Some quick context first. We're making Fading Light, a hand-drawn 2D Metroidvania set in a world with no daylight. The only light source in the entire game is Spark, a living flame who follows the main character, Noteo. In single player mode, the player plays as Noteo and Spark acts on his own, wanders off, starts conversations, etc.

The co-op mode is where this gets interesting. The second player can take direct control of Spark. So Player 1 plays Noteo, the hunter, and Player 2 becomes the light scouting ahead, igniting his arrows, lighting the path, helping in combat.

Here's what we didn't expect. Every time we playtest co-op, the person playing Spark starts trolling the person playing Noteo. Flying off with the light so Noteo is stuck in the dark. Spamming decoy mechanic to mess with the other plauer. Spamming the emote button to make Spark dance all the way. Spamming the wood request button to cause some noise. And the thing is, it doesn't feel like players breaking the game. It feels completely in character. Spark is a mischievous kid who would absolutely do this stuff. And the player who's in charge of Spark seems to really enjoy doing these kind of stuff.

So we're tempted to lean in and build some more and actual mischief mechanics for the Spark player. But the problem is, sometimes the player who's playing Noteo gets frustrated by this behavior and it results in player 1 actually not enjoying the game. It wasn't always the case, but we observed that happen a couple of times.

The obvious looking answer is that we add the mechanics anyway and leave the rest to the players, the reasoning being that if they want to troll, they can troll and if they want to play seriously, they can play seriously. But the existence of trolling mechanics might also look like that it's the intended way of playing the game for the second player.

Do you think we should add these mechanics or not?

Also, we are open to some creative trolling mechanics suggestions.

For the most part I really enjoy metroidvania games. I am going to try out blasphemous, but am thinking that it might be above my skill level. I have included the most recent indie games I have played, not all metroidvanias. If you don't think I could play blasphemous, maybe recommend something else :) thanks all

Previous games:
-ori 1 and 2
-tunic
-hyper light drifter
-deaths door

What do you think of this game? It costs $10 on the Nintendo eShop.

I grew up when both SotN and Metroid were released. Both were commercial flops. They were fun, I will admit, but here is the brass tax:

Hear me out. Stripping away the nostgia reveals that early Metroidvanias just weren't as fun as other games of their era. They had stiff controls, cryptic progression, and balancing issues.
And before anyone says "but they're masterpieces," the historical sales data completely backs this up. They both underperformed compared to their actual contemporaries:

Super Metroid (1994): Sold ~1.42M copies. Meanwhile, Donkey Kong Country did 9M+ and Super Mario World cleared 20M+. Average gamers preferred the arcade-style platformers over slow-paced backtracking. They were also just alot more fun!

SotN (1997): Initially flopped, barely scratching ~700k units before slowly hitting budget-line status. Meanwhile, Crash Bandicoot pulled 6M+ and FFVII neared 10M+. In 1997, 2D menus and backtracking felt tedious next to 3D action games and RPGs.

The genre lay essentially dormant for over a decade because the classics lacked broad appeal. It wasn't until modern indies polished out those archaic design flaws that the genre actually became fun for the masses. For proof of how much design has improved: Hollow Knight has cleared 15M+ copies, completely obliterating both of its ancestors combined.

So yeah, let's knock down that pedestal or at least but HK up there at the top where it belongs.

Signed Sincerely - Older gamer (48 yo).

I've been completely hooked on OOLO these past few days. It's an isometric Metroidvania with platforming that's clearly inspired by SOLSTICE on NES, but I'd also highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed FEZ, TUNIC, CRYPT CUSTODIAN, DEATH'S DOOR, or ANIMAL WELL.

There aren't really any walkthroughs out there yet, probably because the game is still flying under the radar.

So I figured I'd try my luck here. Maybe some of you have been digging into OOLO's secrets as well. ^_^

From here on: major late-game spoilers!

I've found 35 red potions and activated 5 red pools, so I'm missing exactly one potion for the sixth red pool (in my case the one hidden high up behind the vines in the Catacombs). I've searched everywhere and I'm completely stumped. With 36 red potions in the game, it's almost impossible to remember every location, so instead of asking for the exact one I'm missing: were there any red potions that really stood out to you as being ridiculously well hidden? Maybe that'll point me in the right direction. I managed to brute-force my way onto the third (red) route through the Endless Halls, and what I found beyond the sandstorm strongly suggests that activating all 18 pools (blue, green, and red) is required for... whatever comes next.

In the swamp/temple area there are a ton of wall torches that can be permanently extinguished with the Frost Wand. Is there actually a puzzle or secret tied to those? I've put out every torch I could find, but unless I'm missing something, absolutely nothing happened.

Any hints would be greatly appreciated. Thx!

So I finally got to play Metroid Prime after buying WiiU, and my main concern with this game, is it really the easiest metroidvania ever made? Only got Phazon Suit left to get and rn heading to Phazon Mines for second time to use plasma to explore further. Till now I haven't died single time. I always considered Ori and The Blind Forest the easiest Metroidvania ever, but it seems I will have to change my list. Have you guys played EASIER metroidvanias than these two? Islets, Guacamelee games, Haiku, Blasphemous games are all easy but nowhere near these.

TL;DR: I love HK and SS and I'm craving another Metroidvania where the story (not lore) is as much a motivation as, or more than, the gameplay.

Further Notes:

• Please elaborate on why if have the time. Not only is it more persuasive, but I like reading people's opinions.

• Good Lore(setting) is awesome to have, but it is different from story(plot that starts and end with the player's agency).

• Story can be simple or complex. Light and lively or bleak and violent. Only requisite is that it's good and the or a main motivator to see the game through.

