Submitted 10 months ago by CileTheSane@lemmy.ca to games@lemmy.world
I haven’t played a Metroidvania in a while and I’m looking for suggestions of some good ones to try. Some I would recommend:
Ender’s: Lilies (Magnolias is good too, but play Lilies first. The setting and theme hits better.)
Ori and the Blind Forest / Will of the Wisps (Will of the Wisps did bring a tear to my eye)
Monster Sanctuary (a creature capture metroidvania)
Any system is good, interested to hear of other good ones that are out there.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The game so good it created the term “Metroidvania” even though the formula was basically “Metroid”.
Does it hold up well for someone who doesn’t have nostalgia for it?
Absolutely yes. It’s timelessly good. I played a bunch of the post-SotN Castlevanias on GBA and such and even with the more advanced systems and everything, none of them hit the same. It’s insane how well they nailed it on their first go.
You don’t have to have nostalgia for the game to appreciate how wonderfully crafted and expansive it is. It has one of the best soundtracks of any game, period. It has a ton of secrets (including one MAJOR secret) and a couple of extra game modes that enhance the replayability.
I would say the game seems to get better every time I play it. Is that nostalgia or something else? There are a lot of games I played before I had ever seen SOTN, yet I don’t feel the same desire to keep replaying them. I think it’s like a piece of classical music or a great movie. The more you replay it, the more details you come to appreciate. The original Deus Ex is like that for me as well.
It’s an fantastic game, as other have already told you. But I’d like to add that there’s a randomizer for it and this basically adds almost infinite replay value (at least for me!)
Usually old ps1 games just don’t do it for me, but sotn was one of the two exceptions.
I still play it once every few years. Love that game. Tons of secrets, dont look at any guides until you beat it, and have explored thoroughly.
As someone who played later entries first and then went back to SotN, IMO it's a bit rough around the edges in comparison. Still a fantastic game, but I think later games managed to improve on it.
Animal Well is stellar
Seconding Animal Well. I should go back and collect a few more achievements.
i can tell you the one that surprised me the most: Yoku’s Island Express! utterly adorable pinball metroidvania. you’re a little dung beetle pushing a big ball around to deliver mail.
That one was a delightful surprise. I enjoyed it thoroughly because I’ve always liked digital pinball as well.
Yoku’s is my favorite pinball platformer metroidvania. I don’t hear about many other people playing it.
Played a lot of these in the last two years, with Ender Magnolia and Nine Sols being my favorites among them.
All-time I think I’d still go with Super Metroid, despite its age and having completed multiple playthroughs I still end up playing for hours anytime I boot it.
Honorable mentions for Rabi-Ribi (don’t let the cutesy anime artstyle fool you, this is a fantastic non-linear game with some of the best boss battles in the genre), the recent Momodora games and the Team Ladybug games (with Touhou Luna Nights being my favorite of the three).
Some titles here I haven’t heard before, thanks, I’ll check them out!
The combat in Nine Sols was too difficult for my tastes. Played for an hour or two and made very little progress repeatedly dying to normal enemies.
FYI that Nine Sols has a “Story Mode” that lets you tweak damage numbers (and AFAIK only locks you out of a single achievement).
A few other good ones that come to mind:
Axiom Verge
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Guacamelee
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
Rabi-Ribi
A Robot Named Fight (it's basically if super metroid was a roguelike)
Touhou Luna Nights
Cave Story
Also, the Castlevania Advance Collection is there GBA metroidvanias, definitely worth getting if you wanna play/replay any of those.
Its my no.1 genre… i have played A LOT of them. People have already hit on the “big three” - hollow knight, super metroid and castlevania SOTN… heres lesser mentioned gems… sure, they’re not as incredible as those 3 genre topping master pieces, but theyre super super good and worth a play.
*yes, there could be called “zelda-likes” instead of metroid vanias, but i always felt those two game designs were kissing cousins… if you like one you might like the other.
** these are romhacks…,very very good ones. You need a rom of super metroid and emulator to play em.
Solid list!
but i always felt those two game designs were kissing cousin
I see them as the same genre. You have this “pushing the map’s frontier” mechanic, along with some power or item progression to enable that. The rest is find-and-seek to connect all those dots. IMO, the only major difference is a side vs top-down perspective.
