Metroidvania News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

If you're fond of the fairly specific blend of doomy theology, rich art direction and Soulslike-tinted metroidvaning encapsulated by Blasphemous, you might also enjoy Saviorless from Cuban team Empty Head Games and publisher Dear Villagers, which now has a PC release date of 2nd April.

Metroid’s Samus Aran missed out on an appearance in Fortnite because Nintendo wanted the character to only be available on the Switch version of the game.

Some new videogame releases pounce on us like excitable Golden Retrievers, while others become apparent to us more insidiously, like undead Golden Retrievers creeping back from the grave to do their master's bidding unto eternity. Withering Rooms is one of the latter: released out of early access last week, and noticed by me just yesterday, it's a haunted mansion metroidvania in which you are a small girl in a nightie who must use meat cleavers, pentagrams and spells of self-enlargement or possession or incineration to overcome various monsters of the Silently Hilly and/or Residentially Evil persuasion. No, none of the monsters are Golden Retrievers.

Evil Empire has put out a call for alpha testers for its upcoming Prince of Persia roguelite.

Side-scrolling action RPG Gestalt: Steam & Cinder will launch for PC via Steam on May 21, publisher Fireshine Games and developer Metamorphosis Games announced. A release date for the console versions was not announced.

A Prince of Persia roguelite from Dead Cells developer Evil Empire has been revealed.

PlayStation China Hero Project side-scrolling action game AWAKEN: Astral Blade will launch for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam in Q3 2024, publisher ESDigital Games and developer Dark Pigeon Games announced.

Physics-based grapple hook Metroidvania game Rusted Moss will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and Switch on June 20. Pre-orders for PlayStation 5 and Switch physical editions are now available in Japan for 4,400 yen at retailers such as Amazon and Biccamera.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is to receive story DLC and free add-ons, Ubisoft has announced.

Polish developers Mighty Koi have announced The Night Wanderer, a new sci-fantasy Soulslike RPG with metroidvania level design – yes, yes, tick those genre boxes! - in which you are a grim bearded swordsman exploring an alien world that looks a bit like pre-industrial Scandinavia.

The two-person studio behind 2021's tip-top top-down action-RPG Unsighted yesterday announced their next game, a 3D metroidvania named Abyss X Zero. It's not out for a while yet but its look already reminds me of two things: the pleasingly clean art style of Mega Man Legends and the edgy anime schoolgirl styles of Kill La Kill. See for yourself in the announcement trailer below.

UNSIGHTED developer Studio Pixel Punk has announced ABYSS X ZERO, a stylish 3D Metroidvania game coming to PC via Steam and other platforms to be announced. A release date was not announced.

The Wild at Heart developer Moonlight Kids has announced “fast-paced metroidBRAINia” game Echo Weaver for PC (Steam). A release date was not announced.

Publisher WhisperGames and developer Shanghai AmberDragon will release Metroidvania game The Weird Dream for PC via Steam on March 7, followed by Switch later in 2024, the companies announced.

Publisher Bonus Stage Publishing and developer Rock Pocket Games have announced side-scrolling Metroidvania game Somber Echoes. It will launch for PC via Steam this fall.

Turbo Kid is a 2015 movie set in a post-apocalypse in which a comic book fan battles a local tyrant, with gory, comedic, '80s-pastiching results. It was not a film I expected to get a metroidvania sequel, but here it is with a new demo and an April release date.

Ubisoft Montpellier has said that Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will receive new content and modes via a series of free updates.

Metroidvania-style side-scrolling adventure game Turbo Kid will launch for PC via Steam on April 10, developer Outerminds announced. A new demo will launch on February 23.

In the past few years, Metroidvanias and action-adventure platformers have seen a resurgence. Ori and the Blind Forest, Hollow Knight and Dead Cells have breathed new life into the genre, bringing fresh ideas to its established ethos. There's also a renewed appetite for challenging games. Dark Souls came around in 2011 and redefined what one could take away from a video game. They can be fun, sure. But they can be punishing, too. Fast forward a decade, and we now have people playing Elden Ring with a steering wheel. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Ubisoft's latest Metroidvania action-adventure platformer, assimilates elements from these games and subgenres to tread familiar ground, but it does so in its own unique ways.

When I first saw Never Grave: The Witch And The Curse rising up the Steam Next Fest charts at the end of last week, I thought, "Oh! That's a neat Hollow Knight-looking Metroivanida roguelike, I'll definitely give that a go." And having played its demo over the weekend, I can confirm: it's certainly an intriguing little thing that I'll be keen to keep an eye on when it launches into early access, possibly sometime next month.

The designer of Dead Cells has criticised his former studio, saying its decision to stop making updates for the game was an “asshole move”.

