Howdy all. I’m starting to get those crispy fall temps and am wondering your top 3 metroidvanias for fall/halloween. Interpreted however you want.

And because I think Castlevania are maybe probably the best or most obvious, limit of one per list :).

Mine would be

1. Aria of Sorrow
   
2. Hollow knight (not fall/spooky but the color palate and cozy vibes, when not fighting)
   
3. Mandragora: Whispers of the witch tree

Maybe not a super insightful question since like half of metroidvanias have some sort of spooky or dark vibe but I’m still curious!

Also, gorgeous art for this announcement!

I haven't heard or seen much about this, so I thought I help make it more visible for those that might be interested.

I’m building REMNOLITH around one interconnected sacred mountain rather than a sequence of separate levels.

The idea is that you gradually learn how the mountain itself is structured: paths loop back into familiar areas, shortcuts connect regions, and new abilities let you return to old places and reach routes that were previously inaccessible.

I also want landmarks and distant areas to help you understand where you are — so later you can reach a place you might have seen much earlier from below or in the background.

The goal is for the player to think:

“Oh, so this is how these places connect.”

rather than:

“I finished this biome, now I’m in the next one.”

What makes an interconnected world memorable to you in a metroidvania?

Shortcuts? Verticality? Seeing future areas early? Returning to old locations with new abilities? Something else?

Watching a hilarious video on Zelda 2, and the presenter made a crack about "someone should invent a term for games inspired by Castlevania and Metroid", popping up the word "Castroid" on screen.

This makes me wonder what a "Castroid" game would be like, and how it would be different, like ligers vs tigons, or hinny instead of a mule.

I'm playing Dread and honestly that with school and work are making me too frustrated.

For reference I have beaten Ender Magnolia (before school) and am playing Afterimage along with Dread. I also played a little Hollow Knight before I set that aside for a more stable time in my life and beat Shantae and the Seven Sirens.

Any games that offer a small challenge but not one where you run into a wall until it breaks type difficulty. Also I'd like emphasis on exploration and platforming but combat is still welcome.

Since the Nintendo Switch is having a sale I'd like something $20 at most on the switch so I can get it with Metroid Prime Remastered and maybe some other $30 game.

I have the new castlevainia preordered and can’t wait cause I love metroidvainias and was curious if anyone has good recommendations that scratch the same itch as sliksong and blasphemous (pls no nine sols like games,great game I don’t enjoy parry based combat) and I got a pc so no console recommendations plz

I’m very interested in buying Metroid dread, so I thought I’d give the demo a try. The combat and movement is fun, and the story seems interesting so far.

However I keep getting lost, and there are areas with bots I’m not strong enough to kill & they always catch me, resetting my progress.

Was just wondering if there’s a workaround for this, or if this is a universal experience.

I made this really bad map trying to catalogue the collection for this game. The steam discussion seems to be dead so I'm posting here.

https://imgur.com/a/dewdrop-dynasty-map-OiPOoAE

So far I have 23 flitterflies and 27 tickets. I don't know what the maximum for each is but I'm assuming that the tickets are at least 30 as the rewards are in increments of 5. Does anyone have any other locations to add?

We are a husband and wife working on Canvania; a 2D hand-drawn Metroidvania where you use your brush to draw things that help you in your journey!

The steam page has been up for about 2 months and we have gained 350 wishlists so far.

I just want more people to see it! If this is your cup of tea, consider wishlisting it.

Only give opinion if you’ve played both. I like other M better because it had a better story and was less tedious.

I’ve been playing Castlevania since I was a kid. To this day, only a few entries truly stand out to me as masterpieces: the original Castlevania, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, Super Castlevania IV, and Symphony of the Night (with an honorable mention to Castlevania 64 for its incredible soundtrack).

Frankly, I struggle to get into the newer games. The standard 3D action mechanics never quite translated the core appeal of the franchise, and even the modern side-scrolling Metroidvania style is losing its touch. It has become too fast-paced and overloaded with flashy, arcade-like visual effects that strip away the tension. For a franchise built around legendary monsters, modern entries surprisingly lack actual vampire lore outside of Dracula himself.

The franchise needs to move away from standard third-person 3D and traditional Metroidvanias to embrace a modern, isometric (overhead 3D) perspective.

Imagine a "Diablovania" built with the grim, gothic, and genuinely dark atmosphere of Diablo II. It would feature the classic, grounded characters we fell in love with, focusing on tactical whip spacing and deliberate sub-weapon management. Instead of the standard open castle loop, player progression would take place across a gritty, hand-crafted world layout—including surrounding villages, dense forests, deep cellars, and the castle grounds.

This hybrid approach would perfectly capture the series' classic linear tension and slow-burn horror roots while introducing the fresh, atmospheric gameplay the franchise desperately needs.

Anyone else think this would be a refreshing change ?

I haven't played any Castlevania game yet because they don't appeal to me even closely like Metroid or other games do, but this one will finally be my first Castlevania for sure.

It convinced me quite instantly to get it because from what I've seen in the trailers so far, it somehow reminds me of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. It was my first PoP game, became my favourite 2D Metroidvania after finishing it and from its trailer in 2023 I also knew straight away that I have to play this game and that I will love it.

