At long, long last, Team Cherry’s insanely anticipated metroidvania, Hollow Knight: Silksong, is going to be gracing our screens in just a couple of days. The sequel to arguably the greatest metroidvania to ever exist has been in development for seven years, and fans have been clamouring to play its sequel. Well, that time has finally come. However, to mitigate that helpless feeling of loss after you’ve reached Silksong’s end credits, allow us to recommend two more excellent metroidvanias that will surely keep that high going.   

1. Blasphemous I & II

Developed by The Game Kitchen, the Blasphemous games are some of the best examples of what the modern metroidvania genre is all about. Taking place in the fictional region of Cvstodia, you play as The Penitent One as you set off on a pilgrimage to find the Cradle of Affliction. This is a grim, dark, and dreary world that’s filled with pain and suffering, which, I guess, is par for the course, seeing how much influence the games’ art direction, writing, and themes take from Roman Catholicism. Catholics, don’t even lie, have you seen ya’ll’s iconography?  Nevertheless, the audiovisuals are a treat for both the eyes and ears. 

Gameplay-wise, the Blasphemous games keep the ability-gated exploration of classic metroidvanias, all the while imbuing some Dark Souls for the moment-to-moment combat. Yes, I know, another “Souls-like,” but these are video games released in the 2020s, what else do you expect? Thankfully, though dashing and parrying are required to keep pace with most enemies, the difficulty feels mostly balanced, and the combat itself is absolutely terrific. These are fantastic games that suck you in with their wonderfully inspired audiovisuals, and keep you engaged with precise, punchy, and tactile gameplay mechanics.

2. Shadow Complex

There are a lot of metroidvania tier lists out there; very few, however, have the 2009 classic, Shadow Complex. Most metroidvanias live in either the realms of high fantasy or hard science fiction; they also usually exist within the planes of 2D or proper 3D, like Batman: Arkham Asylum. Shadow Complex said “screw it” to both of those elements. It’s a 2.5D metroidvania that takes place in the modern day. You play as everyman Jason Fleming – played by the ultimate everyman voice actor, Nolan North – who, while hiking through the mountains, comes across, and eventually gets dropped into, a massive underground high-tech facility where his girlfriend, Claire, gets kidnapped. So, as per usual, it’s up to Mario to save Princess Peach.

For as drastically different as it may look to other metroidvanias, Shadow Complex sticks to the genre very closely when it comes to its exploration and upgrade mechanics. And it does so very well, while also giving you opportunities to exploit certain abilities to do some interesting sequence breaks while exploring the map. Speaking of which, the map here is massive, with hidden areas galore and fun traversal and combat set-pieces. Combat can get a little repetitive, but the developers use the 2.5D element to introduce some interesting perspective shifts that keep fights interesting. This was a big game for Xbox Live Arcade back in the day, but has been lost to time somewhat over the decade, and deserves a shot in 2025.

If you want more video game, film, or TV recommendations, be sure to follow!