Jasede's Metroidvania Thread

[Cedric]

I couldn't find a Metroidvania thread so I thought I'd make one. I personally like the genre because I enjoy exploration and trying to finagle my way into areas I am not supposed to be yet.

I will start by talking about the ones I played recently and how much I would recommend them, along with a list of what I am going to tackle next. Feel free to add any thoughts, good or bad, or news about upcoming ones that don't like like garbage.


Super Metroid
Still the GOAT. I would give it a 10/10 except that the controls feel strange and floaty for the first 60 minutes. Then they feel great. But those first sixty minutes can make you think the game plays like ***, which it arguably does - for the first few minutes while you try to learn the abilities. This is one of the most open games in the genre. Reverse boss order is possible, there are hundreds of routes to take and everything works well together. Lots of little secrets and everything you find makes you feel better in some way. It really is all that the genre can aspire to be.

Hollow Knight
Considered overrated by some, I personally found it very charming and with sensible controls and movement. The map is fun to explore, not to large and the exploration is good and more rewarding than in the sequel. The game does not overstay its welcome and has a satisfying conclusion.

Silksong
An evolution to the Hollow Knight formula. Faster, more difficult, more demanding in many ways, but with the same animation quality and love for details. However, they had so many ideas they wanted to put in that the final third act feels a bit half-baked. I was a fan of it initially but thinking about it now and looking back, it just feels like you could have trimmed the game by 33% of content without losing too much. Getting few or subtle or quite often, no rewards at all for defeating bosses is not exactly rewarding to my caveman brain either. Also 95% of the fighter NPCs in this game are women.

Blasphemous 2
This is neat. The movement is slow and deliberate, the music is great and the animations are gorgeous. Reminds me a lot of Actraiser 2 but in a good way. I recommend giving it a try.

Ender Lilies
I don't really like this. You basically obtain stands for your attack and play a girl. It is quite pretty though. Still, I am not having nearly as much fun exploring as in the other games and find it pretty unremarkable as a whole.

Salt & Sanctuary
A strange combination of Dark Souls and Metroidvania. It is passable but everything looks pretty much the same and nothing is really all that challenging. The exploration, again, is not that interesting.

Prince of Persia: Lost Crown
This one surprised me. The mechanics are excellent - the combat is great, the movement tech is great, the abilities are fun, the exploration is good and the map is just big enough. It is full of cool optional challenges and not once did Ubisoft try to sell me pay to win stuff. However, the game is woke as ****, to a point that may ruin it for most here: your prince is some half-breed cocky ******* with noodle hair and half the "legendary warriors of Persia" are women for some reason. Okay, just three, but that's still three to many.

Minishoot' Adventure
Super-short <10 hour game that is a Metroidvania/Zelda/Bullet Hell game with a very forgiving difficulty, but very satisfying gameplay and exploration. Incredible palette cleanser and virtually unknown.

Nine Sols
I saved my favorite for last. Although maybe a little story heavy, this one has by far the snappiest, most interesting combat AND the best bosses out of all of these. Learning the final boss is a pleasure to do and took me five real life hours, of which I enjoyed absolutely every minute. Its exploration aspect is much weaker than most in the genre, but it makes up for it with an excellent setting, soundtrack and even characters. Playing an
older grumpy character is exactly my thing.

Only tangentially related to the genre / "Metroidbrainias:"
Tunic & Animal Well are both really good. In those games, while you do get power ups, the biggest power up is learning and figuring out stuff you were always able to do, which yields satisfying eureka moments. I recommend both of these highly.

Next I might play Grime.

[rusty_shackleford]

Below the Root-likes*

[wndrbr]

Blasphemous 2
This is neat. The movement is slow and deliberate, the music is great and the animations are gorgeous. Reminds me a lot of Actraiser 2 but in a good way. I recommend giving it a try.

what about the first Blasphemous?

[Acrux]

viewtopic.php?p=282367-below-the-root-l ... ot#p282367

[Cedric]

Blasphemous 2
This is neat. The movement is slow and deliberate, the music is great and the animations are gorgeous. Reminds me a lot of Actraiser 2 but in a good way. I recommend giving it a try.

what about the first Blasphemous?

Haven't played it yet; wasn't listed in most Metroidvania Recommendations which made me think it might be a 2D action game like ActRaiser.

[Tweed]

Super Metroid X Fusion

A very impressive TC hack of Super Metroid that marries X fusion to SM's engine with a number of twists. Balls to the walls difficult though. I can't decide if I loved it or hated it because the levels of difficulty are ridiculous. Especially the frozen areas and final leg of the game. You never really get ahead, you don't even break even, you just survive it. They make encounters with the SA-X far more terrifying than the original game, but the chase sequences have to be pixel perfect or you get annihilated.

