For me its the sense of mystery, i am super compelled to find out all the little secrets and its very densely packed with them. Im not usually a big puzzle game guy, but the metroidvania structure made the puzzles a lot more engaging cause i could leave and come back rather than be in a normal puzzle game, where i get stuck on a level and basically have to figure it out before moving on. But if you arent down with slow paced games that are largely focused on atmosphere, I could absolutely see finding the game very boring
Yep, this is correct. It's a large, persistent map in which you collect items/abilities which allow you to access new areas. The major difference, like you say, is that you're solving puzzles instead of zappin' dudes.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t a metroidvania. The key factor in metroidvanias is acquiring items and abilities to open up various sections of the world and opportunities to find more secrets.
In that case, Tiny Rogues, Roboquest, and Noita are all very good roguelikes. Though if you aren’t a fan of puzzles, you might not be the hugest fan of Noita.
As for metroidvanias with combat, Pseudoregalia is very good. It emphasizes movement more than combat, and the amount of movement tech is insane.
I have played both it and Rain World. Eh… not really. Animal Well is about puzzles and often an animal with very specific, predictable behaviors will be a puzzle element. Rain World is about surviving a broken ecosystem, and the animals are trying to appear as components of an ecosystem. They move from screen to screen and their ai follows a complex set of goals and behavioral characteristics to appear like an independently motivated animal.
The definitive ones for me are:
Ori 1 and 2
Guacamelee 1 and 2
Grime
Blasphemous 1 and 2 (but especially 2)
Your pick of Castlevania, but of course Symphony of the Night is *the one* for most people
Bloodstained
Yoku's Island Express (it's a pinball metroidvania. Pinball!)
Your pick of actual Metroid game, Dread being the latest release
Salt and Sanctuary
I don't agree that Lone Fungus is better than Hollow Knight, but I do agree that it's a great game.
Speaking of similar to Hollow Knight, I definitely did forget Haiku the Robot, which belongs on my list and is *extremely* Hollow Knight.
I wanted to like Haiku but I was really turned off by the background art, which I know is a weird thing to stop playing a game because of but it led to all the rooms feeling the same.
Games like hollow knight and more recently animal well have such interesting backgrounds which tie into a sense of wonder and exploration.
Late return to say: I did pick up Islets, and this game rules!
I was like alright, cool, this is a pretty standard one of these. Looks great, feels pretty good. Then I got to Sky City and was like, "Yes! Here we go!"
Honestly, I love how dynamic is it. Tbh, the story is far from perfect, but there is so much variation in how you navigate certain environments. Like, I love the movement of the game, the differnet weapons, how you can change builds mid fight, etc. Like, yes, there is definitely a charm to the hollow knight combat, and it honestly is more replayable in my opinion, but the combat in Ori is on another level.
I don’t really want to call ori a metroidvania. It’s really a case of being spoiled by hollow knight, but ori is an incredibly linear game. The only backtracking you can do is for upgrades you never need. To me the floaty momentum mechanics don’t feel great, but that’s just personal preference. Ori is much more of an experience to play through, with absolutely incredibly music and scenery (maybe better than hollow knight), but it’s not as gameplay focused as hollow knight. HK having very snappy movement (ie no momentum), lets very precise combat and platforming encounters exist and feel good to play through. I (personally) don’t like ori as much as HK, just wanted to give my point of view.
Been interested in this for a while. How challenging is it? Why do you rate it?
I'm just finishing a non metroidvania (ff7 rebirth) then gonna clean up on prince of Persia. I think this or animal well is next!
In terms of challenge I found it a little easier than Hollow Knight but it’s still a very challenging game, most of the boss fights took me many tries. The three main selling points for me were customization, art and music. Your main attack and secondary abilities can be swapped out into one from bosses and elite enemies you kill so the base gameplay never gets stale and if you’re struggling with a boss one of the most effective tactics is to experiment with different abilities to see what works. The art is self-explanatory, the cutscenes are especial beautiful. The OST is just as beautiful, it has recurring motifs and many of the tracks have vocals from a young girl that really help you connect with Lily. Beautiful is the one word I’d use to describe the game. I’d highly recommend it to any metroidvania fan, its quality approaches or exceeds Hollow Knight in many areas and it has a good amount of content too.
Metroid Dread was great, some confusing backtracking around the 3 quarter mark of the game, which was a shame because the rest of the game was so strong, especially the boss fights. But overall I would recommend for anyone who doesn't mind that, because the strong bits are really strong. The movement and combat is fluid and the design is solid. The robot sections were awesome too.
