Such a great game!

Hello, I just finished MIO: Memories in Orbit, and even though I'm not a huge fan of exploring large areas with uneven terrain that make the paths hard to track, I really liked it. The art style is a work of art, the soundtrack is a 10/10, and while the combat isn't the highlight of the game, the boss fights were really good and challenging, and the ending was awesome too.

I also recently finished Nine Sols, which I consider on par with, if not better than, Silksong, a masterpiece and the best combat on my entire list.

Well Dweller is a great game, full of charm and good humor, but I didn't enjoy it as much because, bosses aside (they are amazing), the exploration and regular enemies felt a bit too simple to me.

I tried the demo for Aeterna Lucis and loved it; I'm planning to play it on release. And for now, I'll leave Noctis for another time because of how long it is and how close the sequel is.

I really enjoy challenging Metroidvanias with good parkour and combat, but I hate overly large maps. I’d also prefer it not to be too long, somewhere between 20 and 30 hours would be ideal.

TL;DR: I have my eyes on Grime 2, Mandragora, Castlevania: Belmonts Curse, Fatal Claws, Last Faith Which one would you recommend? (It can be any game, even outside my list)

Hello everyone!

My third metroidvania (after Super Roboy and Grumpy Jack), set in Japanese folklore, is coming along alright, and I figured I’d post a little update.

You can wishlist the game here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4534260/Kodama_Slumber_of_the_Gods/

The game focuses on fluid platforming, melee combat, and has a (very skippable) mythological story.

Thanks, and have a lovely day!

It's not perfect, but I enjoyed it a lot and have no regrets paying full price. For context, I 100% the game at ~25 hrs.

Negatives

My first gripe is that some progression is a little challenging to figure out in a couple spots - I wandered around quite a bit before figuring out how to get into Notre Dame and the Hall of Mirrors. Thankfully, the Works of Mercy challenges kept me busy. I probably fought Mammon for 40 minutes before giving up and deciding to come back at higher levels.

My second small gripe is I wish Rose had more dash abilities, but I have that complaint with most of the genre, SOTN included (I would die and go to heaven for a Mega Man metroidvania, and no, ZX doesn't count). Metroid gets the movement speed right.

Positives

Probably the biggest praise of this game that I've read is how different people like different weapons. For example, I didn't use the great swords for more than 1 minute, but there are a handful of reviewers who said that was their main weapon! To me that indicates the game has something for everyone insofar as combat is concerned. As an aside, I loved the twin blades and the whip. I used the lance quite a bit too. Breath of the Wild, arguably one of the greatest games ever made, forces the user to try new weapons by having them break, whereas the Belmont's Curse devs actually made all the weapon types fun to try and use - a real accomplishment IMO.

I also liked swapping out the relics for different situations. The spells were super useful too - I found in Hollow Knight I never used spells because I used my MP/mana exclusively to heal.

I enjoyed the platforming a lot too, it reminded me of Memories In Orbit and Ori. The whip swing felt like it slowed down time while Rose was about to unleash it, making it even easier to target.

I also enjoyed the story (despite some corniness) - Leon, Joan, and Medusa were all great sidekicks who didn't interrupt too much. The story at least made sense - I felt like MIO got real philosophical with its story telling to the point where I just skipped most dialog.

Music is great with the small exception of the Hall of Mirrors.

Visuals are stunning - the fight with Joan of Arc is just gorgeous. Seeing Paris in smokey flames all throughout the beginning of the game is awesome.

Sum Up

Probably recency bias, but I'd put Belmont's Curse in my top 5 Metroidvanias of all time.

I don't see this getting mentioned as much anymore, but this should be a must play for anyone's spooky season list. The pixel art, music, gameplay are all top-tier. A solid 4-5 hour 100% playthrough for like $5.00 right now.

What a great Metroidvania—lovely story, solid mechanics, and easy—extremely easy. I think that whenever I need to introduce someone to the genre, I’ll recommend this game because it’s very accessible, the story is cool, and the gameplay loop is really good.

