Metroidvania

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  By early 2025, more than 2,200 games on the Steam storefront carried the Metroidvania tag. The word is a portmanteau of two video game series, Metroid and Castlevania. In Japan, the same style goes by the name Search Action.

  A Metroidvania hands the player a large map and then locks most of it away. Doors open only when the player finds the right item, weapon, ability, or piece of knowledge. Getting stronger and getting further are the same thing.

  Three puzzles sit behind that tag. Who invented a name that so many people use and so few can trace? How did two separate series, one of them steeped in gothic horror, end up defining a whole style of game? And why did the 2010s bring a resurgence led by small, independently developed titles?

  30122

• 2. A Name Nobody Owns

  ›

  Koji Igarashi, the man credited with setting the genre's fundamental rules through Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, says he did not coin the word Metroidvania. He is grateful for it anyway. His own theory is about a mismatch. Symphony of the Night scrolled sideways, so players compared it with Metroid. Igarashi believes that comparison is how the portmanteau came about.

  As the neologism caught on, Igarashi pointed out that his game drew more from The Legend of Zelda than from Metroid. Still, he said the name "fits very well". Other people in the industry now use Zeldavania interchangeably, and a rival label, Castleroid, also circulates.

  Jeremy Parish runs Metroidvania.com, a site that tries to catalog every known game of the type. He admits he helped popularize the word. He learned it, though, from a former co-worker at 1UP.com, Scott Sharkey. Sharkey had used it for Castlevania games that borrowed pieces of Metroid.

  Not everyone likes the label, because it names two specific games instead of describing how they play. Comic Book Resources compared it to "Doom clone", a 1990s term that gave way to "first person shooter" as the medium matured. Game Developer called Metroidvania too broad, since it stretches across 2D and 3D games, and proposed "unlocking world" in the spirit of "open world". Comic Book Resources offered its own alternative, "platform-adventure".

  In Japan, Famitsu wrote in 2020 that the word had only recently become a common term there. It is written in katakana as metoroidovania, and it sits beside the older descriptive phrase meaning "search-action".

  2222078

• 3. Retracing Steps

  ›

  Turning into a smaller object is one of the stranger keys a Metroidvania can hand the player. It lets the character slip through narrow corridors that were impassable minutes earlier. Double jump and wall jump are two other abilities that widen what the character can reach.

  The structure underneath is a single interconnected map made of discrete rooms. Many areas are closed at the start. A weapon, a key, or a new ability must remove the obstacle first, and a boss character often guards that reward. Because the map is nonlinear, the player crosses it many times. Weaker monsters respawn whenever a room is revisited, and defeating them can yield health, ammunition, or experience points.

  Longer games soften the cost of all that walking. Save points punctuate the journey, and some games can carry the player between rooms on opposite sides of the map. New abilities also open shortcuts and reveal secrets that make the character stronger.

  Igarashi named what he sees as the essential ingredients. Maps should invite wandering while still steering the player along a main path. The player should always know where they are, and he lists several tools for that. These include graphical themes across the world, visually distinct milestones at key points, map and status screens, and a way to move around quickly.

  Russ Frushtick of Polygon noticed that many modern examples go a step further. They tell their story through the environment itself, without leaning on cutscenes or dialog.

  19351214

• 4. Two Roads Converge

  ›

  Below the Root, released in 1984, and Brain Breaker, released in 1985, came before the genre had a name. Metroid, released in 1986 on the Nintendo Entertainment System, is nonetheless regarded as the most influential game for the style. Nintendo wanted a nonlinear adventure that would stand out from its contemporaries. It made the player retrace their steps, and its power-ups were permanent, while other adventure games offered only temporary boosts.

  Super Metroid arrived in 1994 on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System with a more diverse set of locations and many more secrets. Some of those secrets let players break the order of play that the designers had imagined. That quirk made it a favorite among speedrunners.

  Meanwhile, the original Castlevania of 1986, also on the NES, sent players through discrete levels in strict sequence. Vampire Killer, released the same year on the MSX, and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest in 1987 experimented with nonlinear play. Then the series went back to its linear roots.

  Igarashi noticed a problem as the sequels piled up. Veterans raced through the levels, while newcomers struggled on certain stages. He wanted a game that would suit every skill level and last longer. So he and his team looked to The Legend of Zelda when they built Symphony of the Night in 1997 on the PlayStation.

  From Zelda came a large open world and the need to find key items to enter certain areas, ideas that Super Metroid already shared. What set Symphony of the Night apart was a console role-playing experience system that let players improve their character's attributes. Players liked the result, and most later Castlevania games followed the formula. Together with Super Metroid, it laid the foundations of what people now call a Metroidvania. Over time Symphony of the Night became a critical and financial success, proof that players wanted more of the same. Other developers soon began to take notice.