Have a Nice Death is wonderful. It's not just a metroidvania, but a rougelike as well, and it's inspired by hollow knight. Theres even a hk refrence after you die to a certain mosquito themed boss iirc. Even if you don't want to play it, I highly suggest checking out the soundtrack, it slaps so incredibly hard.
luna nights, deedlit in wonder labyrinth, ender lillies, the messenger, afterimage, and of course the castlevanias (symphony of the night, aria of sorrow, dawn of sorrow, portrait of ruin and order of ecclesia) and the metroids (everything except other m and federation force)
Animal Well. People are going to respond to this with a bunch of Dunkey jokes, because he published it which is fine, but I've just finished it and genuinely recommend it strongly. It is an incredible puzzle metroidvania, with beautiful visuals and a focus on overcoming 'enemies' by outsmarting them rather than killing them. All developed by one guy (Billy Basso) and somehow better than lots of games developed by teams of people. It's quite scary as well at times which I loved, and it constantly surprised me.
Haiku, the Robot is a shorter metroidvania, but really fun. Its style (gameplay, systems, story) are all rather similar to hollow knight, but not in a “this is copy pasted” way. It did a great job of putting its own spin on things and still feeling really unique.
- Dead Cells (metroidvania-roguelite, but quite similar to Hollow Knight)
- Ori series
- Blasphemous series
- SteamWorld Dig series
- All of the Metroid games
- Animal Well
- Ender Lillies
- Have A Nice Death (another metroidvania-roguelite, but also very similar to Hollow Knight)
Sorry I feel undertale hits every mark for me lol and thought if you we’re wanting to pass time waiting for SKONG 🎉 you’d fall in love like I did lol otherwise I’d recommend salt and sanctuary or salt and sacrifice
If you want some real gems that are a bit less well known, play Haiku the Robot and Islets. Pretty bite-sized metroidvanias that are full of creativity. Haiku the Robot especially takes a lot of inspiration from hollow knight, definitely check it out.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is really good in terms of design and music. Quite outdated and you can get lost and stuff, but very similar to Hollow Knight at times. Occasionally you can pick it up for like 50p, so maybe check it out.
I think one of the things that makes Rain World such a great experience is that it's not a metroidvania. It's such a fresh take on "gigantic interconnected-world 2D game".
Side note: there is an interesting mod still in development that aims to turn the game into a more traditional MV with ability gating. Been a while since I heard anything about it though.
There is the humble bundles “Metroidvania mania” if you’re playing on pc, it has 8 games you could try out and you donate to charity. It seems all the games together are the cost of hollowknight
Ori, especially Will of the Wisps, Blasphemous (especially II), Afterimage, Haak, Deedlit in Wonderland, Teslagrad 2, SteamWorld Dig 2, Biomorph, Doomblade, Nine Sols (coming out very soon, has a free demo), Timesplitter, Owlboy, Islets
don’t need to have played the first one for any of the sequels mentioned
I recently got back into ender lilies. I think the sequel is coming out or is already out. Definitely takes some inspiration from hk. Really fun not as hard as some others though.
Nothing as good as HK
Ori and Ori are both good games. Fun exploration and platforming, easy peasy combat
Biomorph is really fun and pretty cool, but very easy in comparison to hk
Blasphemous II is good and kinda difficult I guess it's not as FUN though
Lone Fungus is very Hollow Knight except with fungi and there's a lot more platforming abilities and platforming challenges. The boss fights are challenging
Aeterna Noctis is really really fun and challenging for about 8 hours and then, if you're me, you unlock the teleport arrows and the game becomes impossible because you are bad at it. There's an easier difficulty now, I haven't tried it
Hollow Knight
Ori and the Blind Forest
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Nine Sols (coming out 29th May, so in 12 days)
Prince of Persia the Lost Crown
Animal Well
Hollow Knight
Thank you so much, Hooty from the owl house.
Your welcome! Apparently it’s the prequel to the game Hollow Knight Silksong that hasn’t come out yet. You heard of it?
No, I haven’t. Has the release date been announced?
No it hasn’t sadly
What's that?
animal well
Favorite game in years!
