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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →What is a Metroidvania? It’s an action-adventure game built around exploring a connected world, gaining abilities, and using them to reach places that were previously out of reach. The name blends Metroid and Castlevania, but games described this way vary in their combat, role-playing systems, map design, and even whether they fit a strict definition.
What makes a game a Metroidvania?
The defining loop is exploration, discovery, and return. You move through a world whose areas connect, find a new tool or ability, then use it to pass an obstacle or reach a route you noticed earlier. A passage that first looked like a dead end may become accessible once your character can jump farther, break a barrier, or move through a hazard.
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This structure makes backtracking purposeful: revisiting a place can lead somewhere new because your abilities have changed. Secrets, environmental storytelling, map navigation, and action combat often accompany the loop, but individual games use these elements differently. Bandai Namco’s 2025 developer explainer describes gated progression, backtracking, and environmental storytelling as genre hallmarks.
A practical way to identify the genre is to ask whether exploring an interconnected world and gaining capabilities that change where you can go are central to the experience. If they are, “Metroidvania” or “Metroidvania-like” is a reasonable description, though some players use narrower criteria.
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Where did the name Metroidvania come from?
“Metroidvania” combines the names of two series: Nintendo’s Metroid, which began in 1986, and Konami’s Castlevania, especially Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997). The label points to a recognizable family of exploration and progression designs; it does not mean those two series were the only influences on the form.
The exact first use of the word is not established by the available accounts. In a January 2025 PLAYISM roundtable, creator Koji Igarashi recalled first encountering the term during the 2015 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Kickstarter campaign. He said he initially avoided using it because he was concerned it might be another company’s trademark, choosing “IGAvania” instead. That is Igarashi’s recollection of when he encountered the label, not proof of who coined it or when.
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The ingredients also have a broader history than the name suggests. Jeremy Parish’s book The History of Metroidvania: Decade One—1980–1990 traces earlier influences and examples. Penguin Random House lists the Dark Horse Books hardcover as published March 3, 2026, at 232 pages; it is optional further reading, not a prerequisite for understanding the genre.
What does playing one usually feel like?
Exploring a connected map
Rather than moving only through isolated stages in a fixed sequence, you learn how places fit together. A map can make the world feel like a puzzle: a locked route, suspicious ledge, or unreachable item may become meaningful later. Remembering those discoveries—or using the map to find them again—is part of the experience.
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Abilities change access
Progress often comes from acquiring movement abilities, tools, or other capabilities that alter what the character can do. Some games make these upgrades necessary to advance; others let players skip or postpone certain upgrades and explore more freely. The important feature is the relationship between what the player can do and which parts of the world become reachable.
Combat and role-playing elements vary
Action combat is common, but its difficulty and prominence differ. Some games also include inventories, shops, character statistics, experience, or level-ups. These role-playing systems appear in some branches of the genre, particularly games influenced by Castlevania, but they are not required by every broad definition.
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Returning can reward memory—or test patience
Revisiting a familiar area can feel satisfying when you recognize a route that a new ability has opened. It can also become frustrating if the game makes it difficult to orient yourself or travel back through known territory. Map clarity, signposting, and travel options therefore matter to how the same basic structure feels in practice.
Why is the genre boundary fuzzy?
There is no universally accepted checklist. A Game Developer design text describes common usage as non-linear 2D platforming with item- or ability-based progression, while noting that some writers also include structurally similar 3D games, such as Metroid Prime or Batman: Arkham Asylum. Other definitions are narrower, emphasizing side-scrolling action-adventure, a particular kind of connected map, or RPG mechanics.
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Designer Tom Happ’s 2015 explanation emphasizes a side-scrolling action-adventure in which obstacles on a continuous map require items and backtracking. That is one useful definition, not a formal industry standard. Whether 3D presentation, optional ability gates, or limited RPG systems disqualify a game depends on how strictly someone is using the label.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to compare Metroidvanias as a beginner
The genre name alone does not tell you how a particular game plays. Compare the features that affect the experience you want:
- World structure: Is progression tightly gated, or can you explore many routes and optional areas early? Team Cherry described reducing hard gates and making some power-ups optional during the development of Hollow Knight in a Steam interview about the game’s map.
- Navigation and backtracking: How often does the game expect you to revisit known areas, and what does it provide to help you keep your bearings?
- Progression: Does advancement mainly come from movement abilities and tools, from levels and statistics, or from a mix?
- Combat and challenge: Are fights a major focus, and how demanding do encounters feel? In the PLAYISM roundtable, Ori and the Will of the Wisps’ difficulty and retry flow receive positive assessments from Igarashi and fellow creator Shutaro Iida; that is their view, not a universal beginner recommendation.
- Presentation and atmosphere: Visual style, setting, and environmental storytelling can differ widely even when the exploration structure is recognizable.
Examples discussed in connection with the genre include Metroid, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Hollow Knight, Cave Story, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Shadow Labyrinth, Bloodstained, and Axiom Verge. They illustrate variation, not a definitive ranking or a single best starting point.
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Does a game have to call itself a Metroidvania?
No. The label describes a design family, and developers do not have to use it in their own marketing. Team Cherry’s William Pellen said in a Steam interview that the studio “pretty much shied away completely from describing the game ourselves, in marketing and stuff, as a Metroidvania.” Co-director Ari Gibson described their aim instead as making “an adventure in this big world” with plenty to discover. A game can share the genre’s structure without its creators choosing that name.
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