Nintendo Suggests Metroid Prime 4’s Tortured Development Meant It Was “Divorced From The Changing Of Times”

“We resolved to move forward with our original vision”.

As you’ll know if you’ve read our review, we adored Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, and consider it to be one of the highlights of the Switch 2’s library.

However, with a Metacritic rating of 79 at the time of writing, it’s clear that Samus’ latest adventure didn’t strike the same chord with many players.

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Mini Review: Layers Of Fear: Final Masterpiece Edition (Switch 2) – Handsome But Humdrum Horror

Tormented souls.

Switch owners already have access to Layers of Fear: Legacy and its sequel, but Bloober Team is back with a new port for Switch 2. Utilising Unreal Engine 5 to achieve some truly impressive visuals, Layers of Fear: The Final Masterpiece Edition is neither a sequel nor a remake, but rather the definitive vision of the series so far, packaging both titles into one enhanced experience.

The result is mixed. Although this is new for Switch 2, it launched elsewhere in 2023, before the studio significantly upped its game (in my opinion) with Silent Hill 2 and Cronos: The New Dawn. As such, what you’re getting here is a perfect representation of what I’d call ‘old’ Bloober; one that focuses on scripted, linear events with minimal player agency.

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Feature: Nintendo Life’s Alternative Awards 2025

Best ‘squirrel with a gun’ game, most ‘Huh?’ Nintendo moment, and more!

Hello, well met stranger, and welcome to Jurassic Park! Nintendo Life’s Alternative Awards 2025!

It’s been…well…it’s been a year in which we have all existed, that’s for sure, and as a result games happened. Loads of them, in fact. Of course, and as is tradition at this time of year (it’s Christmas, mate, wake up), you’ve got your usual shoe-ins for Game of the Year, your fancy writing awards, nice acting, and good gameplay nods. All that stuff and nonsense for people who do everything right all the time.

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Feature: But The Future Can Change – Chrono Trigger And Learning To Love The World

The Corridors of Time.

Over the holiday season, we’re republishing some of the best articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors from 2025. This article was originally published in March. Enjoy!

Note: If you haven’t played Chrono Trigger to completion…what are you playing at? If you’re sensitive to spoilers, come back when you’re done as we discuss end-game details below…

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Review: Stray Children (Switch) – A Surreal, Captivating, Undertale-Inspired RPG

Don’t talk to strangers.

Stray Children launched on the Japanese eShop on 26th December 2024. We weren’t able to review it back in October when it arrived in the West, but we’ve now managed to catch up with Onion Games’ latest…


Your dad’s missing and some weird “uncle” is at the door, claiming to know you. Stray Children just chucks you straight into things with barely a title screen – but perhaps that sort of stylistic confidence is unsurprising coming from people behind Moon: Remix RPG Adventure. Yoshihiro Kimura and Onion Games have delivered a compact, auteur-driven project, heading off on adventures into emotional storytelling rather than into sophisticated mechanics. And it uncovers some impressive treasures on its quest.

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Feature: I Play This One Particular SNES Game Every Xmas As A Personal Tradition

Please help me.

It was the Christmas of 1992. Mr Blobby was the funniest thing on television (according to your parents), and Whitney Houston had been tricked into singing a love song about everyone’s favourite sentient cardigan, Kevin Costner (I feel like I’m having a war flashback now).

And me? Well, I was having a great time despite all of this, actually. Because Santa had done me a massive solid.

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Editorial: Happy Holidays From Everyone At Nintendo Life

So here it is…

And here we are once more! It’s Yule! Navidad! Xmas! Chrimbo! Rudolphtide! Grinchtingle! Erm… Richard Curtistime? Hmm. Merry Christmas, everyone.

It’s been a big year for Nintendo fans and the wider gaming industry, with new hardware, a load of new games, even more new versions of old games, plus plenty of challenges, with life’s regular ups and downs accompanied by many more on a global scale.

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Feature: Citizen Sleeper Dev Talks Sequels, Stress & Creating “My Own Take On The Mass Effect Series”

Wake up, Sleeper.

Over the holiday season, we’re republishing some of the best articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors from 2025. This article was originally published in January. Enjoy!


Citizen Sleeper was, coincidentally, one of 2022’s sleeper hits. With its combination of top-tier writing and decision-based gameplay, this table-top-inspired RPG and space adventure pulled us into its airlock and wouldn’t let us out until we had played through the emotional damage of witnessing every possible outcome (and yes, that includes the three DLC packs).

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Guide: Best Nintendo Switch 1 & 2 Games Of 2025

Get your Switch GOTYs here.

2025 was filled with brilliant games, large and small, launching every single month. It’s the year that both Switch 2 and Silksong finally came out. Wowzers.

The quality has been exceptionally high for both the original Switch and the newer console. Below we present the top 50 best games of the year for Switch 1 and 2 combined.

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