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Why We Love to Get Lost in Games: The Enduring Appeal of Metroidvanias
(www.nytimes.com)
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this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2025
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I'm never sure where to draw the line with metroidvanias. Does Dark Souls count as metroidvania? or Link's Awakening? Cave Story?
I count Dark Souls as a Metroidvania in my head, honestly.
But I think the actual defining feature is unlocking new abilities to reach new locations.
DS1 has you unlocking new areas that are interconnected with ones previously explored, but you don't really unlock new moves to get to a new place, it usually just happens after you beat a boss or buy an item.
I would argue that 2D platformer should be part of the definition.
Then you'd be excluding the Metroid Prime games from the genre, which doesn't make a lot of sense.
It’s a good point, they all have item or ability gated progression with backtracking and alternate routes. The more I think about the question, the less of an answer I have…
Yeah a lot of people seem to draw a line between Metroidvanias and classic Zelda games/Zelda-likes. I don't really know what the distinction is.
The line I personally draw between Metroidvania and Zelda like is the ability to sequence break without glitches and a focus on platforming as the core of movement.