New school: Hollow Knight and Silksong
Old school: Super Metroid
when oldschool is actually more accessible than newschool
More accessible? Please explain.
As in easier?
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.
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.
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.
Good to know. I did play Hollow Knight for a while but drifted off of it, it is not something that I personally would want to 100%
Super Metroid definitely holds up
Animal Well is stellar
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Usually old ps1 games just don't do it for me, but sotn was one of the two exceptions.
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.
Rogue Legacy 2, if it counts. Otherwise, Axiom Verge.
I haven't played very many, and these might not be pure Metroidvanias, but I recommend:
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.
Hollow Knight. It's the only one I actually played to the end.
Some of my faves that aren't Hollow Knight:
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.
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.
| love super metroid even if the control scheme is dated
Aria of Sorrow
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.
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
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.
3D games are still pretty difficult for a small team to pull off with a small budget.
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/
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).
Symphony of the night is incredible. A bit dated now, but it truly established genre staples.
Hollow knight and silksong are both the best to ever do it IMO
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.
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.
Aside from sotn of course, dead cells hands down.
Playing it for years now.
Edit: I would love for the downvote(s) to say (why/if) they didn't like dead cells or if they don't see it as metroidvania. (no discussion about opinions! ☺️)
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