Who needs Silksong anyways?
Metroidvania fans didn’t just eat well this year—they got gout. Practically every month seemed to boast another brilliant explore-‘em-up that made me fall back in love with one of the most oversaturated genres in gaming.
It was ridiculous. ‘This is the best combat system I’ve ever seen in a Metroidvania,’ I’d think, naively, only for another game to then snatch that crown a few months later. Narrowing down this list to just ten games nearly cost me what remains of my hair. Enjoy!
10. Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus
Possibly the most beautiful game on this list (which is really saying something), this has some tremendous/evil platforming, along with an utterly charming and surprisingly funny cast that makes its world a joy to spend time in. The only problem is that, while a lot of Metroidvanias are inspired by the almighty Hollow Knight, this one might as well be called Kollow Height. Just compare the silhouettes of both games’ lead characters. Still, stealing from the best is rarely done this well, and Bō remains a terrific tribute act with enough winning personality of its own. When something of this quality is tenth best, you know it’s a special Metroidvania year.
9. Stardust Demon
A game about a lazy demon who accidentally ends up exploring space, this one starts small and then just never seems to stop expanding in scope. The obligatory retro pixel art is made 10,000 times more interesting by the developers also helping themselves to effects across generations, as if different gaming eras are colliding. The eerily beautiful/absolutely hideous early-3D cutscenes are particularly inspired, making playing this sometimes feel like platforming your way through a late-nineties PC screensaver that’s having an identity crisis (recommended!). Bonus points for giving me a brilliant pogo stick too. Hang on, it was made by just two people? I hate it now. Show-offs.
8. Minishoot’ Adventures
Where in the rulebook does it say that a twin-stick bullet hell shooter can’t be adorable? Well, I’m tossing the rulebook out of the cockpit, because Minishoot’ Adventures is a delight, questionable apostrophe use in the title and all. Exploring Zelda-like dungeons as an increasingly-mighty little spaceship is such an inspired genre mash-up that I keep having to pause the game to applaud and throw flowers at it. It’s not afraid to crank up the difficulty, but the cutesy graphics and cheery vibe made it a lovely little Steam Deck companion to chip away at for a couple hours each evening. Bullet Hell? More like Bullet Heave– NO NO NO BAD.
7. Porgy
I guess they couldn’t call it ‘Flat Subnautica’ for boring legal reasons. As Porgy the big-eyed submarine, you explore an ocean that’s enchanting even if it looks like it could likely run on a broken NES. That’s because it was originally developed by UFO Soft for the LX line of consoles, but thanks to this year’s excellent UFO 50 compilation you can now play it on PC. Porgy is the only game on this list with no map screen (gasp!) and yet boasts tight enough art direction to completely get away with it (double gasp!). Speaking of gasping, Porgy’s best ideas are a limited air supply and that simply finding an upgrade isn’t enough. You have to get it back to a safe zone or lose it forever. That’s a surprisingly welcome double-hit of stress which makes exploring Porgy’s waters both nerve-wracking and immensely rewarding. Write this off as a throwback at your peril, because there’s nothing dated about this game’s excellent design.
6. BioGun
The only game on this list where you can race a sperm suffering from depression, BioGun is essentially ‘The Fantastic Journey’ except inside a poorly dog. You’re a pig-shaped vaccine that’s been injected inside that poor boy, and you have to blast your way through its innards to hunt down a deadly virus. The biogun of the title is a terrific punchy firearm that makes pew-pew-pewing through this winning Super Metroid riff an only slightly disgusting treat. Biogun is the silliest game on this list, but takes being a great shmup-flavoured Metroidvania seriously. Runs like a bit of a dog on both my PC and Rog Ally, annoyingly, but that’s at least thematically appropriate. Good boy!
5. Ultros
A rare game set in space that actually feels truly alien, Ultros is beautiful, baffling, and too idea-filled not to earn a high place on this list. Explore a space sarcophagus full of opportunities to, er, plant blood-spouting trees. Oh, and monsters that need to be sliced up with precision if you want to get the most nutritional value out of scoffing their insides. You’re also stuck in gaming’s billionth bloody timeloop, but before you sigh and move on to entry four, rest assured it actually feels novel here as you learn the odd, gardening-heavy rules of exactly what persists between time hops. Obtuse, to say the least, but stick with it and you’ll find a true original, not to mention a stunning treat for the eyes.
4. Crypt Custodian
The nicest game about a dead cat I’ve ever played, Crypt Custodian sees a poor feline prematurely entering the afterlife. After a hilariously unfair miscarriage of justice, they’re denied entry to paradise and end up in limbo working as a janitor. Thus begins a cute quest to make ten friends (awww!) so you can break into Heaven (oh wow OK). Incredibly sweet one second, harsh bullet hell Metroidvania the next, Crypt Custodian is about as charming as games can be while still being thrillingly challenging.
3. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Up until the second game on this list came out, I was convinced this had the best combat I’d ever experienced in a Metroidvania. Deep, satisfying swordplay full of clever tricks, and with a parry sound so note-perfect that I’m convinced the developers got it by recording themselves successfully parrying God. Throw in all the sublime platforming you’d expect from a Prince of Persia game, along with it being the first title to successfully capture that wonderful storybook vibe since The Sands of Time, and you have a game that really should have found an audience. Sob.
2. Nine Sols
The parry-or-perish combat that plays like a 2D Sekiro was outstanding already. But then Nine Sols revealed an explosive talisman system wherein you basically slap a grenade on an enemy then walk off like it’s no big deal as it detonates, and I fell hopelessly in love. This also boasts a fantastic story, beautiful animation, a series of shit-eating bosses that would make Kojima proud, horror sequences that remind you that this developer made the Detention series… This game would likely be my personal number one on a list of all games that came out in 2024, had Balatro not selfishly decided to exist. The fact it’s not the year’s number one Metroidvania is, frankly, preposterous. But for that we can blame…
1. Animal Well
Strips down the Metroidvania to the very core (seriously, it’s only 33 MB big), and then builds it back up with its own marvellous ideas. Animal Well gleefully snubs cliches like the double jump or any weapons at all in favour of new, literal toys, like a frisbee, slinky, and bubble wand. Discovering how these initially useless-seeming tools have opened up new routes of navigation and puzzle solutions leads to a seemingly endless series of eureka moments.
Animal Well also frequently switches genre on a dime, with terrifying chase sequences and nightmarish sound design suddenly shattering its near-peerless atmosphere. Reaching the end credits is just the start, as this one’s happy to throw you a new toy that changes everything and send you on another giddy tour through its huge labyrinth of secrets. What an incredible reminder of how brilliant the Metroidvania can be and how much it still has to offer.
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