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Metroidvania hidden gems on Steam
Every game here is tagged Metroidvania on Steam, sits between 1,000 and 5,000 reviews, is rated at least 80% positive, and carries a catch drawn from its own negative reviews. All 52 of them. How these pages are made.
Iconoclasts86% positive from 4,970 reviews201835% finish itDeck Verified
A narrative-driven 2D action-adventure platformer where you play as a mechanic solving puzzles and fighting bosses. It features a story about fixing the world with a focus on action and emotional depth.
What players likedPlayers praise Iconoclasts for its stunning visuals, compelling story with well-developed characters, satisfying puzzle/platforming mechanics, and excellent boss designs.
The catchUnintuitive default controls and awkward keybindings
Games like Iconoclasts →
Supraland95% positive from 4,895 reviews201927% finish itDeck Unsupported
First-person Metroidvania puzzle game. Explore a sandbox world, discover versatile abilities, and solve creative, unique puzzles.
What players likedPlayers praise Supraland as a metroidvania and puzzle platformer with rewarding exploration, clever puzzles, and charming humor.
The catchCombat is shallow and respawning enemies constantly interrupt puzzling and exploring.
Games like Supraland →
Touhou Luna Nights is a Metroidvania action game featuring time manipulation and a tense graze system. Explore a unique world with attractive dot graphics.
What players likedPlayers praise this challenging Metroidvania for its unique time-stop mechanics, rewarding gameplay, and beautiful pixel art.
The catchSold as a metroidvania but the map is small, linear and barely worth exploring.
Games like Touhou Luna Nights →
Dark fantasy 2D action RPG. Explore a post-apocalyptic world, fight feral monsters, and purify them with your powers.
What players likedPlayers praise Ender Magnolia as a beautiful Metroidvania with improved quality-of-life features and exploration, often comparing it favorably to its predecessor, Ender Lilies.
The catchBosses are bloated damage sponges that turn fights into long defensive slogs.
Games like ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist →
Retro action-platformer where you switch characters with unique abilities to explore and fight demons. Your choices impact difficulty and the ending.
What players likedPlayers praise it as a fun, charming homage to 8-bit Castlevania, especially Castlevania 3, with great art and music.
The catchMovement, shooting and platforming feel stiff and clunky like an NES game.
Games like Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon →
This is a side-scrolling action game featuring fast-paced ninja combat with a plasma sword. Players traverse a large interconnected world, fighting diverse enemies with agile movement.
What players likedThis remake of Strider is a fun game, praised for its faithful recreation of the original.
The catchCapcom patched in Enigma DRM a decade after release, and performance suffered.
Games like STRIDER™ / ストライダー飛竜® →
Top-down shooter with open-world exploration and bullet hell combat. Players explore a handcrafted world, upgrade their ship, and rescue friends.
What players likedPlayers praise this "Zelda-like" twin-stick shooter for its polished blend of exploration, bullet-hell combat, and satisfying progression.
The catchVague maps and hidden paths leave players lost for hours with no idea where to go.
Games like Minishoot Adventures →
Outland80% positive from 3,948 reviews20145% finish it
A 2D platformer with a polarity-switching mechanic. Players use light and dark powers to navigate challenges.
What players likedOutland is a visually striking Metroidvania with an evolving light/dark color-switching mechanic and epic boss fights.
The catchMovement and combat feel stiff and imprecise, which makes later fights frustrating.
Games like Outland →
TEVI89% positive from 3,939 reviews202332% finish itDeck Playable
Action-adventure Metroidvania with stylish melee/ranged combat and customizable builds. Explore a vibrant world, defeat challenging bosses, and uncover secrets.
What players likedPlayers praise TEVI as an excellent Metroidvania with refined combat, gorgeous art, and engaging boss fights, often compared to Rabi-Ribi and ENDER.
The catchLong stretches of dull story dialogue keep interrupting the gameplay every few minutes.
Games like TEVI →
Apotheon90% positive from 3,853 reviews20157% finish itDeck Verified
This is a 2D action-adventure game where players fight gods with bronze-age weapons. It features brutal combat, exploration of Mount Olympus, and a narrative based on Greek mythology.
What players likedPlayers praise its classic art style, excellent setting, and satisfying combat and story.
The catchCrashes hit often, especially when loading new areas, costing chunks of progress.
