There are a couple dozen tried-and-true formulas for getting the player to engage with the game that they’re playing. The novelty of Pong told the player “hey, this is you” and then gave you this: |
The novelty of that wore off pretty quickly. The Atari 2600 gave us Pitfall which had us be Pitfall Harry and we had to run around collecting treasure and that got us from 1982 until 1986 when, a month away from each other, Nintendo released Metroid in August 1986 and Castlevania in September 1986. Despite the former being sci-fi and the latter being fantasy, the main focus of the game was the same: Here’s a map. Explore it.
And one of the first things Metroid gave you was a locked door. Now, it wasn’t opened with a key. It was opened with a particular weapons upgrade. But the gist was the same. Here’s a map but it nudges you to explore this part first until you find the key to the second part (where you’ll find the key to the third part) and so on and so forth until the entire map is available to you. (It wasn’t until Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest that they introduced the key mechanism to the Castlevanias).
And as you get upgrades, areas on the map that used to be inaccessible now open themselves to you. Oh, the explosives can open up weak walls. Oh, the grapplegloves let you climb cliffs that were too high to jump to. Oh, the magic mirror opens the hidden doors that you thought were just mirrors for the first half of the game.
Along the way, of course, you get a bunch of flavor text. You’re trying to prevent the end of the world. You’re trying to kill the evil genetically engineered monster that has ruined the facility. Hey, you’re trying to kill Dracula himself.
But the emphasis is as much on the map as it is the story taking place on it. It’s about finding the new areas, opening them up, and learning that there were a handful of places in the early maps that you didn’t even know you couldn’t get to because you didn’t have the tools you needed to open the doors that you didn’t even know were doors yet.
My absolute favorite Metroidvania game is probably Arkham Asylum (or Arkham City (Or Arkham Knight)).
I mention all of this because I got into a similar discussion at work and I was told that I should really play “Hollow Knight”, a Metroidvania from 2017 that won a bunch of “Game of the Year” awards and I thought “I think I might have that already?” and, yep, it was a giveaway a couple years ago on the PS5.
And I’m not *TOO* far into it but it reminded me how much I love this particular genre. I’ll get more into Hollow Knight next week, once I figure out what the heck I’m supposed to do now that I have the Mantis Claw.
So… what are you playing?
(Featured image is promotional art for Metroid.)
I was a massive fan of Castlevania while the vast majority of my friends were into Metroid and Rygar (which, I suppose, was more akin to Ninja Gaiden than Metroid). Not really sure why that was…I suppose it was a combination of not wanting to compete with my friends in trying to beat Metroid and preferring the D&D-adjacency of Castlevania. And I never played Simon’s Quest…
I, also, believe I have Hollow Knight floating around in my Steam collection. Suppose I should check it out.Report
Hollow Knight does not hold your hand. I’m not calling it a “soulslike” or anything like that because, so far, I haven’t needed twitch skills as much as mere hand-eye coordination and puzzle-solving abilities.
But it dumps you into the world and tells you “go nuts” without explaining what nuts are.
I’m having a blast and have only had to google “what in the heck do I do now?!?” once (the answer involved using a down attack on the purple mushrooms).Report
Hollow Knight is great. It was one of the first non-console games I had played in a long time and one of the first I got from Steam, and the fact that it was cheap and not in shrinkwrap made me assume it was going to be a trivial thing, but it was quite deep. And definitely difficult, at least for an average gamer like me — I did defeat what I assume was the “final boss” but there were other battles available that I knew I had no chance at.
I struggle sometimes with these game genre definitions though — to me, a “metroidvania” suggests not just the features you mentioned but also a 2-D platformer, i.e. something like original or super Metroid (I never played the “vania” part of the term). I would never have considered any of the Arkham games to be metroidvanias, though they may have some metroidvania-like elements. But I understand my own definition is not the only valid one — I’ve sometimes found that out the hard way by buying a game listed in that category that totally did not feel like an MV to me.Report
The “Can a MV be 3D?” debate has resulted in many broken hearts and broken bones, but I think that it absolutely can be.