Absolutely top tier Metroidvania. Everyone should play it.

I'm not a big Castlevania guy so I was kinda caught off guard by all the puzzles and secrets in the game. Way beyond the scale of most MVs. I really liked it though and the puzzles combined with the twisty, sometimes confusing map really felt like a real, creepy castle.

The fast travel is a little clunky but it fits the world so well it's worth it.

The platforming and combat is fun. I honestly don't understand the point of the leveling system. I'd struggle with a boss, leave and get a level or two and then comeback and just roll over them. I was so bad at the puzzles that I wandered around a lot. By the time I figured out the later stuff I was way over leveled and rolled over everything. Including the final boss.

Still. Lots of fun. Great game.

My Personal Ranking: Better than Ori and the Blind Forest but not as good as Animal Well.

I get this forum gets inundated with love for 9Sols, HK, and HKSS among others, but I’m curious to know why Somber Echoes doesn’t get anymore shine here. I played it a few months back and thoroughly enjoyed my time with it, but my opinion holds as much water as a basketball hoop in the ocean.

Was the game overshadowed? Largely unknown? Overlooked? Forgotten? Or does it mostly hold a bad taste in people’s minds.

I’m genuinely curious.

‎So I've completed Moadra in 12 hours and here's my review.

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First of all, Moadra's world has a surprisingly big amount of lore (even if it's based off the good old "Civilization existed. Until, THE INFECTION") which is obtained through the scanner.

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‎In general, Moadra off slow and with a ton of cutscenes. However, once the actual gameplay begun I found out that the exploration is nothing short of amazing, the last time I've seen world design this cool was in MIO. Crawling into a random vent, discovering a twisting and branching rabbit hole and then stumbling around until I found a shortcut back to a familiar place is very fun and separates Moadra from your average "complete section-unlock shortcut-repeat" Metroidvania. The world also feels coherent and not like a random collection of rooms, for example there's a little subregion in the desert region that's a collapsed spaceship, you can enter a lab complex and visit it's roof and communication tower ‎

‎Thorough exploring will get you a lot of upgrades such as enemy piercing, armor piercing, simple HP-mana upgrades and etc. By the end you'll become overpowered and be blazing through the hallways like it's nothing. Exploring can also get you 6 blasters, but out of them only the gatling blaster is viable to use (because other blasters make you spam the shoot button a lot which is painful and inconvenient, meanwhile with gatling blaster you can just hold the shoot button).

‎Speaking of combat, the bosses are pretty simple and I never found any of them hard aside from the first one. The enemy variety is surprisingly big, at the beginning you may have problems with a lot of them having armor that needs to be pierced with energy rockets but there's a midgame upgrade that makes your normal attacks pierce the armor as well. The very detailed graphics sometimes resulted in me becoming lost in the clutter and going "wtf just hit me" but I was usually able to tank through the issue.

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‎You'll also have to backtrack A LOT, even when you unlock the fast travel (which is quite late) cause the fast travel points are very pretty far apart. Though this is softened by the interconnection of the world, by the main character moving really fast and by a very detailed map (that could've used some location color coding because as of writing this the entire world is grey).

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‎Overall an amazing metroidvania with some flaws that bring it down to A+. Could've been an S tier if it had better visual clarity, earlier and more convenient fast travel and didn't lock you out of the rest of the map for no reason after entering the final location.

I loved the game. It was a breath of fresh air and I feel that Konami and Evil Empire did a great work. The map felt pretty solid, there are a lot of shortcuts that help you navigate better previous areas. Although, I didnt even know you can teleport from saves until the last boss haha that would have made everything a little smother; despite that walking was a big part of my journey and it felt pretty good.

However, my biggest problem was the music, it was ok in the vast majority of zones. It didn't have bangers apart from Bloddy tears and the music feel very "normal" for a Castlevania game. I remember that the last game of the series was Ecclesia, I believe, and it had so many great themes. Even Lords of Shadows that came after had 3 or four great music themes (Mechanical Mounstrosity, the ice titan, etc), but the music for this one is pretty forgettable. Anyone has the same feeling? I don't know but for me Castlevania and great bangers are synonyms, and not having them on here lowered my enjoyment of the game. Thanks a lot!

