I had played the first one and thought it was okay. It's kind of a side strolling perspective game that uses magnetic and magnetic resistance for puzzles. So I thought the sequel would be more of the same. But holy cow, this is like a full-fledged and beautiful metroidvania game practically. With really tight platforming controls, you can warp around in the air. Beautiful music and artwork. The different magnetic powers and puzzles, create for some interesting platforming challenges. Some of these scenarios almost remind me of Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, and Aeterna Noctis.

A few months ago, I replied to this post about La-Mulana. Specifically, how the OP loved LM's puzzles but hated its platforming and the combat. I happened to be working on a game that was exactly that, so I let them know and several people expressed interest.

Today I pushed a demo to itch. Here are some of my gameplay inspirations to help you decide if you're interested:

• solving the riddles in La-Mulana
• the interconnected lore and puzzles in La-Mulana
• the ruins exploration setting in La-Mulana
• figuring out the non-obvious "you could do it all along" mechanics (I daren't say more) in Tunic / Toki Tori 2
• the movement in Link to the Past
• finding the secrets in Hyper Light Drifter
• the 2.5D perspective in Link to the Past/HLD

The full game is intended to be a hybrid metroidvania/metroidbrainia, where your progress depends on the items you collect, AND on your understanding of how you can use them. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Hello 👋 I’m always on the hunt for new metroidvanias to try that are available on Switch, which I’ve come to realize is a pretty limiting factor. My favorites so far have been both Ori games and Sundered: Eldritch Edition. I’m a sucker for beautiful or interesting art, and seem to especially like indie games. I’m also a weanie difficulty-wise, being interested mostly in the exploration and general experience of a game rather than punishing difficulty (tend to play games on “easy” mode). I’ve already tried: Ori 1 & 2 (loved!) Sundered (loved) Hollow Knight (great until it got too hard) Prince of Persia (the MV one) Metroid Prime (old favorite) Metroid Dread Grime (got stuck immediately) Guacamelee! (Got bored)

I have a visual bias against the pixelated ones like Blasphemous, and prefer more whimsical vs dark.

I’m considering: Ghost Song Bo: Path of the teal lotus

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated!

I’m debating on what to play next being S&S and Blasphemous and am unsure. For context I enjoy the souls games a lot and am trying to get into to the metroidvania type of game right now as well. I hear good things about both games but don’t know which one is considered better

I am just going to say it.

I don't care for deaths gambit AL and don't understand what it's held in such high regard.

Exploration I found boring as most the biomes were connected horizontal and kinda meh. The combat was simplistic compared to like salt and sanctuary. The traversal was passable but not special.

Just all-around was just ok.

Pixel art was unbelievably beautiful though.

There I said it

I've been going on a binge lately and I'm finding myself running short of the typical recommendations, so I thought I'd ask around and see if anyone has a good one I missed. My preferred flavor of MV is the SotN style 2D side scrolling action platformer with a focus on exploration. I prefer not pixel when given the chance, but I'm not picky. To help give a better idea of what's sort of in my wheelhouse, here's a few I've played recently and my general feeling of each:

​

• Monster Sanctuary- Fun and I really liked how the mons were so involved in traversal, but I felt like the RPG style combat made it drag after a while.
• Blasphemous 2- Second go around, with the new DLC. Still my favorite souls style MV.
• Voidwrought- It was good, but maybe cribbed the notes from Hollow Knight a bit too much. My big complaint is that it opened up the world too early, which made exploring more frustrating than fun.
• Gestalt: Steam & Cinder- My personal favorite of recently played. Exploration was fun, combat was fun, music was good enough to buy, and I found the story interesting. Plus, it does the thing I love and gives you the late game option to just see where all the hidden shit is hidden, thereby not wasting my time or making me look it up.
• Rain World- This is an ongoing project.
• Ghost Song- Cute game, fun as more of a Metroid style MV.
• Death's Gambit- Really solid. Wants you to play through twice, and I probably will when it's less fresh.
• The Knight Witch- Super cute and fun bullet hell MV. I enjoyed the novelty of being able to fly right from the start.