Environmental Station Alpha

Pixelshit metroidvania that takes its own twists on the genre. Learn to enjoy physics based movement with the grappling hook, or give up right away. Most of the game is actually post-game content and uncovering loads of weird stuff. Difficulty starts out reasonable and then turns into a sudden sheer cliff instead of a curve. Several movement-based difficulty puzzles that some people may despise. Made by one of the same devs who helped create Noita.

[Tweed]

I got so disgusted with Silksong I quit. I didn't like the stronk womyn bugs and I didn't like the difficulty. It's just one **** move after another, no valleys, just endless peaks. It's hard without being enjoyable.

[Cedric]

Oh yeah, ESA is on my list. Honestly, it's a pretty long list. And you can probably tell from my list so far I don't favor the Castlevania side of the genre that much. I dislike RPG elements in this type of game.

SIlksong is honestly easier, but more punishing than Nine Sols. What I mean by that is the latter game, while being more demanding on your reflexes and player skill, is more fair about what and when it demands this, and never asks you to run through hell swamp just to fight a stupid frog. It's made worse by the game taking easily like 60 hours on your first try which is extremely long for this genre. 9 Sols took 23. 5 of those were the final boss.

[Breathe]

Strider
Rain World
Ghost Song
F.I.S.T. Forged in Shadow Torch
Owlboy
8 Doors
Elderand
Ender Magnolia Bloom in the Mist
Gato Roboto

[Tweed]

Rain World is less a metroidvania and more a cinematic platformer.

[Tweed]

Lyle in Cube Sector

Old *** indie metroido game, kind of short, but sweet. Also for free. Apparently has a sequel, but your guess is as good as mine as to how this has anything to do with Lyle in Cube Sector.

Within a Deep Forest

Same dev that made Saira. Borderline metroidio, some physics based puzzles, cute aesthetic, gets a bit difficult later into the game. Also free, but ancient.

[Stack of Turtles]

Within a Deep Forest

Same dev that made Saira. Borderline metroidio, some physics based puzzles, cute aesthetic, gets a bit difficult later into the game. Also free, but ancient.

One of my longtime favorites, along with his Knytt and Knytt Stories. And #modarchive Story.

[J1M]

Both of these are better than you would expect.

[Crusader]

Shantae games, made by one of the last based western game devs that knows how to design hot girls.

[J1M]

Darksiders 1 is structured like Zelda.
Darksiders 2 has more of an open world.
Darksiders 3 is a metroidvania.

[ManjuShri]

Darksiders 2 is a fun Soul Reaverlike.

[methoxetamine]

Nine Sols
I saved my favorite for last. Although maybe a little story heavy, this one has by far the snappiest, most interesting combat AND the best bosses out of all of these. Learning the final boss is a pleasure to do and took me five real life hours, of which I enjoyed absolutely every minute. Its exploration aspect is much weaker than most in the genre, but it makes up for it with an excellent setting, soundtrack and even characters. Playing an
older grumpy character is exactly my thing.

Absolutely ******* based. Everyone needs t play this 10/10 masterpiece, even people who don't like Metroidvania's because it's not really one since it's more linear and has no backtracking. I can't recommend this kino enough. True Eigong is one of the greatest boss fights of all time. Usually I get frustrated with hard bosses and take some breaks in between attempts but learning her was pure unadulterated joy the entire time.

Also the story is 10/10 and is one of the most feels inducing games I've played in years. I played it last summer but I'm about due for a replay because it's just that good. God **** I can't wait for their next game, I'm praying they do something similar since their previous game was some weird 3d horror game that I have no interest in

If NS had 5/10 combat it would be worth playing for the story, characters, world, and music. If it had 5/10 story, characters, world, and music, it would be worth playing for the combat alone. This is the perfect 2d game.

Yi did nothing wrong.

[asf]

cedric is jasede the gay furry?

[WhiteShark]

Bunny Must Die: Chelsea and the Seven Devils

Metroidlike, no RPG elements. Jumping feels awkward until you get used to the difference between standing and running jumps. Once you get the hang of that, the time powers, and perfect guarding, you can do some very stylish things. Sequence breakable, and at least one boss has some special dialogue if you do.

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Rabi Ribi

Incredible bullet hell-ish boss fights. The game has exploration, but you'll spend most of your time in boss fights. Getting stronger is fun, learning how to effectively combo on bosses is fun, learning how to survive all the various patterns is fun. If boss fights are your favorite part of the genre, you can't go wrong here.

[fork]

cedric is jasede the gay furry?

They're all *******, if anyone, you should know.

[WhiteShark]

I just finished Afterimage. It was pretty good!