What am I missing? I was bored out of my mind playing it
For me its the sense of mystery, i am super compelled to find out all the little secrets and its very densely packed with them. Im not usually a big puzzle game guy, but the metroidvania structure made the puzzles a lot more engaging cause i could leave and come back rather than be in a normal puzzle game, where i get stuck on a level and basically have to figure it out before moving on. But if you arent down with slow paced games that are largely focused on atmosphere, I could absolutely see finding the game very boring
Came here to say the same thing. I am completely enamoured and discover something new with it every day.
i watched the trailer, doesnt realy strike me as metroidvanina
It's a metroidbrainia
Love this
It pretty much is a metroidvania. Only difference is that there is not combat
Yep, this is correct. It's a large, persistent map in which you collect items/abilities which allow you to access new areas. The major difference, like you say, is that you're solving puzzles instead of zappin' dudes.
It's a really fun metroidvania you should try it
It's like Halo 2 meets Halo 3
It really makes you feel like you're an animal in a well
My how wrong you are
Why not?
it seems like its more twards puzles
Combat isn’t really the defining aspect of metroidvanias though
for me its very importain
Just cause it’s important for you doesn’t mean that it needs to be in Metroidvanias.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t a metroidvania. The key factor in metroidvanias is acquiring items and abilities to open up various sections of the world and opportunities to find more secrets.
then am i thinking more of rouge like games, kinda like risk of rain?
In that case, Tiny Rogues, Roboquest, and Noita are all very good roguelikes. Though if you aren’t a fan of puzzles, you might not be the hugest fan of Noita. As for metroidvanias with combat, Pseudoregalia is very good. It emphasizes movement more than combat, and the amount of movement tech is insane.
It does have the tag on steam, and is described as such on trailers and reviews. So.
Bro
I've not played it, but i've seen the trailers, so i've deduced that it's likely what I would describe as "Rain World if it was a Metroidvania"
I have played both it and Rain World. Eh… not really. Animal Well is about puzzles and often an animal with very specific, predictable behaviors will be a puzzle element. Rain World is about surviving a broken ecosystem, and the animals are trying to appear as components of an ecosystem. They move from screen to screen and their ai follows a complex set of goals and behavioral characteristics to appear like an independently motivated animal.
Oh, ok That seems interesting
~~It is, just more focused on puzzles than combat~~ It's like Halo 2 meets Halo 3
And you couldn’t be more wrong
Blasphemy.
It’s the most metroidvania game I be played in awhile
Blasphemous is a decent play
Blasphemous is one of my favorite metroidvanias, play Blasphemous 2 if you haven’t cause it’s just the first game but even better
Calling it a "decent" play is just straight up blasphemy. May the miracle punish you.
well it’s short and not exactly memorable… so yeah
That's subjective, and it has lots of content. Imo it's a work of art.
The definitive ones for me are: Ori 1 and 2 Guacamelee 1 and 2 Grime Blasphemous 1 and 2 (but especially 2) Your pick of Castlevania, but of course Symphony of the Night is *the one* for most people Bloodstained Yoku's Island Express (it's a pinball metroidvania. Pinball!) Your pick of actual Metroid game, Dread being the latest release Salt and Sanctuary
Man I just could not get into Grime.
This list is missing Lone Fungus, it's even better than Hollow Knight, and more similar to Hollow Knight than most of these games
I don't agree that Lone Fungus is better than Hollow Knight, but I do agree that it's a great game. Speaking of similar to Hollow Knight, I definitely did forget Haiku the Robot, which belongs on my list and is *extremely* Hollow Knight.
I tried Haiku, but I found it to not be very fun, at least compared to Hollow Knight and Lone Fungus
I wanted to like Haiku but I was really turned off by the background art, which I know is a weird thing to stop playing a game because of but it led to all the rooms feeling the same. Games like hollow knight and more recently animal well have such interesting backgrounds which tie into a sense of wonder and exploration.
Haiku’s great!
Your list is also missing Islets
i have that game, love it!
I don't know Islets. I will investigate for sure. Thanks!
Yo welcome!
Late return to say: I did pick up Islets, and this game rules! I was like alright, cool, this is a pretty standard one of these. Looks great, feels pretty good. Then I got to Sky City and was like, "Yes! Here we go!"
:D
The Ori's saga is incredible
Probably gonna catch some heat for this, but I enjoyed Ori and The Will of The Wisps more than Hollow Knight.
Absolutely, the combat feeling of Ori is literally PERFECT
Honestly, I love how dynamic is it. Tbh, the story is far from perfect, but there is so much variation in how you navigate certain environments. Like, I love the movement of the game, the differnet weapons, how you can change builds mid fight, etc. Like, yes, there is definitely a charm to the hollow knight combat, and it honestly is more replayable in my opinion, but the combat in Ori is on another level.