Its true… i think the fundamental formula is that it makes you an explorer first- turns you loose with a very vague objective and lets you discover… map, traversal, sequence skips, w/e and gives you “clues” while letting you feel empowered to do things in your own order/way/time
Axiom Verge. I don’t know how they managed to improve on the feeling of Super Metroid, but they did it.
If you havent played the sequel I would recommend it. It definitely is not the same as the original but is still really solid and hopefully there will be further games
Agreed both are really good games. One of the few games I’ve 100%
I haven’t played very many, and these might not be pure Metroidvanias, but I recommend:
I was not expecting to fall in love with tunic! What a great game!
Tunic is so damn good.
Pretty spot on video.
I just ordered the plushy because it’s on sale and I love Chewnic so much. I love the fox.
Pseudoregalia is just so good!!
Rogue Legacy 2 if it counts. If not, Axiom Verge.
Axiom verge had such a cool atmosphere. Never finished the 2nd one, not sure why it didn’t grab me.
Guacomelee should get more love, it’s a really stylish game and there is even coop if you want to play together with someone.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Metroid Prime.
It’s insane to me how many Souls Likes could be 3D Metroidvanias if they used special powers to clear obstacles instead of just keys or random triggers to unlock new areas. That’s really the only thing I see that separates the genres.
The Tomb Raider survivor trilogy comes pretty close.
A fantastic game, and the remaster looks gorgeous.
The option to use bothe joystick was great.
3D games are still pretty difficult for a small team to pull off with a small budget.
I’ve heard High on Life is a metroidvania, but I haven’t played it myself. You’re right that 3D metroidvanias are exceptionally rare.
I suppose it is. 🤔
You have traversal tools, but also the different guns are used to solve puzzles and progression may be locked behind having the right guns.
A bunch of good ones have already been mentioned (SOTN, Nine Sols, Super Metroid), so I’ll just mention some that were missed.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (sequel to SOTN, just as good if you can get past the DS touchscreen BS. The new remaster might get rid of it)
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (made by Iga, creator of Castlevania: SOTN, Dawn of Sorrow, and others)
Salt and Sanctuary
The Messenger
I fucking love the more “linear” first half of The Messenger, but didn’t enjoy the “metroidvania” second half nearly as much.
Still a great game though.
Rope dart and story was great
I leaned the other way, but both were good.
ROTN is one of my favorites. I can’t wait for the sequel.
I also love that it has built in randomizer support.
Yeah, the continued support and extra modes made me so happy to be an early supporter. I also like the more original NES style games of the series and I am very excited for the sequel.
if you can get past the DS touchscreen BS.
I always cry internally when somebody doesn’t like the DS and 3DS gimmicks :(
Thanks to you guys we all will only have Steam Deck clones as handhelds from now on! /s
To be honest I think most of the people that don’t like the touch gimmicks are emulating… But I have heard people with stock hardware complaining too :/
The DS is quite literally the only system that I ever sold going as far back as the Atari 2600. I hate, hate , hate how they forced the touch screen gimmicks for it in games that it didn’t belong. It was the only blemish on an otherwise outstanding game in Dawn of Sorrow. It ruined all of the Zelda games made directly for the system IMO.
Can I half-cheat and say Control?
Is it a metroidvania?
It is… kind of. Hence the half-cheat. First off it’s 3D, but the game is completely centered around the Oldest House, which is the headquarters of the fictional FBC. Like a Metroidvania you explore and backtrack back and forth through it and unlock new areas opening up from previous places. There is also one (although only one) proper ability gate that lets you explore previously unreachable parts of earlier areas once unlocked.
Even if you don’t classify it as a true Metroidvania it’s definitely Metroidvania-inspired.
I haven’t seen Shadow Complex on here yet.
It’s an older title (2009) and even the remastered version is from 2016.
Still one of my favorite Metroidvania type games.
Batman: Arkham Asylum. It doesn’t come up a lot, because only that first game is a metroidvania and Arkham City might be most people’s favorite in the series, but it absolutely counts. I love Arkham combat. It’s better in the sequels due to some slight tweaks in game feel, but that combat in a metroidvania is just excellent, and the game is just so well paced. It’s a shame what WB did to that studio.
You know, I’ve always thought of Metroidvanias as 2D experiences - but reading your comment and mulling it over, I have to agree: Arkham Asylum is very much a Metroidvania, and a great one at that!
I loved the scarecrow sequences in that. I would love to play more games the effectively fuck with player but it’s very difficult to look for without spoiling yourself and then you’re expecting it.
