IGAVANIA Kickstarter! Bloodstained: Ritual of the night

The person he was replying to was talking about how Iga should wrestle the Castlevania IP from Konami.

This! Iga can just make "totally not castlevania" games under the bloodstained monkier. Arksystems cranked out "we are ditching contra and creating a new franchise" HardCorps Uprising for PS3/360.
 
Right armenius and that's what I don't want! I'd rather new ips, new world's. Just like with the movie industry they just keep making sequels remaking movies and ending up much worse. I don't mind seeing a new castlevania but I'd rather a new ip that's just as good!
 
What would u guys say are the top 5 metroidvanias?
In no particular order: Hollow Knight, Sundered, Dead Cells, Apotheon, UnEpic
I enjoyed all of those, though I haven't finished any of them. I like the humor in UnEpic's story.
 
In no particular order: Hollow Knight, Sundered, Dead Cells, Apotheon, UnEpic
I enjoyed all of those, though I haven't finished any of them. I like the humor in UnEpic's story.

This is a good list. I'd add Axiom Verge to the list, and maybe Chasm. I loved Chasm, but some people didn't get into it. It took a bit of time for it to ramp up, but I was pretty much glued to it after an hour or two. It's like a met-van game, but built like an Amiga game. I'd probably start with the others though, and pick Chasm up if you're all out of games to play, just because it could go either way for you. There are others that I'd add down the list a bit, like maybe Time Spinner.

Also, while The Messenger looks and somewhat controls like a Ninja Gaiden game, it's really more of a met-van, and a VERY good game.
 
J3rk I just picked up messanger for 40% off. I got so many games this summer lol Def waiting on reviews for bloodstained but hoping they are very positive as I need sum more castlevania style games!
 
This is a good list. I'd add Axiom Verge to the list, and maybe Chasm. I loved Chasm, but some people didn't get into it. It took a bit of time for it to ramp up, but I was pretty much glued to it after an hour or two. It's like a met-van game, but built like an Amiga game. I'd probably start with the others though, and pick Chasm up if you're all out of games to play, just because it could go either way for you. There are others that I'd add down the list a bit, like maybe Time Spinner.

Also, while The Messenger looks and somewhat controls like a Ninja Gaiden game, it's really more of a met-van, and a VERY good game.

I'll add to the list a bit myself. All those previously mentioned are great fun and highly recommended, each with their own twist. If you'd like me to go into any more depth on them, let me know.

Guacamelee Super Turbo Championship Edition (NOT the Gold Edition. It is an older variant with less content and separate from STCE. I know, its counter intuitive) - A fantastic Metroidvania that can even be played through co-op! Unique characters and lore in its "Mexiverse" setting and dynamics such as shifting between the worlds of the living and the dead. Great combat system too. All around well worth playing. Multiple endings, with the "good" ending requiring some really advanced (though doable) platforming to collect special widgets

Guacamelee 2 - The sequel to the above, also well worth playing. It follows both in terms of story and thematically, so be sure to play the first entry well..first!

Shadow Complex Remastered - A traditional metroidvania with a near future semi-realistic setting, its a good title for those not familiar with the genre as well. Very well put together

Strider - Capcom's titular hero from days of old (and many remember him from ffighting games) latest solo game from a few years back is a metroidvania! Traditional Strider acrobatic movements and cyberninja combat with met-van aspects of exploration

Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition - A Western approximation of a Studio Ghibli inspired aesthetic, mixed with a well made met-van.

Owlboy - Character focused and unique, particularly how your primary character can fly from the start making for interesting level design and a charming avian motif

Gato Roboto - Recently released black-and-white mini-met-van, well crafted indeed, about a cat in a suit of tech armor! Definitely recommended!

Valdis Story: Abyssal City - Colorful and well crafted met-van from a few years back

Dust: An Elysian Tale - Hand painted aesthetic, well made, with a focus on story and character. If you can't stand anthropomorphic animals though, maybe not for you.

Super Daryl Deluxe - Surprisingly in-depth, this met-van is in perhaps one of the strangest settings I've seen. The hero is a dorky-ish "Napoleon Dynamite" style kid who ends up at a trans-dimensional high school and it only gets odder from there! The entire aesthetic is a cross between what a geeky kid would draw on his binder and the kind of scenes from 80s albums that get painted on a van. Definitely memorable.

Ghost 1.0 - From the developer of Unepic (aforementioned, a fantastic and unique take on the genre that bends heavier to the RPG problem solving element), this in depth sci-fi met-van has a lot of great features.

Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight - A really well made Japanese met-van from a long series

Rabi-Ribi - Another Japanese made title with anime inspiration, this one blends met-van with bullet-hell combat/boss fights. If you can't tolerate "kawaii" bunny girls though, probably not for you.

