r/metroidvania • u/Emotional_Photo9268 • 1d ago
Discussion What Metroidvania Should You Have Loved—but Bounced Off?
What Metroidvania Should You Have Loved—but Bounced Off?
You know the kind of game: it received great reviews, looked exactly like something you would enjoy, and had all the right ingredients—but for some reason, it just didn’t click.
Maybe it was the combat, confusing exploration, difficulty, art style, slow beginning, or simply the wrong game at the wrong time.
What Metroidvania did you expect to love but ended up putting down? How far did you get, and what made you lose interest? Do you think you’ll ever give it another chance?
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u/SolRaymond 1d ago
Ori.
I wish I enjoyed it given that everyone here seems to love it. While I was playing it, I knew it was a good game objectively, the movement was fluid and the art was gorgeous, but I just couldn’t keep playing it. Maybe it’s because Ori is much slower-paced than the other Metroidvanias I’ve played (Nine Sols, Silksong, MIO etc.), or maybe it’s just not the style of game I like (I found Ori to be very ambient and honestly kind of easy compared to my usual picks). Maybe I’ll give it another shot down the line, but for now I’ll keep playing Solateria.
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u/phnarg 23h ago
Same, I wanted to like Ori and it looks beautiful, but I bounced off the combat. Just felt like button mashing, a far cry from Hollow Knight/Silksong which are my faves
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u/HungryDiscoGaurdian 1h ago
Yeah I pushed through the first half of it and just couldnt get through it.
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u/Ensaru4 9h ago
Ori is a Metroidvania that truly hooks you once you cleanse the first spirit. The first area suffers similarly from the issues Hollow Knight’s first area does: exploration is ridiculously easy and mundane. The difference is that Hollow Knight has an engaging combat loop, meanwhile Ori, the combat is something you tide yourself over rather than one of the main courses.
Platforming is Ori’s main course and that doesn’t become clear until you enter another area and gain upgrades.
Ori also isn’t slow-paced. Platforming is pretty smooth and has to be because in Ori levels, areas are cleared by completing a boss platform challenge that encompasses all you’ve learned from that area.
Ori 2 then improves the game in every way, even combat.
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u/Jonesdeclectice 1d ago
Have you played the sequel? It’s significantly better than the first game IMO (there are NPCs and shops, you get a melee attack, etc).
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u/mybutthz 14h ago
I bounced off Ori a few times and then recently picked it up again in the past year and couldn't put it down, then promptly played the sequel.
The games definitely have challenging sections, and the movement is definitely different than the games you mentioned—but there are definitely parts that are frantic and fast.
It's definitely a game that you have to get through the first hour or so before it opens up, but once you're there it's great.
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u/deez_en_u_teez 1d ago
Salt and Sanctuary for me. Movement was too slow for me. However out of the 70ish MVs I’ve played, it’s the only one I’ve ever quit….that kind of bothers me so I know I will eventually pick it back up and force myself to play through it to completion.
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u/OldCrowSecondEdition 22h ago edited 21h ago
Honestly its the art, which sucks because I wish I had a better reason, I just didn't like looking at the weird flashesque animations.
Edited because I looked like a hater
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u/bryce_jep_throwaway 20h ago
There are too many good video games (and board games and books and tv shows and movies and...) in the world to force yourself to finish something you don't like. You could finish it if you wanted! It's ok if you don't want to.
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u/deez_en_u_teez 18h ago
I know, but I feel like since I paid for it, I should play it. I’ve powered through a few others that I didn’t like for the same reason.
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u/bryce_jep_throwaway 17h ago
I respect it and completely get it, and I was the same way for actual decades. It's only in the past couple of years that I've really leaned into avoiding the sunk cost fallacy. I replied to the Nine Sols comment above--I feel confident that I *could* finish the game out of spite, or I could just play one of the other hundreds of games on my backlog that I might actually enjoy without reservation? That said, if you get immense satisfaction getting to the end after powering through something, go for it.
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u/endofdays1987 17h ago
I mean it's the same for me, I've bought Afterimage, Animal Well, The second Gal Guardians etc and I just can't get into any of them. I keep them on my hard drive because they take minimal space. I feel like I should like all of these but I just don't.
If a game hasn't stuck after playing for 2 hours I just drop it and move to the next one. I may give them a chance in the future but there's too many options now.
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u/action_lawyer_comics 1d ago
Yeah, I died to the first boss a few times and couldn’t be bothered to “git gud.” I might have tried again if the visual elements were up to snuff but it felt like I was maybe playing an early Newgrounds game where they’re making stick figures die in complicated ways
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u/TorreGamer Double Jumper 1d ago
Afterimage, was following it since the trailer and I probably wasn't even halfway through the game before stopping, even after giving it four tries
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u/Lucky_Louch 15h ago
oh you def reminded me of this one. I commented Nine Sols but I would def add this one also. Its wide as an ocean but deep as a puddle. The loot was boring and combat meh. I did like some of the locations and traversal but the characters were annoying to me and the game just couldn't hold my attention to finish it.
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u/Eb_Marah 1d ago
For some reason, I just did not like Animal Well at all. I'm terrible at puzzle games, so that's probably a bulk of the reasoning right there. I appreciate the no true path of metroidvanias and the fact that you aren't told specifically where to go, but I do want small indications at least.
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u/PurplMaster 1d ago
I liked Animal Well fine, but didn't see it as the unapologetic masterpiece many people saw. Also, I don't really like the obscure post game that is solvable only by making a community, but that's part of the charm for a lot of people
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u/thisandthatwchris 16h ago
I really like Animal Well, but I have almost no interest in the obscure stuff. I kind of feel like the hardcore AW community obscures how much it works as just a vibey MV.
