Why We Love to Get Lost in Games: The Enduring Appeal of Metroidvanias
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I'm bookmarking this link so I can read it when I have the time. Having said that, it should be clear that I haven't read the article, yet.
For me personally, 80's and 90's 2D Metroid and Castlevania games were fun, but for me, something transcendental happened with the release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I'm 100% certain that I am incapable of truly putting it into words, but I'm sure a myriad of people have done it, and done it far better than I ever could. I bought the game on a whim because I enjoyed Castlevania 3 on the NES so much. Other than fighting games, 2D games were basically blasé for 90's 32-bit systems like the original PlayStation. Truthfully, I'm having a hard time recalling at the moment why I decided to buy the game. But I'm absolutely 10010% sure it was a good idea and I'm honestly thankful to my teenage self for that decision.
Modern Metroidvanias are fun, too. Truth be told, I gave up on Hollow Knight. I'm a patient, older gamer, so maybe that comes into play. But it eventually got to a point where it simply wasn't fun anymore. I was confused about what I needed to do next and I wasn't making any progress in the game. And then I had to set it aside for almost a year. When I tried to return, my memory had faded to the point where I really struggled to play it and make progress. That made me immensely sad. Once I realized that, I simply set it aside.
On the other hand, I played all the Nintendo DS Castlevania Metroidvania games back in the day and even still own the original cartridges. Via Steam, I also played the Gameboy Advanced Castlevanias. They are so much fun for me. So much fun that I purchased the Dominus collection on Steam, which is essentially all the DS games that I already own.
I also played Bloodstained: ROTN. I know there's a lot of criticism about the game, but I'll be honest, I loved every freakin' minute of it. I wasn't a huge fan of the graphics, but the game play was exactly what I needed at the time and I don't regret that purchase one bit.
And to finalize things, nice to meet other Metroidvania lovers. We might not all agree on the nitty-gritty details, but it's still neat to hear from others. Back in the 90s when I was absolutely in love with SOTN despite the fact that everybody else was hating on it entirely because it's a "2D platformer", it was hard to imagine that ~30 years later there would be entire communities of people who love these types of games.
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Man...I had the same experiences as you with Castlevania games and loved the hell outta Bloodstained. Wish I had more to add but wanted to at least high five lol
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High five back at you, my friend.
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Ori and the Will o' the Wisps is an amazing sequel, just as beautiful and just as smooth to play.
Moon Studios also has a new project, No Rest for the Wicked. It is very different from the Ori games but just as well crafted.
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I think I'd put it this way - I like adventuring, exploring, and finding my way through an immersive world. I don't like when I can't seem to stumble into the exact right clue or secret passage or interactable and waste up to possibly hours scouring the same locations over and over.
That said, metroidvanias are my favorite videogame genre. I just had to accept that it's okay to look up a guide or wiki before I get fully tilted.
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I don't recall tbh, I played it ages ago lol
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Yeah I don’t like banging my head into a wall either. What I mean by enjoying getting lost is being in a dangerous area where I don’t know how to get back to safety. It’s a mini adventure within an adventure to figure out how to escape without dying.
One game I play, Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, has a built in mechanism to create situations like that: shafts you can fall down that put you into an unexplored level that’s deeper and more difficult than the one you were on. It’s pretty effective at creating these mini adventures though fans of the game complain about them all the time.
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umm actually it's metroidvaniae
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Will of the Wisps fell through the cracks for me. It came out at a time after I had switched to Linux and before Proton was a thing. I ought to make time to get around to it someday.
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Metroidvanie? Metroidvanii?
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if strictly talking about metroid-like games metroidae also works.
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Metroid and Castlevania are two of my favorite series, and I adore the genre. That being said… I just can’t seem to get into Hollow Knight no matter how much I want to. Maybe I’m not putting enough time into it but I just keep getting bored quickly every time I pick it up. I think it’s partly the environment, every room looks very same-y so far. I want to like it but I’m clearly missing something
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G [email protected] shared this topic
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How timely a comment.
I just got pop_os up and running to replace windows 11 on my alienware aurora.
Still working on a sound issue in Helldivers 2 but overall has been a smooth transition.
