Top 15 Best Metroidvania Games You Should've Played Sooner

Looking for some new and worth-playing metroidvania games for your PC, PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch? In this video, we will showcase 15 must-play metroidvania games that you may have missed.
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[@micahdevereaux2614]

Finally some love for Moonscars. Underrated gem

[@brettpardue8786]

Ikr, I just ignore anyone who craps on that game or gives it a bad review because they don't know what they're talking about. It's one of my favorite metroidvanias of all time.

[@akiltahsin7981]

I've been looking for Metroidvania recommendations for awhile now. Watched a lot of videos, but yours one is probably the best. Its not just because of the games in the list, but simply because of how you made the video itself. You gave specific timestamps, showed the title of the game on screen, added personalized key-points of the game and also showed some game-play clips. Not to mention the games themselves are very unique. Perfect way to make a top-game recommendation video. Subscribed!

[@kryptomac101]

Thank you bro.

[@vaibhavsarkate8772]

Play 9 sols

[@karlvincentescauriaga2525]

Hollow knight is more than 7yrs old💀😭

[@milkman9423]

Ye so what? Haven't u played older games before twink? Ngl modern gamers like u piss me off enjoy the game or shush man nobody cares

[@awakenedsoul2638]

Your Hollow Knight: Silk Song Will be AN INTERNATIONAL COLLOSAL FAILURE! The End Of Team Cherry!

[@ijustbevibin0425]

@@awakenedsoul2638lame

[@brotbrotsen1100]

​@@awakenedsoul2638We will find out in 5 years

[@Shadow-ck6qn]

​@@awakenedsoul2638 And how can you say that

[@vampireblades]

Blasphemous (1/2), Ender Lilies, Hollow Knight and The Last Faith are all sincere 10/10 perfect games. Genuinely each of them is in a sense the pinnacle of the genre. Moonscars is also a really fantastic game for sure, I think I'd give it like a 7 or 8/10

[@theriffwriter2194]

I want every game on this video (already played Ori and Blasphemous 2) I'm obsessed with this freakin genre!

[@ITZBROKENhotDOG12]

Amazing list of games and good editing

[@angelalvarezcine]

Astalon is such a gem, you’re a man of taste

[@jimmyeng663]

This was a great list, thanks for that!

[@TrustySquire]

Grime is my favorite Metroidvania of all time. It was just so cool.

[@bany512]

def. try F.I.S.T like somebody else said as well, and also POP is what made me fall in love with metroidvanias, love that game

[@crazydave..]

thank you for the great recs!

[@kryptomac101]

You're so welcome! 😉

[@mattpenix8438]

So many good games on here. Prince of Persia, Laika, afterimage, all good

[@ViniciousRumors]

Good to see Carrion in this list. Amazing game!

[@frankhoppe1834]

some extra recommendations: Flynn - son of Crimson, Outland and Death Gambit Afterlife.

[@jurtheorc8117]

Really happy to see GRIME in here. Beautiful and monstrous world, atmosphere and grandiose music. Hoping GRIME II can deliver as well. Was hoping to see Cookie Cutter on here too. It's not outright groundbreaking, but nonetheless feels good to play. And has a *real* stand-out style. 2D hand animated and very colorful dystopian cyberpunk/sci-fi planet. Solid atmosphere too with a good soundtrack to go with it. Has five different weapons total, ranging from a big fist to an electric guitar, two weapons of which are optional to find, plus a variety of other abilities by way of "spells" and a quick push-away move that has double utility for light "puzzles". And the "spells" are powered by a meter that fills up by simply hitting enemies with normal attacks, which looks and feels good and smooth. Like a 2D beat-em-up. The lead dev, Stefano Guglielmana, been at it for about six years and only in the last two years was he able to get a proper dev team together of about 14 people. And had to learn how to manage a team. He also, according to interviews, went over more than a 100 interviews with dev studios before he found one that was comfortable with letting the product be the way it is, without interfering to make it "safer for marketing" or something. Cookie Cutter is his baby and it shows. He's currently working on making CC as technically solid as can be, and hopes to support it in substantial ways going forward. From entirely new characters and quests to full-on weapons, areas, bosses and story elements. Well worth spreading the word on and looking into.

[@josephgitau9446]

Great list. Some of those games are new to me. Gonna try The last faith and Carrion.

[@mosthated8848]

The Last Faith is amazing.