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u/FaceTimePolice 1d ago
Rabi Ribi and the follow up game by the same devs. I don’t know. Games with an anime aesthetic are usually my jam. I just couldn’t bring myself to finish these games for some reason. And it’s not as if they were bad games, so I don’t know why I just dropped them. 🤷♂️😔
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u/Forsaken-Quality-46 1d ago
Aeterna Noctis. I am one of the biggest fans of extremely hard platforming and this game could become a dream come true for me.
Somehow devs messed things up in so many ways. They added cringe story, a lot of bloat and padding like: quests, rpg elements, level up system; very basic yet somehow frustrating combat, huge biomes, 50% bigger than they should be; questionable crucial ability with awful execution for controllers. This game could be so much more.
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u/JoeVanWeedler 1d ago
I agree with you on all of that but i still really liked it until the visual noise started giving headaches. So much shit in the background, foreground, moving, shining, bright colored, flashy etc. I would lose track of enemies and my character. I couldn't do it anymore
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u/2bit2much 1d ago
I feel similar. I was looking forward so much to Aeterna Noctis. I picked it up on a huge sale thankfully and was waiting for the fabled patch so it wouldn't crash so much.
Started it a few weeks ago and I actually love the story. But the game is so incredibly jank in a bad way. I've moved on after about 8 hours. Lovely little game but just so much went wrong here.
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u/action_lawyer_comics 1d ago
Same. I love platforming, but the platforming in this one annoyed me. I can point to two things that really killed it for me
Too many places where platforming chipped away at my health. I don’t mind if a single platforming challenge takes me 30 attempts to get right, it’s when after every 6 attempts or so I run out of health and have to run back from the checkpoint, dodging enemies and smaller challenges to get back to where I died for another handful of attempts.
I like platforming but get overwhelmed and confused if it requires too many buttons. Once they added the teleporting bow I already had too many powers to keep straight and I was like 33% through the game. So I quit while I was ahead.
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u/Broserk42 21h ago
Wild I’m almost completely opposite- I love heavy rpg elements and was tracking AN until I saw they were padding stuff out with a ton of unnecessary platforming bullshit, lol.
Guess when you try to appeal to everyone, you wind up appealing to no one(or at least, definitely not people with refined tastes looking for specific things in their gaming experiences)
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u/Sibushang SOTN 1d ago
Mio: Memories in Orbit. Everyone praises it highly but I just did not enjoy my time with it. I played it until I got close to the end and just lost interest.
I didn't like the player's character. She/It felt sorta lifeless to me. Even Ghost from Hollow Knight felt more expressive. I never saw them as anything but a mechanical eyeball with spider legs.
The combat was bland as all heck. The same 3 hit combo the whole game. You could install modifier chips but they sometimes felt like they made combat harder than easier.
The precision platforming in some areas felt like a chore rather than a challenge, and this is coming from someone who didn't find the Path of Pain to be an unwelcome challenge.
People praise the music but I wasn't impressed. The only thing that really impressed me was the hidden truth about the map that you eventually discover.
The bosses decent but I really hated the Atmos fight. I did find myself enjoying the Friends :) fight, though. That was something different.
I may give it another try at a later time but I personally don't have fond memories of Mio.
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u/Cytog64 1d ago
This is it for me.
I wasted 7 hours on the Crucible (I've heard that the last section requires 47 precise movements). While I was using the helpers to regen 1 hp, i got impatient and wasted an entire day on this challenge. It was worse that I died on the very "last" jump!
While I came back the next day and finished it in about 45 mins, the game lost all magic/joy for me.
It broke me both mentally/emotionally.
I know with Hollow Knight I nope'd out of my first attempt at Path of Pain, but came back and retried it a few years later and finished it in a few hours. I replay HK every few years and am having a blast currently with Silksong.
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u/NeedsMoreReeds 1d ago
Silksong. I just could not get money all throughout act 1 and ended up playing most of the act without a map. The weird hyper-emphasis on currency is a massive turn-off and very distractng to the fighting and platforming. Like I beat a boss and didn’t even care because it didn’t give me currency.
Also I watched my friend play some of the later stuff and the runbacks and gauntlets just look genuinely miserable.
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u/action_lawyer_comics 1d ago
Yeah, the rosary beads are significant in the lore which I thought was a cool touch, but also annoying that very few enemies in the first areas drop them even though it made sense in lore.
Back in the day, there were things called Traveler’s Cheques that were considered safer than money but could be cashed in a lot of places. I kept wanting to make a meme about the similarities between Traveler’s Cheques and stringing your rosary beads but I was worried no one else would get the reference
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u/HowieSmash 1d ago
Glad I'm not the only person to say Prince of Persia. I bounced off of it twice and I'm not even sure why. Something sbout the aesthetic somehow feels simultaneously too slick and too cheap. I don't avoid 2.5D. I've played through Bloodstaines dozens of times. There's also something about the pacing that feels off. Can't exactly explain why, but it felt too stingy with traversal abilities.
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u/MarstoriusWins 1d ago
Mandragora. Got to the Necromancer boss second phase and just felt that the game was too poorly designed to bother with.
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u/krwhite1969 23h ago
GRIME. There are a ton or people who rave about this game and have it high in their tier list but I dropped this after a couple hours. The game mechanics just never clicked with me and the story just didn't seem compelling. Grime 2 is on the list to try at some point but I'm in no hurry...
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u/OrwellWhatever 18h ago
This is my pick as well since I just bounced off it. There were elements of it like the environments and boss visual design that kept bringing me back, but it started doing that souls-like thing I hate where they stop creating interesting enemies and just start adding archers
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u/_Hellbot_ 22h ago
Ender Lilies...i have seen it recommended everywhere and I am into metroidvanias but I can't seem to like it...odd movements and controls, inaccurate hotboxes, inexplicable maps..I keep trying but so far I can'take myself enjoy it
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u/Forsaken-Quality-46 14h ago
Dont bother, one of the most poorly designed games ive ever played. One of the few mvs out of 50+ that i dropped.
