Sparky Lurker
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2017
There was another metroidvania thread on the forum, but it ended being more Castlevania/Bloodstained focused so I decided to make one that is more general.
So on the early 2010's there was a time every metroidvania released was praised to high heavens, even if it was mediocre(Dust) or short (Steamworld Dig) what sold these games was probably the unique art style and settings contained in these games.
But everything changed on the second half of the 2010's, 3 games that completely changed the genre forever, some say it was for better others for worse:
These games ditched the most well known elements of the flashy 2d combat from metroidvanias, in favor of the slow combat and mechanics from Dark Souls (Salt and Sanctuary), acrobatic platforming and aerial combat with a squishy character (Hollow Knight) and roguelike mechanics on a linear game with branching paths(Dead Cells).
Since then it had become harder and harder to distinguish metroidvania games from each other, the majority of them had the same idea to just do gritty medieval atmosphere at the same time, some them manage to get the public's grace, like Blasphemous, others fail and had to make a complete revamp of the game's mechanics, like Death's Gambit.
Even big Japanese IPs tried to enter the metroidvania genre:
Once in awhile we see something completely different that breaks the norm, like in the case of Monster Sanctuary, a sidescroller Pokemon game:
The evil blob game Carrion:
Or the recently released abstract game Animal Well:
More recently we have seen games trying to flex unique visuals on the 2.5D scenarios, like in the cases of Grime, FIST and the recently announced Somber Echoes:
But nowadays the creativity is brimming so hard to the point games with extremely similar settings releases so close together that you just think you are having deja vu:
There is the upcoming Mexican metroidvania, Mariachi Legends, but at this point it just looks like a bunch of borrowed ideas shoved into a blender:
Recently announced Guns of Fury, Metal Slug meets Castlevania, piqued my interest at least:
So on the early 2010's there was a time every metroidvania released was praised to high heavens, even if it was mediocre(Dust) or short (Steamworld Dig) what sold these games was probably the unique art style and settings contained in these games.
But everything changed on the second half of the 2010's, 3 games that completely changed the genre forever, some say it was for better others for worse:
These games ditched the most well known elements of the flashy 2d combat from metroidvanias, in favor of the slow combat and mechanics from Dark Souls (Salt and Sanctuary), acrobatic platforming and aerial combat with a squishy character (Hollow Knight) and roguelike mechanics on a linear game with branching paths(Dead Cells).
Since then it had become harder and harder to distinguish metroidvania games from each other, the majority of them had the same idea to just do gritty medieval atmosphere at the same time, some them manage to get the public's grace, like Blasphemous, others fail and had to make a complete revamp of the game's mechanics, like Death's Gambit.
Even big Japanese IPs tried to enter the metroidvania genre:
Once in awhile we see something completely different that breaks the norm, like in the case of Monster Sanctuary, a sidescroller Pokemon game:
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