Shantae series (Risky's Revenge: Director's Cut , Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero) - Met-van platforming in the long running series!

Odallus: The Dark Call - Retro fantasy met-van

Blaster Master Zero ***NEW TO PC*** - Formerly only on Switch and reboot of the NES-era Blaster Master games by Sunsoft, this is a unique met-van that has multiple forms of exploration including side-scrolling platforming and top-down dungeon crawling. If it sells well we're likely to get it sequel!


The next titles are metroidvanias with more emphasis on harder puzzle solving, so just keep that in mind

Cave Story+ - The latest version of the legendary met-van, it expands things considerably but can be complex and there are many paths/endings. Hint - do NOT get rid of your initial gun!

La Mulana - Notoriously difficult puzzle metroidvania (especially without a guide and whatnot) but very much appreciated among fans of the long running series

La Mulana 2 - Sequel to the aforementioned that just came out a few years back. Quite an accomplishment!

----

Okay, that's about it for now. I could go on, and there are also blurred lines when it comes to "Platformers vs Met-vans" but that's a good place to start. Definitely look into some of those posted before mine as Hollow Knight, Axiom Verge, Sundered , Dead Cell, Apotheon , Chasm, Timespinners, etc... are all fantastic entries.
 
I'll add to the list a bit myself. All those previously mentioned are great fun and highly recommended, each with their own twist. If you'd like me to go into any more depth on them, let me know.

Guacamelee Super Turbo Championship Edition (NOT the Gold Edition. It is an older variant with less content and separate from STCE. I know, its counter intuitive) - A fantastic Metroidvania that can even be played through co-op! Unique characters and lore in its "Mexiverse" setting and dynamics such as shifting between the worlds of the living and the dead. Great combat system too. All around well worth playing. Multiple endings, with the "good" ending requiring some really advanced (though doable) platforming to collect special widgets

Guacamelee 2 - The sequel to the above, also well worth playing. It follows both in terms of story and thematically, so be sure to play the first entry well..first!

Shadow Complex Remastered - A traditional metroidvania with a near future semi-realistic setting, its a good title for those not familiar with the genre as well. Very well put together

Strider - Capcom's titular hero from days of old (and many remember him from ffighting games) latest solo game from a few years back is a metroidvania! Traditional Strider acrobatic movements and cyberninja combat with met-van aspects of exploration

Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition - A Western approximation of a Studio Ghibli inspired aesthetic, mixed with a well made met-van.

Owlboy - Character focused and unique, particularly how your primary character can fly from the start making for interesting level design and a charming avian motif

Gato Roboto - Recently released black-and-white mini-met-van, well crafted indeed, about a cat in a suit of tech armor! Definitely recommended!

Valdis Story: Abyssal City - Colorful and well crafted met-van from a few years back

Dust: An Elysian Tale - Hand painted aesthetic, well made, with a focus on story and character. If you can't stand anthropomorphic animals though, maybe not for you.

Super Daryl Deluxe - Surprisingly in-depth, this met-van is in perhaps one of the strangest settings I've seen. The hero is a dorky-ish "Napoleon Dynamite" style kid who ends up at a trans-dimensional high school and it only gets odder from there! The entire aesthetic is a cross between what a geeky kid would draw on his binder and the kind of scenes from 80s albums that get painted on a van. Definitely memorable.

Ghost 1.0 - From the developer of Unepic (aforementioned, a fantastic and unique take on the genre that bends heavier to the RPG problem solving element), this in depth sci-fi met-van has a lot of great features.

Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight - A really well made Japanese met-van from a long series

Rabi-Ribi - Another Japanese made title with anime inspiration, this one blends met-van with bullet-hell combat/boss fights. If you can't tolerate "kawaii" bunny girls though, probably not for you.

Shantae series (Risky's Revenge: Director's Cut , Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero) - Met-van platforming in the long running series!

Odallus: The Dark Call - Retro fantasy met-van

Blaster Master Zero ***NEW TO PC*** - Formerly only on Switch and reboot of the NES-era Blaster Master games by Sunsoft, this is a unique met-van that has multiple forms of exploration including side-scrolling platforming and top-down dungeon crawling. If it sells well we're likely to get it sequel!


The next titles are metroidvanias with more emphasis on harder puzzle solving, so just keep that in mind

Cave Story+ - The latest version of the legendary met-van, it expands things considerably but can be complex and there are many paths/endings. Hint - do NOT get rid of your initial gun!