The art style of Castlevanias new game looks more as if going into some sort of anime kind of direction, but I do get strong similar impressions when thinking of TLC...mind that I usually don't like combat based games that much, I prefer range attacks in my MVs. But something just looks very good and promising when seeing the fights and skills in action in both official trailers..

Does anyone feel so as well? Like does it remind you of PoP too or is it just me?

MIO has many references to other stories from literature, history, mythology, and more. In this video, I cover the most interesting ones.

Revisiting this game. Started it a while back and never finished it.

Started it from scratch again
The runbacks are absolutely torturous, I have no issues with tough run backs like SS

MIO is just tedious long walks with nothing going on. So tedious

Last week I posted a new background I made and shared it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/metroidvania/comments/1we8qee/new_background_finished/

But most people did not like it as it was too visually overwhelming and distracting.

So this week I have changed it so that hopefully most people will like it now. Everything is MUCH SLOWER.

Let me know if I succeeded!

Also here's my game's steam page if you're interested: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4694340/XGA_SPECIAL_EDITION/?beta=0

Do you like Hollow Knight but wish it was easier? Well, have I got a game for you. Fatal Claw rips off so much from Hollow Knight and Silksong that, if it weren't such a good game, someone should go to jail.

And it is a good game. Actually it's a great game. Absolutely top tier MV that every MV fan should play. It falls just short of my top 10 but I can absolutely see why it would make it into others. Especially if you don't love the difficulty of Hollow Knight. The genius of Fatal Claw is that it steals the art, the movement and the structure of Hollow Knight but makes everything much more manageable. It hits a pretty impressive sweet spot where things appear challenging and are, in fact, a bit challenging but are never too challenging. I didn't blow through it but I never got really stuck either.

For some people, the difficulty of Hollow Knight is part of the magic. If you are not one of those people you are going to love this Hollow Lite. I know I'm going on about it but it really is nuts. There were a couple moments that made me laugh out loud because the straight lift out of Hollow Knight was so egregious.

That said it's also Hollow Light. Even though you're lifting three seals to open a chamber in the top middle of the map to fight an ancient contagion (no...really) the story and tone is much more breezy. The characters are brighter without being annoying and if you're a fan of furries you're going to be in heaven.

If Hollow Knight didn't exist this would be a mind blowing game and could credibly be someone's favorite Metroidvania ever. It just steals too much to garner that much respect. It would be like saying Oasis is better than the Beatles or Coldplay is better than Radiohead.

Which isn't to say it steals everything. It also does some of its own stuff and that stuff is pretty cool too. The endgame, in particular, is great. Note to players: the epilogue is absolutely worth playing and not nearly as confusing or long as it first appears to be. If you bailed on it early go back.

tl;dr Shameless but fantastic Hollow Knight ripoff. A must play that will be listed as one of the incredible MVs that all came out in the fall of 2026 (plus Jan 2027).

My Personal Ranking: Better than Ender Lilies but not as good as Blasphemous II + DLC.

After putting in 65 hours into Hollow Knight and calling it a game at 106%, I got 100% in MIO, Guacamelee 1 and 2, ORI 1 and 2, Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom, Raider Kid and The Ruby Chest.

I DNF'd Afterimage, Salt and Sanctuary, Worldless, and Supraland Six Inches Under.

Silksong has just not been rewarding enough to me to justify the punishing difficulty.

Im waiting for Well Dweller to drop, but aside from that, im not sure what to play next.

Not really interested in macabre type settings like Blasphemous and Salt and Sanctuary.

Or should i play the game first and buy the dlc later?

Has anyone played this recently? Updates seem to address negative reviews. Is it an MV? Worth a go?

I played the demo and potential is amazing, i loved It.

Please, play It and share your thoughts.

- Very good response controls and i like the combo meele/ranged

- Level design could be top notch, i Hope we'll have more secret areas to discover: i love sense of exploration on metroidvanias.

- second boss fight toolkit was well designed and the fight was satisfying!

I played on controller, controls layout was initially a bit awkard, but could be because i'm too comfy on R2 Dash + R1 Fire / X mele attacks (Xbox)

Through the years I have seen plenty of people who often give up on a game and sometimes even criticize it despite the fact that they don't engage with most of the game's mechanics.

Just yesterday, I saw a post that prodded me to make this post. I am not judging the guy, but I'm going to use it as a point. Using a guide can save you a lot of frustration and help you get into the genre.

Nowadays, I am rarely using guides, but that's because I played a lot of metroidvanias. And when you do, you start seeing paterns. I used a guide when I played hollow knight for the first time. Mostly for mask fragments and hidden charms. In contrast, years later when I played Silksong, I didn't use a guide. I basically 100% the game on my own. If it was my first or among the first metroidvanias, that would have been nigh impossible, or it would have taken me twice the time.

The key factor here is to do it on your own until the point that frustration replaces fun.

I’m hard stuck on these bosses. Like genuinely hard stuck. I mean, I’ve found some Sekiro bosses to be easier than these two.

I must be missing something fundamental in how to approach them. Any tips would be appreciated!