DNF list:

• Vigil: The Longest Night- DNF, the reveal of the time passage was too jarring for me and functionally "closed off" part of the world. Could be convinced to come back.
• Awaken- Astral Blade- DNF, and cannot be convinced otherwise. The game fundamentally fails at everything I look for in a MV.
• Ultros- DNF. What I played of it was fun but the art style is too much for my poor brain to process.
• Cookie Cutter- DNF. I don't really care for beat-em-up style games.
• Blazblue Entropy Effect- DNF, not an MV. I enjoy the Blazblue universe but I don't like roguelikes as a rule.

I recently got into metroidvanias, so far I played the Ori games, Hollow Knight and Astalon: Tears of the Earth. I quite liked all of these games. I believe I enjoy the exploration and smooth fast movements in the Ori games and HK specifically (I enjoyed 100%/112% them respectively, so I would say I like collecting things etc.

Astalon isn't something I would usually enjoy probably but I still did this time around. Honestly not sure why

I also put some hours into Bloodstained and Death's gambit. Both of these games I did not like much.

Bloodstained felt too slow, I did not like the first few bosses and the "quests" that were in the game all felt more like chores imo.

Death's gambit on the other hand is a souls-like (I think?) and I suppose I don't really enjoy that aspect of the game. The rolling etc.

So, according to this, which games would you recommend to me? If any? Thank you very much in advance!

Hi, people!

I’m a reviewer at two Brazillian websites and have reviewed both Sheepo and Crypt Custodian this year (in portuguese). They’re both smart, lovely and fun. I really appreciate the light mood and creativity in Kyle Thompson’s games and my youngest son adores them too.

He played Sheepo but couldn’t finish it because at the end he still missed some feathers to activate the elevator and go to the last challenge.

The little guy loved watching me play Crypt Custodian at august and last week he decided he would start his own save file. Today he finished the game all by himself and he’s very proud of it. His older brother (9y) and I helped him with some advices, especially during boss fights, but the kid persevered on his own will to find all of Pluto’s new friends. Now he says that tomorrow he'll keep searching for the missing photographs.

How was he able to achieve that? The answer is simple: easy mode. That was enough to both allow him to finish the adventure and offer a challenge up to his current skills. And the other accessibility options weren’t even necessary for this, but I’m glad they’re available for whoever needs them.

So, thanks very much Kyle for making games that can be enjoyed by many people, including small children who can barely read yet.

I’ll have to admit that experience counts too, as my boy already had played through Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (probably his favorite game) and Wonder Boy and the Dragon’s Trap (couldn’t finish last area, though).

If you, my fellow metroidvania fan, also have a kid, know that those games are a pretty good way to introduce them to MVs.

And no, I haven’t played Islets because it’s not on PlayStation. Come on, Top Hat Studios, make it happen! For the sake of a 5y boy (and a 39y parent too)!

Having to beat two bosses back to back is not fun. Having to beat the first one every try to get to the second feels to me like a bad idea that induces more frustration than satisfaction. What are you guys thoughts on this?

I just finished voidwrought after just under 20 hours. I'm at 86%. It's not clear what is need to do to achieve near 100%

I'm going to focus on feedback because I think these changes are pretty critical

• I made a point to maximize everything including my attack before facing the final boss. As a result, beating the final boss was easier than beating the first boss of the game. It was extremely unrewarding and a massive disappointment after spending all this time to complete the game. They need to beef up the boss big time, and also all I had to do was pogo the damn thing the whole time. That should be fixed.
• there needs to be a more thoughtful way of explaining what items are and what they do, probably with the NPCs
• this is minor, but scanning the map of fast travel points is irritating and should be more thoughtfully organized.
• I have no idea what's going on with Ose, The explorer soul. I think there's a connection? Either way I have equipped thank you the explorer and have traversed the map, but I have yet to see what it actually does. It hasn't revealed any secrets
• it feels like the game leads you to believe you can sell artifact fragments without risk, but eventually it seems that if you made the mistake of trading too many artifact fragments you will not be able to acquire all the souls from the merchant in the void. That feels deceptive, especially when there's a limit on how many you can sell.

I'd have more interest completing the game if I had any idea how to go about doing it. Why force people to scan the internet and search for answers when they could be more thoughtful about providing hints and clues in the game.