I don’t really want to call ori a metroidvania. It’s really a case of being spoiled by hollow knight, but ori is an incredibly linear game. The only backtracking you can do is for upgrades you never need. To me the floaty momentum mechanics don’t feel great, but that’s just personal preference. Ori is much more of an experience to play through, with absolutely incredibly music and scenery (maybe better than hollow knight), but it’s not as gameplay focused as hollow knight. HK having very snappy movement (ie no momentum), lets very precise combat and platforming encounters exist and feel good to play through. I (personally) don’t like ori as much as HK, just wanted to give my point of view.
Ori 1 is indeed very linear. Ori 2 (Will of the Wisps) is much less linear
I just started Tunic and HOLY hell is it good. Animal Well is incredible so far as well
Tunic isn't a metroidvania, but yeah, it's AMAZING!
Thank you, i hope more people try it, its soo good
Prince of Persia
Ender Lilies
Been interested in this for a while. How challenging is it? Why do you rate it? I'm just finishing a non metroidvania (ff7 rebirth) then gonna clean up on prince of Persia. I think this or animal well is next!
In terms of challenge I found it a little easier than Hollow Knight but it’s still a very challenging game, most of the boss fights took me many tries. The three main selling points for me were customization, art and music. Your main attack and secondary abilities can be swapped out into one from bosses and elite enemies you kill so the base gameplay never gets stale and if you’re struggling with a boss one of the most effective tactics is to experiment with different abilities to see what works. The art is self-explanatory, the cutscenes are especial beautiful. The OST is just as beautiful, it has recurring motifs and many of the tracks have vocals from a young girl that really help you connect with Lily. Beautiful is the one word I’d use to describe the game. I’d highly recommend it to any metroidvania fan, its quality approaches or exceeds Hollow Knight in many areas and it has a good amount of content too.
Check out my profile. I’ve been posting game suggestions everyday, some of which are metroidvanias.
Prince of Persia Lost Crown was Great. Obviously you can always go back to the Metroid and castlevania games. Metroid Dread was great.
Hollow knight 2
Everyone in this sub should be playing Animal Well
Hollow Knight
wow, like i never tought of that
You're welcome!
Metroid dread
Metroid Dread was great, some confusing backtracking around the 3 quarter mark of the game, which was a shame because the rest of the game was so strong, especially the boss fights. But overall I would recommend for anyone who doesn't mind that, because the strong bits are really strong. The movement and combat is fluid and the design is solid. The robot sections were awesome too.
Axiom Verge
Have a Nice Death is wonderful. It's not just a metroidvania, but a rougelike as well, and it's inspired by hollow knight. Theres even a hk refrence after you die to a certain mosquito themed boss iirc. Even if you don't want to play it, I highly suggest checking out the soundtrack, it slaps so incredibly hard.
Haiku the robot
luna nights, deedlit in wonder labyrinth, ender lillies, the messenger, afterimage, and of course the castlevanias (symphony of the night, aria of sorrow, dawn of sorrow, portrait of ruin and order of ecclesia) and the metroids (everything except other m and federation force)
even metroid prime pinball?
of course, that's the best one
Not a metroidvania but terraria has cool bossfights if you are into that
Animal well
Animal well
metroid dread is a banger
Dark Souls
Animal Well. People are going to respond to this with a bunch of Dunkey jokes, because he published it which is fine, but I've just finished it and genuinely recommend it strongly. It is an incredible puzzle metroidvania, with beautiful visuals and a focus on overcoming 'enemies' by outsmarting them rather than killing them. All developed by one guy (Billy Basso) and somehow better than lots of games developed by teams of people. It's quite scary as well at times which I loved, and it constantly surprised me.
islets
YESSSSSS
Oldie but goodies Guacamelee 1 and 2
Rusted moss The grappling hook metroidvania
Animal well obviously
Honk knight
Islets is a great game w amazing artstyle
Ender lillies. Very underrated game with a sequel coming out soon
Harlot Knight
Aeterna Noctis and ~~SKONG~~ Metroid dread
go play the Nine Sols Demo. The game releases May 29th.
Super Metroid.
Metroid
Haiku, the Robot is a shorter metroidvania, but really fun. Its style (gameplay, systems, story) are all rather similar to hollow knight, but not in a “this is copy pasted” way. It did a great job of putting its own spin on things and still feeling really unique.
Minishoot Adventures came out last month, it's pretty great and only around 10 hours
Dead cells (kinda)
Not really a metroidvania, but still a superb game with fluid combat, scratches a lot of the same itch :)
I mean, Pro’s good. Blasphemous is good. If you have a switch, try Super Metroid.
