From the golden age of SNES games over to the newest re-imagination of metroidvania titles, few genres have gotten such a revitalization in popularity in recent years. The DNA is clear: Castlevania and Nintendo’s Metroid have bred and born a genre that has been ingrained in people’s minds ever since.
In 2025 this genre is alive and kicking our butts in regular fashion, so we thought, why not commemorate that fact by listing some of the best Metroidvania games.
It is a hybrid that lives and breathes off of exploration, combat and the inevitable backtracking upon gaining new powers/gadgets, which created a gameplay loop that even more modern titles like Jedi Survivor just can’t keep stealing from.
This one’s only for PC players though, console gamers get enough love as it is, and as usual: In no particular order.
Best Metroidvania Games On PC
Hollow Knight
If you’re a fan of metroidvania inspired titles, you knew Hollow Knight was going to be on this list. Especially in lieu of the sequel. The anticipation for its successor was so strong that Hollow Knight: Silksong cause crashes on game storefronts, which is testament to the lasting reputation of the first game.
Hollow Knight has a special place in our hearts, since it rekindled our love for the genre.
Team Cherry’s modern indie classic literally set a new standard for the genre, with its beautifully haunting landscape and dense, precise gameplay. And the soundtrack…don’t get us started on the soundtrack, it’s magnificent.
Dead Cells
For those who want a faster, more chaotic twist, Dead Cells is a near-perfect fusion of Metroidvania progression and roguelike unpredictability. Each run feels different thanks to randomized weapon drops and shifting level layouts, but the core remains the same; explore, fight, die, repeat.
The brilliance of Dead Cells lies in its replay-ability. Where most Metroidvanias offer one grand journey, this one gives you hundreds of variations, all tied together by permanent upgrades that keep you inching further into the game’s world.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
True, Metroidvanias live and die with their sense of discovery and Ori and the Will of the Wisps has nailed that feeling with a visually magical feeling to it, that we haven’t seen in other titles.
Heck, we’d even go as far as calling it (arguably) one of the most beautiful games ever made – and that doesn’t just mean it’s beautifully crafted.
The emotional storytelling, the fluid animations and the silky smooth platforming, but beyond these audio/visual things, Ori really lives on precision as well. The controls are tight, the sense of movement just feels right and the combat system adds a layer of depth you wouldn’t necessarily attribute to a title that beautiful.
Blasphemous 2
Some Metroidvanias are whimsical, some just plain beautiful – Blasphemous 2 is none of that. It does away with all that beauty and replaces it with grim and religious imagery, punishing combat and grotesque enemy design.
It wants to be dark, it wants to unsettle the player but it’s also – in typical metroidvania fashion – super rewarding for anyone who’s tough enough to stick with it.
The original was good, but the sequel refines everything the first game introduced to a maximum. The traversal is smoother, the combat is tighter and if you find a corner on the map that doesn’t hold a secret, we’d be surprised. It’s a stark contrast to other titles in the genre, but a welcome one indeed.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
We can’t talk about Metroidvanias without talking about Symphony of the Night, we really can’t. While the original Metroid deserves a mention as well, we can’t help but feel like the DNA of this behemoth of a classic seeps through into modern titles that tiny bit more.
Alucard’s castle is still to this day one of the most satisfying, yet confusing maps ever designed.
The sense of atmosphere, the design, the game loop – it’s picture perfect. This one is the blueprint for everything that came after and if any Metroid fans want to fight us over it – we’re easy to find.