• Mechanically, I don't think it did anything unique, and it didn't hide its inspirations, but it was solid all around. It had all the standard metroidvania elements.
• The controls were standard. My only complaint was that there are a couple attacks that require a shouryuuken input, which I could not execute on a gamepad without moving at least a little bit, and that can be fatal in situations that require precise positioning.
• The art, both characters and environments, was beautiful. There were a couple areas littered with spikes and fire that didn't look so good and sometimes allowed seeing into the void if you hugged certain walls, but, generally, the backgrounds were amazing. There was one strange inconsistency: the art for the protagonist and one other character are in an anime style with outlines, whereas every other character and creature in the game is depicted in a more painted fashion devoid of outlines.
• Character building was just ok. There is a sphere grid-like thing, but most of it is level gated, so you don't have much choice where to put your points early on unless you just choose to save them. After it opens up a bit in the mid game, the main choice is whether to prioritize one of your main weapons, your subweapon, or defense. By the end of the game, you can fill the whole thing.
• Speaking of weapons, there are six main weapon types, each with a unique moveset. Each only starts with three moves (standing, crouching, jumping attacks), but you can unlock four additional moves for each. Some specific weapons also add a unique move or two. For example, I found a scythe-type weapon that looked like an anchor and changed my standing attack to look like that of May from Guilty Gear. Not every move felt like it had a specific use case that would make me want to use it in place of a normal attack. They seemed to generally do a bit more damage than attacking normally, but this generally came at the cost of locking you into a longer animation and not flowing nicely into further attacks, so there were a few I used a lot and many I basically ignored.
• The so-called subweapons were all magic of some sort. There was a small amount of variety here, but nothing like that of an Igavania. Most subweapons were basically projectiles of various ranges and powers, but a few late game subweapons had two different spells that could be activated, and usually one of these would be a buff of some sort. I didn't really get much use out of those; I mainly used whichever was my strongest projectile to deal with tough regular enemies and hit bosses while I was being zoned out of melee.
• Other than weapons with unique moves, itemization was mediocre. Almost every accessory and armor piece just added stats, often in +(small number)% form. The game doesn't explain its formulae, so there was no way to find out things like whether +X% final damage was superior to +Y weapon attack without testing. I didn't bother, but it did feel impactful when I got increased weapon attack.
• The titular afterimages were perks you could find and equip, but slots were scant, and frequently I had to choose between utility and combat-oriented afterimages. For example, there's one that increases your vision radius in dark areas and does nothing else. I had six slots by the end of the game, but I don't know if I was missing any. I filled these with utility afterimages and then left them like that until the final boss, but somebody paying more attention could probably get more use out of them.
• Difficulty: it was pretty tough on Hard! but I was playing under a number of informal handicaps, which are as follows:
  • My penchant for exploration and minor sequence breaking frequently meant I was fighting bosses the game thought were too high level for me, as signified by a warning symbol above their heads. Nevertheless, honor demanded that I heedlessly slam my head against the proverbial brick wall until I won.
  • I almost never used consumables. I think I used a few instant healing potions in early boss fights, but later I only remembered to use them during exploration when I was out of refillable heals, and the only time I ever used a mana potion, it was the result of a misinput in my inventory. Making frequent use of potions would no doubt make the game much easier, for their effects are instantaneous, whereas the refillable heal requires a rather lengthy animation to activate. However, I'm also not sure that the higher level potions can be restocked at a store, and you can only carry a limited number at a time, so maybe they're not too broken.
  • I never took off my statistically weak gear with increased EXP gain on it until the final boss fights. One of my +EXP gain accessories also significantly increased the damage I took.
  • As mentioned above, I almost never remembered nor bothered to change my afterimages for boss fights.
• I don't know where to put this, so I'm making it its own bullet point: for some reason the item that lets you warp from the field to a discovered warp point is a consumable. While I never actually ran out before discovering the late game merchant that sells more, that was partly because the mechanic encouraged me to try to leg it to the nearest warp point instead of using the consumable when it wasn't too far. Since zones are big and there's only one warp point per zone, I found this mildly annoying.
• The setting was unlike anything else I've experienced. I don't know if the setting elements are common in Chinese fantasy or if the worldbuilding is truly unique. In any case, I really enjoyed the mythological feel of the setting and its metaphysics. I hesitate to say much here because the game takes a long time to really explain what's going on, both regarding the setting and the story, and I don't want to take away from that.
• As for the story, you're kept in the dark about what's truly going on until the very end of the game―that is, the true ending, for the game has a number of not-so-happy endings that leave most things a mystery. Unfortunately, the steps to achieve the true ending are not apparent. In my playthrough, at a certain point I could tell that I must be near the end, but I couldn't figure out how to proceed until I checked a guide, and at least one, maybe two, of the steps I found there I'm not sure I would have been able to think of on my own. That aside, it was satisfying to finally get the full picture of the game's events, and overall I think the story was decent. The story and the setting are heavily intertwined, so you learn about the setting as the plot unfolds (or vice versa).
• Some of the confusing bits of the story may stem from localization difficulties. I don't know how the English localization is, but there were definitely moments in the Japanese where it felt as though something had been lost in translation, not to mention the many occasions where the text and the dub did not match. Seems to come with the territory when playing Chinese games.

I ended up writing more than I expected. Maybe I'll turn this into a real review later.

[J1M]

Okay, which is it? Is this a ****** game or am I disappointed to have learned about it from FORBES instead of the HQ?