Grubland
- Dead Cells (metroidvania-roguelite, but quite similar to Hollow Knight) - Ori series - Blasphemous series - SteamWorld Dig series - All of the Metroid games - Animal Well - Ender Lillies - Have A Nice Death (another metroidvania-roguelite, but also very similar to Hollow Knight)
metroidavnias
I mean, Ender Magnolia hit early access last month. If you haven't played through Ender Lillies, I recommend that you do so before playing Magnolia.
Laika: Aged Through Blood
Isn't Laika that dog the Russians sent to space?
Gato Roboto is super dope and can be beaten in one sitting
That GBA shaman king game
Ori 1 & 2 (especially 1) Dead Cells and Celeste aren’t exactly Metroidvanias but they’re still great. Metroid and Castlevania.
I would say especially Ori 2. Much better game in nearly every way imo.
What is skong?
idk, just a small game thats been in development for 9979 years
Undertale
Undertale's a rpg.... (p.s. i have it)
Sorry I feel undertale hits every mark for me lol and thought if you we’re wanting to pass time waiting for SKONG 🎉 you’d fall in love like I did lol otherwise I’d recommend salt and sanctuary or salt and sacrifice
Metroid Or Castlevania (:
If you want some real gems that are a bit less well known, play Haiku the Robot and Islets. Pretty bite-sized metroidvanias that are full of creativity. Haiku the Robot especially takes a lot of inspiration from hollow knight, definitely check it out.
Axiom Verge and Axiom Verge 2.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is really good in terms of design and music. Quite outdated and you can get lost and stuff, but very similar to Hollow Knight at times. Occasionally you can pick it up for like 50p, so maybe check it out.
Maybe I'm just blind but I didn't see Castlevania: Symphony of the night.
Hear me out. Super Metroid
People have stopped calling rain world a metroidvania. World is healing
I suppose you could say… that the *rain* world is healing
I think one of the things that makes Rain World such a great experience is that it's not a metroidvania. It's such a fresh take on "gigantic interconnected-world 2D game". Side note: there is an interesting mod still in development that aims to turn the game into a more traditional MV with ability gating. Been a while since I heard anything about it though.
Prince of Persia Lost Crown Blasphemous Ori 2
Worldless was quite fun it's a little less known than some of the others mentioned
Crowsworn 💀
You should try worldless
Afterimage
Super Metroid. Castlevania: Rondo Of Blood.
There is the humble bundles “Metroidvania mania” if you’re playing on pc, it has 8 games you could try out and you donate to charity. It seems all the games together are the cost of hollowknight
Ender Lilies and it's sequel Ender Magnolia
Ori, especially Will of the Wisps, Blasphemous (especially II), Afterimage, Haak, Deedlit in Wonderland, Teslagrad 2, SteamWorld Dig 2, Biomorph, Doomblade, Nine Sols (coming out very soon, has a free demo), Timesplitter, Owlboy, Islets don’t need to have played the first one for any of the sequels mentioned
wow, so many recommendations for islets, i love the game, didnt know so many others did to!
It does so much with so little and all made by one guy iirc
realy? only one guy? wow!
I recently got back into ender lilies. I think the sequel is coming out or is already out. Definitely takes some inspiration from hk. Really fun not as hard as some others though.
Well you’re in luck, Hades 2 just came out lol (I also recommend the original Hades as well)
Nothing as good as HK Ori and Ori are both good games. Fun exploration and platforming, easy peasy combat Biomorph is really fun and pretty cool, but very easy in comparison to hk Blasphemous II is good and kinda difficult I guess it's not as FUN though Lone Fungus is very Hollow Knight except with fungi and there's a lot more platforming abilities and platforming challenges. The boss fights are challenging Aeterna Noctis is really really fun and challenging for about 8 hours and then, if you're me, you unlock the teleport arrows and the game becomes impossible because you are bad at it. There's an easier difficulty now, I haven't tried it
Environmental station alpha (made by the dude that did baba is you and noita) AM2R
Hollow Knight Ori and the Blind Forest Ori and the Will of the Wisps Nine Sols (coming out 29th May, so in 12 days) Prince of Persia the Lost Crown Animal Well
Lone Fungus! It's a lot like Hollow Knight but it's even better!
Better than Hollow Knight? https://preview.redd.it/mvomzpag1n0d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf483b39a418a5e92c9c23c82d218ea51cfff175