ABYSS X ZERO is a stylish 3D Metroidvania, with expressive low poly visuals made by the two person indie team Studio Pixel Punk, that also brough you the award-winning indie hit UNSIGHTED.

Explore an expansive world with carefully-crafted dungeons and stylish combat. Take control of two different characters, fated to battle each other: Codename A and Codename Z, both legendary heroes with unique abilities that change how you fight and interact with the environment.

🎮 Steam

Announcing WOLFHOUND, the next adventure from Bit Kid! Infiltrate a mysterious Axis base in the Bermuda Triangle as one-man army Capt. Chuck “WOLFHOUND” Rossetti. Explore the deadly island and uncover the Nazi's twisted scientific pursuits while wreaking havoc on their forces and horrific creations in this sci-fi WWII Metroidvania!

🎮 Steam 🌐 Website

Nine Sols is a lore rich, hand-drawn 2D action-platformer featuring Sekiro-inspired deflection focused combat. Embark on a journey of eastern fantasy, explore the land once home to an ancient alien race, and follow a vengeful hero’s quest to slay the 9 Sols, formidable rulers of this forsaken realm.

🎮 Steam

✅

• Game8
• MythyMoo

Aiming for an Oct. '24 release

Lone Fungus 2 is a classic feeling action-adventure with a charming 16-bit aesthetic, featuring non-linear world design, set in an interesting world with it's own mushroom lore. First and foremost a Metroidvania game with a lot of 'vania' in it, whip foes, gain new powers and explore a world full of treasures and secrets!

The Vile is taking over, transforming everything it touches into something ghastly and unrecognizable…

Delve into a playfully-sinister, mysterious and interactive world that evolves based on time of day or weather condition. Immerse yourself in deep narrative quests while searching for your missing best friend,Ella, and meeting a peculiar cast of characters along the way.

Gain new abilities to battle vicious enemies and transform more and more into the monster you’re fighting against as the Vile becomes all consuming.

As you uncover the truth about the Vile and the future becomes uncertain, you’ll have to decide-- should you embrace the next step in evolution or eradicate it?

🌐 Website

🎮 Steam

✅

• RagnarRox
• Paul Despawn
• lv1 Gaming
• Game Luster

Engage with the 2D platforming, exploration, intricate labyrinthine maps, thrilling boss battles, and new abilities to unlock previously inaccessible areas. Plus Ultra: Legado is set to release in 2025 for Nintendo Switch and PC with a Kickstarter campaign launching on May 16. A 2D adventure, featuring vivid ligne-claire comic visuals, epic music and seamless gameplay... A comicvania!

🌐 Kickstarter

If you're looking for combat, it doesn't sound like this is your jam. But if you liked Fez and Tunic, sounds like this fits. Those are two of my all time favs, so I'm clearing my day…

Explore a surreal, interconnected, labyrinth, and unravel its many secrets. Collect items, solve puzzles, and try to survive what lurks in the dark. There is more than what you see.

🎮

• Steam
• Switch
• PS5

✅

• Metacritic
• Skill Up
• Arlo
• Nintendo Life
• IGN

While a little linear so far, I'm really enjoying it. Crazy that it's from "the Sea Snake" in GoT: House of Dragons.

It's time to wield the dance of the shaman and reclaim your father’s spirit.

Crafted by Surgent Studios, the entertainment studio founded by actor Abubakar Salim (Assassin's Creed: Origins, Raised by Wolves) and published by EA Originals, Tales of Kenzera™: ZAU is a metroidvania-style adventure and a thrilling emotional journey inspired by the rich myths of Bantu cultures.

🎮

• Steam
• Switch
• Playstation
• Xbox

✅

• New York Times
• Destructoid
• God is a Geek
• Eurogamer
• IGN
• Game Informer

Hack your destiny. Atari and WayForward are proud to unveil a brand new metroidvania in the Yars universe. Play as young hacker, Emi Kimura, as she explores the mysterious mega corporation, QoTech. Yars Rising is coming soon!

For all major platforms

🌐 Website

Inspired by 16 and 32-bit classics, Gestalt: Steam & Cinder fuses tight 2D platforming and exhilarating combat with an engrossing, twist-laden narrative in a stunningly handcrafted steampunk world.

I liked the demo. Going to give it a go once I'm done with Biomorph.

Hop on your trusty BMX and get ready to survive the dangerous wasteland in this release date trailer for Turbo Kid, an upcoming Metroidvania game based on the movie. The latest trailer for Turbo Kid showcases various locations you'll explore, bloody combat action, and more!

🎮 Steam

✅

• Two Dash Stash
• The Games Machine

Out on other platforms later this year

BIOMORPH is a dark metroidvania game where you become the creatures that you kill! Solve ingenious puzzles and navigate a stunning hand-drawn world. Meet quirky characters, rebuild a city, and uncover the secrets of a sprawling, fallen civilization… and of your own mysterious origins.

