Ato

Ato

Ato is an excellent metroidvania, and one of the best I’ve found in a long time. The game opens with very simple movement, but quickly builds upon it with several abilities that make for fast, flexible gameplay.

The main draw to the game is the countless unique boss fights scattered across the map. Combat is designed around using your abilities to interrupt and counter enemy attacks, and the result is fights that are fast, snappy, and extremely satisfying when you finally launch the boss into the air.

Real player with 75.4 hrs in game


Read More: Best Metroidvania Indie Games.


Ato is a great metroidvania which focuses primarily on 1v1 samurai-esque duels. The story is short, simple, and entirely visual, but works well regardless. The map is well sized, with collectibles and boss fights filling a majority of the area. Each region of the world is easily distinguished by its flora and strong use of colors. The combat is fast-paced, fun, and tends to be fair in almost every single fight. You can get by on reflexes or, if you want to go a layer deeper, you can use well-timed attacks to stagger enemies and get in heavy damage. It was very rewarding to use my previous experiences from my first playthrough to punish bosses on harder difficulties (when mindless reflexes alone were no longer enough); doing this made most fights play completely differently. All of these factors together sell the experience and make this game worth the price, especially when on sell.

Real player with 29.6 hrs in game

Ato on Steam

Cosmic: A Journey Among Shadows

Cosmic: A Journey Among Shadows

🌑 A mysterious universe inhabited by weird characters whose shadows have their own distinct personalities, where light and shadow dictate its metaphysical rules

🌘 Fast-paced 2D gameplay with two distinguished styles: use the light to unleash the beastly shadow attached to Cosmic and perform deadly melee combos or use agility and subterfuge to escape danger while in the dark

🌗 Multiple exotic worlds to explore with expansive maps filled with puzzles, secrets, and challenges. Find new items, unlock new abilities and use them to travel back and forth through space and time to explore what you previously couldn’t access

🌔 Flawlessly fluid animations that enhance the gameplay experience, and a distinguishable art style that plays with contrasts

🌕 Developed by a team of industry veterans who worked on Cyberpunk 2077, Serial Cleaner and Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York, and more!

In Cosmic: A Journey Among Shadows, the player controls Cosmic, a seemingly cute yet mischievous being whose sole and best friend is his own shadow. One day, due to a thoughtless wish, Cosmic loses his shadow and finds himself powerless at the bottom of an unknown world. However, Cosmic soon discovers that he has acquired a new, bigger shadow – that of a powerful beast whose owner is already on the hunt for him. Will Cosmic and his new shadow manage to cooperate and survive in this dangerous journey across time and space?


Read More: Best Metroidvania Platformer Games.


Cosmic: A Journey Among Shadows on Steam

Islets

Islets

Iko is an aspiring yet hopeful warrior exploring the land and sky to reunite a series of floating islands. With his rickety airship, he must travel from island to island in order to reignite each one’s magnetic core while fighting off the many adversaries standing in his way.

Islets is a surprisingly wholesome metroidvania about making connections with the people around you. By reuniting the islands and befriending a cast of charming characters, the world expands and reveals new parts of each area for Iko to explore. Scour every nook and cranny in order to collect the many upgrades hidden around this world and face its numerous hidden challenges!

There’s also a tour guide to show you around, but you should be careful. The guy’s got some really weird vibes…

Features

  • Connect the islands like a puzzle to discover new ways to explore previous areas and reunite the vast world around you.

  • Fight back against terrifying monsters and ruthless sky pirates in epic boss battles.

  • Discover upgrades to help you on your journey by completing challenges and uncover the islands’ many secrets.

  • Make friends with a wide cast of charming characters—including a pretentious warrior classmate, a suspiciously friendly frog, and so many others.

  • Become immersed in a visually stunning hand-painted world with lush, vivid environments for you to experience.


Read More: Best Metroidvania Adventure Games.


