I haven’t played a Metroidvania in a while and I’m looking for suggestions of some good ones to try. Some I would recommend:
Ender’s: Lilies (Magnolias is good too, but play Lilies first. The setting and theme hits better.)
Ori and the Blind Forest / Will of the Wisps (Will of the Wisps did bring a tear to my eye)
Monster Sanctuary (a creature capture metroidvania)
Any system is good, interested to hear of other good ones that are out there.
Ori series, specifically Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It’s my absolute favorite game of all time. It’s got the amazing visuals and insanely good OST, crisp and satisfying platforming and combat, engaging and unique bossfights, incredibly gripping story, good difficulty settings and going for 100% is rewarding and not nearly as annoying as in many other games. While it may stray a tiny bit from the classic Metroidvania formula I think it still does it incredibly well.
Supraland
So many solid suggestions here already. I have a soft spot for the more retro styled games, and despite being short Gato Roboto is one of my favourites. It just feels so good to play.
Super Metroid will always be my favourite. I also enjoyed Axiom Verge and Bloodstained ROTN.
I generally like shorter Metroidvania like Iconoclasts and some of the Shantae series or even Yoku’s Island Express which has some backtracking.
The Metroidvania tag is a bit like Dubstep in music, a lot of those Dubstep tracks aren’t Dubstep but they can still be fun for some people.
Guacomelee should get more love, it’s a really stylish game and there is even coop if you want to play together with someone.
Ghost Song is one of my favorites that doesn’t look like its been mentioned yet.
La mulana 1 and 2, animal well for puzzles.
Metroid dread, highly recommend for combat.
Dead cells and rouge legacy two for rouge lite bits
terraria for minecraft + metroidvania
time spinner, bloodsworn for more typical metroidvania
the old castlevania games are on steam, so there is that
almost metroidvania suggestion is Outer wilds. Progression based learning. just not in a 2d plane and no fighting.
Just so it’s not forgotten to time I want to recommend AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake). It’s basically what if Metroid 2 was made in the Super Metroid engine.
I’d recommend any of the 2D Metroids, but if you’re going to play Metroid 2, that’s the version to play.
I was shocked to see no mention of Ori in any of the comments here before I realized you had already recommended it in the OP. I have no issues with seconding that, the Ori series is really good.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
I don’t know if it’s “favorite”, but an old classic was Aquaria. It had a surprising amount of content, even to the point of several secret bosses, and an absolutely excellent soundtrack. Sadly, the main guy behind it is dead now. Ori was also fantastic.
Aria of Sorrow
Animal Well is stellar
New school: Hollow Knight and Silksong
Old school: Super Metroid
when oldschool is actually more accessible than newschool
More accessible? Please explain.
As in easier?
Yes. At least I didn’t hit any roadblocks like in Hollowknight where a lot of patience and concentration was required to beat certain bosses and not lose your sanity on the ridiculously long ways to the arena.
Hollow Knight didn’t really do it for me so I haven’t tried Silksong yet (I hated not having a map for each area until I purchased one).
I may have to try putting an emulator on my Steam Deck and seeing if Super Metroid holds up.
Super Metroid definitely holds up
If you didn’t like Hollow Knight you probably won’t like Silksong either.
The game is good, and incredibly polished, but feels aimed at the people who 100% the first game and wanted more.
Good to know. I did play Hollow Knight for a while but drifted off of it, it is not something that I personally would want to 100%
I also really liked Ender Lilies/Magnolias.
Other metroidvanias I’ve really enjoyed that haven’t been mentioned yet are Blasphemous and Vision Soft Reset.
Blasphemous has a really cool theme and is pretty challenging.
Vision Soft Reset is more indie and probably PC only. It has a unique twist to the formula.








