroid franchise doesn't bother me as much as it used to. Surely you're here for Neon Rain because of the Metroid influences yes...?
Hello, as mentioned I took a small hiatus to play Metroid Prime 4 and I just completed it last night. Many of you should know that Neon Rain was born from the hole the franchise did when it went on a hiatus after Other M stumbled out. I had ideas and concept art for this game as early as 2014. I waited to be skillful enough to do it justice. Metroid Prime 4 is extremely a huge deal for me to the point that the weeks leading up to it, I entered a high zen level of closure. I knew deep down it was never going to be the game I imagined when I was a teenager. Couldn't ever be the one I imagined during the dark age of Metroid. I was just simply happy the game existed, even if it were to be bad.
Quite melancholic when I finally held the game in my hands. I anticipated a Prime 4 since I was 13 and now I am 29 years old.
Good thing for me the game is actually pretty damn good in my humble opinion. Of course I do not think it's a perfect game with glaring issues so let me elaborate on that.
I want to get those two aspects out of the way first. The companion NPCs and sand area have been the biggest points of contention to near absurdity and there has been huge misconceptions about both of those. They're also rightfully the biggest thing to criticize. They can make or break this game for people very easily.
This game has Samus teaming up with federation marines and saving them. They're chatty and quirky and the writing for them is very divisive, that is very true. What isn't true is they're constantly talking to you for the entire game. Most of the game is exploring this planet on your own. The clip that made some people online go berserk, which is the bit you're saving the engineer character, that whole segment is 20 minutes long and he won't tag along ever again until the final boss. That do not defend the writing but saying he ruins the whole game is not true. You do have to make sure to revive them when they're downed during combat but it's rather quick and add variety to the gameplay. Neat to see the squad mate system from Prime 3 being refined. They also do not overstay their welcome.
Outside of the final area and the final boss level, every single other area starts with you exploring them alone on your own first, letting you have your own first impression and letting the atmosphere soak in. The NPCs only contact you via comm when the plot demands it with the exception of exploring the sand area. That's right, if you decide to backtrack to get the items or scans you missed, they won't talk to you ever. They should seriously give you the option to turn it off when exploring the sand area, why can't this be like Prime 1 and 2 when I can turn off hints??? I'm not lost, I'm just exploring and grabbing items in the desert. With that said, it doesn't happen to an irritating degree. It seems to trigger once when entering the sand area and again after 30 minutes.
So yeah, they're really not turbo annoying nor do they ruin your first impressions of an area. They leave you to your lone self when re-exploring an area that isn't the sand area. But Retro, let us turn off the comms that aren't plot related, a lot of people will like you for it. If we wanna get lost for hours, let us be lost. There's even a button to manually use the comm so no idea why it does automatically anyway with no options to turn have that off.
I have mixed feelings about the characters, there's some moments that were super well made with them while other moments had my head scratched. The writing for them has been messy and some scenes are super awkward because Samus doesn't ever talk, even when someone is breaking down or asking a question that cannot be answered with yes or no she stays mute. Very Doom coded but this is not Doom, she has spoken as recently as Dread afterall. However, they did show off Samus humanity at time so that was nice. Very stong body language so shoutout to the mocap actress.
Obviously these are the most subjective part of the game because I've seen people really loving them. I can't lie that they all grew on me over time, even the engineer in a love-hate way. Good acting does go a long way for them.
Will criticize the story more in depth in a spoiler section but yeah, super torn on it. It's not lost on me that Metroid stories are often paper thin and more of a vehicle to get you explore weird planets and whatnot hence why in my humble opinion it's the least of this game problems and I will admit almost half of the NPC section is me nitpicking. But if you love something, you want it to be better.
I will ride or die for Reger Tokabi, VUE-995 and Nora Armstrong.
Another misconception was the game was mainly open world. That is not true. The desert is NOT an open world. It's basically a Zelda Wind Waker hub. It's shockingly small for what it is and since it's pretty barren, you can literally drive from point A to B in a straight line. Make no mistake, you can't simply ignore it and just beeline for the plot. You still need to engage it for the endgame. More than justifiable if this makes or breaks the game for you. I do think it's unethical to Metroidvania design. However I welcome anyone to dare to make a open world Metroidvania.