La Mulana - Notoriously difficult puzzle metroidvania (especially without a guide and whatnot) but very much appreciated among fans of the long running series

La Mulana 2 - Sequel to the aforementioned that just came out a few years back. Quite an accomplishment!

----

Okay, that's about it for now. I could go on, and there are also blurred lines when it comes to "Platformers vs Met-vans" but that's a good place to start. Definitely look into some of those posted before mine as Hollow Knight, Axiom Verge, Sundered , Dead Cell, Apotheon , Chasm, Timespinners, etc... are all fantastic entries.

That list is VERY similar to my own: https://hardforum.com/threads/good-2d-pc-game-database.1943046/
 
For anyone that has a Switch, I'd recommend checking out Gunlord X. It's more like Turrican than metroid-vania, but has a lot of the same type of play. It's incredibly fun. It was originally developed as a Neo Geo MVS game long after the platform died out for the most part. The devs are still making Neo Geo games in fact. Anyway, the game is quite good. It would be cool if they brought it to a PC platform, but I know they JUST got their Nintendo Dev status/cert/license/whatever it is, so they're probably focused on that for a bit.
 
Game comes out just before my weekend I'm sure I'm going to like it no way can they mess this up. The only thing are the super powers in the game seem kinda overdone.
 
Comes out right before my bday so trying to make sure it's good before I ask for it as a gift lol
 
What would u guys say are the top 5 metroidvanias?
If you are looking to get your feet wet, try out Momodara IV. Its got tight controls, distilled mechanics and moveset. But actually makes you flex the move set. Great, colorful graphics. Is not bloated with tedium and doesn't over stay its welcome (its not a super long game). I recommend it on hard. But its a great game even on normal.
 
If you are looking to get your feet wet, try out Momodara IV. Its got tight controls, distilled mechanics and moveset. But actually makes you flex the move set. Great, colorful graphics. Is not bloated with tedium and doesn't over stay its welcome (its not a super long game). I recommend it on hard. But its a great game even on normal.

It is quite good.
 
I think it sucks basically the game has these annoying characters pop up talking to you I don't think I'll be able to get into this game at all probably going to refund. It's no different then any other modern side scroller I would like to give it another shot but character movement just feels plastic. If you want a good side scroller done right Age of Barbarian is alot better.
 
Hmm personally I like the game so far. It's more modern than the old Castlevania SOTN, but it plays just like it. There are varying weapons that all change your play style by changing your attack speed/damage/range. Certain weapons have special attacks that remind me of street fighter 2. The movement is a bit stiff so far but that just reminds me more of how castlevania it is like because Alucard was pretty stiff moving at the start and gradually got better as you progressed. As far as the Age of Barbarian comparison, I have to disagree with that statement. Even though I liked AoB, that game felt clunky all the way through and the controls were much not nearly as smooth. I have only had 2 conversations so far that was the intro setup and the one before the first boss fight. So maybe you are much farther into the game but I basically stopped when I died at the first boss. The only thing I have an issue with in this game is the lack of a quick dodge or back step, but that might be something you learn later. Still even if it isn't there, it's just something I have gotten use to having in most games today so it might not be an issue overall.

Edit: Just realized this was a Unreal Engine game so I want to give the devs a big thumbs up for not screwing over the backers at the last minute and signing some exclusivity BS with the EGS.
 
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I should have bought this yesterday, but I sat in traffic for 2 hours (my commute is normally 20 minutes). I was compelled to drink a few cocktails when I got home, and forgot to buy this at the discounted price. :D Oh well, I'll grab it today.

Edit: Looks like the sale price extends through the 28th. Nice!
 
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Hmm personally I like the game so far. It's more modern than the old Castlevania SOTN, but it plays just like it. There are varying weapons that all change your play style by changing your attack speed/damage/range. Certain weapons have special attacks that remind me of street fighter 2. The movement is a bit stiff so far but that just reminds me more of how castlevania it is like because Alucard was pretty stiff moving at the start and gradually got better as you progressed. As far as the Age of Barbarian comparison, I have to disagree with that statement. Even though I liked AoB, that game felt clunky all the way through and the controls were much not nearly as smooth. I have only had 2 conversations so far that was the intro setup and the one before the first boss fight. So maybe you are much farther into the game but I basically stopped when I died at the first boss. The only thing I have an issue with in this game is the lack of a quick dodge or back step, but that might be something you learn later. Still even if it isn't there, it's just something I have gotten use to having in most games today so it might not be an issue overall.

Edit: Just realized this was a Unreal Engine game so I want to give the devs a big thumbs up for not screwing over the backers at the last minute and signing some exclusivity BS with the EGS.