Games like Apotheon →
A side-scrolling Metroidvania action game with deep combat and gear customization. Explore a dark world, fight monsters, and uncover mysteries.
What players likedPlayers praise its good graphics, music, atmosphere, and varied weapons/skills, making it a unique and mesmerizing experience.
The catchThe map is broken and unreadable, which leaves you lost in a large metroidvania.
Games like Vigil: The Longest Night →
This is a cute, side-scrolling adventure-exploration game with melee combat and platforming. Players explore a vast world, fight machines, and discover secrets.
What players likedPlayers praise "Haiku, the Robot" as a polished Metroidvania with great art, exploration, and combat, often compared to Hollow Knight.
The catchCombat feels sluggish, with slow attacks and stamina downtime
Games like Haiku, the Robot →
HAAK90% positive from 3,424 reviews202234% finish itDeck Verified
A pixel art Metroidvania action-platformer with a hook mechanic in a retro-futuristic wasteland. Explore, fight mutants, and solve puzzles with multiple endings.
What players likedPlayers praise HAAK as a polished Metroidvania with fluid gameplay, a well-crafted map, and an engaging post-apocalyptic story.
The catchEndless dull dialogue interrupts the platforming, and the writing is not worth reading.
Games like HAAK →
Guacamelee! 291% positive from 3,335 reviews201813% finish itDeck Verified
This is a Metroidvania action-platformer featuring brawling combat and dimension-shifting mechanics. It offers a vibrant, culturally inspired adventure with cooperative play.
What players likedPlayers praise Guacamelee! 2 as an innovative, story-driven metroidvania with fun characters and satisfying melee combat.
The catchPunishing pixel-perfect platforming and instant death traps overshadow the fun combat.
Games like Guacamelee! 2 →
This is a side-scrolling action RPG with a focus on strategic combat, character building, and boss battles. It features a story-driven experience with a talking bird companion.
What players likedPlayers praise ASTLIBRA Revision as a rich, addictive 2D action JRPG with satisfying progression, a deep story, and a fantastic OST, reminiscent of golden-age JRPGs and Metroidvanias.
The catchCombat is mostly mashing attack at damage sponge enemies while grinding for gear.
Games like ASTLIBRA Revision →
This is a 2D action-platformer with a focus on melee combat, dodging, and ranged attacks. Players explore a lore-rich world and customize their playstyle through the Sigil system.
What players likedPlayers praise this charming Metroidvania for its great sprite animation, music, and solid exploration, continuing a strong series track record.
The catchCombat is far too easy, with bosses beaten by spamming attack and healing.
Games like Momodora: Moonlit Farewell →
Timespinner86% positive from 3,131 reviews201848% finish itDeck Verified
This is a 2D action-adventure platformer with time manipulation mechanics. It features pixel art, magic orbs, and familiar companions in a story-driven quest.
What players likedPlayers praise Timespinner as a charming, responsive Metroidvania, often compared to Symphony of the Night and DS Castlevanias, with good world-building and a coherent story.
The catchThe story is dialogue heavy and the writing is juvenile enough to skip outright.
Games like Timespinner →
Metroidvania platformer about digging underground, exploring, and upgrading gear. It features combat and puzzle-solving in a subterranean world.
What players likedPlayers praise SteamWorld Dig 2 as a fantastic Metroidvania that improves upon its predecessor with a great mining and exploration loop.
The catchIt leans on precise platforming instead of digging, and the movement feels floaty.
Games like SteamWorld Dig 2 →
Blue Fire81% positive from 3,066 reviews202116% finish itDeck Verified
This is a 3D metroidvania platformer focused on fast-paced combat and precision movement. Players explore a fallen kingdom, overcome platforming challenges, and upgrade their abilities.
What players likedPlayers praise Blue Fire as a fun and challenging 3D platformer, often compared to a Soulslike with enjoyable movement.
The catchThe combat is shallow and unsatisfying, mostly mashing attack on trivial enemies.
Games like Blue Fire →
Action-platformer where Shantae uses pirate gear to explore islands, fight monsters, and solve puzzles. It features a humorous tone and Metroidvania-style progression.
What players likedPlayers praise its Metroidvania platforming, comparing it to Mario, for its fantastic game feel, level design, and engaging pirate gear mechanics.
