My top Metroidvania games of modern times

I love a wide variety of game types but my favorites are Real Time Strategy and Metroidvania games. Today I am going to focus on what I consider to be the best Metroidvania games of modern time.

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For starters I will define what MetroidVania means. It is an amalgamation of Metroid and Castlevania, which were kind of the founders of this type of game. It simply means that your ability to progress in certain areas is impeded by an item type that you do not yet possess. Therefore, backtracking to see what is behind that door or area is encouraged and the game then follows a non linear path and it becomes a lot more fun to explore areas that you have already been to.

By modern I am going to focus on games that have happened in the past 15-20 years. Therefore both Metroid and Castlevania, which should obviously be on the list, wont be. I am going to limit my choices based on games that have been released since the year 2000 or so.

These will be presented in no particular order simply because I can't make up my mind which is the "best" of them all. I might change my mind about that notion halfway through writing this though :P

Also, since I am not an Xbox gamer any exclusives that they have on that end will not be on this list because I haven't had a MS system since that first one that was the size of an aquarium and weighed about the same.

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Ori and the Blind Forest

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You are a cute little fox type thing which is called Ori (of course) and you are a guardian of the forest. While this game is very simplistic as far as combat is concerned, it focuses primarily on having quick reflexes to use the various powerups that you acquire along the way. Boss fights are more about avoiding damage and placing a Mario style "whomp" on said enemy's head and some of the more difficult puzzle sections consist of you making zero mistakes while outrunning a surge of water or ice that is coming from the bottom of the screen.

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An absolutely beautiful experience, this game's only lacking feature is the lack of combat variety and that some of the levels that are very difficult at times have really long checkpoints so failure can mean going back a really long way.

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Blasphemous

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While this game is pixelated and less "crisp" than some of the others on the list, the Spanish Inquisition inspired setting is like no other game I have seen. Our hero is not a good guy either and the enemies and bosses are absolutely terrifying in a way that I have never seen in any other game. It is bloody as hell and certainly not for kids or religious folks

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If you have ever wanted to battle a giant blindfolded baby with blood coming out of its face this is the game for you. Irreverent and pushing the limits of good taste, Blasphemous is about a 20 hour story that is unlike any other I have ever seen. While I wouldn't consider this game "Dark Souls" difficult, it is pretty damn tough as the game progresses.

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Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus

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The graphics on this game are so old school that I almost didn't play it and probably wouldn't have done so if it hadn't been given to us for free with our PS Plus memberships. The game makes up for the lack of amazing graphics by having really tight controls and an amazing soundtrack.

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You find yourself in a magical realm as you search for your stolen teddy bear encountering giant bosses (as you would expect) that make up for their lack of realism by having very inventive methods of dispatching them. Also, you have to learn a tonal language from natives in the various places that you go to and this was the first time in a while that I actually found myself playing a game with a pad of paper and a pencil on the counter in front of me since you simply can not get past certain parts without learning the nonsensical words that are spoken to you throughout. When you first start this game out, you are going to want to quit in the first 30 minutes or so, but trust me on this: Stick with it! This game is absolutely fantastic and proves that you don't need amazing 3D graphics in order to have a great game.

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Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

I've written extensively about my love for this game recently and there is a very good reason for that. Borderline lawsuit territory in its similarities to the actual Castlevania all the way down to the fighting style and even the soundtrack. Bloodstained manages to differentiate itself from other Metroidvania games by having a leveling up system that can increase your offense dramatically. So if you are like me and prefer to be overpowered during fights, you have the option of doing so.

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The game does suffer from a few bugs that are really frustrating when you encounter them but overall this is something that the good outweighs the bad by far. When you get a new skill you immediately want to go back to the areas you have been in before to get to those places that you ALMOST could reach before and were convince if you just timed your jump a little bit better you would be able to reach it. Guess what? You can't reach it and this was by design.

Great fun, awesome replay value and since you are allowed to start the game over with all the powerups at a higher difficulty I actually found myself doing exactly that. I NEVER do this either.

Fantastic game.

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Hollow Knight

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If you are one of the few people out there that hasn't played this absolute gem of a game I actually am envious of you because at the moment it is so damn cheap that there is zero reason to not buy it. Since they have a sequel coming out soon they are practically giving it away and that's exactly how I ended up getting it. The graphics are fantastic, the entire map is HUGE and a great deal of the game is completely optional. You can actually get to the first of three endings quite easily but then when you look online you realize that you, thinking you have completed the game, have only touched the tip of the iceberg as far as the overall game is concerned.

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The bosses are whimsical at times and disgusting at others and aside from a few mini-bosses that they put in there, all of them are quite tough especially when you start to get into the optional "side content." I have invested at least 40 hours into this game and at this point, I am rather convinced that I do not have what it takes in order to get to the other two endings.

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_{this boss, named Flukemarm, was absolutely disgusting}

Hollow Knight may end up going down in history of one of the best games ever made by anyone ever and when the sequel Silksong comes out they are going to have some seriously big shoes to fill. The developer Team Cherry is not a big studio and they haven't made any lofty claims about when the sequel will be released - which is probably a good thing since we don't want to get a broken game sold to us before it is ready like other studios would do.

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That's 5. We like to do things in fives right? I'm probably going to regret not including something else I will think of later and make another 5. Who knows. It is one of my favorite genres of games after all

Thanks to @the-gorilla for inspiring me to make a list of this sort

You got any favorite Metroidvania games that you think belong on this list? Let me know if that is the case!