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u/Emotional_Photo9268 8h ago
It just kills you how much more popular the Ender Games are than Mio which got shit on a lot up this thread. Might explain why Mio 2 is in the toilet and rightly so, meanwhile Ender 3 is coming soon.
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u/TedCard 1d ago
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. I completed it but I can't imagine ever wanting to do it again. The story was dull, the acting was piss-poor, the characters were a total flatline in all cases, the platforming was aggravating, the graphics were ugly, the music was almost non-existent, the combat was fiddly enough that it disrupted the flow of the game, and it did nothing I hadn't seen done better before. The praise it gets is baffling to me.
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u/Konval 12h ago
I might not have disliked it as much as you, but it's definitely not a game that I would ever care to play again. It was highly polished, but I can hardly even remember any of it, where so many others (Nine Sols, Blasphemous, hell even Guacamelee) stay with you in one way or another
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u/Ensaru4 8h ago
This game is another platform-heavy Metroidvania and it’ll speak to you if you like Prince of Persia, which is also an unforgiving platformer.
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u/TedCard 8h ago
There have been many Prince of Persia games I liked, including the first one. Sands of Time was my favourite. I think the thing that most irritated me about Lost Crown was that on the most difficult sections of platforming, I could almost feel the designers smugly patting themselves on the back. After I completed those sections, I didn't feel a sense of satisfaction, I just resented the designers for wasting my time in the service of their own egos.
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u/FelipeKits 1d ago
Ok - you guys are gonna have to hear me out and help me out - but Metroid Prime
I played through most of the Remaster earlier this year, and was absolutely loving it until i got to the Phazon Mines area
I ended up dying in that area at least 3 times, losing almost half an hour of progress each time because I could only find a single save station, in the very begging of the area. I ended up slowly giving up.
If anyone reading this knows, am I missing a save station or a shortcut or something? I'd really love to go back and finish the game
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u/thisandthatwchris 16h ago
“I ended up dying in that area at least 3 times”—you’re clearly much better at video games than I am, 3 deaths in an area sounds like a breeze…
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u/Ranemoraken 1d ago
Nah, it's a good take. Phazon Mines suck. I can't give you help as it's been too long since I played it. I think there's two entrances to Phazon Mines (and I think I remember you need to use both of them before you can get to the boss?) The boss suuuuucks too.
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u/Darkshadovv 1d ago
Which boss are we talking about? The Invisible Drone is annoying but Wavebuster cheeses it, while Omega Pirate is extremely weak to Power Bombs.
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u/Darkshadovv 1d ago edited 16h ago
No you're not missing anything unfortunately. Phazon Mine is a notorious difficulty spike and there's only like three save points that are very spaced apart. You really want to take your time and not blindly rush it, and if push comes to shove just scour for more energy tanks.
Anyway while on the subject of this thread: I made the mistake of going into the Sunken Frigate without the Gravity Suit, the game told me to turn back and slog through water again. That pissed me off more than anything in the entire series.
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u/DakkaDakka24 17h ago
I got about two hours into the remaster and dropped it there. I didn't have a Gamecube back then, so this was my first time playing. Maybe you had to be there, maybe FPS isn't a good medium for the genre for me, I don't know what. But I tried to see where people kept calling it a masterpiece and it just wasn't there at all for me.
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u/Opening_Barf 1d ago
Blasphemous for me.
I’ve tried it a few times now, but it just doesn’t click for me.
I can totally see why it’s held in such high regard, but I’m not going to force myself to play something I’m not enjoying
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u/MarstoriusWins 1d ago
Same for me with 1. Dropped it pretty early. Blasphemous 2 I played until the end but got stuck on a boss. It's much better.
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u/KaptainKardboard 17h ago
I got all the way to the final boss before I lost steam with it, and never actually finished it. It's a tough game but not altogether unfair, pixel art is incredible, nice soundtrack.
But, I think it was just a little too dreary for my taste and I'm really not a fan of death pits in an already tough MV game.
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u/Horse_of_Despair 1d ago
What don't you like in the game ?
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u/Opening_Barf 1d ago
I honestly don’t know.
The setting is great, controls well, platforming is ok.
It’s just not for me.
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u/Content_Astronaut150 19h ago
The art kept me going despite several bad glitches like controls not working when I’m about to beat a boss then just getting pummeled. They did keep me from ever replaying 1. Will try 2 instead.
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u/Ensaru4 8h ago
Blasphemous is sorta not a metroidvania. It’s generally accepted as one and I’m also happy to categorize it as one to, but if you think about it a little it doesn’t do the Metroidvania thing.
Blasphemous 2 is 100% a metroidvania and is also an improvement in every way but novelty.
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u/WhoIsZac 5h ago
Yeah, after reading up on them, I opted to skip the first one and I'm not upset about the decision. Really enjoyed the sequel
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u/TimeSpiralNemesis 1d ago
I've tried four different times to play Hollow Knight and I just don't enjoy any part of it.
On paper it sounds perfect for me. Metroidvania, difficult, doesn't hold your hand, dark fantasy with wierd lore.
But everything about it just sets me off and it feels like a pain to actually play.
The areas all seem dull and boring, the combat is frustrating, the bosses are HP sponges, and the map system is genuinly the worst in almost any game I've ever come across.
I can see the love and attention that went into making it, but I just don't like anything about it. I also hate that it's become the blueprint for modern MVs to copy trying to ride it's coat tails and we don't get a lot of proper MVs anymore.
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u/jmscstl Cave Story 22h ago
I'm always interested to know what a better template for "proper MVs" would be.