[@poneymagique5978]

Carrion was a bit disappointing to me. How much you appreciate it depends on your expectations, and maybe I was expecting too much :/

[@LimpyKjr117]

The last faith is basically Bloodborne as a metroidvania but it's very good

[@ViniciousRumors]

Carrion is such a great and fun game. Go for it

[@jermainedickerson8322]

Ori was game of the year in my opinion in 2020!

[@PURUSHARMA-ok4ku]

I have to add nine sols as well it is my favourite up there with hollow knight and it’s really challenging sekiro like combat is satisfying af

[@Keithnicity]

I hate how “it’s hard” is now basically the metric for how good these games are. I’m a casual gamer who works for a living and I don’t have time to master these next to impossible punishing gauntlets. Symphony of the Night is my favourite “Metroidvania” it was the perfect balance of challenge without being a frustrating bang your head against the wall experience. By today’s standards though, that game is for babies.

[@theriffwriter2194]

I like souls games but I've yet to find a single "souls like" game I really love. It's like they decided to make something even harder than Dark Souls without putting any thought into if they actually should. With that being said, most of my favorite recent Metroidvanias do have adjustable difficulty.

[@mattpenix8438]

Trinity Fusion, more Dead Cells-Metrovania-ish but badass Dark light, newer ps5 exclusive although may be coming to xbox. Don’t forget these games. Well worth it

[@mattpenix8438]

Ori and will of the wisp devs have new game coming out called No Rest for Wicked, isometric arpg

[@theriffwriter2194]

Oh yeah. The moment I saw it it became one of my most anticipated games. Definitely the most hyped I've ever been for an action rpg of its kind. I'm pretty sure it's in early access but I'd rather wait for finished game.

[@mattpenix8438]

Think there’s a second ender Lillie’s coming soon.

[@ckat609]

Man, I wish people would just try Prince Of Persia. It's such an amazing game.

[@TheBeeFlex]

Agreed 2000%

[@Glitchedsoulsborne]

Moonscars is amazing! One of my favorite games! Im playing aeterna noctis right now and its giving me brain damage 😂 i wanna check out astlibra ive never heard of it before. Thanks for the list! These games are great!

[@jjlatinopedia]

You should play Blasphemous! 9/10 hands down.

[@Glitchedsoulsborne]

@@jjlatinopedia I have I love blasphemous! I 100% agree! I haven't played the second one yet though but I do have it downloaded. I hope it's as good as the first!

[@zNicoBlaster]

the vagrant is a great metroidvania, really nice for its price, try it

[@unchartedrocks1]

9:52 those physics though 😂🤣

[@kryptomac101]

😏😏😏

[@creekandseminole]

I'll mention some more: Salt and Sanctuary Deaths Gambit Record of Lodoss War Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth La Mulana 1&2

[@Decca_Reaper]

Laika, aged through blood is over 15gb, that's a big file for a 2D indie game

[@HetPatel-fz6kg]

Hollow knight was my first Metroidvania and now the bar is set so high…

[@DonAdnan123]

Honeslty Ori and hollow knight are the top

[@devwil_]

It’s hard = Souls-like. False. Mega Man and any other NES titles fit the bill and came first with boss battle patterns.

[@caseywrable]

Got stuck on first big boss in Grime. Need to go back and try some more. I also might try out Carrion. That looks interesting.

[@butchernachos7518]

Carrion gets boring so fast.

[@caseywrable]

@@butchernachos7518 does it? Thanks. I got it real cheap so maybe I’ll pass on that one.

[@vassilisvassiliou3747]

Just discovered your channel, played almost all of these and I have to say I agree with your analysis on all of them, especially mentioning soundtracks when they stand out. Earned another subscriber.

[@MetroidvaniaGuru]

Solid 👌

[@tonybarnes2920]

Strider is 10 years old, now, but it's awesome IMHO. 😉

[@altusshow7574]

Prince of Persia was so much better than i thought it would be, and i already had high expectations.

[@mightbeanerd]

Could not get into afterimage I'll be honest with you, to be fair i didn't play that long into it so it probably gets better, but i was just so damn bored the whole time. Just started Astlibra though and it's so friggin fun, it almost gives me the same vibe as the older Ys games, it's just a pure dopamine hit the whole time, the amazing music and constant feel of progression being a big part of it

[@topcover7390]

I've played a few of these and Moonscars is pretty underappreciated. Blasphemous 2 just wasn't as good as 1 in my opinion. PoP was fantastic as well.

