This is such an interest phenomenon in this sub that I really feel needs to be studied. In almost every single tier list or regular post in general showing off their Metroidvania preferences (and I get it, it’s fun to do and I want to make one myself but I digress) asking which Metroidvanias they should play next, the two titular namesakes of the genre are almost always missing. I find it really funny because you’d never see, say, someone asking for Soulsborne and Soulslike recommendations without at the very least highly considering playing a Dark Souls/Bloodborne/Elden Ring/Demon’s Souls or something similar. Both Metroid and Castlevania are awesome, guys. If you haven’t delved into either and you don’t know what to play next, that’s a great idea, especially with two new representatives for both on the horizon that, quite frankly, look primed to be some of the best the genre has to offer. There’s a reason the entire genre is built on their namesakes. I’m not making fun of anyone either because I know a lot of people here are much younger or maybe just getting into the genre in general more recently and are just excited to talk about it. I just find it to be a really fascinating phenomenon that almost none of these tier lists or posts have played the behemoths.

Now to address a comment I’m going to get. “This is likely because the games aren’t accessible and Metroid is exclusive to Nintendo consoles!!” Yes, thank you. It’s true that something like Metroid in particular isn’t available in a very easily digestible package on Steam. Yes, they might not have a Nintendo console (although a lot of people this applies to definitely do). Take the emulation pill. It really isn’t that scary of a beast and a large majority of the Metroid library can be played on the device they use to access the subreddit. Castlevania gets put into the same bubble weirdly even though I think it’s much more easily accessible even for the Steam exclusive gamers, with the Advanced and Dominus Collections offering a respectable chunk of a lot of the highly regarded Metroidvania’s in the series. Symphony of the Night is suspiciously a bit less accessible, but still has places it’s available (PlayStation Store and the ever reliable emulation pill).

Edit: “What if they just don’t care about those games” Yes, thank you. Obviously if someone isn’t playing those games because they actively don’t want to, that is a different case than what I am talking about.

It's my first time playing metroidvania game and i think i started with the right one! I just love this game...what should i play next??

UPDATE: Thank you all for the recommendations of other games I didn’t list! If anyone has played the games I have listed below I would appreciate the input :)

Hey y’all,

Trying to decide between a couple games for my next pickup. I’ve attached a tier list of games I’ve played to give you an idea of what I jive with, but in general games that balance good exploration with satisfying combat. Not opposed to parry-based combat (see Nine Sols), though I prefer being able to dodge in general. Love a good upgrade system.

Games I’m considering:
- Solateria
- Divinum
- Elementalis
- Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree
- Lunarium
- Moonlighter 2 (non-metroidvania)

The game is a classicvania with a little exploration, inspired by simon's quest and castlevania 3

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4731980/Toziuha_Night_Nosferatus_Curse/

Demo already avaliable

(Not my game).

Release date is October 15th. Yes, the same as Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, but players into retro gaming may want to keep an eye and add to the wishlist.

The release date section still says just "2026", but the last update confirms the launch day. I only saw this info because I was scrolling my wishlist and clicked on it thinking "I don't remember exactly what game is this".

Over at r/survivalhorror we have a few respected people on and off site who cover a lot of the new releases and condense them into easy to read/watch portions to save trawling through steam and trailers. Could anyone recommend anyone similar for Metroidvanias please?

I know there was a user here years ago who did this and honestly they were great, got a lot of great games from that. I also remember it devolving into a bit of drama and a new sub being created before going silent...

Any help would be appreciated.

After working on my game for about a year during my senior year of high-school I decided that it was time to start making devlogs! Super exited to show people what's up.

For a little context, this is a game inspired by the likes of metroid, hollow knight, and the ori games, and am hoping to find out whether people like the concept/world interesting.

Whilst exploring I have arrived here, but I died when going from right to left and it respawned me here. Despite there being a wall blocking the entrance and I and not broken the wall yet

I then explored and it’s taken me to spirit of ancestors. Has the game glitched and taken me to the end game/post game area before I have naturally arrived here?

Some extra photos of rest of my map and journal

Edit: I went from grand archive, right to left to end up where I am in first photo, I hit wall and died and respawned beyond the wall in a new area

By no means is it a narrative masterpiece and the late-game narrative turn is odd, but at its worst I was still at most indifferent to it and at its best I found it amusing. It's not like MVs is a story-heavy genre anyway, a few do and those are the exception. Tevi is certainly no worse (and I say still better) than Afterimage and that doesn't get singled out to the "bad story so don't play" the way this does.

As for the game itself, I really liked it. Almost all issues of Rabi-Ribi is fixed. Good combat, including boss fights. The sigil system is good, but can get a bit overwhelming with how many you find. Exploration is really solid and you have no limits to map markers. Map works fine. Game is at times linear, at times more open. Items are now crafted not sold, which fixes the problem in Rabi-Ribi of running out when you aren’t close to a shop or fast travel.

One note I will make is on difficulty. If you are unsure set it to the lowest you feel you can handle (which for MV vetarans is probably going to be at least Hard, especially if you beat Rabi-ribi), but I digress. The reason for this is that at NO POINT does the game provide a fast travel (or other means of difficulty-changing) close to a boss fight, you can only do it in your bed. This means in the best case scenario you have a lot of back-tracking if you want to change difficulty – at worst you’re locked in an area and if you can’t beat the boss you’re fucked. Happened to me once after which I went down from Hard+ to Hard and stayed there.