• I have four extra ancient ciphers and I don't know why.

-I have an extra progenitor flesh and I can't donate it to the well or give it to the merchant at the bazaar.

Overall the game was fun, but felt lacking in effort to incorporate the lore and background story into the progression of the game and the characters that you interact with. The boss battles were too easy once you beefed up the attack. It's a good game but not a great game for these reasons.

Anyone have any good suggestions for an MV that has some challenging platforming sections or option areas to do? Anytime an MV has these they suck me in but I don't see them often. Below are a few that come to mind off the top of my head but I'd love to see more:

Aeterna Noctis: My favorite MV of all time. Love the platforming challenges and how much of it is incorporated to the game.

Hollow Knight: Path of Pain. We all know it.

Guacamelle 1 and 2: I believe it was 2 that had all the optional areas here that were a lot of fun.

Rusted Moss: Underrated game in general but the platforming was great and the challenge sections were really tricky.

Blue Fire: Not a full on MV but shares a lot of similarities and had some fantastic challenge sections you could do as well.

Lone Fungus: A gem most people here are aware of but platforming both in the base part of the game and the optional areas was really good.

Prince of Persia Lost Crown: A surprisingly great MV that I had low expectations on adapting as well as it did, but platforming in the game feels solid and there's some good optional parts in that one too.

Just curious dose this fall under the mv umbrella, seems like steam places a bunch of games in the wrong category. I looked at some reviews and it looks meto-esk. Also any cheap steam games under $10 y’all would recommend?

Sup everyone, do you guys have some recommendations for a potato PC? I already own Blasphemous for example.

Edit: thank you guys! I'll check em all out, starting with Axiom Verge

Finally decided to give the Ori series a try and the prologue is such a gut punch. 5 mins in and I’m just SAD 😢

Not sure if it was mentioned but saw this today. Can't wait to finally play this one.

Nine Sols (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – November 26

Of course with the usual.

-Add melee and parries. If they are already being added then make them apart of the combat loop but not necesaary, just rewarded somehow for skill. Example; enemy openings for more dmg or certain enemy weaknesses.

-add more beam weapon types. Different elements and some that can be combined for various effects.

-Allow for a combat hook suit power, not just for traversal.

-Add more suits and suits that allow more areas to be opened as well as it adding to the combat loop.

-add dlc that gives players the capability to create maps. Engagement.

-add an extensive randomizer free update.

-add more cosmetic options that are unlockable.

-add unlockable nostalgic suits when you beat time trials.

-dont forget to add boss rush free update.

-add new dlc areas

-add a hub area where other players can create their own Samus armor and show off in game trophies unlocked per achievement. Engagement.

Ok so this is probably gonna make me sound kind of dumb but I straight up cannot figure out how to beat shadow of demise. Like from what I can tell you have to do the exploding thing you get at the beginning of portrait of demise to get the health down until you can attack it directly during the crystal part but every time I end up taking a ton of damage bc to blow it up you have to touch it which hurts you. Is there smth I'm missing here? Like how do you defeat it without having to loop attacking-healing over and over again?

Was asking this just because I know there tends to be certain drama around the definition of what a metroidvania is. UFO 50 is a gem, and has certainly some metroidvanias, but, which are?:

-Barbuta????????

-Vainger: this is 100%, right? I mean, it really looks like an homage to Metroid most in particular. Cant get very far on this one, but I enjoy every playthru regardless

-Porgy, first one where I get doubts cos you do backtracking and exploring, but there is even a certain terror element with a shark following you ala Phasmofobia. Many of these games fuse diferent genres like its easy. Very fun, btw.

-Mooncat and Rakshasa: these ones aren't metroidvanias, right? One is a platformer, and the other is more like ghosts n goblins... right????????

-Golfaria? I have to play it a little cos Im not a fan of golf games tbh

-The Campanella games, mostly the second one.

-Min&Max: the one that has made me actually write this down. What the hell is this? Is an open world? It doesnt seem proper to call it a rpg. But you do lots of backtracking to advance. But you don't seem to unlock new abilities except for new uses of your abilities?

