Top 5 "Metroidvanias" That Aren't Metroid Or Castlevania

The "metroidvania" genre, as it's come to be known (for better or worse), is my favorite genre of video game. For the uninitiated, "metroidvania" is a portmanteau fusing Nintendo's long-running Metroid series with Konami's classic Castlevania games. While Metroid has used its particular mechanics since the beginning, Castlevania perfected the genre when they adopted the Metroid-style with 1997's Symphony of the Night, heralded by many--including myself--as one of the best games ever made.

To make it simple, a metroidvania is defined as any game where acquiring items allows the player to backtrack to previously inaccessible areas in order to progress. There's a bit more to it than that, but that's the gist of it. I do think that there is a level of subjectivity, however. For instance, despite being one of my favorite games of 2018, I don't consider Dead Cells to be compliant with my personal interpretation.

For the purposes of this list, let me give you the parameters of what I consider a metroidvania:

1. It has to be 2D. Even though there are great 3D games that fit the bill, such as Batman Arkham Asylum, Darksiders, and if you really want to reach, early Resident Evil games, I believe that the metroidvania is inherently a 2D genre.

2. It has to have one contiguous world. I must be able to walk from the beginning of the game to the end of the game and back again in order to qualify. This is why I don't believe Dead Cells fits. Even though the layout of the individual levels and the map are obviously inspired by the founding fathers, once you progress to a new area, there's no going back.

3. Backtracking and roadblocks. Areas of the world must be blocked off until a certain item or criteria are met. This eliminates another favorite game of mine: Rogue Legacy, which doesn't hinder accessibility in any way, you can explore the entire castle from the start if you're good enough.

Before we begin, I would just like to say that I have deemed Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night ineligible. I did this because it is so obviously intended to be a Symphony of the Night successor and was created by the man most closely associated with SotN. Let's call it what it is. It's Symphony of the Night 2.

But let me be clear about it. If it had been eligible to make this list, it would undoubtedly be number one. It's outstanding, and every fan of the genre and/or the Castlevania series owes it to themselves to play it.

As is customary, let's give some shout-outs to some games that didn't quite make the top five.

Aliens Infestation

The best game based on the iconic Alien franchise and the closest you're going to get to a horror game on the Nintendo DS. Features a semi-permadeath system and an excellent ending theme.

Guacamelee!

Good, varied combat combined with fun and challenging platforming. A great sense of humor that is sometimes hindered by its constant references to internet humor.

Yoku's Island Express

Perhaps the most surprising and delightful game of the generation. Upbeat and original, this game takes pinball and does something original with it.

Owlboy

Great gameplay, but the thing I loved most about Owlboy were the story and characters. It covers topics of loneliness, inferiority, and not fitting in, but is also an uplifting tale of a ragtag group of misfits saving the world.

5. Steamworld Dig/2

Let's start this top five list by cheating and putting two games in one slot. At its core, Steamworld Dig is a game with one objective: just keep digging. It's a simple concept that works exceptionally well. The sequel--released in 2017--definitely delves deeper into the metroidvania concept by emphasizing repeated trips through areas after new gear is acquired, but I still feel the original fits the description. In some ways, I find the simplicity of the original more refreshing than its more ambitious sequel. Steamworld Dig 2 is definitely the more polished game, but when I get a hankering for Steamworld, I go for the original, which I've played a handful of times at this point.

There's something oddly addicting about digging, going to the surface to sell your gems, upgrading, and returning to the caverns to dig some more. There isn't much in the way of combat, but they have a great cast of characters, and the puzzles in the many smaller dig sites are satisfying to solve. Though combat isn't a major focus, enemies can still pose a problem, but the greater nuisance are the many stage hazards such as acid and inadvertently digging in a way that causes you to crush yourself.

Steamworld Dig can be finished in about 4-5 hours, with the sequel lasting double that time depending on how much of a completion percentage you're going for. While there are games in the Steamworld...uh, world...that venture into other genres (Heist is a turn-based strategy game while Quest is a card-battler), the Dig games are easily my favorites and the ones I recommend the most.

4. The Mummy Demastered

If there is any game on this list that took me by surprise, it's The Mummy Demastered. I don't think anyone expected anything special from a "de-make" based on a rebooted monster movie that completely flopped. That's only exacerbated by the fact that The Mummy Demastered was developed by WayForward Technologies, whose games are very hit or miss for me. It's as if their games are either completely outstanding (Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, Aliens Infestation) or the most average things you'll ever play (Shantae: Risky's Revenge, A Boy and His Blob) with no in between.

Despite being recommended to me by a friend, I decided to wait until the game went on sale, which it did at the tail end of 2017. It was the game that I started 2018 off with, but had I played it in 2017, it definitely would have made my top ten list that year, probably in the top five somewhere, which says a lot considering that that was the year that saw the releases of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Horizon Zero Dawn, and many other great games.