Islets on Steam

Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition

Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition

Since I have already posted a review of Ori and the Blind Forest, this review specifically covers the differences in the Definitive Edition and assumes the reader is already familiar with the game. If not, here’s the spoiler-free TLDR:

If you haven’t played this game before and you are interested in appreciating it primarily as a work of art and secondarily as a video game, play the original version first – it comes free with the Definitive Edition, and it will help you better appreciate the differences between the two versions, both the things that were added and the things that were lost.

Real player with 52.5 hrs in game

If anyone ever told me a video game cannot be a piece of art, I would show them Ori and the Blind Forest (soon to be the Ori franchise).

Ori and the Blind Forest is one of few games that recieves very little negative attention (only notable negativity come from those complaining about the Definite Edition release). There is very little wrong with the game itself in terms of gameplay, glitches, and music. The story itself is known for making even the toughest of men cry as well. Everything in the game itself seems to come together and forge a masterpiece.

Real player with 21.3 hrs in game

Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition on Steam

Carebotz

Carebotz

This game is a breath of fresh air to me mainly because of its controls. It’s been a long time since I’ve played something similar and while flying around needed a little time for me to get used to, it was fun to learn and after I got used to it, became second nature.

At first you only have a traditional fast-firing but low-damage weapon, but trust me, it’s worth progressing - you’ll have a whole arsenal of weapons to choose from before you know it, and prioritize according to your situation and preferences. When you master it, you can even figure out some tricky combos that are satisfying to pull off, such as when using the boost jump and the rocket in quick succession, it’ll fly quicker than the minigun pellets. Deciding on which upgrades to spend your currencies on is a fun way to customize your things.

Real player with 23.9 hrs in game

Surprisingly entertaining.

I play with keyboard and it is a little clunky but the fights are very enjoyable even without controller.

The story-bits do not make too much sense, the thrill of toip-down-asteroid/souls-likey fights and traps, the great music and the stylish/functional graphics make this game a worthy one.

Should be a great purchase eveb with the full price tag.

(I got 25% off)

I had 2 minor issues with the game, a tiny bug of missing text and a clear way to see which part of my ship is forward.

Real player with 11.7 hrs in game

Carebotz on Steam

Little Ghost

Little Ghost

17+ || 2D Metroidvania

Jump and ~FLOAT~ through a world of Mixed-Media.

Little Ghost focuses on platform challenges rather than combat.

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The entire game has been built around the float-jump mechanic.

1️⃣ There’s a Solid Two Hours of gameplay in the demo, more if you want to collect all items and goodies.

2️⃣ There is also a clearly defined beginning/middle/end to the demo experience.

3️⃣ Little Ghost moves at a slower pace, so there’s no time-crunch twitchy anxiety, but that doesn’t mean it is easy.

4️⃣ The platforming will become difficult as you progress, though never unfair.

This is a fairly precise platformer, playing with a controller is recommended, though not required.

FIND POWER-UPS & COLLECTABLES

The world of Little Ghost and the game’s art style present really fun and unique opportunities for hiding easter-eggs and collectables.

There are 3 types of collectables: Items, Mp3s, and Tarot Cards.

MUSIC

One of the demo quests has you searching for scattered mp3s, which you can listen to on your in-game music player.

(The mp3 player is a little Penguin by the way; he’s great, we love him.)

His collectable playlist features music from: GULL, It’s Not Night It’s Space, miRthkon, Nehedar, Christopher North, Pattern Recognition, Andras Jones, The Donkeys, and Jesse Miller, as well as podcasts from: 42Minutes, Radio8Ball, Always Record, and Fine Just Fine.

Streamers have our permission to broadcast the Little Ghost music & podcasts on their streams and playthrus.

FOUR PLAYABLE CHARACTERS (Full Game Only)

Each member of your party handles differently - movement speed & jump heights vary

🕹️ Retro-inspired Platforming

🌸 Explore A Breathtaking Surreal Paper World

👾 Full Of Secret Hidden Spaces

Little Ghost on Steam

Moadra

Moadra

An interstellar alien race, the Neera, has deployed an expedition to the long-lost planet Protea VI, hoping to discover their lost heritage. Eventually, the sand-swept planet turns out to be far more surprising than meets the eye, and suddenly the expedition goes quiet.

