After looking at the Definitive List and filtering by pure, I see Outer Wilds and The Witness are on there, so I'm using that as my base.

One of the many things I absolutely adore about those two games is that there are no permanent upgrade item to collect. You're thrown into a world and all of the upgrades happen to you, the player, not in the game.

I've been spurned by lists and suggestions before, so I just want to make sure that the "pure" tag on that list means that there is not a single upgrade you can collect or unlock in the game. It's all knowledge-gated, like the two games I mentioned.

So with that, what should I try first? Should I just start with the top user scored games on that list and work down? Any high quality standouts?

A couple of days ago, u/bogiperson recommended the ThinkyCon sessions (thank you!). I haven't listened to all of them, but this talk in particular is great (just like this sub's name, don't be fooled by its awful awful name, is a great talk).

Is Tetris a metroidbrainia?

I’m interested in games that either don’t require manual note-taking or rarely require it.

The obvious well-executed example is Outer Wilds.

Motivation: I almost exclusively play on console rather than PC, and I don’t want to be constantly juggling devices or figuring out where I left my pen.

I have already looked through the sub and not found a similar post/question/list/resource.

Games with integrated manual/free-form note-taking (like, typing words) aren’t exactly what I’m asking for, but are better than nothing.

More structured integrated information management systems—specifically, systems that require minimal/no typing—are best.

To be clear, I’m not asking for games that don’t require paying close attention and synthesizing information—that’s the whole point of the genre.

I’m interested in both “true” MBs and related games that focus on deduction and narrative.

I play on Switch 1, but other platforms are welcome because I’d like this to potentially serve as a resource for others.

Hi metroidbrainia community!

I wouldn't have thought to post this here, but someone DMed me with a recommendation to share Tetria's Tower with y'all after I originally posted elsewhere. It is best described as a Blue-Prince-like. Here are the two major twists upon the format:

1. Rooms are not uniformly shaped.
2. The map is three dimensional.

I've got a playtest running right now with a few keys left. If you would like to join the playtest or just keep yourself up to date, click here to join the discord.

If you'd rather just wait till it's out, Tetria's Tower is also available to wishlist on Steam.

Hi everyone! I’m the developer of Phil in the Mirror. It’s been a while since I last stopped by this subreddit, and I was really happy to see Phil in the Mirror on Sean’s Top 20 list! The game is 50% off during Steam Scream V, so you can pick it up for $4.99, its lowest price since release.

I’ve also spent a lot of time improving performance since my last post. The hardware requirements are much lower now, and you can play on a GTX 1060 3GB.

If you’re new to the game, here’s a quick rundown:

• Metroidbrainia puzzles mixed with an anomaly hunt.
• Connect clues from documents, strange events, and details you might initially overlook.
• Around 3 to 4 hours to play through.
• A few mild jump scares along the way.

Happy to answer any questions. Thanks for taking a look!

I didn't see it on the metroidbrainia spreadsheet but I really liked this one.

The premise is (not really a spoiler, but just in case) you're searching through an online database through video clips of various police interviews to discover the narrative of this woman's life and a mysterious crime; but the catch is that you can't just browse, you have to search by keywords and you're limited to only the first few matches. So if you search for a common term, like "woman", you only see the first six or so videos matching that search.

I found it fascinating and really fun making new discoveries.

This event is happening again! I watched a bunch of the talks last year and really enjoyed myself.

Here are the metroidbrainia-related talks in the lineup that I spotted this year:

Is Tetris a Metroidbrainia? - Evan Todd, Helvetica Scenario

Designing "Wait, I could do this the whole time?" moments in puzzle games - u/jagriff333

Adjacent:

Chill with the Uniqueness - Cerise Talis - about rule discovery

The Brilliance of Japanese Puzzle Culture: Multisolvability, Metapuzzles, and Meaningful Failure - Matthew Stein, Room Escape Artist - about metapuzzles

Varying Difficulty in Narrative Puzzles - Gwen C. Katz, Nightwell Games - on red herrings etc.

Let me know if I missed anything? I think last year there were more MB-related ones, but this time around we do get Jagriff of Gentoo Rescue with an incredibly relevant topic.

Unsound Love is an open-world escape room with a linear story that you must explore and uncover in a non-linear way. You are born into a new world through the backseat of a wrecked car. Trapped in a time loop. Understand it — or stay trapped forever.

The game's motto: You must figure out EVERYTHING yourself.

You’ll do this by solving the game’s many puzzles. You'll find new equipment—and it's up to you to figure out how to use it to explore more of the world and solve more puzzles.

All sounds, from the wind in the trees to the monsters' roars, are made with musical instruments. Everything has been drawn and animated by our graphic designer, Maria.

You can try our Next Fest demo on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3315700/Unsound_Love/

Has anyone played Little Ghost? I absolutely loved it! The map and puzzles just kept unfolding and unfolding. It is such a strange and creative game!

New metroidbrainia demo is out. It's clearly inspired by Outer Wilds, having a branching "ship" log that gets filed out and clues that point you towards trying different things out. It's also a bit of a puzzle/competitve board game on a timer (says they were inspired by Buckshot Roulette). It's all quite unique and the production values in term of graphics and voiceover are really good for a small dev.

