Submitted 5 weeks 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.
Aria of Sorrow
I don’t know if it’s “favorite”, but an old classic was Aquaria. It had a surprising amount of content, even to the point of several secret bosses, and an absolutely excellent soundtrack. Sadly, the main guy behind it is dead now. Ori was also fantastic.
Besides all the already mentionend games: Shadow Complex (2009) was a good game back then. Nothing special without any real story. But it was fun to play
Hollow Knight. It’s the only one I actually played to the end.
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.
Supraland
I wanted to enjoy this game, but it gave me hardcore motion sickness after about 10 minutes. I haven’t had that happen in very many games, so it was notable in this one.
Sorry to hear that. In my opinion it’s a great metroidvania and puzzle game. It reminds me of Zelda and Portal too
Ori. Both of them.
They are works of high art.
Sundered: eldritch edition
Supraland
Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth is a fantastic experience.
Wut.
Looked this up. Can’t believe Record of Lodoss War got a game in 2021. I remember watching the 1990 anime on Toonami’s online-only list of anime at the time, along with Harlock Saga. Both old school AF.
I remember playing the Dreamcast Diablo style game my college roommate had!
Funnily enough, I had the opposite experience. Was shocking to me to find out that the lore wasn’t originally from Wonder Labyrinth.
All three metroidvania games from that developer are great. The other two are Touhou Luna Nights and Blade Chimera.
carrion is a reverse horror game where you play as the monster
The only one I’ve played is Dead Cells, and it’s fantastic. I haven’t even bought any of the DLC, the base game is already endlessly replayable. I also listen to the soundtrack at least once a week.
I definitely want to get around to playing Hollow Knight and Animal Well at some point.
Not sure I’d categorize Dead Cells as a metroidvania myself. More of a rogue lite.
I’ve always thought it was both. I’m definitely no expert on Metroidvanias, since I’ve only played the one (if Dead Cells counts as one). I actually thought the term “Metroidvania” was about the movement and combat – today I just learned that it’s about the exploration and finding things. You do at least have to do that in the bank level, if I remember right. And the castle level.
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.)
La-Mulana 1 and 2. They have excellent music, and more importantly, the exploration is a lot more interesting than most metroidvania games. This is because these games are all about puzzles, which come in the form of riddles, lateral thinking, and so forth. You don’t complete any area in one go - rather, each place you can go has information about the other zones, so you criss-cross and cross-reference, completing them piecemeal. Plus, there is a great deal of cultural architecture for each area, making them very distinct. If you want an lengthy and difficult metroidvania that is all about the details, this fits the bill.
The original freeware version of La-Mulana is also worth playing, due to the audio and graphics resembling what could be on the MSX computer.
Currently playing Animal Well, and it is excellent so far!
I want to like it so much, but I enjoy combat in my metroidvanias.
Darksiders is very good
You know at first I didn’t really think it would be considered one, but looking back you’re absolutely right. I really need to replay those games.
Aquaria. Very retro indie game from 2007. Underwater theme.
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 also really liked Ender Lilies/Magnolias.
Other metroidvanias I’ve really enjoyed that haven’t been mentioned yet are Blasphemous and Vision Soft Reset.
Blasphemous has a really cool theme and is pretty challenging.
Vision Soft Reset is more indie and probably PC only. It has a unique twist to the formula.
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is top tier.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. IMO this is where the series peaked, perfected the formula and delivered a game packed with several large maps and three sets of bonus characters to replay the game with.
if you haven’t played Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night you really, really should. It’s made by the creators behind the Castevania games and is REALLY good.
I can’t stand how the character moves in bloodstained. It’s like an 8 bit games physics.
Aside from sotn of course, dead cells hands down.
Yeah Dead Cells is incredible. The one game that never gets uninstalled and I keep coming back to it every few months for a few (hundred) runs
So many solid suggestions here already. I have a soft spot for the more retro styled games, and despite being short Gato Roboto is one of my favourites. It just feels so good to play.
People calling search action games metroidvania is a big pet peeve of mine. No idea why it bothers me. Anyways hollow knight is my favorite, followed closely by silksong.
I get it. I’ve seen some on here that make no sense to me as metroidvanias. But I think it might be generational. To me a metroidvania has to be 2D, because those are the kinds of metroid and castlevania games I grew up on.
Seeing suggestions for Batman Arkham games or Supraland (love both series) is a weird suggestion to me because I see those as action and puzzle platformer respectively. But for people growing up with 3D Metroid etc. I can see why they’d classify it that way, even though I think the series changed away from the classic metroidvania genre at that point and into more action or action platformer.
The generational part might be true. The Castlevania games I grew up with were no “metroidvanias” so the name is doubly silly to me.
I love this style of game. I always have one on the go. Some times they scratch the itch, others they miss just a bit. I found that the blasphemous series more dark souls than Metroidvania. Biogun, chasm, bloodstained, any of the ori games, haiku, the mummy demastered, turnip boy commits tax evasion, dust an Elysian tale… I have more but that’s a solid chunk. I’d love to hear from others if they do or don’t consider these in the same family.
Do you consider Zelda64 a MetroidVania? If so then Darksiders has that action, similarly control, soul reaver 1 and 2, and blood omen 2.
I have a list of Metroidvania’s I’ve started but never completed. The only one that managed to hold my attention to completion that wasn’t an actual Metroid title was Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Which is a shame, because Ori and The Blind Forest is beautiful and Hollowknight is very cute, but neither could really hold my attention.
Void Stranger. The most powerful progression unlocking item is knowledge. The second most powerful is the sword.
I’ve played Ultros recently and thought it was really cool and unique.
If you like 8-bit gaming, I recommend getting the free BBC micro emulator BeebEm
Then get the ROM Citadel
It’s a Metroidvania from before either Metroid or Castlevania. It still plays well, it’s still difficult, the puzzles are logical but require thought, and it’s several hours of gameplay to complete.
MimicJar@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Just so it’s not forgotten to time I want to recommend AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake). It’s basically what if Metroid 2 was made in the Super Metroid engine.
I’d recommend any of the 2D Metroids, but if you’re going to play Metroid 2, that’s the version to play.