Your mission is to play as alien soldier Moadra and investigate the incidents on the planet. Upon discovering the expedition’s fate, Moadra becomes separated from the rest of the squad and is forced to delve deeper into the perilous depths of Protea VI.

From barren wastes and freezing ridges to lush caverns and decayed ruins, Moadra must traverse a sprawling world, face the unknown and unveil the secrets of their ancestors through non-linear exploration, offering a truly immersive and challenging gaming experience.

Traverse a massive interconnected world non-linearly and unveil the grim mysteries of Protea VI at your own pace. Endure the challenging combat and evolve Moadra’s abilities, solve light puzzles, and reveal countless hidden paths and secrets throughout your mission.

Strive through the desolate surface of Protea VI and ascend the deadly, freezing summits. Examine the infested research facility, kindle the crashed spacecraft, and explore the remains of an alien civilization that once inhabited Protea VI.

Experience Moadra’s agility by jumping over chasms and pools of acid. Roll and dodge enemies and crawl through narrow tunnels. Dive into deep lakes and reach immense heights using wall-jumps. Eventually, run with blazing speed and fly to unknown altitudes.

Confront the enormous variety of hostile creatures and malicious species inhabiting Protea VI. Fight against them with an arsenal of weapons and special abilities, and survive their onslaught by swift reflexes and cunning tactics.

Be prepared to encounter the ultimate challenge of Protea VI. Fight against gargantuan monsters in cruel and multi-phased battles that will push the limits of your skills like nothing else in the game.

Blow up unfriendly creatures and organisms to absorb their Protoplasm, lumps of energy-packed biomass. Consume it inside organic chambers to apply metamorphosis, and evolve your abilities and weapons to new levels.

Activate your scanner bot and use the X-Ray vision to examine the creatures and surroundings more closely. Reveal hidden paths and secret areas invisible to the naked eye, and map out the places you explored.

Untangle the tragedy of the Neera expedition, save yourself and the lone survivors. Uncover the lost secrets of your ancestors who once inhabited Protea VI, and conclude the events leading to their extinction 20 000 years ago.

Moadra on Steam

SOULBOUND

SOULBOUND

For starters, this is quite a linear platformer, not a metroidvania.

There big checkpoints indicating a shift in the “level” and sometimes mini checkpoints which you can get a save point. The goal is to collect three “souls” which act as keys for the next level. Without them, you can’t move on. So within the level you must pick up the souls and come back to the exit to move on.

There are no permanent upgrades. Just “powerups” to pick up with one time use like double jump. The problem lies with the time rewind power up. There was hardly a tutorial on it and when it expects you to use it, it expects you to use it the right way. If not, it doesn’t respawn again and your only option is suicide and restart from the checkpoint.

Real player with 1.1 hrs in game

SOULBOUND Gameplay Walkthrough Part 1 - 1080 HD 60FPS PC Game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KxMOmDBNU0

Real player with 0.3 hrs in game

SOULBOUND on Steam

The Guise

The Guise

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Review by Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam.

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Is this game a masterpiece? The Guise is a new Metroidvania from Russia with a little boy who is stuck in the body of a monster as the main character. The whole thing is presented in a visual design that reminds me of kindergarten drawings. Or drawings of inmates from the madhouse. Somehow creepy. Could be interesting.

Real player with 10.7 hrs in game

The game freezes a lot. I do not know if this game was rushed in order for this to be released. I am forced to exit the game when it freezes. and one of the quest is on an endless loop wherein you will need to kill all the mice on room in and endless loop. In order for me to recommend this game, I ask for the developer to release a patch to fix all the issues.

Real player with 9.9 hrs in game

The Guise on Steam

The Tale of Greenbrier

The Tale of Greenbrier

In this action platformer, follow the journey of Genevieve Goldenglow, a mouse who sets off on an adventure to save her village from destruction by an encroaching corruption. Set in a large continuous 2.5D fantasy world, Genevieve will encounter twisted, deadly creatures, learn ancient arcane knowledge and new abilities, solve puzzles that block the way, and fight monstrous bosses on her journey to heal the forest and save the village.

The Tale of Greenbrier on Steam