🎮 Steam

✅

• I Dream of Indie Games
• Demajen
• Game Luster
• BlackQD

🌐 Website

🎮 Steam

In New Kunlun, hero Yi has awakened the 9 rulers of this forsaken realm. To defeat the 9 Sols in the deserted city.

Doesn't look like there's any other platforms announced. This was one of my favorite demos. Very excited about this game.

🌐 Kickstarter

Where shadow falls, it begins. Dive into Eden's Guardian, a challenging metroidvania experience with handmade pixel art set in a world with medieval and fantasy aesthetics devastated by conflict where the history of Gods and humans intertwine.

Looks like it's slated for all major platforms.

It's a cute fun game and I'm looking forward to the dev's next, Crypt Custodian

🎮 Metacritic

Voidwrought is a 2D action-platformer set in a hand-drawn world of cosmic horrors. Explore the thawing ruins of the First Civilisation and strike down the gods that dwell there. Grow your powers, uncover ancient Artifacts, and expand your shrine amid the wreckage.

🎮 Steam

What a string of great releases! Between Biomorph (April 5), BioGun (April 16), Tales of Kenzera (April 23), and this on May 9th, it's a busy time for good metroidvanias. And this looks easily the most unique …

Explore a dense, interconnected labyrinth, and unravel its many secrets. Collect items to manipulate your environment in surprising and meaningful ways. Encounter beautiful and unsettling creatures, as you attempt to survive what lurks in the dark. There is more than what you see.

🎮

• Website
• Steam
• PS5
• Switch

Get injected into the microscopic world of BioGun. Face viral threats and winding corridors on your mission to save man’s best friend from the inside. Will you be the vaccine to save dog-kind from extinction?

🎮 Steam

🌐 Website

About Cannons + Sparrows is an immersive video game experience that combines the best elements of Metroidvania, platforming, and puzzle-solving. Embark on a thrilling journey as a small cannon hatching from a bird's egg, unaware that it can shoot. On your quest for self-discovery, you'll encounter challenging battles, navigate intricate puzzles, and unlock new movement and fighting abilities. Unleash your newfound powers and set out to fight the evil cannon creatures that dwell within the dark fortress, relentlessly pillaging the forest's precious resources.

🎮

• Steam

• Steam

Fly into a charming handcrafted world and go on an adventure that mixes up open exploration with crispy twin-stick shooter action. Fight your way from the shiny overworld to the deepest caves, improve your ship and overcome the dungeons' bosses to rescue your friends!

• Steam
• Website

Drawing deep inspiration from Moroccan and Amazigh culture, language, and spiritual traditions, Mira and the Legend of the Djinns is an adventure that tells the tale of Yuba, an avid treasure hunter, and a mysterious Djinn named Mira, the first Djinn discovered in generations. The two journey together across the devastated world of Fallen Amazgesh, a world of ruins, to uncover her lost memories, and in turn, what happened to her land and its people. To this end, Yuba and Mira agree to form a spiritual Bond, something no human has done outside of fabled legends.

Delivered in a classic 2D Metroidvania-style format, Mira and Yuba traverse the vast expanse of the Desert Ocean, discovering new friends and vicious foes along the way. Together, the pair will track down priceless artifacts, explore dangerous ruins, battle against mutated creatures and corrupted spirits, and come face to face with the very cause of the cataclysm that destroyed Mira’s world and conceived Yuba’s.

Somber Echoes is a sci-fi Metroidvania that developer Rock Pocket Games, Lav Games, and publisher Bonus Stage call a "love letter" to the genre. It's set aboard the Greco-Roman spaceship called Atromitos, where "infested horrors from another dimension" now run rampant. It features seven visually distinct districts and is powered by Unreal Engine 5.

Looks like it's getting mixed reviews. There are some people who really like it, and one who hated it, and most who feel like it has potential that's only partially lived up to (which, I guess, is the definition of a "mixed review", so I don't know why I wrote that and am continuing to leave it in this post).

🎮

• Steam
• Playstation
• Xbox

✅

• God is a Geek
• Games Creed
• Entertainment Geekly
• Game Reactor
• Duuro Plays
• Noob Feed

It was a fun demo. I'm looking forward to it…

Steam only so far, but with plans to release on Switch

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/12122783

Let's discuss: Ori

The format of these posts is simple: let's discuss a specific game or series!

Let’s discuss the Ori series. What is your favorite entry? Are there any moments or mechanics that stand out to you? What aspects of the games do you like most? What are areas that could be improved or don't work for you? Feel free to share any thoughts that come up, or react to other peoples comments. Let's get the conversation going!

If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).

Previous entries: Metal Gear, Slay the Spire