A Metroidvania is a 2D (sometimes 3D) action-adventure game built on a single interconnected map you cannot fully explore until you unlock the right ability. Double jump opens a vertical shaft you saw an hour ago. A grappling hook reveals a corridor that was always there. The map is the puzzle, the abilities are the keys, and backtracking is the point. The Metroidvania genre is one of the most quietly influential templates in gaming, with roots in 1986, landmarks in 1994 and 1997, and a long afterlife in independent games.
This guide explains what a Metroidvania is, where the name comes from, the five mechanics that define one, the difference between a Metroidvania and a regular platformer, the modern classics that built the indie boom, and the design problems the genre still has not solved. If you have ever closed Hollow Knight after six hours and thought “I do not remember how to get back to the City of Tears,” you have lived inside a Metroidvania.
Table of Contents
- What Is a Metroidvania?
- Where the Name Comes From
- Five Mechanics That Define a Metroidvania
- Metroidvania vs Platformer vs Soulslike
- Modern Examples Worth Comparing
- 3D Metroidvanias, Do They Work?
- The Problems the Genre Has Not Solved
- Metroidvania FAQ
What Is a Metroidvania?
A Metroidvania is usually an exploration-focused action-adventure game in which new abilities open routes through a connected world. You begin with a limited move set, notice places you cannot reach, and later return with a way through. There is no required percentage of the map unlocked by each upgrade, or official quota of powers. The relationship between movement, discovery, and revisiting spaces is the useful clue.
The defining feeling of the genre is the moment the map clicks. You spend two hours pushing east, hit a dead end, find a power-up that lets you cling to walls, walk back to a junction you marked an hour earlier, and suddenly the route you wanted is open. Designers call this gated nonlinearity. Players call it the part where the game finally makes sense.
Where the Name Comes From
The word Metroidvania is a portmanteau, fused from two Nintendo and Konami franchises that built the template independently between 1986 and 1997.
Metroid, 1986
The original Metroid launched in Japan in 1986, with Western NES releases following later. Exploring Zebes and finding upgrades established an influential template, but not every upgrade was a boss reward: the Morph Ball is an early pickup. Super Metroid in 1994 added an in-game map and expanded the possibilities of that structure.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, 1997
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997) combined castle exploration with equipment, experience, and RPG-style progression. It became a central reference for the label, though it was not the series’ first departure from linear stages: Simon’s Quest had already experimented with exploration. Konami’s series history places those games in their wider lineage. Symphony was a team production, not a formula invented single-handedly by one person.
Metroidvania, the Term
The name combines Metroid and Castlevania. Its usage has broadened from comparisons within that lineage to a general genre label. It is useful shorthand, but not a certification with an agreed set of entry requirements. Players will disagree at the edges, sometimes for longer than it takes to finish the game.
Five Mechanics That Define a Metroidvania
Not every game with a map and a power-up feels like a Metroidvania. These five design features help explain the appeal, but they are a reading guide rather than a strict admission test.
1. One Interconnected World
Connected places matter more than a sequence of isolated challenges. Rooms and regions lead back into one another, and a new route can make an old area feel different. Loading screens, named zones, or separate regions do not automatically disqualify a game. The question is how exploration works across them.
2. Ability-Based Gating
A double jump can open a vertical shaft; a grappling hook can bridge a gap; an underwater ability can make a flooded route usable. These are illustrative examples of abilities changing access. Keys, switches, and story flags can coexist with them. Showing a blocked route before the solution is available can make the eventual return especially satisfying.
3. Backtracking With a Payoff
Pure linear games hate backtracking because it feels like padding. Metroidvanias reward it. When you return to an old biome with a new ability, you find new collectibles, new shortcuts, new bosses, sometimes whole new sub-areas. Sometimes the world changes; sometimes your abilities change what you can do within it. Good Metroidvanias make the backtrack feel like discovery. Bad ones make it feel like a chore.
4. Movement, Combat, and Other Challenges
Combat is important in many examples, but demanding dodges and difficult bosses are not compulsory features of the genre. A game can emphasize movement, puzzles, or discovery instead. Some titles overlap with Soulslike design; that overlap is a choice, not a universal family rule.
5. The Map as a Puzzle
A map can help players remember what they have explored and where they might return. It need not explain every secret, and the genre does not require an identical map interface. In Hollow Knight, finding and updating maps becomes part of exploration itself. The map is useful precisely because your mental version probably contains a room labeled “something important, possibly a beetle.”
Metroidvania vs Platformer vs Soulslike
These three genres share a lot of DNA but solve different design problems. Knowing which one you are buying is half the battle.
vs Traditional Platformer
A level-based platformer typically organizes its main progression around completing stages. A Metroidvania puts more emphasis on revisiting connected places with new capabilities. This is a contrast in structure, not a claim that platformers never allow backtracking or that every Metroidvania demands identical precision jumping.
vs Soulslike
Soulslikes and Metroidvanias can overlap in world design, but they emphasize different things. The former label often draws attention to combat, checkpoints, and consequences of defeat; the latter to exploration and ability-based access. Neither definition forbids the other’s mechanics. A difficult boss alone does not settle the classification.
vs Roguelike and Roguelite
Run-based games often reset progress and vary their layouts; many Metroidvanias instead build familiarity with a persistent geography. Hybrids are possible: Dead Cells describes its own mixture of rogue-lite and Castlevania-inspired design. For the neighboring terminology, see our roguelike versus roguelite guide. Procedural generation is not a magic barrier that makes mechanics from another genre impossible.