That was one of the big eye-openers for me in the first few hours of Arkham Asylum. The fact that they translated it to 3D is one of the (many) reasons I love the game.Report
Metroid Prime was a pretty good argument for “Metroidvania can be 3D” up until the last, I dunno, 20%? And then I guess it wasn’t so much a counterargument as just I stopped enjoying it (never played either sequel), though I did grind my way through the endgame. For me, at least, if it’s got that “somewhat nonlinear world / sometimes backtrack with new tools” motif going on, I’m happy to file it under Metroidvania, particularly if it seems like it emphasizes exploration over combat.
If my memory doesn’t fail me, I think the last one I actually finished was Timespinner (interesting, only has a mild case of Kickstarter syndrome), but I want to shout out Astalon: Tears of the Earth as a slightly older-school take on the formula.
As for what I’m playing now: I’ve been trying to play more strategy games, which at the moment means revisiting Civilization IV and dipping my toes into Age of Mythology: Retold. I’m also slowly working my way through Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero.Report
One minor rule that Hollow Knight seems to be bending is the boss fight. You should have to hit a boss three times. Maybe the vulnerability point is hidden behind an unbreakable shield for 20 seconds and so you have to dodge for a bit… but then the shield gets lowered, you hit the point, the boss yells. If you don’t want to do it like that, GIVE A HEALTH BAR.
I find myself asking “HOW MANY HIT POINTS DOES THIS GUY HAVE?!?” every time I fight one of the bosses and he keeps not freakin’ dying.Report
That sounds about right from what I’ve seen of Hollow Knight (I think I beat the first boss and got slightly into the second area at some point, but only sort of remember the start of the game).
I wonder if there’s some perk you get and can spend equip slots on at some point to make the health bar show up.Report
I’ve gone through Hollow Knight a few times now (my first file is at 112% completion with something like 125 hours played) and have various other playthrough at different progress amounts.
Sadly, there is no charm that shows enemy health bars. You just got a upgrade your nail and then keep smacking. Once the Boss falls over panting/immobile you’ve landed enough hits to stun them and either hit them for actual damage or get in bonus hits. (I’m someone who gets caught up in watching the health bars drain during Boss fights, resulting in taking damage cuz I’m not paying attention. so personally I like the no health bars, but that’s me.)
There are ways to further enhance your nail with charms (there are some killer charm combos.) You have a charm that hits harder, one that hits faster, and a few that extend reach/push back. You can also get summons to help out by attacking enemies.
I will say this though, Hollow Knight (IMO) is a bad game to play blind. There are just WAY too many things to get, find, places to explore etc ..
Maybe you enjoy beating your head against a wall trying to figure out where to go next, but for my first playthrough I used a guide after a while.Report
I have cheated a couple of times. I was stuck at having 3-of-4 mask pieces and looked up the ones I missed and, apparently, I missed a boatload.
So I’m going back and getting them and hoping that maybe I’ll find something that will let me upgrade my nail because, seriously.Report
Currently I’m playing through Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist. It’s pretty good so far. A bit on the easy side though, I think I’ve only died 10 or so times, with two of those being from platforming mess-ups, 2 from bosses, and 6 or so times from regular enemies. The exploration is pretty weak on this game. The map system is FANTASTIC, but it’s let down by very little backtracking. You get multiple exploration enhancements but they are underutilized. It’s much more combat focused than it’s predecessor, which was pretty combat heavy. The different amount of builds you can make is pretty cool, but I’ve found myself sticking to a handful of the 30 different weapons/powers you can unlock. The story is easier to follow in this one as well. The side characters are interesting, especially the different Homunculi. I’m currently rating it as a 7/10.Report
Metroid Dread on Switch is awesome. Ori and the blind forest, Ori and the will o the wisp. Afterimage. Ender Magnolia. Cookie Cutter. Haak. There are so many great games in this genre.Report
I discovered the secret of the bank.
Hollow Knight is much better than I thought it was. I should have played this years ago.Report