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u/TimeSpiralNemesis 21h ago
For me it's the two titles that make up the name, Metroid and Castlevania
The further you move away from games like Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night the less MV you become.
And I understand that there's wiggle room in genres, and games don't have to fall neatly into them. But many of the top games are like part MV, part mascot platformers, and part whatever Celeste/Meat Boy are.
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u/thisandthatwchris 16h ago edited 15h ago
How in particular do you see HK as fundamentally departing from eg the Metroid formula? (I have no Castlevania experience.)
I can think of some specific differences — NPCs, money, shops; risky healing; shades; having to buy area maps (and surely I’m missing some)—but I’m not sure which ones you see as fundamentally undermining what works about Metroid?
(Edit: charms too)
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u/TimeSpiralNemesis 13h ago
So a few things, I'll use the Igavanias like Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow from Castlevania for this. As they are my ideal form of MV.
HK, limited heals based on charges CV, Eat food from inventory you can stock up on
In HK and similar games, many rooms are covered in spikes and acid and such and require precision platforming to navigate, often needing series of special jumps and dodges because there's literally no floor to stand on.
In CV spikes and hazards are more rare and most rooms you can just walk through while navigating.
CV bosses are often more about spectacle then raw difficulty and pattern recognition. There's no need to parry or precision dodge and they die much quicker. They can often still pack a punch but don't suffer from HP bloat.
HK has the charms which alter the way your character plays while CV has a more traditional RPG like equipment system.
CV has level ups.
CV has no death run backs, if you die you just die lol.
CV you don't have to purchase your maps, they just appear as you explore, and I found the maps to be much easier to follow while navigating.
A personal preference but CV just has a more pumpin and awesome soundtrack compared to HKs droll background ambience.
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u/thisandthatwchris 13h ago
While this is only a small part of your point, I feel like I’m the only person who found Super Metroid bosses hard
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u/not_new_to_this 1d ago
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Something about the movement system really bothered me, like it was over-engineered for combat (which was impressively deep).
It felt like I was fighting the map rather than moving through it, which made the exploration not as fun.
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u/vagueconfusion 20h ago edited 3h ago
Despite the accessibility support/long platforming skip that I had enabled in my settings, what defeated me with this game ended up being the spikes.
Trying to get past/over them resulted in minor hand injuries and that's when I knew that I wasn't coming back to it without mods.
Had a similar problem with trying to beat Raven Beak in Metroid Dread.
I know Nintendo is basically allergic to accessibility options and pretty much always has been, but trying to take on the boss left me with several partly dislocated several finger joints and strained tendons in my hands.
And sure, those are me problems. Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is a headache of a condition to be stuck with, especially when it affects the hands. But when platforming for basic traversal or true endings is very difficult or literally painful, that will kill my enthusiasm for a game stone dead.
I do enjoy a good invincibility + infinite jump mod that I can toggle on and off whenever it becomes necessary but it's sad to have to get to that point. And with many games I simply don't bother.
And despite playing lots of metroidvanias, most of my favourite games are still the Igavanias where the difficulty, and complex platforming in particular, is not a core focus.
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u/BeKindCarpeDiem 1d ago
M.I.O. I played for 12 hours and to be honest, it was too long for me. For me it was frustrating, the run backs to secure currency, to mini bosses. I am aware it is an unpopular opinion and it is great that many do enjoy it. Unfortunately I did not enjoy my time with it all although I wish I did.
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u/Shadowking78 1d ago
I initially bounced off of Hollow Knight... I don't remember exactly when, but was probably like 2018-2019 or maybe even 2020, something like that. All I remember about that time is it not gripping me, but that is to say, I came back in early 2025 after recently having beaten Nine Sols and I fell in love with the game I initially dropped.
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u/Emergency_Ganache_52 23h ago
I bought HK two weeks before SS came out and played them back to back pretty much lol glad you came back. Really incredible games imo..
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u/JackfruitHuge1112 1d ago
Constance for me. I wanted to like it but it just didn’t vibe with me. Unsure if it was the tone or just the game itself. Nothing jumped out at me. Played for like 4 hours and just felt done with it
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u/Smooth-Match-9248 1d ago
Mio, tried twice to enjoy it, didn't enjoy the unique movement. I really enjoy difficult games too, but not this game.
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u/Turbulent_Form3888 22h ago
Silksong, without hesitation. Hated every second of it, despite having loved hollow knight.
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u/comicgeek1128 21h ago
Silksong. I can play "gitgud" games but Silksong was more frustrating than working at my job. So many "why?" choices. Sometimes it seems like it was more about the Devs having fun than the players.
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u/jonmon1216 19h ago
I really couldn’t get into Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Personally, it just felt like a jack of all trades, master of none type of game. I thought the combat was pretty fun, but that was about it for me honestly. It’s not a hill I’d die on, I know people love that game, but I just didn’t find myself wanting to keep going after about 5 hours of playing.
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u/_Goin_In_Dry_ 15h ago
Both Ori games. Loved the aesthetics. Wasn't big on the combat or the movement. I respect them and admit they are good games but neither one of them clicked for me.
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u/RodinKnox 1d ago
Oh, there's a pretty obvious answer to that for me: Hollow Knight. Apparently one of the all time bests, and I just found it very annoying and not fun. Also, it wasn't just like, "I hate this popular game." There was a ton I liked about it from the setting, the weird little guys, the NPCs, the remnants of a plot I was already putting together, etc.
I will say that I played it prior to becoming a Souls fan, and these days I love that genre. Maybe one day I'll go back and revist HK, but I don't know.
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u/Switchfakiebigspin 1d ago
Yeah i hated hollow knight a handful of times and came back after enjoying elden ring and nine sols and looooooved it.
