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.
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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 three GBA metroidvanias, definitely worth getting if you wanna play/replay any of those.
Metroid Prime. It’s the only series I know of that is fully in the genre and is also not a 2D platformer.
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.
Sekiro is closer than any other, but it’s mainly just 1 thing you don’t have in the prologue (the grappling hook). I would love a game that is 3D over a 2D platformer, but also has the unlockable traversal tools the way Metroid or Syphony of the Night had.
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. I only have 2 of the guns so far where I am in the game but I know there’s several more.
3D games are still pretty difficult for a small team to pull off with a small budget.
Batman: Arkham Asylum should count. Maybe not the later games as much, but definitely Asylum. It’s all about backtracking with new gear to unlock new areas and paths.
The Tomb Raider survivor trilogy scratches the itch a bit as well.
Metroid Prime
A fantastic game, and has one of the best remasters I’ve ever seen.
The option to use bothe joystick was great.
I recently played the original via Primehack, a fork of Dolphin Emulator which (among other things) modernises the controls
have you tried Supraland? it’s weirdly the closest thing to metroid prime i’ve played in a long time, and it’s got completely the opposite tone. it’s hilarious.
as noted in one of the steam reviews, don’t let the looks fool you. on first glance it seems to be a cheap asset flip, but it’s an extremely tightly designed game with something like 20 hours of content and almost everything is original assets. it has a mishmash of styles because it takes place in a kid’s sandbox, so the different kinds of toys don’t match eachother.
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.
i find that there is so much focus on dark and dreary in the metroidvania genre, which makes sense considering the roots of the genre. me, i get enough of that in my daily life. i want colorful and full of curiosity. the ori games are good for that too, as is supraland, but i don’t know of many more.
Yoku’s is my favorite pinball platformer metroidvania. I don’t hear about many other people playing it.
That one was a delightful surprise. I enjoyed it thoroughly because I’ve always liked digital pinball as well.
Animal Well is stellar
Seconding Animal Well. I should go back and collect a few more achievements.
Ghost Song is one of my favorites that doesn’t look like its been mentioned yet.
I was scrolling looking for this one too! Really excellent game. I’ve been enjoying it and it scratches my metroid itch better than what most people are listing off.
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.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/385560/Shadow_Complex_Remastered/
Aria of Sorrow
Super Metroid Animal well Castlevania: SOTN
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.
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.
I have not, I’ll have to look into them
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!
La-Mulana was great. Maybe not for everyone. It’s loaded with puzzles.
That’s a gentle way to put it 😆. But I agree it’s so great. Need to get back into it at some point.
Yeah… It’s pretty brutal. I needed to consult a walkthrough even for subsequent playthroughs.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Aquaria. Very retro indie game from 2007. Underwater theme.
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.
Super Metroid. I really haven’t liked any others that I’ve played.
Finally, someone with sense!
(I’m obviously kidding about my tone btw, people can like whatever they like.)
I haven’t seen it mentioned and granted I’ve not played it but I’ve watched both be played and Blasphemy 1 and 2 seems really, really good.
I don’t know, I played Blasphemous this summer and had a very mixed time with it. I really wanted to love it but it mostly pissed me off. Too much gameplay design specifically intended to waste your time and make you miserable. Which - I guess - is the point because the game is all about the virtue of suffering. I just didn’t find it particularly fun to play.
Great world building, music and art though.