Have you played the Metal Gear Solid series? If not, don’t look them up beforehand. And this might seem strange, but for the optimal effect, don’t pirate them either.
| love super metroid even if the control scheme is dated
Ori series, specifically Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It’s my absolute favorite game of all time. It’s got the amazing visuals and insanely good OST, crisp and satisfying platforming and combat, engaging and unique bossfights, good difficulty settings and going for 100% is rewarding and not nearly as annoying as in many other games. While it may stray a tiny bit from the classic Metroidvania formula I think it still does it incredibly well.
I was shocked to see no mention of Ori in any of the comments here before I realized you had already recommended it in the OP. I have no issues with seconding that, the Ori series is really good.
I don’t care much for metroidvanias but Dust: An Elysian Tail was fun for a playthrough or two.
Super Metroid Animal well Castlevania: SOTN
La mulana 1 and 2, animal well for puzzles.
Metroid dread, highly recommend for combat.
Dead cells and rouge legacy two for rouge lite bits
terraria for minecraft + metroidvania
time spinner, bloodsworn for more typical metroidvania
the old castlevania games are on steam, so there is that
almost metroidvania suggestion is Outer wilds. Progression based learning. just not in a 2d plane and no fighting.
terraria for minecraft + metroidvania
This…shines a totally new light on a bunch of decisions that originally made me fairly upset and caused me to quit playing the game.
I played the game with nearly every free moment I had between the time I bought it in 2012 and the 1.2 release in October of 2013. Multiple worlds. Multiplayer sessions with players in several countries possibly requiring port forwarding and VPN tunnels if I remember correctly, and all of it stopped dead for me when I had to quit focusing on creating and exploring and was instead spending most of my time struggling to survive.
There were enemies before, and you could find one of the three bosses and just… Not go there, but 1.2 really made combat the forefront of the game and killed it for me entirely.
In the intervening 12 years. I’d be surprised if had more than a couple of hours into the game.
Viewing it through the lens of a metroidvania where you craft your own progression is not something I’d considered before.
I might actually go back to the game on the rare occasion I’m in the mood for something like that.
Thank you for the insight, while it probably sounds silly, it gives me some perspective into something that was so jarring it still causes me to panic when a game announces combat where combat was not previously the focus (I’m looking at you, Dyson Sphere Program 😄) and I really appreciate that.
Castlevania Symphony of the Night.
It’s only $3 on play store and iPhone store. The phone version has the advantage that you only have to cast/input each spell once, and then you have a button to press.
Hollow knight and silksong are both the best to ever do it IMO
Metroid dread
I would like it so much more if it didn’t have that dumb parry mechanic.
Seeing as I am old. Super Metroid and Castlevania II: Simom’s Quest. I can… and have played them dozens of times through at this point.
Some of my faves that aren’t Hollow Knight:
Ayyyy plus one on both Carrion and Supraland! Loved both of those. I can’t wait to get the latest Surpaland game (Supraworld iirc?). Such a fun puzzle platformer.
Waiting for the game to complete development before I give it a try!
Super Metroid will always be my favourite. I also enjoyed Axiom Verge and Bloodstained ROTN.
I generally like shorter Metroidvania like Iconoclasts and some of the Shantae series or even Yoku’s Island Express which has some backtracking.
The Metroidvania tag is a bit like Dubstep in music, a lot of those Dubstep tracks aren’t Dubstep but they can still be fun for some people.
Metroidvania tag and roguelike tags have become so diluted as descriptors I have no idea what I’m getting anymore when I see them on an “indie title”.
EntropyPure@lemmy.world 10 months ago
New school: Hollow Knight and Silksong
Old school: Super Metroid
dukemirage@lemmy.world 10 months ago
when oldschool is actually more accessible than newschool
kratoz29@lemmy.zip 10 months ago
More accessible? Please explain.
As in easier?
CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
Hollow Knight didn’t really do it for me so I haven’t tried Silksong yet (I hated not having a map for each area until I purchased one).
I may have to try putting an emulator on my Steam Deck and seeing if Super Metroid holds up.
Phelpssan@lemmy.world 10 months ago
If you didn’t like Hollow Knight you probably won’t like Silksong either.
The game is good, and incredibly polished, but feels aimed at the people who 100% the first game and wanted more.
datavoid@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Super Metroid definitely holds up