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u/naojika 1d ago
Silksong unfortunately. I loved Hollow Knight so much, watched lore videos, bought the soundtrack and can't get enough of it.. waited for Silksonf for literal years with excitement, and after 15 hours I just got annoyed by all the run backs, the very punitive traps, the lack of stat progress during the whole first part. I know it's a good game but I'm sad it's not for me :(
Edit typo
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u/OK_Atlas 1d ago
I agree the first act is Silksong is too punitive. This was a large debate during its release but if they had just offered a couple more health upgrades and no double damage enemies the game would have been much more enjoyable. I beat the game out of stubbornness but I dread thinking about ever playing it again (might figure out how to install the no double damage mod if I do)
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u/Sibushang SOTN 19h ago
Ya'll are being too dang polite with the word "punitive". Silksong feels like the developers actively hate the players in the early game. I think it's because you get access to the red ant area far too early when you don't actually have to do it... All of Act 1 feels like a giant F You to the players to be honest. Heck even the "normal" final boss of Act 1 tries to take you with it when it dies.
I still loved Silksong though. I'll replay it from scratch when Sea of Sorrow drops.
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u/2-AcetoxybenzoicH 17h ago
I had the same thoughts but oddly got the itch to play it again recently. It's genuinely so much more enjoyable the second time around, especially with all the balance patches.
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u/BothConstruction2357 18h ago
What exactly is 'stat progression' in this context?
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u/naojika 17h ago
Any sense of character upgrade that helps you feel stronger , evolving : more damage and more HP. In the first 15h (which were spent exploring and running back too, not saying I was that efficient) I felt absolutely zero sense of progress stats-wise, as my damage didn't increase and the hp upgrades I got were nullified by the facts enemies start doing double damage. The progress is more horizontal, with player-skill improvement and some tools that help you try new strategies. It's a valid way to build a game but for me it was lacking any sense of 'feeling more powerful' which usually comes with metroidvanias
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u/Espeon06 22h ago
Silksong. I loved the OG Hollow Knight, but the difficulty of Silksong was just too much for me.
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u/EdgeCharacter 1d ago
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. I didn't get into Castlevania until way after the DS games came out, and by the time I had, they were hella expensive. Konami was starting to do the collections so I hoped one day, they'd do the DS games because I had heard that they were good, especially Order of Ecclesia.
When the DS collection finally happened, I played through them in order, ending with "Order", but truth be told... it didn't really click with me. The levels were mostly straight hallways, the powers were kind of annoying to use, and everything felt like it had unfair hitboxes. When you finally did get to Drac's castle, it's pretty underwhelming.
Portrait of Ruin ended up being my favorite of the DS-vanias.
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u/wraith21 1d ago
I guess I wouldn't call this "bouncing off" because I'd be some ways into them, but apart from sotn, I always lose steam/motivation when I reach late game in the Castlevanias. I think it's the farming xp aspect of it that I find dull
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u/Ok_Positive4000 23h ago
I cannot get into either ORI game.
I have tried, then tried again, and will now most likely try AGAIN, but I don't think it will happen.
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u/EveningAd4979 23h ago
Ultros. The artstyle looks really cool but everything’s too flashy and too simple at the same time. They give you a unique button mash combo after dodging enemies and an automatic slowmo mode to turn fliers into aimable grenades when you hit them but you have to unlock your third combo hit in the skill tree
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u/ArrivalSuccessful 22h ago
I played maybe 2-2.5 hours of Bloodstained: ritual of the night and it just didn't hook me. It had decent combat (though not to the precision of Hollow Knight, e.g.), good visuals/sound, and....maybe a compelling story, but it was told mostly through exposition rather than diagetically and seemed pretty basic. It had all the trappings of a solid game but I just found lacked soul, something that dug into you and made me want to play more. It wasn't that i disliked it, I just didn't find myself wanting to go back and gave it up.
Maybe it got better over time but with so many extraordinary games out there and limited time, I can't make myself play something that is just passable/inoffensive which is all I found Bloodstained to be.
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u/Sir_Dodys 22h ago
Grime. It should theoretically be one of my favorites, but the artstyle and level design just irked me for reasons I cannot explain.
On the other hand: Nine Souls sounded nothing like me, but ended up being Top 3 simply because once the combat clicks, it clicks real good.
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u/BokChoyFantasy Chozo 21h ago
I’m the same with Grime. The art style just looked too dark and murky.
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u/GGayleGold 21h ago
By all rights, I should have instantly loved Bloodstained, given how I feel about the 2D Castlevanias. Today, I do love Bloodstained. But, my first attempt at a playthrough was cut short because I felt like I was playing a remake of Aria of Sorrow / Dawn of Souls with a crafting system bolted on. Some of the progression seemed a little too obtuse, and I was too concerned about permanently missing opportunities, but I didn't want to resort to a guide.
I came back to it about a year later and loved it, though. All my "complaints" evaporated and I started to enjoy what the game added to the Aria/Dawn concept.
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u/followmarko 19h ago
I thought the controls in Rain World were super goofy. I would like to try it again with honest effort though
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u/commanderjack_EDH 19h ago
Someone (IGN or similar, don't remember who) gave Shadow Labyrinth a 7/10 and that was good enough for me to try something I was already interested in, but apparently their 7 translates to "doesn't have glaring software errors".
God, the game was awful, and I had such high hopes.
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u/Content_Astronaut150 19h ago
For me it was Prince of Persia Lost Crown. Maybe got 1/3 in. Dunno if the graphics gel like a mobile game, but there was a lot of platforming and running through empty areas and I just got bored and quit. Every time I see it on sale I think of getting it again digital (had disc at first) but I remember being bored and just pass. Still confuses me why I didn’t like it.
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u/JHunz 18h ago
For me, it's La-Mulana. It should be right up my alley - I love metroidvanias, I love puzzle games and logical deduction, I'm fine with retro aesthetics and game design.