I feel like I repeat "this is fun as fuck", but seriously, UFO 50 is the fucking goat. Oh, and btw, Im only asking this to actual UFO 50 players, to not spoil anyone else. Please, play it.

That’s it. That’s literally it.

On the real tho, I like the message the game seems to deliver so far. Sure, I haven’t finished it yet, but I wanted to make this post after a particular scene after the Inquisitor fight. Death’s monologue was so good.

And the gameplay is great. I find myself barely able to put the game down and I’m constantly thinking about it when not playing.

If you haven’t played this game, I suggest you try it out. I haven’t played too many games on this genre other than Blasphemous 1 and Castlevania Circle of The Moon.

I’d say the gameplay would definitely scratch a Blasphemous itch, although it’s more flashy and you have more options to customize your build.

My current character is an Acolyte of Death; he uses a Scythe and a bow, although you can use daggers, spears and even the weapons that are the mains for other classes. What I really like about this game is that you can reset your stat attributes and perks at any point. I’ve done it a couple of times now, before settling on one that I like.

Anyways, just wanted to gush a bit about this game-o.

If you’ve played this, did you like it? How much content did you complete?

Just curious if there is a counted answer.

Original 360 version:

-Slightly cheaper than the remaster and can be played in backwards compatibility

-Sound quality seems to be slightly higher imo

-Nostalgic Unreal engine 3 lighting that some prefer over the remaster

Negatives:

-Only 1 save slot & 12 achievements

-Only 30 fps and 720p; has occasional drops

-Only one kind of meele takedown

Remastered version:

Positives:

-runs in 1080p and 60 fps; slightly faster loading

-10 save slots available

-Meele combat drastically improved with 6-7 different kinds of takedowns including multiple enemy, and air takedowns. Far cry influence?

-Improved graphics and lighting in most areas.

-Greatly expanded achievement list if you care for these

Negatives:

-little more expensive and never goes on sale on consoles and steam

-lighting in few areas is inferior, mainly the opening scene

All in all, the original is a very good game but the remaster takes it to another level with the new takedowns resulting in smoother gameplay.

It's on sale for just 6 dollars. I've heard great things about it and wanna pick it up but I've also heard it runs like total shit. Is it still that bad?

I'm gonna keep it short. I played Yoku Island Express and I like it but not too much. I've played both ori games, both Steamworld dig games, and bo and the path of the teal lotus and absolutely loved them. Hollow knight is my favorite game ever. So I do seem to have a type of playing metroidvanias with little main charecters and more lighthearted than some other games in the genre. I like a good balance of platforming but also like some combat in my games and I love bosses. I've been thinking of a new game to get. So far on my list I have: Islets, Haiku the Robot, Crypt Custodian, and Animal Well. Do any of these sound good for me and would I like any other metroidvanias from my description? Thanks!

Edit: I'm a switch player sorry for not clarifying.

It's right up there with Hollow Knight and Metroid Dread as one of the sweetest and tastiest Metroidvanias I've played in the last decade.

It's got everything, great platforming, incredible combat for a Metroidvania, a fantastic visual style, and even a decent story.

Keep in mind this is Ubisoft Montpellier, not Montreal which does Far Cry and Assassins' Creed. This is the studio that did Rayman Origins and Legends, which had some incredibly fluid movement, and some of that movement is ripped directly from those games into Prince of Persia.

The run button makes a quick dash when you tap it, and then if you hold it, you do the dash but then you transition into a sprint. You also have the backflip if you jump directly after changing direction. These are ripped directly from Rayman Legends and it's just so sweet.

It's a Metroidvania with heavy focus on combat and tight platforming. please play it

Looking for a little help trying to find my next metro. I recently got into the genre because I ran out of soulslikes to play.

The games I really enjoyed were The Last Faith, and Grime.

Typically my criteria are

1. Level up using currency like soul games. I want to get stronger by killing other enemies and then using that to level up.
2. I enjoy having different weapons to choose from and preferably able to upgrade those weapons by using upgrade materials.

I did not enjoy Bloodstained Ritual of the Night. I just didn't enjoy the art direction of it. Something just seemed off for me.

Also Blasephemous I didn't enjoy the way you level up or rather lack of being able to level up.

Thanks in advance.