The Greatest metroidvania Games Released In 2024

Metroidvanias can make you feel accomplished as you learn new tricks and abilities that let you access previously undiscovered areas. This is not only a great way of pushing players to explore more of the world, but it excels at making progression feel earned. Over the years, there have been countless highlights, such as Axiom Verge, Hollow Knight, and Bloodstained Ritual of the Night, to push the genre forwards.

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2024 has some surprisingly good Metroidvanias ranging from indie originals to bigger IPs dipping their toes in the genre for the first time. With plenty of enemies to defeat, power-ups to unlock, and hidden areas to discover, these are the best Metroidvanias to check out from 2024.

10

Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown

Prince Of Persia Jumps Into The Genre

The Prince of Persia franchise made a leap into the Metroidvania genre in 2024 with the release of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. As you harness time abilities to further expand the world, you’ll be using your newfound powers to access new areas and combat enemies easier.

You can even place your own checkmarks so you can return to a specific spot later. You also have ways to mark down interesting spaces on the map with screenshots, so you can have visual aids while exploring and backtracking.

9

Animal Well

A Fresh Take For The Genre

If you’re looking for a game that took the gaming world by storm in 2024, look no further than Animal Well. This Metroidvania has some of the deepest layers of puzzle-solving. Some of the more complex puzzles even required players to band together as a community to find the answers, while other puzzles require repeated playthroughs.

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These ARG elements made Animal Well one of the most immersive games of all time as players searched for hints together to lead them to the true ending of the game.

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Ultros

Aliens, Plant Life, and Time Loops

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Ultros

Systems

Released

February 13, 2024

Developer(s)

Hadoque

Publisher(s)

Kepler Interactive

ESRB

T For Teen Due To Blood and Gore, Mild Language, Violence

Ultros takes a few creative liberties that help the game stand out in 2024. While most Metroivanias will reset the world as you die, Ultros won’t reset anything till you enter a new time loop.

This means that most of your skills will be reset at certain points. However, you will have a chance to improve on them faster. With aliens needing help on a ship becoming further overtaken by plants, your ultimate goal is to stop a demon named Ultros from awakening. So collect seeds, defeat bosses, and see how your actions affect the timeline in each loop.

7

Nine Sols

Martial Arts And 2D Action

Nine Sols gives you the immediate goal of challenging nine different beings known as Sols. Rather than using a gun or a sword, the playable character, Vi, uses martial arts to combat the many enemies that will get in the way of your journey.

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Keep defeating enemies to build up Ki and unleash more powerful attacks. With multiple different endings, stylized 2D graphics, and the chance to play a cat, this is one Metroidvania game from 2024 you don’t want to miss.

6

Biomorph

Make The Enemy’s Strengths Your Own

The wait for Silksong was long and harsh in the year 2024. Luckily, there were plenty of titles to make the wait easier, and Biomorph has a hand-drawn style and a unique gimmick that makes it worth taking a peek at.

You can harness the powers of the enemies you defeat to fight or discover hidden secrets throughout the map. This adds plenty of variety for a title that exists in an ocean of Metroidvania games. So hats off for creativity.

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Tales Of Kenzera: Zau

Underrated But Climbing Up

One underrated Metroidvania that nails it in the art department is Tales of Kenzera: Zau. Playing as a young Shaman hoping to strike a deal with death, you’ll wield the Sun and Moon mask. Swapping between both gives you different ways to attack enemies.

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The Sun mask is great for hand-to-hand combat, while the Moon mask lets you obliterate your enemies from afar. Mastering both is only the first step towards defeating the three monsters you need to offer up in order to bring back your father.

4

Turbo Kid

A Hidden Gem

2024 brought back Turbo Kid. If you’ve never heard of it before, it’s an expansion on a 2015 film of the same name. It’s a post-apocalyptic 90s and the wasteland is full of toxic waste and hostile enemies. Luckily, you have your trusty BMX bike, blasters, and blades to clear the way.

With pixelated graphics and a 90s sound design, Turbo Kid is a blast to play through as part of 2024’s lineup. The BMX bike mechanics also add a rarely seen aspect to the Metroidvania genre as you speed up, perform flips, and use momentum to clear obstacles.

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Ender Magnolia Bloom In The Mist

Summoning Homunculi To Fight For You

Creature collection is always an interesting aspect for a game to have. This time it arrives in the Metroidvania genre in the form of collecting Homunculi. You play as Lilac, an Attuner who can’t fight on her own but can purify various Homunculi to do the fighting for her.

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It’s a quest to get back your memories as you upgrade your skills and collect relics in this grim world. It’s the perfect mix of dark fantasy and anime that makes it one of the most gothic-looking Metroidvanias of 2024.

2

Castlevania Dominus Collection

One Of The Forefathers Of The Genre Returns

Metroid and Castlevania laid the foundation for what would eventually become the Metroidvania genre. Castlevania Dominus Collection gathers some of the best titles from the Nintendo DS era, including Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order Of Ecclesia.

However, what makes these titles such stand out ports for 2024 is the fact that it gives you plenty of customization for the layouts, the ability to rewind the game, and plenty of variety for anyone to jump back into the franchise.

1

Crypt Custodian

Become A Keeper Of The Crypt

If you’re looking for a grim setting made cozy, then Crypt Custodian makes the afterlife seem pretty chill. You also get to play as a cat who has been banished from the palace of the afterlife. While this game has all the traits of the average Metroidvania, it also blends in the dungeon-crawling look of classic Zelda games.

Crypt Custodian also gives you the chance to meet other banished ghosts and get to know their personal backstories. So, besides mapping out new areas and upgrading skills, you also get that bit of character interaction from the cozy genre.

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