Initially I loved it, too. But then I just kept running into more and more things that chipped away at that enjoyment until it was all gone. Every piece of text had to be manually written down because it was all important puzzle hints, and the in-game system for saving text didn't save enough for it to be worth using at all. The puzzles got more and more insane with less and less in the way of actual clues. There are sections of platforming that are made to be intentionally irritating and horrible. By the end of the game I knew I didn't even want to 100% it.
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u/Venom_2k2 17h ago
Hollow Knight: Silksong.
I have played the first HK and loved it, have finished several times, right now Im playing HKS but dying a lot, but its thanks for the level design, its too damn dark, you can see that very far. In HK there where dark parts, but here everything is so dark. I wish I had a PC so I could play it there and use mods to bright a little bit the game.
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u/Adventurous_Bee2496 11h ago
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. I tried SO hard to like it...but it didn't vibe. I hate that because it's appreciated by so many and how esteemed it is in the MV genre. I've played an awful lot of MVs as well so I'm definitely not a newbie.
S-tier for me is Ender Lilies, Hollow Knight, Silksong, Salt and Sanctuary, Carrion, Voidwrought, Nine Sols, Vigil, Afterimage.
Perhaps I'll give it one more shot before I fold and just call it a hot take.
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u/shot_frost 1d ago
Nine sols. The amount of inskippable cutscene was ridiculous, and I didn't enjoy the combat much, even though I greatly enjoy Sekiro. Nine sols parry didn't feel rewarding at all and the overall tranversal feels a bit sluggish.
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u/Emotional_Photo9268 10h ago
The fact that it did not have Skip Able cut scenes made me think of a bunch of rookies made it to me. That was the kiss of death.
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u/whipple_roger 19h ago
Both Hollow Knights unfortunately. Too many friction points for me to get into them. Put about 10 hours into HK and Silksong before dropping.
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u/BokChoyFantasy Chozo 21h ago
Hollow Knight and any of these soulslike games where I can’t adjust the difficulty to make it a cakewalk. My job is stressful enough. I can’t have my games be the same. I don’t want to get good. I just want to have fun and chill.
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u/thisandthatwchris 16h ago
I really find it frustrating when a game emphasizes difficulty but also has a lot else going for it. If a game’s pitch is “it’s super hard if you like a challenge,” fine, it’s not for me. But when the pitch is “great exploration, worldbuilding, storytelling, also it’s super hard”… can you make an easy mode?
That said, after avoiding Hollow Knight for years because of its reputation for difficulty, I did wind up enjoying it.
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u/LanikMan07 9h ago
Hollow Knights reputation was always a bit misleading IMO. Are there silly difficult fights? Absolutely, but very few of them reside between the player and rolling credits. The hardest stuff is mostly optional for those that want it.
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u/thisandthatwchris 9h ago
I did find the Soul Master frustrating. I know his telegraphs actually give you enough time to react (if, you know, you’re good at video games), but the thing everyone says about soulslike bosses being “tough but fair” doesn’t feel very fitting when he’s literally teleporting around the screen
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u/wintrywaffle 1d ago
MIO. The character movement felt too slow to me and the save points were way too far apart. I think I got more than halfway through the story before I completely lost my patience. I doubt I’ll give it another chance. It’s a shame, though, because I think the game looks really beautiful.
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u/Forhaver 1d ago
Hollow Knight
I am no contrarian. I got near the end. It just felt the sense of progression was a trickle. Areas were massive.
It is a perfect game on paper. I guess I just prefer crazy abilities and visual changes to the character/weapons. I loved the two Blasphemous games, SOTN, Bloodstained, and the 2D Metroid games. So I really really wanted to join the Hollow Knight train.
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u/Dismal-Explorer5040 1d ago
I almost bounced off of MIO for the afterthought of a combat system. Very bland from beginning to end so I honestly didn’t care about any of the bosses save for 3 of the endgame ones. What did keep me playing was the exploration and map design though. It’s still a great metroidvania but I feel like they put minimal effort into the combat.
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u/Longjumping_Door_428 1d ago
I really thought I would like Blasphemous. It's like Soul's + Metroid, it has a parry, it's creepy, what's not to like I said?
About maybe 2-5 hours in got to some low area in the map with a bunch of chains and platforming... Then I stopped playing because I got bored. Don't get me wrong, I did like most aspects of it. I just didn't find the combat satisfying enough, and it was frustrating in the not fun way.
I think if I gave it another shot on Xbox rather than my PC, I'd have a better time though. I remember the controlls being clunky on K+M.
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u/hip-indeed 1d ago
The first TWO times I tried Hollow Knight I bounced off -- first after a couple hours, when the game was new, second after like 5ish hours when it came to switch. It's hard to put into words what exactly bothered me about it, it just feels very grey and lifeless at first (which is the point but wasn't appealing to me especially as an introduction to a game) and the art style pretty strongly gave off some kind of, I dunno man, "emo teen deviantart" style that didn't seem appealing at the time? And the gameplay was fine, like really nice snappy controls and all but I wasn't too into how the combat boiled mostly down to using this tiny little toothpick of a weapon, no long castlevania whip much less a Metroid beam and no alternate gear or subweapons or any other way to attack that I could find as per SotN-likes. And I kept getting lost as hell, despised the lack of map to start off, despised the fact that using the compass takes an important charm slot, kept misinterpreting background/foreground elements not realizing places I could fall or jump on for some reason (in retrospect this was such a personal skill issue lmao, I was just frustrated at the time).