I enjoyed crypt custodian but it didn't blow me away or anything. It was a nice 7/10 game. It had good combat, bosses and story but nothing was exceptional. I don't know if im in the mood for another crypt custodian like decent 7/10 experience. I want something a little stronger... For those who played both games how would you compare the two?

I have played ender lilies in the past and kinda been a while since I played an mv, if you played both share your insight

Ivory Forest is a fantasy puzzle-action platformer set in a mythical wilderness that’s been invaded by interdimensional Lizard Beasts. Players control the ‘Ivory Husk,’ an undead foxlike creature possessed by the Spirit of the Forest. They wield a celestial Horn that can control time and space, conjure energy blasts, and manipulate the environment. RECLAIM THE FOREST.

The game is in preproduction, and we are searching for playtesters who enjoy action platformers to help us make the game all it can be!

🚀 Join our new Discord to inquire about playtesting and learn more: https://discord.gg/BkB39kugRm

Survival horror games like original Resident evil and Silent have a pretty similar structure to metroidvanias, there is a map, tight level design, shortcuts, backtracking, puzzles and lots of blocked doors. The only difference is they use tool gating instead of ability gating. Please, dont start a holy war, i know that these games aren't metroidvanias.

If that's not a problem for you and you want more of Silver Pines, these games are a must.

The games from top left are: Silver Pines, Signalis, Crow country, Resident evil 1 remake, Tormented souls 1 and 2, Enigma of fear, Alisa: Director's cut, Tenebris somnia, Phase zero, Holstin, False oath, End of abyss, Becrowned.

Keep in mind: Phase Zero, Holstin, False oath and Becrowned all release in 2027 but all of them have a playable demos (that i completed multiple times), i highly recommend to wishlist these games.

The game doesn’t technically crash. The map just hangs. It happens when I zoom out of an area, when I go to zoom back in (on any area) the map will start to zoom in, go blank and hang. Any thoughts or anyone else experience this?

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Hi! I'm Leonardo from Italy.

This is the Sibyl, one of the characters you meet in Elmer, a hand-drawn 2D adventure with metroidvania elements. You explore AltroQuando, a strange city where everyone speaks "grammelot", an invented language, and you fight with an umbrella: a perfect parry slows time and sends attacks back.

We just updated the free demo (~40 min) for Halloween, with smoother ledge climbing, a quick umbrella strike and menu fixes.

I'd love feedback from metroidvania players: what feels good, what feels off?

Demo on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3926650/

I’m very lost at this point. I know I need to find a sixth coffee man to upgrade my sword. But where is he??? And I found out through google that there is a second potion I need to bring to the witch. But I cannot find it!

Every time I start a metroidvania, I really love it at the beginning, the vibes, the combat, the art style, but the same thing always happens at about the 5 hour mark, I end up just getting overwhelmed by the exploration and always introducing new mechanics, same thing happened with HK and SS, now with blasphemous, I am someone that likes to explore every nook and cranny before I move on, and if I go down a side path after I made a mental note to come back to another one, and then more paths down the side path begin to open up, I begin to get overwhelmed, I am a completionist but I like to find everything in chronological order, otherwise I just cannot keep track of what to come back to, it gets even more unenjoyable when I get lost and can't figure out a way to move forward, the more times I need to search online for an answer, the less I enjoy the game, I really try to avoid doing it, but after a few hours of not progressing, I begin to lose interest.

I know I am basically describing what metriodvania's are, and maybe they just aren't for me, but I really want them to be for me lol, how do you guys enjoy these games the way they are intended? I am not good with maps and stuff and prefer to play by what I'm seeing, is that even viable with these games? if i notice i am missing a side path that may or may not be the main path forward, do I just forget about it and trust that the game will lead me back there later?

Just gonna keep it short. The Divine Challenges from Prince of Persia are harder than Path of Pain.

