Guacamelee 

Developed by Drinkbox Studios, Guacamelee is a side-scrolling action platformer that puts you in the shoes of a wrestler who must become the man of the hour and embark on an epic adventure to save the president’s daughter. The game takes a lot of inspiration from Mexican culture, which makes the world look and feel rich with details oozing out of every frame. As for the gameplay, Guacamelee employs a simple but enjoyable combat system, but what makes it so special is the excellent understanding of when to dish out new obstacles and enemies – which is the true mark of a great platformer.

Minecraft: PS Vita Edition 

Minecraft might just be one of the most popular games of the last couple of decades, and you can enjoy this sandbox on almost every modern computing platform – which obviously includes the PS Vita as well. Minecraft on PS Vita looks and works about as well as you would expect it to, and it’s a perfect game to be played in short bursts. Minecraft is one of those games that puts player creativity at the forefront of its gameplay mechanics, which makes it a highly replayable and endlessly enjoyable experience. 

Mortal Kombat 

Mortal Kombat is one of the most prestigious fighting franchises of all time, and the long-running series has been through multiple timeline resets as of late. Mortal Kombat on PS Vita is the 2011 reboot of the series that was released in 2012, and it’s one of the best options if you are looking for a fighting game on the console. And that can be credited to the excellent mixture of a compelling setting, a diverse cast of fleshed out characters, and a combat loop that features immense depth in terms of its mechanics. 

Telltale’s: The Walking Dead: Season 1

Telltale is a developer that has proven itself more than capable of delivering compelling narratives that twist and turn depending on player choices, and Telltale’s The Walking Dead is strongly emblematic of those strengths. If you’re new to the series, Season 1 is obviously the perfect starting point – but it’s also one of the more emotionally charged and universally acclaimed narrative games on the PS Vita. The writing, character development, and choice and consequence mechanics are all top-notch – which makes it a consistently enjoyable experience through and through. It’s the perfect game to sit back and enjoy without having to be attentive to enemy attack patterns and the like, and it’s also highly replayable since you could do multiple playthroughs and reach quite different endings every time.

Hotline Miami 

Hotline Miami is all about embarking on a huge murder spree across a wide variety of labyrinthian levels, and it’s one of those games that have a very strong grasp on game design. Developed by Dennaton Games, Hotline Miami presents its world with a simple yet beautiful pixel art style and neon colors that really capture the spirit of Miami and its flamboyant party culture. The gameplay in a similar vein relies heavily on proper audio and visual feedback to make it look appealing, and it all works excellently in conjunction with one another. Hotline Miami can be a brutally violent game at times, but the satisfying gunplay and appealing visual presentation give enough reasons to make that sadistic pleasure of murdering dozens upon dozens of people justifiable.

Axiom Verge

Axiom Verge is yet another Metroidvania that thrusts you into an alien world where you must blast through hordes of aliens as you try to uncover the planet’s deepest and darkest secrets. The Metroid influences are pretty clear here, and the developer doesn’t shy away from revealing those inspirations. Axiom Verge is essentially the developer’s take on Metroid 2, and it’s a really amazing game that nails the sense of flow without compromising on the sense of mystery that comes from exploring an alien world. The visuals hearken back to the NES and SNES days, and it all feels like a rose-tinted nostalgia trip to the past.

Lumines: Electronic Symphony

Lumines: Electronic Symphony might look like yet another Tetris game at first glance, but what makes it so special is the sheer attention to detail in terms of visual and audio presentation. Each stage in Lumines has been crafted with the utmost care, and that results in a breathtaking experience for what is essentially a simple gameplay loop of matching the same colour blocks. In a similar vein, the audio also consistently impresses with the variety of tracks and its ability to match the tempo and themes of the currently playing stage. Of course, it’s a game that’s designed to be played in short bursts – which makes it a match made in heaven for a console like PS Vita.

OlliOlli 2

Roll7’s OlliOlli series features some slick skateboarding action that rarely gets any stale, and OlliOlli 2 is a great choice for lovers of this adventure sport. But even if you are not super involved with skateboarding, OlliOlli 2 will be able to impress you with its creative suite of levels that consistently introduce new kinds of obstacles for you to overcome. Add to that a gorgeous art style, and you have a formula ripe for success.

Fez

Fez was developed by Phil Fish, and it’s a game that’s all about seeing the world from a bunch of different perspectives. These themes are beautifully reflected in Fez’s core gameplay loop that revolves around shifting the level and the perspective to reveal new things and ultimately find the solution to the obstacle. The levels look absolutely gorgeous, and a lot of that can be attributed to the excellent art direction on display. It’s definitely one of the best puzzlers that you can play on the platform, and if you haven’t tried it out – you owe yourself to give this one a shot.