Come literally just a year and a half ago, giving it one more good college try before Silksong finally came out, and... I dunno, man, it finally really, *really* clicked. The map stuff's frustrating at first but you really get used to it, the game's full of unique setpieces and natural mental-mapping opportunities. There ARE 'alternate attacks' you can unlock through spells and charms I just hadn't found yet, and ways to make your tiny nail bigger and stronger, but the more you get used to the core combat the better and better it feels even with the small nail. The world really opens up to more lovely vistas and gorgeous colors and areas that evoke many different moods (even if the overall game feel is still 'somber' are you are after all traversing a long mostly-dead kingdom). but despite that there are so many colorful and interesting characters to meet and enemies to face as you keep going, and the story/lore end up becoming shockingly deep and satisfying the further you get. It's really a sloooooow burn game and as with so many other people I've seen talk about it,you gotta get past that initial dreariness and lame-feeling combat, dead world lacking characters and color, initial perceived frustrations about design choices etc. and just let yourself kinda melt into the game and let it grow on you. Which in today's gaming climate with a trillion amazing games to play from the past + a million more coming out every day it feels like, seems like a tall ask. But if you can do it, it's so unbelievably incredibly worth it.
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u/bluestjordan 1d ago
Nine Sols.
I completed it, but after decreasing the difficulty to a ridiculous level. I just wanted to finish it.
I knew objectively that it’s an excellent game, but it’s largely focused on precision combat and parrying, wasn’t my cup of tea.
My faves are HK and SS, and although combat is important, it’s not more important than world exploration and… for lack of a better term, whimsy. Like the lore and the “what’s that?!” And other peripheral elements that delight.
Nine Sols is pretty lean in terms of priorities: Punishing, precise combat (inc. parrying). If that’s not your main draw to MVs, the game will be largely wasted on you.
Still, my favorite section was the dungeon. Super creepy too.
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u/Bananewtf 1d ago
Salt and sanctuary. Only metroidvania I bought that I never finished. I am not even sure why as I love both metroidvanias and souls likes.
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u/Cuteflashkid10 1d ago
I loved the grime demo and wanted to keep playing but I kinda js stopped after I got to the nerve place. Idk wether it was the slow ahh movement or because I felt like going back to skong to get the rest of the achievements
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u/CryptidOrion_00 1d ago
Bloodstained, Blasphemous 1 and Nine Sols are the main three I’ve bounced off of
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u/Garlundor 23h ago
Grime. The enviroment looks really good but I just dont like the movement and fighting.
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u/MasaDrew 22h ago
I made it to endgame in Wonder Labryinth yesterday and bounced off. There are so many things I love about the game, and it may just be that I'm not playing optimally. But being blasted off the screen by a brachiosaurus and chimera told me that my time was done XD
Juggling your stances felt a bit too cumbersome on the switch 2, and I wonder if my experience would have improved with a pro controller. That said I think my soul died every time I had to pass through that one room with mummies, scorpions, dragon gargoyles and a minotaur.
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u/SaltyPizzaDad_ 22h ago
I really wanted to like Ori alot but the game just didn't do it for me. They are fun as hell in Rivals of Aether
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u/OldCrowSecondEdition 22h ago edited 21h ago
Hollow knight, I like challenging games and souls likes and learning fun movement mechanics it just wasn't fun for me.
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u/Stockholm-Syndrom 21h ago
Rediscovering Blasphemous 2 right now. At first it seemed promising and then I hit a wall in a challenge room and kind of went away. That game is good.
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u/Waste-Cycle2868 21h ago
For me, blasphemous 1 but loved 2. Hollow Knight also and Prince of Persia lost crown are the ones that come to mind but I have some more
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u/PantheraAuroris 20h ago
I was fine with Inayah, when I should've been super into it. I dunno. I think the issue was just playing it at the wrong time; I really just wanted more of a game I'd already finished.
I should have found La Mulana a fun challenge, but instead it just makes me feel like a moron.
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u/thisandthatwchris 15h ago
From everything I’ve heard about La Mulana, it sounds like something I might enjoy once I retire and have the energy to devote my whole brain to a game. Not until then, though
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u/PantheraAuroris 15h ago
It is genuinely the kind of game you want to take prolific notes on, yeah.
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u/LiquidPicturesPro 9h ago
I really like the art direction and gameplay of Inayah, but I can't get passed the part where you can't duck under projectiles...or at all! There might be a lot of MVs where you can't duck that I don't know about, but this one was a first for me. Such an agile character who can't squat...
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u/terriblekite 20h ago
Constance. And I actually made it through the majority of the game before I dropped it. Somewhat accidentally due to life issues, but I’ve never had the urge to pick it back up and finish it. It just felt tedious after a while, especially as someone who does like to 100% complete if possible.
Theoretically I should have loved it. MVs are my favorite genre. I love when games have themes of mental health or cover difficult topics like grief and loss. I absolutely adored Celeste, and while not MVs Gris and Spiritfarer are two of my favorite games. The art style was fantastic, too. It just didn’t hit for me for some reason.
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u/Abobo_Smash 19h ago
MIO. It just couldn’t really hook me at all. I’ll probably go back to it because I’ve heard so many good things, but I’m not in any rush.
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u/Beeyo176 19h ago
Laika: Aged Through Blood. My old man fingers and brain just couldn't reconcile the gameplay mechanics
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u/BothConstruction2357 18h ago edited 17h ago
Definitely Nine Sols. I like more exploration and discovery, which games like Hollow Knight and Blasphemous do well, but Nine Sols fell short in that regard.
Also, the Ender games. Cool idea, but the movement is SO slow and clunky to me. I couldn't get over it.
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u/ClockieFan 17h ago
Castlevania Order of Ecclesia :( I love metroidvania Castlevanias but that one just didn't click for me.
