Metroid Prime 4: Beyond players are finding Samus' sidekick so annoying they are sharing hints for how to lessen the cringe: "I shut off voice volume completely and instantly felt better"

samus looking at the camera in her armor with her helmet on — (Image credit: Nintendo)

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is finally available to the public after eight years of waiting, but there is one part of the game that almost no one is happy about: Samus' latest sidekick, Myles MacKenzie. The chatty companion is by far the most controversial aspect of the recent Nintendo release, and people are not shy in speaking out about their annoyance, going as far as to share tips on how to shut him up.

If you visit the Metroid subreddit, you will see plenty of threads discussing Samus' new pal, and very few people have anything nice to say. The closest I found to a compliment was someone writing, "I think I kinda like Myles… I’m sorry," before the comments quickly and passionately disagreed.

The annoyance surrounds not only the frequency with which Myles opens his mouth, nor his cringe-worthy jokes, but also how he stops you from exploring the world or working out puzzles for yourself. "3 hours in, he is still reminding me to save my game," one user comments. "Anytime I finish a puzzle, he calls to say something must have changed in the environment. Disabling the tutorials setting hasn't done anything. I expect it's just the button prompts that show up when learning a new ability."

Two hours in, McKenzie is the fucking worst from r/Metroid

If you don't mind Myles, you can find threads that believe the hate is overhyped, like one that declares, "I've come to the conclusion that his existence and personality are not big deals." But if you're looking for like-minded souls to feed into your hatred, one of my favorites is the post that reads, "I would pay you $10 for an option to shut him the fuck up and let me play the game."

However, there is apparently one way that you can ease the pain. One heavily up-voted comment full of Myles hate reads, "I shut off voice volume completely and instantly felt better. The dialog itself ain't great either, but it lands better through text without the Borderlands tier delivery."

Metroid Prime 4 continues an unfortunate trend of locking major features behind amiibo, with the new $30 Samus figure a requirement if you want a radio for your bike