With roots in games like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Metroid and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Metroidvania genre continues to prove popular with fans of 2D action-adventure games. This is especially true in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the indie scene where there seems to be a new one released every other month, to varying levelsꦫ of fanfare.
But when discussing the genre's very best, a few games are bound to come up. And despite the genre's console origins, the good news for PC players is that a lot of these are currently available on the various digital distribution platforms. What follows are the best Metroidvania games available on Steam.
Updated June 3, 2023 by Tristan Zelden: Metroidvanias are likely seen with retro-styled graphics or stylized artistic aesthetic from indie developers. The genre does lean into the triple-A space from some of the world's biggest developers. We have added some additional entries to represent what a Metroidvania, or Metroidvania-like, game can look like when given an enormous budget.
13 Control
When you have a game with elements of a genre, it can divide people on whether or not it should be included. Control🐽 is many things, but it does have Metroidvania pieces that make up some of its💛 DNA. You get all sorts of unique abilities and new designs for your gun that unlock playstyle possibilities and new things you can do.
Remedy knows h🎃ow to take big swings. Control delivers a triple-A scale with dynamic physics, envelope-pushing graphical fidelity, and high-concept sci-fi. The fascinatingly crafted world offers mind-melting moments that make it a must-play to ex꧅perience some of the best beats for Remedy fans and newcomers.
12 Tunic
Tunic leans heavily into its Metroidvania personality. The world is more of a puzzle as you figure out how to progress thro🦄ugh the story or reach that optional goal that caught your attention. It finds a way to deliver the pieces of the puzzle that are familiar yet in smart and creative ☂ways that make elevates the genre.
Developer Tunic Team strikes a balance of difficulty with its enemies and obstacles while making it all cute and stylish. Playing as a little fox as you go around this wor🐻ld makes it a cozy experience. The switch flips, then you find yourself sweating through boss battles.
11 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor ♏
Jedi: Fallen Order did a lot right, but Survivor improve🌜d upon every seed planted by Respawn Entertainment. The combat has more depth, the exploration is smarter, and quality-of-life improvements make for a less frustrating experience.
Exploration is the core of Metroidvania🌠s. 💃Whether it is the wide open areas of Koboh or the smaller worlds you travel to, the devs knew they had something in Fallen Order and grew it in Survivor. Getting new abilities and finding solutions to problems gets more creative this time around. It makes you want to stay in the faraway galaxy longer.
10 𝓰 Monster Sanctuary
Rather untypically for a Metroidvania, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Monster Sanctuary also doubles up as a monster-catching game in the style of Pokemon. Instead of catching monsters in small balls, though, you defeat them and procure monster eggs as loot, hatching them into a colorful yet dangerous 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:army of your very own.
The Metroidvania aspects come in when you realize that you need to colle🍌ct a wide range of monsters to be able to explore the entire map, with each monster having its own uses. Activating elemental switches, flying for a few seconds, speeding over traps, and smashing rocks to bitꦇs - all of these classic Metroidvania tasks are handled by different critters.
9 Islets
Islets is a very charming Metroidvania with very tight platforming and fun combat encounters with memorable bosses. While you don't end up collecting a plethora of unique skills and there are no incredibly deep systems to master, the game will test your skills and reflexes incredibly well.
It looks like a simple experience, and to some extent, it is, but there are some very rewarding challenges to be found in Islets, and the presentation alone is worth 🥀giving the game a closer look.
8 ♔ Salt And Sancꦆtuary
While at first glance Salt and Sanctuary seems to veer more towards being a Soulslike than anything else, there are plenty of strong Metroidvania mechanics pumping through this game's arteries.
The challenging combat and incremental upgrade systems may be the stars of the show, but you'll need to acquire unique abilities to unlock new areas and traverse them safely, just like in any classic Metroidvania. The unique art style and intense feelings of accomplishment make this game very memorable, and all of these themes are continued in its sequel, Salt and Sacrifice.
7 F.I.S.T.:🍸 Forged In Shadow Torch
In 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch, you play as a💃n anthropomorphic rabbit named Rayton. The game takes place in Torch City, a steampunk-inspired dystopia where the tyrannical Machine Legion is oppressing its animal denizens.
Armed with an upgradeable power armor that includes a large robot fist, Rayton must band together with a group of resistance fighters in order to secure their freedom. Good thing he just so happens to be a former soldier as he'll have to make use of that experience if he hopes to lead the rebellion to victory.
6 🎉 Blasphemous
With a title like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Blasphemous, you can pretty much tell what to expect from this bloody 2D Metroidvania from Team 17. Its religious connotations aside, though, the game serves as a distillation of the genre's core elements.
These include its focus on progressive exploration through 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:its ever-expanding world and combat similar to the difficulty of Dark Souls as well as earlier games in the genre, all of which are presented in an almost painterly pixel art style that effectively brings its dark fantasy setting to life. A free update that introduced new areas, items, and bosses was also released for the gam🐟e, dubbed Wounds of Eventide.
5 Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night 💎
Speaking of games that pay homage to the classics of the Metroidvania genre, many could argue that none does it better than 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. The game was in fact de💛veloped by Koji Igarashi, who had worked on several Castlevania games.
As such, it is considered a spiritual successor by many, retaining all of its gameplay trappings while telling a completely new story that is as dark as it is captivating. This would propel it to sales of more than a million copies as well as a n𒉰omination for Most Promising Ne🅠w Intellectual Property at the SXSW Gaming Awards. A companion title dubbed Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon was also released.
4 Deaꦰd Cells
Developed and published by Motion Twin, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dead Cells is a Metroidvania game with roguelike elements. What that means is that each time you restart the game,ಌ the layout of its levels and enemy placements would be different. 🤡You also lose all of your weapons and upgrades.
But before you go thinking this would contradict the fundamental principles of a Metroidvania, the game still maintains its sense of progression through certain permanent items that carry over between runs. You also unlock more weapons and items by 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:finding blueprints for them, which stay permanently available within the game's shop once unlocked, ensuring that your options open up over time.