Metroidvanias: about the games
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is a stylish and thrilling action-adventure platformer set in a mythological Persian world where the boundaries of time and space are under your control. Using Time Powers, combat and platforming skills, you pull off deadly combos and defeat time-corrupted enemies as well as mythological creatures. You explore a cursed, Persian-inspired world – the prodigious Mount Qaf – and its varied, highly detailed biomes, each with its own identity, wonder and danger. An original story has you solving puzzles with your wits, finding hidden treasures and completing quests to learn more about this corrupted place.
Belmont's Curse is a 2D action-exploration game from KONAMI, Evil Empire and Motion Twin, set 23 years after Castlevania Dracula's Curse. In 1499 Paris is burning and monsters rise from the shadows; Trevor Belmont, who defeated Dracula, takes his daughter Rose and the holy whip Vampire Killer into the flaming streets. Rose is drawn into a dark conspiracy, and players fight past bosses such as Death, Medusa, Carmilla and Joan of Arc, whose tarot cards become Arcana that grant her spells and special actions. Weapons from seven categories and Relics shape her battle style.
Blasphemous 2 is an action adventure set in a gothic, grotesque world that continues the story from the free Wounds of Eventide expansion for the original game. The player controls The Penitent One, who awakens in an unfamiliar land and explores a labyrinthine environment full of traps and secrets. Combat relies on brutal executions, new weapons and expanded combos against hordes of monstrous enemies and titanic, twisted bosses. The characters the player meets there may offer help, ask for it, or send them on dangerous quests to recover long-forgotten items.
Hollow Knight is a classic 2D action adventure set in a vast interconnected world, a ruined underground kingdom of insects and heroes. Players explore winding caverns, ancient cities and deadly wastes, fight tainted creatures and befriend strange bugs. Combat relies on dodging, dashing and slashing through foes, while new spells, strength and speed are gained along the way. Players can also equip Charms, ancient relics with unusual powers, and try to solve the mysteries at the heart of the kingdom of Hallownest.
The follow-up to the action-platformer Ori and the Blind Forest, again from Moon Studios, takes the little spirit Ori into a vast world of new friends and foes. A fateful flight puts the owlet Ku in danger, and bringing a family back together, healing a broken land and uncovering Ori’s true destiny will call for more than bravery. Players explore hand-painted environments, encounter towering enemies and work through challenging puzzles, built on the tight platforming and Metroidvania structure the studio is known for, with a fully orchestrated score underneath.
Afterimage is a hand-drawn 2D action adventure focused on fast-paced combat, varied character builds and non-linear levels. The story unfolds in the ruins of the fantasy world of Engardin, where survivors of a devastating cataclysm live in settlements attacked by mystic forces. The heroine is Renee, a young amnesiac girl and student of Aros, who sets out to recover her lost memories and find her missing mentor. Players fight through over 170 enemy types and 30 bosses, absorb the power of defeated foes to unlock skills, and upgrade a wide range of equipment.
Blasphemous is a brutal action-platformer with hack’n slash combat, set in the nightmare world of Cvstodia. You play as The Penitent One, the sole survivor of the ‘Silent Sorrow’ massacre, trapped in an endless cycle of death and rebirth. While exploring a non-linear world, you face grotesque monsters and giant bosses, unlock new combos, and carry out gory executions. Relics, rosary beads and prayers can be equipped to shape your abilities and stat boosts.
Ultros is a psychedelic metroidvania in which you wake up stranded on The Sarcophagus, a giant space-drifting body resembling a cosmic uterus that holds an ancient demonic being, ULTROS. Caught in the eternal loop of a black hole, you explore the place and meet its inhabitants to understand the role you play. In a science-fiction world with an eccentric art style, you fight brutal close-quarter battles against cosmic lifeforms where precision is all that counts, while also cultivating greenery that opens obscured paths. Thanks to the loop, you can start over at key moments and unlock new areas and abilities.
Shadow Labyrinth is a 2D action platformer that offers an alternate, genre-twisting take on the iconic PAC-MAN. The player controls The Swordsman, who awakens on a mysterious planet among relics of past wars. Exploring the maze, discovering new powers and consuming enemies, they grow from prey into the apex predator, while teaming up with PUCK, a floating yellow orb, to uncover the truth behind their presence.
Monster Sanctuary blends monster taming with metroidvania. You roam a pixel side-scroller world, calling on your monsters both in and out of combat — their abilities let you fly, ride and force your way past puzzles and precise platforming. An ancient spectral familiar guides your first steps as you hatch, collect, evolve and train creatures across the Sanctuary, each with unique abilities and a skill tree — starting with the first of 111 monsters. Battles are strategic: attacks stack into devastating combos and teams rely on synergies, with online PvP and optional Randomizer, Bravery and Permadeath modes.
GRAVEN is a gritty first-person action-adventure set in a dark fantasy world, mixing mystery with combat against the horrors of the land. You play as a wrongly convicted priest of the Orthogonal order, exiled to death, who wakes adrift in a swamp and receives a staff and a book from a mysterious stranger. Fight with weapons, magic, and the environment, solve puzzles, investigate lore, and upgrade your gear at blacksmiths and alchemists. Revisit familiar areas with new abilities, face over twenty enemy types and three bosses across multiple biomes, and team up with up to seven friends in cooperative play.
The Last Faith is a dark gothic blend of metroidvania and soulslike. You play as Eryk, who wakes with no memory of his recent past and learns that his mind and conscience are deteriorating; seeking salvation, he sets out on a cursed mission that crosses paths with ancient religions and divinities. Combat is merciless and precise, built around a wide range of melee weapons, arcane spells, firearms and custom executions. Nonlinear exploration is central: new skills, items and spells unlock previously impassable areas, all set in pixel-art gothic landscapes of snow-dusted mountains and moonlit castles.