Palworld developer Pocketpair has dropped a new Steam demo for its upcoming Metroidvania, Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse.

When Edwin popped the reveal trailer for new Metroidvania Deviator into The Maw this morning, he really wasn't kidding about it looking a heck of a lot like Hollow Knight. You've got a small, diminutive hero with a nasty little blade up his sleeve, a haunting and melancholy piano score, a beautiful hand-drawn animation style, and lots of mean-looking creatures to fight. Then again, the trailer also makes it clear there are lots and lots of spikes and traps to navigate here, which puts me more in the mind of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Either way, I'm well up for another platforming-Metroidy hybrid, and developers Gami Studio have announced that there's Steam demo coming in February.

The senior designer of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has said he would love to work on a similar game based on The Legend of Zelda.

Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight has been on my 'to play' list since a friend mentioned it several years ago. It's been a long enough time that a sequel has emerged. Momodora: Moonlit Farewell is out now and like its predecessor is a 2D action platformer about smashing and dodging enemies.

A good parry mechanic is a kind of redemption. Where blocking - aka holding a button to avoid damage - is a concession to the tedious attritional undertow of many action games, parrying - aka pressing a button on cue to cancel damage and often, prep a counter - is the act of cutting through the bullshit. It passively reduces any and all visual and thematic overwhelm the game would have you experience to a question of timing.

Last night brought a first look at Tales of Kenzera: Zau, a personal project from Abubakar Salim — the voice of Bayek in Assassin's Creed Origins and star of HBO's Raised by Wolves.

EA have announced Tales of Kenzera: Zau, a side-scrolling metroidvania from Surgent Studios, the developer founded by voice actor Abubakar Salim. It's being published under the EA Originals label, and is inspired by the myths of African Bantu cultures. It's also something of a memorial project, shaped by Salim's own experiences of grief, though you might not get that impression from the trailer, which is a blaze of magical battles and aerial stunts.

Momodora: Moonlit Farewell will launch for PC via Steam on January 11, 2024, publisher PLAYISM and developer Bombservice announced.

Metroidvania game Elderand is now available for Xbox Series and Xbox One via Microsoft Store at a two-week launch discount price of $15.99, publisher Graffiti Games and developers Mantra and Sinergia Games announced. After two weeks, it will cost $19.99.

“Techno-pop-punk” 2D hand-drawn Metroidvania game Cookie Cutter will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store on December 14, publisher Rogue Games and developer Subcult Joint announced. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions are newly announced.

I watched a few hours of Worldless being played last night and didn't really register that it was turn-based. That's because it's a Metroidvania platformer and, when it is time for back-and-forth combat, you're not choosing attacks from a menu. Instead you're stringing together combos in real-time, then when your alotted attack time is over, you're parrying enemy assaults with rhythmic flair.

The Switch version of pixel art Metroidvania game 9 Years of Shadows will launch on November 9, publisher Freedom Games and developer Halberd Studios announced.

Metroidvania game Venture to the Vile will launch for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 alongside its previously confirmed PC (Steam) version in 2024, publisher Aniplex and developer Cut to Bits announced. The game was previously announced for “consoles,” but specific platforms were not confirmed until today.

Publisher Rogue Games and developer Plot Twist have announced side-scrolling action adventure platformer The Last Case of Benedict Fox: Definitive Edition for PlayStation 5. A release date was not announced.

Clover Bite has released the debut trailer for newly announced Metroidvania sequel GRIME II.

Clover Bite has announced Metroidvania sequel GRIME II for PC (Steam). A release date was not announced.

Publisher Sekai Project and developer illuCalab. will release the PlayStation 4 and Switch versions of side-scrolling Metroidvania game Alice Escaped! on August 24, the companies announced. Wishlisting is available now via PlayStation Store and Nintendo eShop.

Publisher Klabater and developer Space Fox Games will release dark fairy tale Metroidvania game RIN: The Last Child for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam on September 21, the companies announced.

Sometimes, it feels like the age of the classic 3D platformer is long behind us. Then, I see a game like Pseudoregalia and feel that burst of excitement at the chance to double-jump, wall-run and parkour my way around the world. In even better news, I won’t have to wait long to play it, as it’s out on Steam next week.

After crusading through the hallowed, freakish 2D corridors of the original Blasphemous in 2019, I wondered how its followup, Blasphemous 2, might iterate upon a solid first stab. As it turns out, despite the rather fanatical setting they’ve created, the developers don’t appear to be afraid of ditching the dogma of the past to shake things up. Nowhere is that more apparent than with how this sequel retains its combat-focused strengths while significantly overhauling the puzzles and platforming to be more in line with its genre peers. From the few hours I’ve played so far, that gamble seems like it will pay off, and I’m more excited than ever to dive back into this sickening, pixelated soulslike.