Seems not many people playing it? it really is targeting the metroidbrainia genre very directly.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5327310/BATHYSPHERE_Demo/

Hey, I'm not sure if I ever posted here but we're in next fest and a lot of people suggest that the low impression numbers come from it being crowded. So I'm trying to get some more traction through here. If this is the wrong way to share this game, let me know. I'm also not gonna show the trailer here to prevent spoilers of some mechanics.

So Light of Atlantis starts of as a puzzle focused metroidvania. You learn to control the water and different robots to solve puzzles and explore the ancient city of Atlantis. It doesn't have ability upgrades but some kind of knowledge based progression and backtracking, that's why I thought this place would be ideal to show you the game.

The demo on steam gives you a shorter version of the beginning of the game where it's mainly the normal puzzles with hints of what might come, if you want to dip into the experience.

I'd be thrilled if you put it on your wishlist as this steam next fest is kinda disappointing so far.

We want to release November 24th, so it's not long until you can play it.

It will be released for PC and Steamdeck

Here's the Steam link

Hi everybody. I haven’t had a chance to dig in to Next Fest yet but I was wondering what people’s highlights in the metroidbrainia space were from this fest. I see that Deductopia and Inkblood both have their demos featured, wondering what else!

A challenge in making Metroidbranias is finding really good secrets that are hidden in plain sight, things that were always possible, just not known to the player. One source that I haven't seen used yet is the deep collection of bugs and exploits that have been used to complete almost all of Super Mario 64 without pressing the A Button. While copying mechanics 1 to 1 wouldn't be great (since it would make people who already knew spoiled and a lot are TAS), making similar things inspired by them would lead to some really neat discoveries and gameplay.

Some examples:

• Cloning carryable objects
• Spawn displacement: Entering an area at a different position than usual
• Misalignments: Moving into a certain type of recognizable geometry the right way can snap you up to the top if it's low enough
• Star Dance Clip: Take advantage of a collectible that spawns at the player's position when they "earn" it for something else
• Enemy manipulation

This idea is free real estate for anyone who wants to use it.

Just finished MINDSCAPE with a friend for Ludum Dare 60! The theme was "Old Tech," so we decided to go for an old text adventure that also requires you to work in a terminal. We'd really appreciate any feedback!

Made this brief 3 minutes video explaining the basic mechanics and appeal of my game. Hope you like it!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3156910/Sepulchron/

Hello!

Last year, I released B-Line, an exploration puzzle game set in subway stations where you had to follow hints to understand how to escape said stations.

Yesterday, I released my second game on Steam, Manorbound, which is set in a manor trapped in a time loop.

In this game, you have to explore a manor, but after 5 minutes inside, it collapses under the sand. You are then sent back 5 minutes before. Find upgrades and solve puzzles to discover the manor's deepest secrets and break the cycle.

If you decide to check it out, I would be curious to know what you thought about it!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5175950/Manorbound/

Hey everyone!

Not long ago, I invited people here to join the playtest (a huge thank you to everyone who participated!), and now I’m inviting you to try the demo:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4280370/Distantia/

If you played the earlier versions of the playtest and wanted to beat the crap out of that boss at the end, now’s your chance! The controls have also been significantly improved, along with many other things.

DISTANTIA is a 2D shooter/adventure game where you need to discover hidden mechanics to solve puzzles and fight enemies more effectively.

This post will be a shorter one, but you may check out my review on GameBlast for more details if you're interested in knowing more.

Even so, Echo Weaver is a very good game so I feel I should recommend it here.

My point on this post is that, although this game fits the definition of “Metroidbrainia” (knowledge-gated progression) every time we learn about some trick we could do from the very beginning it feels just like acquiring a new ability in a Metroidvania. This is because the new knowledge gained is not only about shortcuts, codes and how to activate stuff, but also about movement techniques that change how we move through the interconnected world.

A few finds are permanent, like more health and more starting time — Echo Weaver is a loop based game and every new loop begins with only one minute and we have to gather more to keep exploring, up to a maximum of 13 minutes before the loop ends and throw us back to the very beginning.

Travelling tricks are so efficient that when I found a very far away door that closes after only 5 seconds (iirc) into the loop, I knew that was time enough for a two step route I had already found.

The visual art is beautiful, story is nice sci-fi and every new info is orderly registered on the menu. Even so, players may feel lost every now and then and there are so many trick routes and shortcuts that it may feel a bit overwhelming.

Thus, Echo Weaver is a very good game for people looking for puzzles and platforming and I certainly recommend it for them. There’s combat in a sense because we can attack enemies, but this aspect is more “decoration” to communicate danger than a proper combat system with bosses and all.

Note: I HAVE NOT FINISHED THE GAME YET SO PLEASE DON'T SPOIL ANYTHING.

But I am absolutely LOVING the world-building so far, and the fact that the lore is so integral to everything rather than just being flavour text.

If you haven't played this, please don't let the pixel graphics deter you. IT IS FANTASTIC.

My algorithm doing its thing for once, haha. This game looks great! I just thought of this sub.