Confirmation of The Witcher 4 took the gaming world by surprise when CDPR posted a teaser for the game on Twitter last month. The hype that ensued speaks to the love players have for that franchise, especially considering how few details were provided. From what is known though, it seems the series is moving in the right direction; Witcher 4 will be made in Unreal Engine 5, it won’t be an Epic Games Store exclusive, and it will mark the beginning of a new saga. Metroid Prime 4 would do well to take notes.
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Leaving Numbered Entries Behind
The first and perhaps simplest change of significance to the Witcher is its team’s decision to drop the “4” from the title. Despite references to it being “The Witcher 4” until a proper title is revealed, CDPR has only referred to it as “the next installment in The Witcher series.” The studio’s co-founder Marcin Iwinski has stated that the team designed the Witcher games as a trilogy, so this new title will likely favor a subtitle instead. The next Metroid Prime game should also do this, considering the Metroid Prime trilogy provided a decisive conclusion. A great way to escape the confines of previous games is by doing away with numbered entries and thinking of each game as a standalone title.
Moreover, a fourth Metroid Prime game should utilize new characters to tell its story and establish a new identity. Dark Samus, the Ing, and the Luminoth were all compelling characters within the universe, but a new title creates opportunities for new characters, similar to how the next Witcher will start moving away from Geralt. Considering the rich lore both of these game series have to offer, it shouldn’t be difficult to bring new characters into the picture.
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Incorporating New Alliances
One of the biggest developments regarding the next Witcher game is the inclusion of a new school. The teaser image posted on CD Projekt Red’s Twitter showed a medallion in the shape of a lynx’s head. This signifies a departure from Geralt’s familiar School of the Wolf, and Metroid could do something similar. Retro Studios has done great work expanding on Samus’ bounty hunter background by including other hunters: Rundas, Trace, Weavel, and Gandrayda, to name a few. The fourth game would be a great opportunity to continue developing this aspect of the universe. It makes even more sense given the 100 percent ending of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption that shows Sylux, another bounty hunter, in pursuit of Samus.
When a trilogy does well, its developers are faced with the question of where to take their characters next. The Prime trilogy was a landmark series that redefined what gamers knew about Metroid and brought the IP into a new genre. Similarly, the Witcher series transformed the rich written works of Andrzej Sapkowski into a series of games, moving across mediums. There’s always opportunities to remaster the Prime games, but as these series both approach their fourth entries, developers at their respective studios will have to work diligently to ensure success. There’s a lot to lose for both Retro Studios and CD Projekt Red, but there’s also a lot to gain through reinvention and innovation.
Metroid Prime 4 is currently in development for the Nintendo Switch.
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