[@theriffwriter2194]

Oh yeah. To each his own, I guess. I've been into really dark, creepy stuff since I was really young so I got Blasphemous the day it came out (and backed it for that matter) but I always got bored with it, gave it up for like six months. So I'd start a new game, rinse and repeat at least four times but I didn't have that problem with part 2. It had me from beginning to end.

[@theriffwriter2194]

I realize visuals aren't everything (at least I try and tell myself that) but I tried to get into Grime but I was bored to death by the bland, bare-bones graphic design. But watching this video I'm seeing some pretty well designed enemies and bosses. Maybe I need to give it another try.

[@mosthated8848]

How about Turbo Kid?

[@johanandersson8646]

For comparisons sake it would be interesting to see which games didn't make the list.

[@FadingDuch]

There is (or gonna be soon) another game of "Ender" series. Looks pretty the same, but different.

[@quanthinh3487]

I say just the game’s music is enough for me to love this game.

[@scaryhours2220]

Prince Persia The Lost Crown is a LEGENDARY game. Such an underrated masterpiece 🙏

[@ReadyAimFire_]

Legendary flop lol.

[@Azrael1x2]

@@ReadyAimFire_ It's literally one of the best metroidvania games out there, pretty sure you haven't played it yet, immediate face palm reading your comment unfortunately.

[@scaryhours2220]

@@Azrael1x2 Exactly lol every reviewer every person that I've spoken to that has played it says it's incredible. Some people are just miserable

[@Azrael1x2]

@@scaryhours2220 i’m pretty he didn’t play the game yet that’s why he’s complaining like a girl. It’s really fun and levels are very well made, big difference between the upper city, lower city, the depth (especially the catacombs part, it looks great visually and they nailed that darker tune without implementing RTX to the game which is great), The pit of eternal sands is awesome, Silent Tower and the snow just matched the vibe of the place, the bosses are memorable.. overall i’ll never forget this masterpiece and i’ll keep replaying for a long time.. i know ubisoft is notorious for their bugged games and lack of optimisations but they nailed it this time.

[@ReadyAimFire_]

@@Azrael1x2 I dont think you know what flop means. It means it sold poorly. 3 months after release it was already on sale, and there are articles about low sales in internet. And I played the demo (im a fan of metroidvanias), but truth told it was pretty boring, thats why I didnt bother with full release. Maybe it is getting better in later stages, but my disdain for ubisoft is stronger than will to check it.

[@Amanost]

Aeterna Noctis hubiera sido un metroidvania legendario de no haber sido por la mecánica de las flechas y la terrible decisión de no poder manejarse con la cruceta.

[@potatopower2144]

Some of my other favorites: Record of Lodoss Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth Deaths Gambit Salt and Sanctuary Vigil The Longest Night OG Blasphemous Cathedral Bloodstained RotN and many more...

[@shadowdude8466]

i feel like the title shouldve said 15 best souls-like title with some metroidvania mechanics

[@travelfix86]

Death's Gambit is crying in a corner 😢

[@peterc504]

That game was so good...I lamost binned it the first time i played but went back to it and it was a masterpiece!

[@alexvaldivia8356]

It’s a great hard game. Jesus! Those boss fights

[@peterc504]

@@alexvaldivia8356 I know but so rewarding when you finally beat them!! I still need to finish the dlc

[@caseywrable]

Good game.

[@ivangarciaramos3940]

There is also Castlevania advance collection

[@hangingon]

Got both Castlevania Collections on Switch. Such great games.

[@ivangarciaramos3940]

@@hangingon yeah. I wished they ported over the Castlevania DS over.

[@Vukf1]

When i see Grime, i click like. Underrated gem

[@jurtheorc8117]

I do find myself in agreement. I return to the OST made by Alex Roe quite regularly.

[@mattpenix8438]

Is Tevi on both PlayStation and Xbox? I thought it was still yet to come to those platforms as of first week of May

[@kryptomac101]

Tevi coming to consoles this month 😊

[@mattpenix8438]

@@kryptomac101yes! Finally. Heard great things about it. Is it worth launch price?

[@kryptomac101]

@@mattpenix8438 price wise, I think its fairly good. Tevi will give you more than 30 hrs of gameplay. There are lots of bosses too.