Could someone point me in the right direction where this freaking thing is. I know I've easily missed it because I got the dig site access card first and now I need this branch 1 card to progress. Ive been scanning the map and everything but this game is so reliant on secret passages for main objectives I know I missed something I just don't know where.

Like a lot of people I’ve been playing my way through Belmont’s Curse. Prior to this I played a number of other new Metroidvanias including Well Dweller. Well Dweller, like many other Metroidvanias, clearly gives indication of walls that are breakable that hold secrets or other obvious indicators. I sometimes think this negates the feeling of discovery, especially when it is too obvious.

Belmont’s Curse does have the obvious breakable walls and the obvious slide / duck under hidden areas. However, there are also a lot of…mirage(?) walls that are not so obvious. I found this to be extremely refreshing. Now they still have hints but I thought it was done in, sometimes, nice subtle ways.

I don’t mind hitting every wall with a stick. I would kind of like a return to Metroidvanias that have much more difficult hidden secrets to find. A balance of the two types, as done in Belmont’s Curse, is a nice way to do that.

What style of secret do you all prefer?

Yeah, that's the word. I'm at the point where I just got the sledge and probably close to completing it, and I don't want this game to end. I can't even point to its weak points. I guess it's supposed to be combat, but no, it's still very fitting to the genre. Exploration, puzzles, overall style and perfect blend of all best things that horror has to offer. And just in time for the Halloween season.

Hello everyone,

I recently played the new—or rather, improved—demo of Aeterna Lucis, and I am genuinely impressed by the game, for several reasons.

First, the visuals: I am blown away by the game's graphical quality. The environment of the "Ruined Tower of Lights" is beautifully crafted. The background, in particular, deserves special mention; it’s multi-layered, which gives the level incredible visual depth while making the area feel unique and memorable. Each layer contains its own distinct elements—some of which are even animated, such as the pulsating, flickering strands and clumps of flesh. The boss and the enemies are also well-drawn and nicely animated. While a few of the Queen’s animations feel a bit stiff, this could easily be a deliberate design choice—a stylistic decision—rather than a sign of laziness or inexperience on the part of the developers.

The design is also excellent for a tutorial level. I love the Light Dash and the ability to "dive" through fields of light—it’s a really exciting mechanic. I’m looking forward to seeing more innovative abilities for the Queen of Light, integrated seamlessly into increasingly difficult platforming challenges. One minor criticism—though, again, this might be a conscious design choice—is that some rooms feel a bit overcrowded with enemies. At times, enemy placement seems somewhat arbitrary, as if foes were simply dropped into a corridor or room without a clear, intentional design purpose. Then again, that’s just my personal impression. As someone currently playing through Belmont’s Curse—a game I absolutely love—I happen to be a big fan of how enemies are placed in that title. In this setup, specific enemy types are placed in particular locations within the environment that offer them a strategic advantage—for instance, an archer positioned on an elevated platform. Furthermore, there are those classic "enemy arenas" where you find yourself confined within an enclosed space and must defeat one or more waves of various foes. I hope that such scenarios will also be present in Lucis.

The boss fight, for its part, is fantastic. I love both the design and the boss’s varied attack patterns. Especially in Lucis, it’s quite challenging for a tutorial boss—though never unfair. This gives me high hopes for the quality of the remaining boss encounters in the final game. I also love that the boss has been given such a great 3D model—well done, developers!

The music is lovely; it fits the area perfectly, creating a great atmosphere. I’m already looking forward to the other regions we’ll travel through and the music that will accompany them. At times, you just want to stand still, take in the wonderful environment, and listen to the evocative soundtrack.

One small point of criticism—or rather, a suggestion for improvement: please include voice acting for the in-game dialogue, ideally using the signature "Aeterna" language. I love *Aeterna Noctis*, and one of the things that gave that game such wonderful charm was its innovative, fictional language—not actual English, but a unique, invented tongue. Combined with the expressive faces of the characters—featuring facial expressions perfectly suited to every situation—this is something I would really love to see in Lucis as well.

Overall, though, I’m genuinely hyped for Lucis!