The catchConstant backtracking through the same areas, with navigation that often leaves you lost.
Games like Shantae and the Pirate's Curse →
Dreaming Sarah91% positive from 2,858 reviews201512% finish itDeck Verified
Surreal adventure platformer with puzzle elements. Explore Sarah's dream world, collect items, and talk to characters to help her wake up.
What players likedPlayers praise this Metroidvania for its surreal, dreamlike world, enjoyable exploration, and memorable soundtrack.
The catchExploration offers no direction, so players wander lost with no idea where to go.
Games like Dreaming Sarah →
This is a narrative-driven 2D action-adventure game with puzzle-solving and combat. Players explore a vibrant world, using diverse tools to overcome challenges and uncover a cosmic mystery.
What players likedPlayers praise its engaging story, unique characters, and colorful world, comparing it to games with good combat, movement, and puzzles.
The catchClunky, unpolished controls with no coyote time or input buffering fight you constantly.
Games like Phoenotopia: Awakening →
This is an action-exploration platformer with deep combat customization. Players explore ruins, fight demons and angels using swordsmanship and sorcery.
The catchClunky controls, constant stunlocks and knockback off platforms make it frustrating.
Games like Valdis Story: Abyssal City →
Rabi-Ribi95% positive from 2,658 reviews2016Deck Verified
A 2D exploration platformer with non-linear gameplay, featuring close-quarters combat by Erina and ranged support from Ribbon, with customizable upgrades. It offers a retro feel with adjustable difficulty.
What players likedPlayers praise Rabi-Ribi as an underrated Metroidvania with rewarding exploration, powerful items, and enjoyable, visually impressive bullet-hell boss battles.
The catchBoss fights drag on for ages as spongy enemies soak up feeble damage.
Games like Rabi-Ribi →
Minoria81% positive from 2,615 reviews201929% finish itDeck Verified
Minoria is a 2D action-adventure game featuring challenging combat with parries and spells, set in a dark fantasy world. Its core loop involves mastering defensive maneuvers and offensive combos to overcome enemies.
What players likedPlayers praise Minoria as a lore-rich Metroidvania that expands on the worldbuilding of the Momodora series.
The catchCombat is shallow, mostly attack-mashing
Games like Minoria →
La-Mulana80% positive from 2,607 reviews20136% finish itDeck Verified
This is a challenging retro-inspired action-adventure game focused on exploration and puzzle-solving within ancient ruins. Players navigate traps and monsters to uncover secrets, offering a demanding and immersive experience.
What players likedNo comparisons to other games are present in the provided review.
The catchCryptic puzzles and difficulty effectively require a guide
Games like La-Mulana →
This is a modern action-adventure platformer with a focus on transforming into different monsters to explore and solve puzzles. It features hand-drawn animation and a soundtrack from renowned composers.
What players likedPlayers praise its engaging and challenging gameplay, responsive controls, and crisp visuals, comparing it to classic Sega Master System games.
The catchEnemies and hazards are placed to push you into cheap, untelegraphed deaths.
Games like Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom →
Crystal Project92% positive from 2,535 reviews20225% finish itDeck Verified
A Metroidvania RPG with strategic combat and deep character customization. Explore, collect, and fight through a world with player-driven choices.
What players likedCrystal Project is a Metroidvania JRPG with deep class customization and rewarding exploration that encourages player freedom.
The catchProgress depends on fiddly block platforming that the fixed camera constantly fights.
Games like Crystal Project →
Teslagrad84% positive from 2,465 reviews201317% finish itDeck Playable
Teslagrad is a 2D puzzle-platformer where players use magnetism to explore a steampunk world. It features hand-drawn visuals and a story told entirely through environmental cues.
What players likedPlayers praise Teslagrad as a beautiful, short Metroidvania with great audio.
The catchMovement is slippery and floaty, which makes the precision platforming a chore.
Games like Teslagrad →
This is a compilation of action-exploration Castlevania games featuring spell fusion and attribute card systems, offering a classic gothic horror feel. It includes modern features like rewind and save states for enhanced gameplay.
What players likedPlayers praise this collection as an excellent way to experience classic Metroidvania Castlevania games, especially "Aria of Sorrow."
The catchThe PC port is barebones, with no key rebinding and missing display and sound options.
