I’m a big fan of these kinda games where you explore an area collect items/level up to fight bosses.
My favorite is Order of Ecclesia for the DS. It was just great gameplay, a decent story, and great art.
I’m kinda unfamiliar with the new games in the genre, so I’d appreciate any suggestions. And is there a community of people who design those games?
Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight
Dead Cells takes that formula and makes it a fun Roguelike
Yoku’s Island Express is a fun pinball take on metroidvania
Axiom Verge
Rogue Legacy 2 is a ton of fun, similar to Dead Cells but more emphasis on exploration
Itorah
Transiruby
They Always Run
I absolutely LOVED Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
People here seemed to love Grime, but I’m not a soulslike fan so it was lost on me.
Legend of Tianding
Wuppo
Minoria
Unsighted
Cathedral is pretty old school, but might scratch that itch.
Owlboy
Tails of Iron is like Redwall meets Dark Souls, closest I’ve come to seriously enjoying a Soulslike.
Narita Boy
Blasphemous
Ender Lilies
A Robot Named Fight
Blue Fire is very Zelda like, but has no map, so I put it down.
The Messenger fuckin rips
Pumpkin Jack if you want something short and Halloween themed.
RiME
If they made more tables for it, or let people make their own, I’d be playing that shit all the time.
I had always hoped for a follow up, but I don’t think that studio is working on a game
I liked a lot of aspects of Control, but I just found the gameplay (like, the shooting), to be boring enough I stopped halfway through.
Dark Souls games, especially Elden Ring have the most rewarding exploration in my opinion. The difficulty makes everything you find incredibly rewarding. It’s the first game since the original Metroid that scratches that itch and makes playing with a notebook in hand worth it.
They also have a very similar mood to Metroid
