Best Metroidvania Games of All Time — Top 10 Essential Picks

The Genre Defined

Metroidvania — a portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night — describes games built around interconnected world exploration, movement ability acquisition, and the satisfaction of returning to previously inaccessible areas with new tools.

It's one of gaming's most consistently excellent genres. The best entries are masterclasses in pacing, environmental storytelling, and the design of discovery. Here are the 10 you need to play.

🥇 1. Hollow Knight

Developer: Team Cherry | Price: $14.99 | Platforms: PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox

Buy on Steam

The standard by which every Metroidvania is now measured. Hallownest is a world of extraordinary scope and melancholy — hand-drawn, atmospheric, and populated with NPCs whose minimal dialogue implies civilizations. The combat is precise. The boss fights are legendary. The optional content adds another 20+ hours. Free DLC included.

If you play only one game on this list, play Hollow Knight.

🥈 2. Hollow Knight: Silksong

Developer: Team Cherry | Price: $19.99 | Platforms: PC, Switch, PS4/5, Xbox

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The sequel narrowly edges the original on moment-to-moment combat feel. Hornet's kit is faster and more aggressive. Pharloom is a distinct environment with its own visual identity. If you've played Hollow Knight, this is next.

🥉 3. Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Developer: Moon Studios | Price: $29.99 | Platforms: PC, Xbox (Game Pass)

Buy on Steam

The most visually stunning Metroidvania ever made. Ori 2 expands every mechanic of the original into something more finely tuned — movement feels like flight, the platforming is joyous, and the emotional resonance of the story is genuine. Combat is the only area where it trails Hollow Knight.

4. Metroid Dread

Developer: MercurySteam / Nintendo | Price: $49.99 | Platform: Nintendo Switch

The series creator returns with what many consider its best 2D entry since Super Metroid. EMMI sequences are tense, movement is fluid, and Samus feels powerful in a way that respects rather than trivializes the threats she faces. Required playing if you own a Switch.

5. Dead Cells

Developer: Motion Twin | Price: $24.99 | Platforms: PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox

Buy on Steam

A roguelike-Metroidvania hybrid that leans harder into the roguelike side. Each run is procedurally generated, weapon builds vary dramatically, and the game's momentum-based combat is immediately satisfying. The Return to Castlevania DLC is essential if you have any nostalgic attachment to the classic series.

6. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Developer: ArtPlay / Koji Igarashi | Price: $19.99 | Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox, Switch

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The "Metroidvania" genre name comes partly from Symphony of the Night. Its creator, Koji Igarashi, made Bloodstained after years away — and delivered a game that feels like a direct spiritual heir. Shard system, gothic aesthetic, enormous castle to explore. Classic genre execution at its most polished.

7. Axiom Verge 2

Developer: Thomas Happ Games | Price: $19.99 | Platforms: PC, Switch, PS4

Buy on Steam

A one-man studio delivering one of the most interesting Metroidvanias in years. Axiom Verge 2 takes risks with its world structure and mechanics that bigger studios wouldn't attempt — the results aren't always perfect, but they're always interesting.

8. Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight

Developer: rdein | Price: $9.99 | Platforms: PC

Buy on Steam

Four hours. Metacritic 84. Dark Souls tone in pixel art form. Momodora is one of the most efficiently designed games in the genre — every hour is purposeful. At any sale price, it's a mandatory pick.

9. Gato Roboto

Developer: doinksoft | Price: $6.99 | Platforms: PC, Switch

Buy on Steam

A cat in a mech suit explores a space station. Black and white Game Boy aesthetic. 3 hours. Perfect pacing. Gato Roboto is the genre distilled to its essentials — a palate cleanser between bigger entries that reminds you what the form is really about.

10. Aeterna Noctis

Developer: Aeternum Game Studios | Price: $19.99 | Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox

Buy on Steam

Spain's answer to Hollow Knight — incredibly demanding platforming, an enormous world, and a visual aesthetic that feels genuinely original. It's harder than most entries on this list and expects player investment, but rewards it proportionally.

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