The Mummy Demastered has you taking on the role of a nameless soldier working for Prodigium under the command of Dr. Henry Jekyll (who speaks to you in the form of a pixelated Russell Crowe). If the player dies, rather than starting over from the previous save, the player takes control of a new soldier who must find the now zombified remains of his former comrade to regain their equipment/weaspons, somewhat similar to the Dark Souls formula.

The game isn't overly difficult, and much in the same way that Alucard is ludicrously overpowered by the end of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, your soldier(s) will likewise be laying waste to the hordes of evil with little effort by the game's conclusion. The array of weapons is plentiful and fun to use, and you're never at a want for ammunition. Certain areas can get tedious with backtracking, but I never found myself bored. For the most part, the different areas are interesting and I don't remember enemy types being reused often. The boss fights are pretty simple, though there was one that required a bit of trial and error.

The Mummy Demastered is a modern day horror take on a genre that's normally reserved for the sci-fi and fantasy. It's like Castlevania with modern weaponry, and that's not a bad thing.

3. Ori and the Blind Forest

Many metroidvania games employ difficult platforming challenges. Oftentimes they are used as a roadblock to non-essential items that players can choose to either acquire or forego, typically hidden in the game's secret areas. Guacamelee! is a great example. On the other hand, we have Ori and the Blind Forest, where overcoming difficult traversal sections is an integral part of the game. It's very possible that Ori's platforming prevented players from finishing. The combat can be challenging at times, but most of your deaths will come from an ill-timed or missed jump.

This is what makes Ori really stand out. The game is graphically beautiful, has great music, and a touching story (though I could do without the environmentalist message), but the creativity in the platforming design and the tools at your disposal to solve its platforming puzzles is what elevates Ori from good to great.

If Ori does anything wrong, it's the fact that there are certain areas that can't be returned to following some world-altering story events. My word of advice would be to make sure that you find all upgrades in these areas before continuing with the story. While not a huge deal, I did miss a HP upgrade that I wasn't able to go get when I got to the cleanup portion of my playthrough, which was mildly annoying.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is scheduled for an early 2020 release and is one of my most anticipated games of next year.

2. Axiom Verge

Axiom Verge is the game on this list that most closely resembles the forefather of the metroidvania: Nintendo's Metroid. Axiom Verge wears its inspiration on its sleeve, with the world of Sudra being very obviously inspired by Metroid's Zebes. Where the game's really diverge from one another is with the story. Whereas Metroid at its base level is about a bounty hunter trying to thwart an evil group of space pirates from using the titular Metroid alien species for galactic domination, Axiom Verge is more of a mind-bending sci-fi tale about unknown worlds and realities.

Now, don't ask me to explain what exactly happens in Axiom Verge because I literally read the plot synopsis right before writing these words to give myself a refresher and I still don't fully understand it. But what I do understand about Axiom Verge is that it's dripping with atmosphere. Metroid thrived on the feeling of isolation and loneliness, and while Axiom Verge does that to a degree, I find that its strength is the fear of the unknown. The first time you encounter Elsenova, a being belonging to a war machine race of giants known as the Rusalki, it can be quite intimidating. Even though you quickly realize that the rooms containing the Rusalki beings are safe zones, you can't help but feel uneasy around them.

Axiom Verge has no shortage of ways to find your way through Sudra. Some weapons are only useful in certain situations or against specific enemies, but the experimentation it provides is worth the exploring needed to find each new gadget. Like any good metroidvania, Axiom Verge adds new traversal methods throughout, as well as a plethora of secrets to uncover, whether they be hidden areas or messages in an unknown language you must decode. If you're a fan of sci-fi and want a true homage to Metroid, you can't do much better than this one.

1. Hollow Knight

I played Hollow Knight early this year after hearing great things about from many people for a long time. It's been several months since I finished it, but I find myself still thinking about Hollow Knight regularly. When I was still playing, I would read wikis about it because I was so invested in its world. I wanted to know more about the characters, I wanted to know more about the fall of the insect kingdom, I wanted to know more about the titular Hollow Knight. All these months later, I still find myself occasionally looking up more information about various aspects of the game. While the world is what I consider to be Hollow Knight's greatest strength, the other things is does right should not be overlooked.

Let me change course just a little bit before returning to Hollow Knight. The Simpsons is my all-time favorite television show despite the fact that I haven't watched a new episode in a decade and a half. In its heyday, The Simpsons was a phenomenon, and the reason for this was because the town of Springfield is chock-full of memorable characters. While the show was great in its first seasons, around season three they really started to shift focus to the town and its residents and using the Simpson family as the central characters to drive each episode, and that's when they really began to hit their stride. Without characters like Mr. Burns, Chief Wiggum, Apu, Principal Skinner, Krusty the Klown, and innumerable others, The Simpsons wouldn't have survived to the point that we all now want it to die.

Hollow Knight is very similar to The Simpsons in this regard. Hollow Knight has a lot of interesting characters, many of which you may never meet because of how vast the world of Hollownest is. The Last Stag is the character that helps the Knight fast-travel and gives information about what each areas used to be like before Hollownest's fall. I loved hearing about the world that I would never see. I took an interest in Cornifer, wondering why he was so intent on mapping out the land. I found the Nailmasters to be fascinating, like old martial arts masters handing down the skills to their successors. Why is there a group of circus performers known as the Grimm Troupe and what is their motivation? And the list of characters goes on from there.