[@mattpenix8438]

@@kryptomac101 thanks man. Just dropped on Xbox past couple of days and on PS last month. So many games. So little time

[@JohnnyYT13]

Curious fact: a lot of indies companies made excelent metroidvanias, but Konami can't do it.

[@TheLast0fUs]

I don't know how tails of iron didn't make it to the list bust it's a HIDDEN GEM !!! Must play for metroidvania fans

[@sylomcz1588]

Moonscar and The Last Faith looks very satisfying in my eyes! The rest of the games here… not so much. Blasphemous 2 is also really good too! But the first one is better in my opinion.

[@mightbeanerd]

Playing Astlibra right now and it's a blast, highly recommend you look into that one out of these. Not sure I would call it a Metroidvania though, at least not where I'm at, maybe it opens up more, but the gameplay is just pure fun that hardly shows down, not unlike an Ys game.

[@xariklou]

Recently finished Ender Lilies 100% and its amazing i highly recommend it. Can't wait to play Ender Lilies magnolia now it gets 10/10 reviews in Steam rn

[@xariklou]

@@mightbeanerd this game looks so good and the steam ratings and reviews convinced me to buy it. After finishing Ender Lilies i think this game looks awesome to play

[@richardtorruellas2370]

AMNNEEEESSSSIIIIIAAAAAA. Seriously Dunkey made a good point. Two games in and amnesia rears its ugly head.

[@unchartedrocks1]

9 Years of Shadow

[@mattpenix8438]

Moonscars is hard as heck

[@hangingon]

It's gets easier after the second boss. I had put it down for awhile cause it was whooping my ass now I almost finished it.

[@mattpenix8438]

@@hangingonthis is good to know. Is that one of those skill tests type of bosses - you know the typical Souls like boss early in campaign designed to teach you how to git gud?

[@mattpenix8438]

@@hangingonfor what it’s worth, I didn’t get very far into Moonscars but I think I started it thinking it was some general hack n slash side scroller, and at the time I had just returned to gaming less than year earlier, and basically had no real idea what a souls like was. I feel like if I played it now, I might enjoy it more. Recently beat Lies of P, Sekiro and WoLong Fallen Dynasty, the latter of which I realize is a bit on the easier side of the signature From Soft difficulty level. My point is this: my skills have improved and much better than when first tried MoonScars, but certainly not a stud either. That said, now that I’m a bit more familiar with that type of difficult gameplay/design, how does Moonscars stack up to the genre? I always liked the art design and vibe. Is it an overall solid game? And if, say, Dark Souls or Elden Ring is max 10 on the genre’s difficult scale, where does Moonscars sit? Perhaps, a more appropriate comparison would be something like Grime, or Blashphemous or Tales of Iron (fantastic btw) or even Slain? Have you played any of those games or maybe something similar? And if so, how would Moonscars’ difficulty stack up wthin the larger sub genre of 2.5d souls-like action heavy combat sidescrollers? This genre seems to be growing too. Wonder what other games are good within this subgenre?

[@trik6727]

I usually strap a pillow to my butt when I play any of these games. It takes the edge off when they kick my ass

[@jjlatinopedia]

How many I suppose to French-kiss it?

[@cellohm]

Aquaria

[@kustomkure]

No FIST? dafuq?

[@The_Conundrum_Crew]

Yah lots of good ones. Cookie Cutter is another.

[@jurtheorc8117]

@@The_Conundrum_Crew Heck yeah, another Cookie Cutter mention :D

[@gaming4life551]

Does your wife ask as much too ? 😅

[@fahadalenzi6647]

man you forget wonder labyrinth game

[@scrubrandall644]

Gotta work on your writing my man. Was tough to get through.

[@peterc504]

Is last faith very good?

[@jjlatinopedia]

Yes!!! It's not better than Blasphemous though. But still very good. You won't regret it.

[@peterc504]

@@jjlatinopedia which blasphemous 1 or 2? I enjoyed 2 more than 1. I actually still haven't beat the dlc bc I don't understand how to access it!!! Help!!

[@jjlatinopedia]

@@peterc504 In my opinion, B1 was better than B2. There are a plethora of finishing moves in B1 vs B2.. ..but B2 has the option of choosing 1 of 3 weapons. I haven't beat the dlc either, unfortunately.