Agreed. Oh there IS a quick dodge/backstep available from the very beginning - it is by default bound to LB / L1 on a controller. Oh, and Miriam starts with "Kung Fu Shoes" along with a "Knife", but I suggest using the former until you pick up some other weapons later on the ship. The Shoes weapon type has a "SotN" special move of which you describe, do a quarter-circle-forward (ie fireball motion) and hit the attack button and she will do a leaping kick that costs MP - it can even be chained 3 times. There is even a special location on the boat where , if you properly chain the attack 3 times in the air to extend her jump, you can reach an otherwise inaccessible spot (its where you're walking on a diagonal mast up and to the right, and there is a door on the top-right of the area that' impossible to jump to normally) that contains a treasure! Techniques get their own spot in the "Archive" once they've been discovered, so you can always check them out if you forget which sequence is needed for which weapon type. There also seems to be a "mastery" tracker for each special move, though I don't know what benefit is conferred upon reaching mastery level.

I think it sucks basically the game has these annoying characters pop up talking to you I don't think I'll be able to get into this game at all probably going to refund. It's no different then any other modern side scroller I would like to give it another shot but character movement just feels plastic. If you want a good side scroller done right Age of Barbarian is alot better.

Characters talking to you is relatively infrequent, though more heavily focused at the beginning of the game to frame the lore. This is a core portion of the story, though you can both speed up and entirely skip each conversation if you really wish to do so. For those who may be unaware, you can switch the audio to Japanese if you prefer and from what I've heard thus far the JP voice actors aren't bad at all. Regarding character movement, I've not played Age of Barbarian but watching its video it seems a LOT more clunky and totally different paced compared to this. As someone who remembers many Castlevania titles fondly, it seems the movement feels similar to (at the beginning) Symphony of the Night and the other "exploration" style games; I'm not sure what you mean by "plastic" in terms of movement. I do think some have a bit of a disconnect visually given the game's playstyle versus its textures (ie Its not pixels or sprites so those mechanics/elements seem off by comparison) but that should pass.
 
Soooo I'm waiting for J3rk review and anyone else before I buy! So far reviews are mixed but steam 9/10
 
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This game is awesome. I've been playing since 430pm. I can't stop. This game couldn't be further from a AAA title and thats a good thing.
 
Game has a 95% rating on Steam with 16,400 people playing it after midnight on a Wednesday. I guess that makes it a success!

Bloodstained Ritual of the Night users.jpg
 
Yeah I saw the steam rating and alot of reviews are saying it's alot like sotn so those are all very good signs! Please keep coming with the reviews!
 
Seldom do these type of things live up to expectation. This one is doing it for me though.
 
I'm grabbing it today. From what I've seen so far, it will be exactly what it should be. (short of maybe being hand-drawn 2D art ;) ) The only complaints that I've seen are from the poor suckers who had trouble getting it to run, but there's always a handful of those on Steam that then go out and scream about it. (not that there might not be a bug or two, but when you have 95% of people praising it, one has to wonder)

Edit: Purchased. I'll probably need this on my Switch too, but I'll decide on that after playing on the living room PC first. Now to get through the work day... :vamp:
 
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I have no issues with having backed this. They didn't last minute fuck me like Shenmue. Hopefully, the game is a big enough success they won't have to crowdsource the sequel. As, because of how much trust this game has earned with me...I still don't trust the money might of China/Epic.
 
I just finished up the opening level. A few thoughts. So far I'm loving it. As I thought, 2D would have been a bit better, but the graphics suit the game just fine, and they did a decent job giving it a classic CVania look. The pacing is VERY similar to the Sorrow games on the DS, which is to say the run speed is fairly slow and deliberate, but at the same time it feels decent and the movement is accurate. The jumping isn't quite like the feel of Super Castlevania IV, Bloodlines, Rondo, etc. but it's close. It's maybe between the GBA and DS series in that department. So while the jumping doesn't feel the best of the entire series, it's still in the right ballpark. (pretty important in this type of game) The early gear progression feels just like a Sorrow game, the dialog is similar, and the voice acting while not amazing, is decent. Better than SotN by far. ;) No "Die monster! You don't belong in this world!" stuff here. More like B anime, which is more than adequate for a game like this. Overall I really like it so far. The first boss was nice and big, well animated, and the powers I picked up seemed to help.

Anyway, off to a really good start. It's pretty much what I was hoping it would be, at least for this early in the game. I can only imagine it goes up from here. The only things that would make it any better would be some minor movement tweaks, and 2D art. I'll post more thoughts, and put a mini-review in the 2D Game Database after I play more of it, but if you're on the fence, there's no need to be.
 
PSA for anyone playing the console version: do not download the patch released today unless you want to permanently break your game save. Finish your playthrough on 1.00, first.
 
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