Undertale

Undertale is a game that puts players in the teeny tiny shoes of a child by the name of Frisk who ends up being transported to a magical underground realm inhabited by monsters and talking plants. The story is pretty charming for the most part, but what makes Undertale different from its peers is how the combat is structured. Instead of having to whittle down an enemy’s health bar, players have to participate in a wide variety of minigames and use the power of love to turn the tables in your favor. It’s a fresh spin on the tried and tested formula, and it doesn’t really waste much time with meaningless exposition and dialogue dumps. It knows what it wants to say, and says that in a very brief timespan.

In this feature, we’ll be talking about what we feel have been the 15 best Metroidvania games of the last few years. Given how spoilt for choice we are, it goes without saying that we’ll be missing out on a few games, so sound off about those in your comments below.

So let’s kick this off, and let’s begin with the most obvious choice:

HOLLOW KNIGHT

To say that Hollow Knight is not only one of the best games of the last few years, but quite simply one of the greatest games ever made, would not be an exaggeration in the slightest. Team Cherry’s masterpiece exudes a breathtaking level of confidence in everything it does, from the crisp combat, the incredible atmosphere, and the tight platforming to the labyrinthine map design, the charming visuals, and the memorable boss fights. It’s the standard that all Metroidvania games should aspire to, and stands toe-to-toe with genre giants like Super Metroid.

]]> https://gamingbolt.com/15-best-modern-metroidvania-games/feed 0 429830 https://gamingbolt.com/axiom-verge-free-on-epic-games-store-on-february-6th https://gamingbolt.com/axiom-verge-free-on-epic-games-store-on-february-6th#respond Sat, 26 Jan 2019 07:18:02 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=383665

Among the many retro-style titles out there, Thomas Happ’s Axiom Verge certainly stands out. Not only did it capture the aesthetic of the 8-bit classics, but also served as a great Metroidvania game packed with secrets, upgrades, and lore. If you haven’t tried it out yet, then you’re in luck – Axiom Verge will be the next free game offered on the Epic Games Store.

The current title, Jackbox Party Pack, will be available until February 7th. Axiom Verge will be free from February 6th to 21st. Keep in mind that an Epic Games account along with the Epic Games Launcher are both required to play the game.

Epic Games has been doing a pretty good job with free games since launching the Epic Games Store. So far it has also offered Subnautica, the underwater survival title from Unknown Worlds Entertainment, and classic hardcore 2D platformer Super Meat Boy for free. From there, we’ve had titles like Giant Sparrow’s first person adventure What Remains of Edith Finch also available for free.

Sometimes boss battles end up being more about the spectacle, which isn’t necessarily always bad, sometimes they are meant as more of an introduction to the challenges the game will present to you going forward, in which case they’re inherently easier by design, while other times they feel like they’re just there to check off boxes, which in most cases is quite disappointing. In this feature, we’re going to take a look at 15 boss fights that, for some reason or the other, proved to be so easy you could waltz through them with your eyes closed.

Be warned, there might be some slight spoilers ahead.

THE JOKER (BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS)

The Joker boss fight in Batman: Arkham Asylum gets a lot of criticism from a lot of people, more because of its contextual setup than anything else, and though the Arkham City one is decidedly better than that one (especially because of how it ends), the fight itself is not all that memorable. The one we’re speaking of here, though, is the Caped Crusader’s encounter against the Clown Prince of Gotham in the incredible and often unfairly overlook Arkham Origins. The game might feature what is probably the best boss fight in the entire series, which is the Deathstroke fight, but it does also play host to one particularly underwhelming one. Batman’s encounter against The Joker in Origins devolves to little more than quick time events, and while it isn’t offensively bad by any means, it fails to provide any sort of a challenge.

Thomas Happ Games’ Axiom Verge was only available for PS4, PC and Mac OS X thus far (with a planned PS Vita launch) but it will be visiting other platforms later this year. That means you can get your fill of retro-esque Metroid-vania gameplay on the Xbox One and Wii U some time this year.

Axiom Verge has been developed by Thomas Happ and has received its fair share of critical acclaim for its exploration, 2D side-scrolling action and platforming. The game’s key hook is creating glitches to traverse the environment and gain an edge on your foes. You can check out gameplay for the same below and make up your own mind about its quality.

Stay tuned for more information on when Axiom Verge will release for Xbox One and Wii U and what additional content it will bring in the process. Thoughts on the announcement though? Let us know in the comments.