  101423622

• 5. Outsiders Take Over

  ›

  Daisuke Amaya made Cave Story, released in 2004 for Microsoft Windows, as an homage to Metroid and other classic games. Critics praised it for showing how much one person could accomplish. It also gave the Castlevania and Metroid formula a fresh twist and showed that the 2D platformer could thrive as an indie format.

  Chair Entertainment released Shadow Complex in 2009 on the Xbox 360. The studio built it on the belief that Super Metroid was "the pinnacle of 2D game design". Reviews were highly positive, and the game remains one of the best-selling downloadable titles on that console's service. Successes like these pushed the genre forward in both publisher-driven and independent development.

  A string of acclaimed indie examples followed. Drinkbox Studios released Guacamelee! in 2013. Moon Studios released Ori and the Blind Forest in 2015. Team Cherry released Hollow Knight in 2017.

  Igarashi did not miss the indie renaissance. In May 2015, he launched a Kickstarter campaign for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a game influenced by Castlevania that came out in 2019. At that moment, no other video game had raised more money on the platform.

  2829403135

• 6. Edges of the Genre

  ›

  In 2007, a video discussion on 1UP.com brought together Parish, Sharkey, and Chris Kohler of Wired. They named older games with Metroidvania traits that they still would not call the real thing. The list included Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and Legacy of the Wizard, both from 1987, and Adventure Island IV from 1994. All three offered 2D platforming and power-up progression. But the trio said level design was not yet well refined, and the games gave players little guidance about where to go next. Simon's Quest, with its cryptic clues, was their prime example.

  They also agreed that the true meaning of the word faded as games moved from 2D to 3D, because 3D can hide the genre's facets.

  Most Metroidvanias are still drawn in two dimensions. Some, such as Shadow Complex and Metroid Dread, use 3D graphics engines but restrict the player to a 2D plane. The underlying ideas of exploration and character growth also travel to other genres, though those games are usually not filed under the label.

  The Metroid Prime series is a first-person action adventure built on the same exploring style as Metroid. Dark Souls is a third-person action role-playing game that is loosely considered a Metroidvania. It uses "soft locks", bosses that are hard but not impossible at the start and much easier once the player has gained experience and abilities. In the third-person Batman: Arkham series, Batman collects gadgets that open new areas. The 2017 title Prey is a first-person immersive sim that borrows Metroidvania level design, sending the player back through the setting as new tools arrive.

  An even earlier attempt at first-person Metroidvania play came with the console versions of PowerSlave, released in 1996 and 1997. The PC version of that game stayed more traditionally linear.

  3633313414

• 7. Metroidbrainia

  ›

  In September 2015, someone coined the term "Metroidbrainia", a blend of Metroidvania and the word brain. It describes games in which progress is gated entirely, or at least largely, by what the player knows. The world and its win conditions are open from the earliest moments. Nothing is locked behind an upgrade. Areas stay out of reach simply because the player has not yet worked out how to get there or use them.

  Learning is the only power-up. As players discover more about the world and its mechanics, they reach new places, uncover story details, and solve puzzles. Eventually they accumulate the knowledge that finishes the game. Backtracking still turns up secrets, but only because the player now understands something they did not before. Such games may shrink or remove the action entirely in favor of puzzle solving. Many carry a sense that they can be enjoyed only once, since the thrill comes from solving the mystery for the first time.

  Outer Wilds, released in 2019, is often cited as the best example. Others include Fez in 2012, Gone Home in 2014, Return of the Obra Dinn in 2018, and Heaven's Vault in 2019. Tunic in 2022, Chants of Sennaar in 2023, and Animal Well and Leap Year, both in 2024, round out the list.

  These games are close cousins of puzzle exploration and adventure titles, such as Myst from 1993 and The Witness from 2016.

  393738

• 8. Why Players Keep Exploring

  ›

  Donald Mustard of Chair Entertainment, the studio behind Shadow Complex, described a ledge that is too high to reach at first. As the player gains abilities, they work out for themselves how to get up there. He considered that kind of epiphany the sign of a good Metroidvania.

  Part of the appeal is how quickly a platformer can be learned. The player also gets a character who grows over the course of the game. Many independent developers say exploration is what draws players in. It plays on a natural human instinct, and it gives a sense of discovery and self-control.

  Developers benefit too. The style ties level design tightly to story and lets them build an immersive world. Keeping the challenge fair and enjoyable is hard, and achieving it can count as a sign of success.

  Thomas Mahler of Moon Studios, the team behind Ori and the Blind Forest, stressed a cohesive world with memorable settings. In his words, "players remembering the levels is part of the core design".

  The scale of the job is the final catch. Any change to the player's abilities must be tested more rigorously across every level. Daniel Smith, executive producer of Ori and the Will of the Wisps, put it this way: "I don't think people generally consider how difficult it is to make a Metroidvania game. Everything is so interconnected that if you change one aspect of the game, it's just inevitable that it's going to influence the rest".

  40413519