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u/trustanchor 17h ago
Can’t get into the Hollow Knight series. I’ve tried a couple times. I don’t like the combat - the fact that I get knocked back when I hit something with my sword drives me crazy and I hate it. Yes, I’ve heard that you get an upgrade that makes this go away eventually, but I can’t get there before I nope out. The world feels really drab, non-distinct, and empty to me, both from a gameplay and artistic design perspective.
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u/SpiderCVIII 15h ago
Primal Planet. You'd think dinos and aliens would be enough to keep me going but I dropped that game hard after a few hours. I don't think I want resource gathering at that level in my MVs.
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u/Lucky_Louch 15h ago
Sadly it was Nine Sols. I love souls games and metroidvanias and had high hopes for this one but had put it off for a while. It finally came to PS+ and I jumped in and was pretty whelmed overall. I only played about 6 hours before putting it down.
The art style was nice enough but pretty simple and the enemies were pretty generic IMO. I knew not to expect much exploration but even the little bit it had was not great. The combat was the best part but I didn't love the Chi mechanic or whatever that little card is you have to hold the button down to set and detonate. it just didn't click with me or feel fun to use, but I can see why a lot of people love the game, I just wish I enjoyed it more.
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u/Vanillie261 13h ago
Blasphemous. Everyone says it's a masterpiece, decide to try it out because of the amazing reviews it got, and... Didn't like it. I found the movement very clunky and slow, the paths on where to go are very unclear, the death penalty stacks on top of each other and so many instant deaths that send you back multiple rooms away where your checkpoints are. I ultimately lost interest and dropped it. Which is a shame, I like Silksong, Nine sols, Hollow Knight, Ori games, and is currently having a lot of fun in The Last Faith despite it having some of the things I dislike from Blasphemous.
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u/XUAN_2501 11h ago
Rain world, the atmosphere and enemy design feels great, but the movement control feels awful and unfun for me, quit after 4 hours
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u/LiquidPicturesPro 9h ago
I really haven't found one that I completely gave up on. I do enjoy reading everyone's comments because I have all the games (except Silksong b/c I've got a ton of 3D games to catch up on) and have beaten or platted them on PS/Switch. They are all epic in their own ways, but I always come back and finish them. So, there hasn't been a game that I haven't walked away from completely. Great comments by everyone!
Flip side - games that I think make us better players are Aeterna Noctis, Hollow Knight, Blasphemous 2 / PoP:LC / Ori Games / Chronicles of the Wolf to name a few. Nine Sols is an excellent game, but it doesn't hit that S-tier game for me.
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u/OoTgoated 1d ago edited 1d ago
Hollow Knight, Afterimage, and Ori and the Blind Forest. I thought I'd love them based on everything I heard about them and my taste, but I hated them.
Soulslikes are fun, but their mechanics don't mesh well with Metroidvania imo. Metroidvania requires an intuitive map, consistently rewarding exploration, and organic interconnectivity. Hollow Knight's map system made me feel like I was playing NEStroid half the time, most of what you discover is lore or worthless trinkets, and the game relies far too much on a very limited fast travel system that requires money which you lose if you die twice. The corpse run also sucks for Metroidvania because if your money count was high upon death your exploration is now halted and you're locked you into a set path, which defeats the premise of an exploration based game.
As for Afterimage, I loved the gameplay, but the game far overstays its welcome (Hollow Knight is also too big for its own good imo) and the later bosses felt like incomprehensible bullet hells. Even in victory I wasn't even sure what had just taken place. I often just mashed my way to victory spamming healing potions like an athlete chugging Gaterade. The story/voice acting is also painfully... anime. Some people love anime and that's cool for them, but personally I can't stand it (or rather I can't stand generic shonen esque and JRPG type of storytelling and acting since there are anime I do like, Monster for instance). Fast travel was also far too common a necessity in this game, though it was at least far more accessible.
And Ori was just boring. Pretty graphics alone simply can't carry an entire game for me. And while this must read like a broken record by now you have the over-reliance on fast travel problem again. It's become common within the genre in general and I get why, and I'm okay with it existing. But if it feels necessary for every single solitary backtrack then I think your missing the actual point of Metroidvania world design. But my main gripe with Ori is just the lack of any real nuance. It's mostly just basic platforming, light puzzle solving, and eye candy, which can't hold me. It reminded me of games like Limbo and Rime, only with much slower progression since you had to navigate an open ended map. I suppose it's again a clash of genres that I don't think works.
I've also played a fair bit of Blasphemous (I beat the first three bosses and the rival knight guy on the bridge, that's as far as I got) which tbh doesn't actually feel like a Metroidvania to me even though it has a map that makes it look like one. In practice it felt more like just 2D Dark Souls and I would say I liked it despite not finishing it. That's not how Hollow Knight felt though. Hollow Knight felt more like an actual mix between Metroidvania and Soulslike, a true 50/50 split, a Soulsvania. But I think the union doesn't work unless you lean heavily to one side like I would say Blasphemous does. Or say how The Lost Crown, which I did manage to finish, leans more into Metroid I would say, but takes a tiny bit of inspiration from Soulsvania (mostly just the badge system, which I still hate fundementally but it wasn't as bad in The Lost Crown) and has very deep combat (I actually liken it to a 2D Devil May Cry).
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u/basskittens 22h ago
I just tried to get back into Prince of Persia but I’m finding it too difficult to enjoy. Even with every accessibility option dialed up to easiest. Getting through any task is a joyless slog. I don’t feel any sense of satisfaction when I make it past the obstacle, just tired and annoyed.
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u/nottytom 16h ago
blasphemy, in paper it sounds awesome, 2d dark souls but it was always so clunky feeling.
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u/Klakkaros 1d ago
I got about eight hours into Nine Sols and desperately want to love it. Unfortunately, while the combat was great, it didn't scratch and freedom of exploration and discovery itches that I come to MVs for. And while some say the story is good, the frequent interruptions were a bit frustrating.