Modern Examples Worth Comparing
The independent revival did not begin with a single game in 2017. Earlier examples already explored the format, including Ori and the Blind Forest in 2015. The games below are useful comparisons, not required homework for membership of a very demanding club.
Hollow Knight, 2017
Hollow Knight (2017) combines a connected underground kingdom, movement upgrades, secrets, and challenging encounters. It is a strong example of the pleasure of gradually understanding a place. Its difficulty and willingness to let you get lost are also reasons it will not suit every first-time player. Team Cherry’s sequel Silksong followed in 2025.
Ori and the Blind Forest (2015), Will of the Wisps (2020)
Moon Studios’ Ori games put expressive movement and lush presentation at the center of the experience. Will of the Wisps launched in 2020, following Blind Forest in 2015. Comparing them is a good way to notice how combat and traversal can have different weights within a similar exploration structure.
Metroid Dread, 2021
Dread continued the 2D saga in 2021, with E.M.M.I. encounters adding pursuit and stealth-like tension. Nintendo’s nineteen-year comparison concerned a brand-new continuation after Fusion, not the absence of every 2D Metroid release: remakes appeared in between. That distinction matters when describing the series’ history.
Blasphemous, Bloodstained, and the Others
Blasphemous (2019, sequel 2023) brought a Spanish Catholic-horror aesthetic and brutal difficulty. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2019) was Koji Igarashi’s spiritual successor to Symphony of the Night, Kickstarter-funded by fans who wanted the old Castlevania loop preserved. Other notable entries: The Messenger, Axiom Verge, Guacamelee, Souldiers, Afterimage, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (2024), and the long tail of itch.io indies the genre tag has helped surface (we listed several in our round-up of indie games that still hold up).
3D Metroidvanias, Do They Work?
The label is often associated with 2D games, but ability-gated exploration can work in three dimensions. More spatial complexity changes the navigation problem; it does not automatically break the design.
Metroid Prime (2002) is an obvious example of translating exploration and upgrades into first-person space. Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor also invite comparison through revisitable areas and new traversal abilities. The interesting question is whether routes and landmarks remain understandable. A world need not secretly be a flat grid to make that work.
The Problems the Genre Has Not Solved
The format creates recurring design tradeoffs. Different games solve them in different ways, and what feels like welcome freedom to one player can feel like an unpaid cartography internship to another.
The Late-Game Traversal Tax
Revisiting an old area is rewarding when something new happens there. It is less rewarding when the journey merely postpones the interesting part. Shortcuts, transport systems, and faster movement can help. This is a pacing problem, not evidence that every game waits until its final hours to allow fast travel.
Lost Player Syndrome
Returning after two weeks away can mean staring at a map and wondering what past-you was planning. Optional guidance can help without removing exploration. The Lost Crown’s accessibility design includes tools such as Memory Shards for recording locations. That is a concrete response to the problem, not a betrayal of the genre.
Length Creep
A bigger map is not automatically a better map. Some players want a compact adventure; others enjoy a long hunt for optional secrets. The useful question is whether the repeated journeys remain interesting. There is no need to invent a universal playtime range or private developer consensus to make the case for tighter pacing.
Metroidvania FAQ
What is the best Metroidvania for a beginner?
For a starting point, I would look at Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown if adjustable guidance and accessibility options matter to you. Ori is appealing for movement and presentation, but it can still be demanding. Hollow Knight is worth considering if difficult fights and getting lost sound enjoyable. “Beginner-friendly” depends on which part you want help with.
Is The Legend of Zelda a Metroidvania?
Many Zelda games share item-based access and exploration ideas with this tradition. Their dungeon structures and other priorities often lead people to use a different label, but a top-down or 3D camera is not sufficient reason to exclude a game. Genre boundaries are more useful as comparisons than as border checkpoints.
How long is a typical Metroidvania?
It varies substantially by game, route, experience, and how many optional goals you pursue. Check playtime information for the particular title and distinguish finishing the story from finding every secret. A single genre-wide number will not tell you whether a game fits your week.
Do Metroidvanias have permadeath?
Permadeath is not a defining requirement. Checkpoint-based recovery is common, while individual games can add harsher options. Do not confuse one-hit death with losing the entire save: Metroid Dread’s Dread Mode makes a hit fatal, which is a different rule from permanent loss of a run.
Which Metroidvania has been the most influential on modern indies?
Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night are central historical reference points, while Hollow Knight is a prominent modern example. Choosing a single winner would require a definition of influence: structure, aesthetics, commercial reach, or what a particular developer learned from playing.
The Genre That Refuses to Age
The Metroidvania is one of the few game formats that has stayed structurally intact for 40 years. The 1986 Metroid blueprint still describes Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown in 2024. New entries refine the combat, the art, the storytelling, and the map design, but the core loop (explore, hit a wall, find a key, return to the wall) is untouched. Few genres can claim that kind of durability. If you have not played one in a while, pick up Hollow Knight or Ori and rediscover why the loop has outlasted entire console generations. And if you finished one recently, our indie games hall of fame and deep-dive on Iron Lung lore are the natural next stops.