[@peterc504]

@@jjlatinopedia dunno b2 was a true metroid Vania..b1 was just action platformer..I really didn't care about the finishing moves. Gameplay felt better in 2

[@laurentoutan5133]

Hi! I've played 9 of these 16 games, and, imho, none are as good as Rebel Transmute. I think it had some "soft lock" issue at first (I personaly didn't experience any), but I guess the patches fixed that. Great game. 👍

[@peterc504]

rebel transmute is hte best? I heard mixed reviews on that one...

[@laurentoutan5133]

@@peterc504 Most of people complain about its difficulty (it's not hard if you're used to MV like Hollow Knight) and softlock issues (which I didn't encounter so I can't judge). But the level design, world design and exploration are great (I also liked the gameplay very much)

[@peterc504]

@@laurentoutan5133 yeah strange how the reviews at so 50/50. I thought the demo was cool but everything looked to similar.. if I compare super metroid to it out looks like trash..sm was way more detailed with massive variety in world's items enemies bosses

[@laurentoutan5133]

@@peterc504 I didn't compare with supermetroid (which was developed by a big Nintendo team)... I was comparing with the games of this video But the demo of Rebel Transmute is just the first area I think? It's normal everything looks similar

[@peterc504]

@@laurentoutan5133 well I've watched videos of the game and it just looks very similar enemies and areas

[@squirrellyswirl]

Thank you for featuring TEVI. I just love that anime cutsie game so much 🫶

[@who_is_he]

Rip Metroid Dread. :')

[@igorandrey9908]

Metroid Dread is not MetroidVANIA, my dude

[@prostolex]

Moonscars не метроидвания. По крайне мере, сам разработчик так не считает

[@engineerofthemachine]

Two games that weren’t in the list that I really enjoyed: Eiyuden Chronicles Rising (prequel game to Hundred Heroes that just released) and Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit’s Wonder Labyrinth.

[@kryptomac101]

I forgot about Deedlit. It’s a good game too 😊

[@engineerofthemachine]

@@kryptomac101 Much better than I expected it to be! 👍🏻

[@surobyk]

How is Eiyuden metroidvania?

[@engineerofthemachine]

@@surobyk It’s the prequel game they released about two years ago. Eiyuden Chronicles Rising, (not Hundred Heroes, that’s the RPG that was just released). Check it out! It’s a lot of fun!

[@surobyk]

@@engineerofthemachine are you advertising bot?

[@keen7youtubeistoast796]

While these games here are mostly excelent... most of them don't have anything in common with the Metroidvania genre. In this genre, you earn tools and skills and expand your arsenal in order to explore different paths and find new stuff after backtracking. The perspective alone doesn't make it a Metroidvania.

[@johanandersson8646]

Your saying that more than half of the games in this video isn't metroidvanias. Which ones?

[@Jaces87]

Astlibra isn't a metroidvania at all and wouldn't classify it as a platformer either. More of a rpg with the weirdest story out there

[@bahstudd9662]

Why did he pronounce "mechanic" like that??

[@BasedChadman]

Timestamps? It's 2024

[@neetogoodgoy6517]

they do this so people have to actually watch the video to get the info so they get more watch time which = ad money from youtube. i just wont watch.

[@BasedChadman]

@neetogoodgoy6517 Yeah, makes me not watch either. I will watch a good video, but it needs timestamps

[@coopstain1728]

USE CHAPTERS PLEASE

[@markoragnos6757]

Most of the games here you are presenting are souls like games. Souls like games are not metroidvania and have nothing to do with it. When I see souls like I immediately swith off. Pure metroidvania games are about exploration not spending endless mundane hours on every enemy to learn it's patterns. Bosses yes and it was fun defeating them in IGA Meteoidvania games but endless slog for me has nothing to do with Meteoidvania. Afterimage is just like SOTN and a perfect example of an amazing Meteoidvania games. Rest is just souls like slog. I rather Watxh paint dry then play any souls like games.

[@evgaming9390]

I find that Souls like games are becoming boring. Seems like everyone is making one just to make a hard game

[@awakenedsoul2638]

THROW AWAY HOLLOW KNIGHT!

[@Dravianpn02]

Hollowknight is a great game with some of most refined mechanics and music in gaming.

[@sebastianpereira5348]

most of those games look like crap

[@chezwickcheese139]

Go back to Fortnite then

[@luvlybaluga]

HK is oa overrated

[@seanknox5785]

😂