Combat can be difficult, but the different abilities you can equip at will (once earned or found) can even the playing field. In lieu of potions that you can stash for the opportune time, Hollow Knight employs a meter that increases with every successful hit on an enemy that can be used at the player's discretion. The downfall being that the Knight needs to be stationary when using it, so if you're down to your last hit during a boss battle, you have to weigh the risks of when to use it. It's an added challenge but I like the risk/reward idea behind it.

Hollow Knight is by far the longest game I've mentioned here, clocking in for me at just over 20 hours with lots of side quests and items that I never did or received. There's a lot of game here, but it's worth digging in for. This game also has a sequel on the way, and unlike the original where I waited for the game to go on deep discount, Hollow Knight Silksong will be a day one purchase.

Thanks for reading,
-TheDustinThomas

The Glaring Issue with the Cole/Gargano Trilogy

Spoilers for NXT Takeover Toronto, obviously.

I'll preface this by saying that this is not an attack on either wrestler. I think Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano are two of the best in the world and have very bright futures ahead of them. In their recent trilogy of NXT Heavweight Title matches, I was oftentimes amazed by the creativity of their spots and athleticism. I enjoyed all of those matches, but I had one major issue that began in their second match and really bothered me with their blow-off at NXT Takeover. My issue may sound strange, but I'll explain. Their final match was completely unrealistic.

Look, we all know that professional wrestling is a work. The concept of kayfabe is like Santa Claus at this point. Every wrestling fan knows that the guys or girls in the ring don't hate each other (usually) and are working together to put on an athletic performance. I already loved wrestling when I decided to get into the business, but when I started to understand wrestling psychology and how to put together a match, I fell in love with it even harder.

Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano told some excellent stories, especially their first match for the vacant NXT title. I remember watching that match while on the treadmill at the gym and wound up running a lot longer than I intended because I was so engrossed in what they were doing and the kind of story they were telling. I could sit down and watch it again right now and it would be just as thrilling. If I had to rank them, that's probably my match of the year in 2019.

Their second match was also very good, though by the end I found myself ready for it to be over. The third match, however, while still showing off how innovative they are as performers, lost me at around the 40-minute mark when the third and final fall began.

While reading the Bleacher Report recap of the event this morning, their writer gave the match an A+ rating and stated that Dave Meltzer would do right by breaking his five-star ranking system and giving this match a six-star rating. I couldn't help but disagree.

The reason these two excellent performers lost me is simple. There were way too many false finishes. Gargano and Cole kicked out of so many moves that normally would have won matches that it took away every bit of drama that they were building and reminded me that wrestling is a work.

I understand that the landscape of wrestling has changed, and in the time that I stepped away from the business, a new type of wrestling emerged. The "indie" style became the new norm. I'm not saying that that's a good thing or a bad thing, but what is popular now has certainly changed from the days of Stone Cold Steve Austin versus The Rock and Bret Hart versus Shawn Michaels.

Long gone are the days of the bodybuilder being a top guy simply because he looks like a million bucks. I support that. Gargano and Cole are both under six feet tall, and after watching them, one can't deny their talent. They deserve to be top guys wherever they are.

Back to my issue, though. When the trilogy came to an end, it did so with the two men taking a bump off the top of a cage through a table in the middle of the ring. Ten times out of ten, that's your finish, and this was no exception. The problem I faced is that after every finisher that was kicked out of up to that point, I completely expected Johnny Gargano to kick out. I did. I was actually surprised when Gargano didn't kick out of that.

I've often referred to WrestleMania as "the kick out pay-per-view" in years past. It's the biggest wrestling show of the year, and it makes sense that this would be where wrestlers dig deep to find that every bit of adrenaline to kick out of a huge move. Cole and Gargano were on a huge stage at Takeover Toronto, but it was just too much.

Many speculate that Johnny Gargano will now be heading to WWE's main roster. And good for him. He deserves it. But the problem I face now is how am I supposed to believe it when he doesn't kick out of an RKO or any other wrestler's finisher? He can kick out of two Canadian Destroyers in a row and the seventeen other finishers he kicked out of, but I'm supposed to believe that a Styles Clash was too much for him to handle?

This is not me being a jealous indie wrestler. Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano are ten times the wrestlers I'll ever be and do things that I'll never be able to do. Again, I'll reiterate, I loved their matches together. But even though I've been involved in wrestling since 2004, I'm still a fan, and the finale of their trilogy completely destroyed my suspension of disbelief. At a certain point, the drama disappeared because I knew that something as insignificant as a Canadian Destroyer (which was the most devastating finishing move wrestling had ever seen a decade ago) was going to be enough to win the match.

This was the glaring issue of these instant classics. After a certain point, I was no longer involved in the drama and storytelling of the feud, and remembered that I was simply watching two guys have a wrestling match.