That said, I did like it fine. I like the lonely music in it. I don't know why some people say there's no music (probably a misconception due to the bike amiibo). Reminds me a lot of the recent Dune movies, I like those a lot. Helps that the bike is genuinely fun for me. It does help that you do not spend an awful lot of time in the desert. I suppose that ties into what kind of gamer I am. I like when games let me drive around in serene and odd worlds. Yes, there are upgrades to be found in it in case you wonder if there was truly nothing to do in it. There's stuff to do in it, the endgame is heavily tied to it as a matter of fact.
However, I do not want this concept to ever return. I also do not want a full-fledged open world Metroid game. To be blunt, if I had a button that would sacrifice it to have interconnected world designs instead, I would press it twice. We can all debate if it was a cop out or mandated by Nintendo but it's here to stay for this game. Could it possibly be that the first build that was scrapped before Retro took over was meant to be open world but only Retro are optimization and tech wizards? Who knows.
My biggest gripe with it is the stupid crystal hunt. Had I known what it did and that it was mandatory for the endgame, I would've done it as I progressed in the plot instead of doing mind-numbing grind during the last third of the game. I know it won't be an issue on my second playthrough but that did sour my last few hours of playtime. I know in the 'vania part of Metroidvania there is a grinding aspect but that's not what I want in an official Metroid.
I would like a post-launch update that will allow me to deposit the crystals in shrines scattered around the desert because constantly having to backtrack to home base to deposit them was tedious. Samus deposits them in a shrine via nonsense space-magic anyway so it wouldn't even feel out of place. Some people beg for more stuff in the desert so why not a lil extra something?
The one thing we can come together as a collective species on is this: locking features behind Amiibos fucking sucks. To be more specific, the bike Amiibo has a music radio for the bike and infinite boost during a desert exploration session. The former would've made chilling and cruising in the desert way more fun and the latter should've been a late game upgrade to cut down on grind. Really hate Nintendo for constantly doing this. FYI you can print the code to access this stuff but you shouldn't have to do that. Nintendo surely won't listen but they sure are reprehensible for it. Strangely didn't happen with Metroid Prime Remastered, truly the sacred Metroid game.
But yes, let this be this game's gimmick that can make it or break it for people. Prime 1 has the insane backtracking, Prime 2 has the dark world, Prime 3 has the corruption system and linear level designs, this game has the bike and Dune level. Very odd feelings that I like the desert and bike as a whole but the game could've been greater than it is if removed and replaced with more interconnected world design.
Yes, it's because I simply couldn't ignore the previous topics and they're the most talked about things for very valid reasons. It needs to be constructively criticized. The game hints at a sequel so let's get loud but fair about our dislikes in a humane manner.
So let me tell you this: I like 80% of this game. The things that I critized doesn't make the bulk of the game.The actual Metroid part of the game is all stellar to me. The psychic abilities are fun to use, combat has been so polished up that I dare say it's the best combat in the series thanks to the 4 directional dashes, free aim during lock-on and enemies balanced around said new combat. Bosses have also been stellar for the most part. They're all wonderfully done and will punish you if you're too sloppy even on Normal. I actually died a fair amount of times to them. Sound design, music, art design is all so, so good.
The game is a technical masterpiece, no one can really deny that. It's the swan song of the original Switch while also acting as a showcase piece for the Switch 2. It says a lot that people argued the first trailer wasn’t even a Switch 1 game.
It runs beautifully at 900p and a locked 60FPS docked and 720p 60FPS portable. I think every Metroid fan knew Retro was gonna deliver on that front, but it’s still worth saying.
I really enjoy the proper levels, they were all so slick and fun to navigate. Would elaborate on that but this is long enough so I will say that my favourite area is Volt Forge. The level designs is closer to Prime 3. I do like Prime 3 levels a lot so cannot complain about that. I do miss the level designs of 1 and 2 the most but I have Neon Rain to fill out my fantasies on that.
I LOVE the alien plot unlike the human plot. Samus has to do archaeology to preserve this near-extinct alien race history and culture so for once, I actually felt compelled to gather scans. That's where the story shined the most to me. I do like the sci-fi concepts introduced via the new subspecies of Metroids. Notice how I said concept... more on that later. I personally liked the twist with Sylux but I perfectly understand that letting the frog boil for 19 years(fucking hell man) regarding his origins led to disappointment for some so I sympathize.
