Post

a while back someone posted a video of awards for Metroidvania games and I was like hey, I should watch this and get ideas for my next search-action games to play for my list (list here: medium.com/@RowanKaiser...)

but they opened it up by saying that their all-time favorite was Hollow Knight and that's just so far from the way I think about what I like in this these that I just stopped watching. like almost every much-loved search-action game I bounce off of is a Soulsyvania. Just doesn't seem to work for me

27/10/26, 12:47 am0 reposts9 likes

which makes me think that there's really three different interacting subcategories, the Soulsyvania, the METROIDvania, and the MetroidVANIA and I'm very much a partisan of the latter

local skeleton chris (spooky_ver_4_FINAL_USE THIS.webp)

@electriccookbook.bsky.social

Definitely agree and think this is why, even though I liked it well enough to finish it, I came away feeling pretty lukewarm about Belmont’s Curse. It’s just too Soulsy in its mechanics and really not what I’m looking for from a Castlevania game specifically

but that's also got me trying to figure out what the difference between the Metroid-centered search-action game and the Castlevania-centered one is. Is it just melee versus missile combat? Platforming intricacy? Narrative focus?

@forestl.bsky.social

Castlevania-style games have a sense of fun and playfulness that Metroid-style games don't have. Like there's challenges in SOTN but a lot is just having the ability to mess around and do dumb useless things. Also if you haven't please check out Team Ladybug games. They capture that idea so well

@forestl.bsky.social

For example, so many Castlevania games let you sit down. It doesn't offer any benefit and can be ignored. Despite that they put in enough detail that in Dawn of Sorrow you can not only sit down in chairs but break only badly-built chairs. It means nothing but things like it make Castlevania

I have some of these wishlisted but they never go on sale to my full satisfaction *shakes fist*

Might be time for me to play Super Metroid again (for the sixth attempt? seventh?) to see if I can figure out how to put this into words. Or if there even is a "this" to put into words at all

A few people are saying that Castlevania has RPG systems and Metroid doesn't and yes that is a thing but what I'm looking for here is FEEL. A Castlevania game (classic) tends to feel like it has somewhat more constrained movement and combat. you're checking frames for swings, or pixels for jumps

Have you tried Zero Mission?

Mitchell R. R. Akhurst

@mrrakhurst.bsky.social

I thought it was the more RPG-like equipment system that accentuated the Vania

@djamesalicious.bsky.social

Numbers go up and getting to customize your gear are the differences between super Metroid and sotn basically

@jordantcarlson.bsky.social

I have always felt part of it boils down to Metroid-leaning games having permanent upgrades and abilities as the primary progression, while Castlevania-leaning ones have permanent systems *plus* choice-based RPG/equipment mechanics. The extra personalisation/dabbling is the line for me, as a player

@jordantcarlson.bsky.social

Metroid is about adapting to what the game gives *you*, Castlevania is about finding what combination of tools you find works *for* you? Kind of.

@mountaineer.blue

Metrovania vs Castleoid

@sulik2.bsky.social

Can we have a fourth genre label for games that revel in wasting the players time and are full of atrocious game design decisions that people gaslight themselves into thinking are good for Hollow Knight and Silksong?

yeah that's Soulsyvania, I just used it!

@sulik2.bsky.social

Hmm, now I need to examine my thinking for why I like Soulslikes but not Hollowsilk.

@sulik2.bsky.social

Ohhh, I hate Hollow Knight and have been itching for another search action game after finishing Well Dweller. Gonna have to peruse that list.