Games like Castlevania Advance Collection →
Action-platformer with transformation mechanics. Explore levels, fight bosses, and use Shantae's hair whip and dances.
The catchForces backtracking and replaying levels for secrets and fetch quests
Games like Shantae: Half-Genie Hero →
This is a retro platformer collection featuring classic Castlevania games. Players fight vampires and monsters using whip attacks in a gothic horror setting.
What players likedPlayers praise this collection as a challenging, classic action platformer that holds up well and influenced the Metroidvania genre.
The catchAn unpatched audio bug distorts the sound, often forcing a restart to clear it.
Games like Castlevania Anniversary Collection →
A casual roguelite action game where you explore shifting dungeons with recruitable allies. You repair your airship for permanent upgrades and create unique attack combos.
The catchRuns feel identical, build variety is thin, and nothing remains after the first win.
Games like Little Noah: Scion of Paradise →
Infernax93% positive from 2,196 reviews202231% finish itDeck Verified
Infernax is a retro-style action-adventure game with a challenging combat loop and branching narrative. Players make impactful decisions that shape the story and unlock new abilities in a dangerous, monster-filled world.
What players likedPlayers praise Infernax as a challenging, retro-style Metroidvania with responsive controls, great music, and replayability, often compared to Castlevania and Zelda.
The catchInstant death pits are everywhere, and each fall means redoing long stretches again.
Games like Infernax →
UNSIGHTED93% positive from 2,184 reviews202125% finish itDeck Verified
This is a real-time action-adventure game with a focus on exploration, combat, and crafting. Players must manage a ticking clock to save friends from becoming enemies.
What players likedPlayers praise its smooth combat and exploration, comparing it to Hyper Light Drifter and The Legend of Zelda.
The catchNearly every fight comes down to waiting to parry, then hitting, over and over.
Games like UNSIGHTED →
This is a 2D action-adventure game with fast-paced combat. Players explore a steampunk city, fight enemies, and uncover secrets.
What players likedPlayers praise Gestalt: Steam & Cinder as a polished Metroidvania with gorgeous pixel art, fluid combat, and engaging exploration, reminiscent of Guacamelee.
The catchThe story stops on an unresolved cliffhanger that exists only to set up a sequel.
Games like Gestalt: Steam & Cinder →
Ghost 1.091% positive from 2,110 reviews201626% finish itDeck Verified
This is a metroidvania game where players control a ghost that can possess enemies and use their abilities. It features unlimited ammo weapons and passive upgrades for a powerful feel.
The catchEvery death wipes the currency you collected, with only a small fraction recoverable.
Games like Ghost 1.0 →
A Metroidvania action-adventure game with smooth combat and exploration. Players fight monsters, solve mysteries, and develop their character.
What players likedPlayers praise this fun anime-humor Metroidvania RPG for its engaging character builds, combos, and magic, which can make players fall in love with the genre.
The catchMovement and combos feel janky, with inputs that often fail to register cleanly.
Games like Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune →
Action-adventure platformer with creature-form switching and exploration. Features belly dancing for mechanics and a vibrant, tropical feel.
What players likedPlayers praise it as a return to form, comparing it favorably to "Pirates Curse" and the best games in the Shantae series.
The catchSluggish movement makes the constant backtracking across the map a tedious slog.
Games like Shantae and the Seven Sirens →
This is a free-to-play action-adventure prologue where players hack, slash, and dash through twisted fairytales. Players control a stuffed bear using makeshift weapons to rescue his owner from a nightmare realm.
The catchStiff, clunky controls make platforming feel imprecise
Games like The Darkest Tales — Into the Nightmare →
This is an open-world pinball platformer with a relaxed, exploration-focused feel. Players use pinball mechanics to navigate a hand-painted island and help its inhabitants.
What players likedPlayers praise its unique pinball-metroidvania blend, comparing it to Sonic Spinball, with an adorable art style and fresh music.
The catchBacktracking through the same pinball sections turns traversal into a tedious slog.
Games like Yoku's Island Express →
Islets95% positive from 1,800 reviews2022Deck Unsupported
A hand-painted metroidvania where you connect floating islands to explore, fight monsters, and befriend characters. Its core loop involves puzzle-like island reconnection and exploration.