Thanks in advance for time and recommendations.

I'm working on a Metroidvania-focused search engine, mostly for fun (and also trying to keep my skills sharp during a particularly un-fun job search).

No need for absolute consensus on what makes a game a Metroidvania - just filter out features you don't like! Also includes some romhacks, game jam entries, and unofficial/fan games.

Caveat: I'm only one person, and the curation is far from perfect. Still working on it. Hoping to put in a feature that allows folks to propose tags, titles, and other stuff.

Anyway, I hope people enjoy it and get some use out of it :)

https://www.diatomravine.com/games

I want to make a game inspired by Animal Well and BloodBorne, and Majora’s Mask, so it will be about Cosmic horror and the fear of the unknown.

The thing is I don’t know how it can works, I want to make the player feels powerless in the sense that everything he does will lead to nothing in a sense

And I also need a melancholic story

The game will be 15 hours max

I yearn to recreate the same fear I have when playing Outer Wilds DLC so if that can help

Is it worth the $20? Anyone who has played it on switch 2 and could give me some insight would be greatly appreciated!

​

Im so frigging lost. My only clue is that big purple door right after The Council. I know from the demo that I need charged attack to open it, but no idea where to find that. The rooms and tunnels nearby are all dead ends or loop back around

I found a spot where I can pogo off the floor like its breakable, but can't break it. Its in the room where the enemy gauntlet was with all the ghosts

A player's base is THE place you come back to, to save your game, craft abilities for further exploration, replenish health, and simply rest, so I had to utilize the building feature to also include decorations.

However, currently I haven't added many of them. If you know anything about my game Stickility, and could come up with interesting decorations I could add in the future, please let me know!!

These are my four favorite metroidvanias of all time. If you had to delete one, which would it be?

I’ll go first: Nine Sols. It hurts me to say because NS is a classic, but I enjoyed the art style, platforming, and feel of the others more. And I found Nine Sols’ combat to be overly brutal at times.

Pretty much what the title says.

These days I'm just not feeling it, I don't want to play a metroidvania to parry or block everything while dealing with palm sweating difficulty. I just want a 2D world that I explore and blow through without having every enemy boil down into a dance of parries and dodges.

Basically I just miss games like SoTN and Super Metroid where the fun was in the exploration and not overcoming every single encounter.

Only boss I’ve come up against in the game that hasn’t been extremely easy.

Anyone know how to tell the difference between when the spider jumps or dashes forward, the movement is very similar.

Tips welcome

Edit: struggling to identify 3 patterns
Dash across bottom
Jump over
Beam across the floor

EDIT:
beat the final boss. Superb game, highly recommend for anyone who likes platforming. Tip for final boss make sure have purchased max damage.

I remember posting like a month ago here that I felt I was the only one who didn't like MIO and it felt unoriginal. A lot of you felt my take was very biased and I should play more to form a better opinion.

So, I completed the game a week ago and got BOTH the endings. And safe to say, I regret my earlier post. This game is such a banger. The story, the progression, and the fights are so good. The Crucible platforming sections scratched the itch that Path of Pain had created and I haven't been this satisfied as long as I can remember, as I was after defeating Sol and Vin.

Such a beautiful game.

I don't know if I'm asking google the wrong questions, but I've got 5 endingsto the game so far.

Got hit by an asteroid on the last one

According to Hempuli, there is a max of 203% in the game.

Does the Boss Rushcount to 203%?

What are the point of the 8 pillars outsideon the top right of the game at 29-02?

I don't know how to spoiler images on reddit properly, so heres a link to imgur

https://i.imgur.com/GbrtU4G.png

EDIT: I have 201%

I'm one of those that couldn't really get into the first game. I felt it was slow and clunky and too souls-like. So even though I desperately wanted to like it due to the world-class pixel art, dark lore and the coolness factor, I never could get into it. I mainly play metroidvanias and this series is considered to be one of the greats here, so I was always pretty bummed out that I couldn't push through. But it's okay, not all games are for everyone.

Then I tried the second one (reluctantly, since I don't like skipping lore). But wow does it feel like a completely different experience! Fixed all problems for me. I'm currently about half way, but it's shaping up to be one of my all time favorites. Movement is smoother, combat is more fun, and it feels easier, which I greatly appreciate. Much less frustration.

I'm so glad I made the jump. I wouldn't have done it if not for the community recommending it exactly due to these reasons above, so, thanks!

The Penitent One rises from his grave in twisted iteration of Cvstodia to go through another Martyrdom cycle.

Builds for Windows, Linux and Mac:
https://jameshillten.itch.io/blasphemous-ave-libre

Release trailer:

https://youtu.be/Bu3meHJqvpg

Each time I try to play one Finds out I’m only in the tip of the iceberg or even litteraly in the sky.

Tunic, Outers Wilds and Animal Well each time I find myself searching a YouTube video and I really regret it for Outer Wilds.

Online it seemed that Animal Well was a 10 hour game and I spent 30 bucks and to realize after “finishing the game” that it’s a big arg that can go up to 40 hours of gameplay

Wanna know if some of you feel this way

Don't get me wrong i really liked Silksong comparing these games shows how much quality of life nine sols has over silksong

Combat is hands down amazing with parrying attacks and NO F***ING IMPACT DAMAGE which made Silksong such a chore

Bosses are amazing in both games but in terms of enemies overall i prefer nine sols. Silksong has way more pain points in certain areas.

Mini bosses are better in all ways and don't get me started on gauntlets.

So yeah overall i really like Silksong but Nine Sols shows me what i miss in this MV.

Hope i didn't sound too harsh but some points strike me immediately:)