Time for spoilers
The story is very uneven as I mentioned so here's a rough recap with my thoughts sprinkled in.
The game starts with Sylux and his very own pirate faction invading a federation base. OMG that's awesome!!! And this new subspecies of Metroids can parasitically fuse itself to a host??? Literally a Metroid Fusion. That's even scarier than the theorized Mochtroids! Great first boss that shows what these new forms of parasites can do too!
Wait, what do you mean it's over right there?
Pirates and these Metroids do not show up again for the rest of the game after you get teleported away. Okay, not exactly true for the Metroids because the main bosses outside of Sylux are infected with them but it just seems like an afterthought? It has that "Ooooh right, the Metroids, let's see where we should shoehorn them" energy to it. Seems like the strong sci-fi concept for them was either an accident or it's a mishmash of the scrapped build plot and this plot, who knows. These Metroids should've absolutely decimated the wildlife and fauna but NOPE. You don't even fight the little bastards nor do you see them infect anything but the main bosses except for Sylux. I really want this concept to return in the sequel and further explored and fleshed out. It is the only Nintendo series with continuity and goddamn it, let these be fleshed out in a Prime 5 (if this series doesn't die again).
Alright that was fumbled.
The human plot discussion has been beaten to death so I will say it's a 50/50 quality wise just to recap. Main objective is to save them and plan to escape from the planet and that's pretty much it. They all had their time to shine and they weren't useless characters so A+ for that.
I do really enjoyed the twist about the grievers, it made them tragic and scary at the same time. Almost made me forget the metroid fusion fumble.
So Sylux, the main villain yeah? I really liked him but I wished he was more present between the beginning and ending of the game. It has been said in Hunters that he hated the Federation and Samus. Many theorized he was a mutated human being and they were right. He always had technology to infiltrate the Federation undetected. Makes perfect sense as to why he resents Samus since she's been glorified while he was left to rot. I hope he looks like a mutated freak like a Frankenstein monster. Seems like he's the main villain for a bit in the Prime series so no complaints.
Very cool final fight with him and literally the friends you made along the way assist you against the first phase. The game kept copping out from killing any of them during the whole game so I was shocked they actually did have them seemingly killed off at the end. Damn I wanted the cute woman to live. But since you don't see actual bodies, it's up in the air but the ending cutscene implies they would be dead-dead. Who knows, maybe they're going to be test subjects for Sylux, how morbid and Nintendo surely won't let that happen (do it, no balls).
Personally, what I imagined this game to be was to finally bridge the Prime games to Metroid 2 but like I mentioned, it was never going to be the game I imagined.
Not lost one me that Metroid games plot is more so in service to drive the gameplay and explorations and not deep storytelling but they were very good at it. A certain beauty in simple storytelling that was effective paired with strong world building. Well since her friends are all seemingly... DEAD now, I guess that mean we can go back to her being a loner. Wouldn't that be the twist of all time that this game is in service to strip back Metroid Prime back to it's root. Metroid is seemingly the only Nintendo iP with continuity after all. We shall see...
So yea, I like this story and I also dislike this story, very strange feelings. Curious how I will feel about it over time.
No Ridley is always a plus too.
It has issues but it didn't deter my enjoyment of the game. The highs outshine the negative aspects of the game for me. I'm itching to replay it and optimize my second playthrough to beat my par time.
I do recommend the game but it has caveats but I think that's kind of a moot point to make. A lot of you already made up your mind if you wanted to play the game or not. Some of you even decided it was GOTY without buying it just yet.
At the time of writing this, it sits at an 81% on Metascore. I do not give a damn about review scores but I think it perfectly reflects the game. A good game that has issues that can make it or break it for any individual. It really does stick out like a sore thumb when the first game has a 97%, hailed as one of the best games of all time. The sequel, 92% and the third sequel, 90%. These are extreme shoes to fill and I do not fault people for feeling dissapointed or put off. I personally like this better than 3 but who knows what I will think in a year from now.
I will say going forward, does every future prime games need the boost ball, spider ball, a lava area, a ice area and/or a last minute fetch quest? I'm pretty sure most people wanna see more unique upgrades and biomes in the future.
Metroid 6 by Mercury Steam next? 😛
Alright, back to Neon Rain.