What players likedPlayers praise Islets as a charming, relaxing, and approachable Metroidvania, reminiscent of old flash games, with a unique island-connecting mechanic.
The catchFloaty controls and bland, shallow gameplay make the whole thing feel forgettable.
Games like Islets →
Nyaruru Fishy Fight is a Metroidvania with fast-paced combat and exploration. Players use a variety of fish-themed attacks and movement abilities to defeat enemies and bosses.
What players likedPlayers praise its incredible character movement and exciting battles with cute cats, despite being made in a broken engine.
The catchBoss fights lean on gimmicks and sudden difficulty spikes
Games like Nyaruru Fishy Fight →
Action-platformer with transformation mechanics. Explore, fight bosses, and use belly-dancing to change forms.
What players likedPlayers praise its tight controls, great music, and top-notch animation, calling it a standard Metroidvania experience.
The catchThe map is nearly useless, leaving a lot of backtracking and aimless wandering.
Games like Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut →
This is a 2.5D action-platformer with Metroidvania elements. Players use a shapeshifting staff with a move-and-reset mechanic in a hand-drawn, folklore-inspired world.
What players likedPlayers praise its gorgeous art, fluid aerial movement, and accessible platforming, often comparing it favorably to Hollow Knight and Ori.
The catchThe controls feel clunky and unresponsive, with the grapple hooking the wrong points.
Games like Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus →
Retro action-adventure platformer focused on exploration, uncovering secrets, and boss fights in a dangerous, earthquake-prone space station. Features an ambient soundtrack.
What players likedIt's a retro Metroidvania with a solid core game, but its deep, fascinating secrets and post-game content are most praised.
The catchWhere to go next stays cryptic, with hidden walls and long backtracking to dead ends.
Games like Environmental Station Alpha →
A first-person Metroidvania with 55% exploration, 40% puzzles, and 5% combat. It features new abilities and optional content for an 8-20 hour adventure.
What players likedPlayers praise its Metroidvania-style exploration and puzzles, comparing it to Portal, Zelda, and the original Supraland.
The catchPuzzles often expect mechanics the game never taught, so guides become necessary.
Games like Supraland Six Inches Under →
Metroidvania/Zelda-like about exploring, fighting with a broom, and gaining abilities. Clean the afterlife, meet ghosts, and upgrade gear in a charming, interconnected world.
What players likedPlayers praise "Crypt Custodian" as a charming and accessible Metroidvania with satisfying movement, combat, and a touching story, often compared to games like Sheepo and Islets.
The catchCopy-pasted rooms and repeated spongy enemies make the long midgame a slog.
Games like Crypt Custodian →
Retro 2D action platformer with multiple playable characters and local co-op. Players battle demons with varied abilities in a dark, 8-bit style.
What players likedPlayers praise this Castlevania-like sequel for its charming art, music, challenging bosses, and diverse characters.
The catchDifficulty leans on cheap deaths and bottomless pits rather than fair challenge.
Games like Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 →
This is an open-world puzzle adventure game featuring nonlinear block-pushing puzzles and a serene, retro atmosphere. Players explore islands, solve puzzles at their own pace, and uncover a wordless narrative.
What players likedPlayers praise its clever Sokoban-style puzzles and open-world exploration, drawing comparisons to Tunic and A Monster's Expedition.
The catchPuzzles often need items or mechanics you haven't unlocked yet
Games like Isles of Sea and Sky →
Cyber Shadow84% positive from 1,529 reviews202129% finish itDeck Verified
Cyber Shadow is a retro-style ninja action platformer. Players dash, slice, and leap through Mekacity, unlocking Ninjutsu skills to defeat Dr. Progen's synthetic army.
What players likedPlayers praise Cyber Shadow's tight gameplay, challenging retro platforming, and memorable chiptune music, often comparing it to Ninja Gaiden and Mega Man.
The catchKnockback flings you into instant death spikes and pits, with checkpoints far apart.
Games like Cyber Shadow →
Aquaria88% positive from 1,527 reviews200812% finish itDeck Playable
Action-adventure game with exploration, combat, and a cooking system. It features a vast underwater world and a compelling story.
What players likedPlayers praise Aquaria as a fondly remembered Metroidvania with an emphasis on exploration and crafting.
The catchSwimming is slow and the huge map is mostly empty corridors, so travel drags.
Games like Aquaria →
