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.

        • dukemirage@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          14 天前

          Yes. At least I didn’t hit any roadblocks like in Hollowknight where a lot of patience and concentration was required to beat certain bosses and not lose your sanity on the ridiculously long ways to the arena.

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      5·
      14 天前

      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.worldEnglish
        141·
        14 天前

        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.

  • EvilBit@lemmy.worldEnglish
    291·
    14 天前

    Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The game so good it created the term “Metroidvania” even though the formula was basically “Metroid”.

      • EvilBit@lemmy.worldEnglish
        111·
        14 天前

        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.

          • Phelpssan@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            14 天前

            I think the only recent re-release of that game was for the PS4, so unless you have that console it’s probably easier to emulate the original.

          • EvilBit@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            14 天前

            There really isn’t a remaster, just ports. There’s very little to improve.

            I think there may have been some voice re-recordings here or there, but otherwise most versions are pretty much the same. I think the Xbox 360 Live Arcade version is missing some unimportant FMVs and some other minor details, but it’s still completely decent.

            It was a secret unlockable in the PSP game Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles with an added character and other stuff, but then you have to deal with the PSP emulation or whatever.

            I’d suggest either emulating the original or getting it as a PSOne Classic on PlayStation Store unless some other route is more convenient.

        • kratoz29@lemmy.zipEnglish
          21·
          14 天前

          I played it for the 1st time, no nostalgia googles and I didn’t really enjoy the back tracking that much (even using the quick travel spots), the way to get the powers (you kinda need to remember where the monsters are) and discovering the secret rooms felt like a chore to me.

          The only Castlevania games that I have played to completion have been Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin of ruin for DS, and regarding the genre, additionally to that, it would be Metroid Zero Mission, Guacamelee! And I think those are the ones I can remember… And I didn’t feel that way with them.

          I did enjoy the OST and the graphics a lot though.

          • EvilBit@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            14 天前

            I’ll admit that 100%ing (or rather “100%”ing it - iykyk) it can get pretty tiresome, but I actually found that the backtracking wasn’t too bad because the castle map was so good. For some reason I was able to remember a lot of routes in it, but I couldn’t find my way through the later games for the life of me without checking the map screen every five seconds.

      • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        14 天前

        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, and its art is highly detailed and numerous. 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.

      • Screen_Shatter@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        14 天前

        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.

      • missingno@fedia.io
        31·
        14 天前

        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.

  • Phelpssan@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    14 天前

    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).

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      1·
      14 天前

      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.

      • Phelpssan@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        14 天前

        FYI Nine Sols has a “Story Mode” that lets you tweak damage numbers (and AFAIK only locks you out of a single achievement). Knowing that exists was one of the reasons I decided to try the game despite my PTSD from Silksong.

        I ended absolutely loving it even though it was crazy hard, and haven’t lowered the difficulty yet. Though right now I’m stuck at the last boss and that may finally force me to do so. 😀

  • afaix@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    14 天前

    Guacomelee should get more love, it’s a really stylish game and there is even coop if you want to play together with someone.

  • Profligate_Parasite@lemmy.todayEnglish
    11·
    14 天前

    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.

    • alwas awakening
    • tunic*
    • hyper light drifter*
    • hob*
    • Another Metroid 2 Remake (AM2R)
    • Metroid Dread
    • castlevania dawn of sorrows/aria of sorrow
    • axiom verge
    • metroid prime
    • castlevania 3
    • metroid zero mission
    • SM: ancient chozo**
    • SM: Ascent**
    • 9 Sols

    *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.

    • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      14 天前

      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.

      • Profligate_Parasite@lemmy.todayEnglish
        4·
        13 天前

        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… thus making you feel clever.

        Zeldas, you could say, are more linear, more “adventure” in progression than exploration… but its not black n white and each title has varying degrees of freedom

  • Sv443@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    8·
    14 天前

    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, incredibly gripping story, 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.

  • apprehensively_human@lemmy.caEnglish
    8·
    14 天前

    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.

  • Furbag@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    13 天前

    I don’t care much for metroidvanias but Dust: An Elysian Tail was fun for a playthrough or two.

  • ampersandrew@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    14 天前

    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.

    • thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      4·
      14 天前

      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!

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      3·
      14 天前

      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.

      • ampersandrew@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        14 天前

        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.