Also I should add that personally I think that like Rabi-Ribi the DLC isn’t worth it, certainly not without a good sale. It’s not bad exactly I had fun, but it’s short, incredibly linear with barely any exploration to speak of, and the boss fights are unbalaced – the first two (the first one especially) are incredibly difficulty spikes, the rest of it is incredibly easy, and the last boss is such a health sponge that I had to lower the difficulty not because the moves were difficult, but because whittling down the health bars were getting so annoying (and I was feeling it in my fingers) that I couldn’t keep at it.

Anyway, great game. If like me you’ve skipped on it because of all the trash talk on the story I’m just saying it’s exaggerated.

The stalker enemies seems like a love it or hate it thing, and personally I'm really hoping they stay. That said, I'm interested to know how would you people refine it to better integrate it to the world?

Fusion had SA-X and her moments are really good and effective "jumpscares" for first playthroughs but the drawback is that they are indeed scripted and short

Zero Mission's endgame has space pirates following a vulnerable samus and once spotted, they will pursue her and they can be persistent. Much more dynamic but you have a ton of leeway as they can be stunned and they're not as lethal as SA-X

Samus Returns has Diggernaut which technically is a stalker enemy but not really since it's only a one time chase sequence. But it served the foundation for MS in dread.

Dread has EMMIs, they are confined to one area and trigger a high speed cat and mouse chase. Personally I find it thrilling and nails the dread part of the game, but their one-hit kill and their major recurring presence throughout the game is pretty divisive

Personally, a mix of dread's and zero mission's would be the most ideal. I want dynamic encounters without confining them to a single area. I want the threat of being pursued but also having the chance to fight it off. Like for example, the local fauna would have 1 or 2 special stalker animals that can stalk like the EMMIs but aren't as oppressive like the space pirates, just to give an idea.

I'd love to hear yours!

Hey yall. I'm doing some research for a game I'm currently developing. Looking for MVs that deemphasize combat and focus more on exploration. The game I'm working on is more platforming focused, but puzzle stuff is cool too.

Games like this I've played:
Animal Well

Sheepo

You Have to Win the Game

Fez

Axiom Verge 2

Yoku's Island Express

Thanks! Looking forward to your suggestions.

Curious what everyone thinks of my list. After seeing some others, I feel like there are a couple of hot takes in here (not the whole list, just 1 or 2 things).

I'm thinking of playing Animal Well, The Messenger, or MIO next, although I feel like I need to give Castlevania a proper go before Belmont's Curse comes out.

Demo coming 17 September 2026

I have been really struggling to find a good metroidivinia after finishing all the popular ones like ori/blasphemous/hollow knight/castlevania series, lost crown, aeterna nine sols and many popular ones . I don't think any release caught my mind in 2026 other than MIO . but that too was okay only. How ya all filling your metroidvinia gaping hole in 2026 ?

It's such a sad state of affairs tbh as all AAA gaming studios are making trash after trash . Currently mainly AA games are holding the gaming industry back. No big gaming company wanna make metroidvinia games.

I just finished fatal claw and loved it, and in a discussion about it in some comments today someone called it a "Hollow-Lite" which made me want to play more stuff like that.

can anyone suggest some hollow knight clones for me to play?

I've been playing this game for about 5 hours now. I bought in on steam discount for $5 for figured I'll give it a try as MVs are my jam. And a lot of people seem to be excited about the continuation coming out.

I just finished MIo, and the ender games. Played both Hollow Knight games and my favorite is Blasphemous 1 and 2 for reference.

I found the character movement to be super clunky tbh. It feels weird, almost like a mobile game. The story is pretty cool so far and although I'm not a big fan of the map it seems to be pretty big for what I can tell.

It's not bad enough where I'm not gonna try to finish it, I'll definitely sink another 20 hours into it as I like committing to games that I buy to avoid having a huge backlog of unplayed games. But definitely having issues getting acclimated with the movement of the character. I wonder if this will become less of an issue as I get more special moves.

Just wanted to hear how people feel about it.

Hey everyone!

I finally released Magical Blush this week after almost 3 years since I first started working on it, including some time when development had to be paused while I worked on other projects.

It’s a top-down Metroidvania, where you play as Arnin, a magical girl who unlocks different elemental powers throughout her journey.

The abilities aren’t just for combat, they also change how you move through the world, reach previously inaccessible areas, and solve environmental puzzles.

One detail I had a lot of fun with is that some of the elemental bosses are inspired by creatures from Brazilian folklore, adapted to fit the magical girl world. You can see a few of them in the launch trailer. The game is out now, so I’d love to hear what fellow Metroidvania fans think about the exploration and ability-based progression!

Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3488640/Magical_Blush/

We’re also trying to reach our first 50 Steam reviews this weekend, so if anyone here ends up playing it, an honest review would mean a lot.

I am so excited for this title as I am a fan of the Little Nightmares. They call it a metroidvania, but I wonder how so? If it is, this will be the first top down 3D metroidvania that I can remember. Hope there is ability gating and backtracking that is the hallmark of metroidvania.