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15 Best Modern Metroidvania Games

Shubhankar Parijat — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 05:58:28 +0000

It’s hard to think of a single genre in the history of this medium that has enjoyed the kind of resurgence that Metroidvanias have. Popularized by the likes of Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Metroidvanias were quite niche for a long time. But over the last decade or so, thanks to the efforts of incredibly talented indie developers and a few major AAA studios, Metroidvanias are now a dime a dozen, and have become so popular that even games that don’t commit fully to the genre end up using elements of it.

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.

14 Worst Opinions We Had On These Games

Ravi Sinha — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 07:19:04 +0000

It’s easy to jump to conclusions about certain games, especially when you haven’t played them for yourself. Some games could easily be considered terrible, dull or downright doomed at first glance. Things aren’t always how they seem and predictions don’t always come to pass. So let’s take a look at 14 of the worst opinions we’ve had on certain games (and how those changed).

Assassin’s Creed Origins – “Is That Really It?”

Assassin’s Creed was officially “on a break” before the reveal of Origins and Ubisoft was apparently retooling the series. When it was officially revealed at E3 2017, the response was…fine. Most of us saw the environments, the combat and the quest design and wondered, “Is that it?” Fortunately, the final game showcased the full extent of the open world and action RPG leanings. Yes, the stealth that defined the franchise was heavily downplayed but venturing across Ancient Egypt as Bayek felt invigorating, different and fun.

14 Enemies That Were Way More Horrifying In The Remake

Ravi Sinha — Thu, 26 Dec 2019 14:23:17 +0000

Fear is a complex weapon, as often times it relies on our imagination to make things worse than they really look or sound. Thanks to the power of technology, however, it’s possible to make certain things look even worse than you remembered. Let’s take a look at 15 enemies that were way more terrifying in the remakes than the original games.

Nemesis – Resident Evil 3

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that the redesign for Nemesis in the upcoming Resident Evil 3 is pretty twisted. While the original looked frightening enough, the remake stretches its lower jaw skin further while resembling the T-103 more (which itself very much resembling Mr. X). It’s a natural evolution and reflects the extreme nature of the Pursuer.

15 Best Video Game Remakes of All Time

Ravi Sinha — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 09:52:18 +0000

Remasters and next-gen ports sort of have a bad rep, especially with the transition from the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation to the current one. However, over the past several years, there have been a number of great remakes. Whether significantly enhancing visuals or rebuilding the game from the ground-up, these remakes stand out as excellent experiences in their own right. Let’s take a look at 15 of the best video game remakes of all time.

Shadow of the Colossus

Bluepoint Games always had a stellar reputation for ports before this. However, Shadow of the Colossus veered straight into remake territory, featuring completely overhauled textures, an improved control scheme and much more, bringing new life to this timeless classic. If you haven’t experienced the magic of Shadow of the Colossus, now’s a good time to start.

Metroid: Samus Returns Producer Teases New 2D Metroid; Super Metroid and Fusion Remakes Are Not Planned

Pramath — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 18:15:49 +0000

Metroid: Samus Returns was the first traditional Metroid release in seven years when it launched last year on the 3DS, and the best received entry in the long running franchise in a decade. The game also gave fans hope that there is a future for 2D Metroid games- especially thanks to many story elements that it expanded from Metroid 2: Return of Samus (the Gameboy game it is based on), and teases put in for future games in the series.

Speaking to Hobby Consolas, Yoshio Sakamoto, the producer of the Metroid franchise (as well as Samus Returns) noted that those elements were specifically put in the game for a reason, and that they are meant to imply something, teasing that they might lead to something in the future. “[They are] meant to imply something, but I would like you all to try to find out what it is for now!” he said.

Sakamoto also noted that for now, there are no plans for remakes of the remaining 2D Metroid games- Super Metroid or Metroid Fusion. Meaning whatever they are teasing cannot be leading up to them (nor can it have to do with the Prime games, because in this same interview, Sakamoto also confirms that Prime and 2D Metroid games are supposed to have independent timelines of each other).

So all in all, it is clear that there is a 2D Metroid in the works, presumably for the Switch- could this be the long awaited Metroid V, which finally tells us the story of what happens once Samus goes rogue from the Federation at the end of Fusion? I really hope so.

Metroid: Samus Returns is available exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS, while development for Metroid Prime 4 on the Nintendo Switch is also underway.

15 More Video Game Bosses That Are Borderline Impossible To Defeat

Ravi Sinha — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 06:08:40 +0000

We’ve explored numerous bosses in video games, from the hilariously weak to the oddly designed. While there have been bosses that let you walk all over them, there are also those who can seem unbeatable. This isn’t to say they’re actually unbeatable but different folks will have different strokes in the process. We’ve outlined 15 bosses that can be borderline impossible to defeat in the past so let’s take a look at 15 more bosses that fit the bill.

Dark Samus (Hypermode) – Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Dark Samus can be quite the annoyance when you’re trying to wrap up Samus’s latest adventure. However, play on Hypermode and it’s a whole other ball game. Her attacks can be difficult to dodge, she dishes them out frequently and you then have to deal with another boss right after. Suffice to say, you better know what you’re doing when fighting her.

15 Hardest ‘Hard’ Difficulty Modes That Will Make Players Go Crazy

Alex Jackson — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 15:14:03 +0000

When us really hardcore gamers want to feel some real pride and accomplishment, we like to crank up that difficulty and let our skills really shine through against the best of what the developer can put in our path. But there are some challenges that just shouldn’t be conquered, and the attempt alone seems silly sometimes. These 15 titles really made us lose our minds in frustration trying to conquer them.

Mein Leben! – Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

Wolfenstein II rocked the shooter landscape by being a tight, narrative focused game where they wanted you to make America nazi free again and showing that shooters can have a place without a tacked on multiplayer. Wolfenstein II already makes you work for it, but if you want to finish that achievement list you need to take on the controller shatteringly frustrating “Mein Leben!” mode. Translating to “My life!”, as it says the player has a single life to complete the entire game, no save scumming allowed and the enemies are capable of goose-stepping all over the otherwise hardy “Terror Billy”.

16 Best Shooters of 2017

Pramath — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 04:03:30 +0000

Shooters remain the most popular genre on the market. And even in a year like 2017, which has seen the slow popularization of RPGs and open world action adventures, as well as many long anticipated shooters underwhelming players, we managed to get multiple superlative entries in the genre that will be talked about for years to come. Now, we recognize the best of them.

NOMINEES

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy:

Naughty Dog’s follow up to Uncharted 4 was better than it had any right to be. Freed from the shackles of following Drake’s increasing emotional baggage, the new game instead follows Nadine and Chloe on their adventures through the Western Ghats in India, delivering a short, snappy, and well paced and fun adventure that took on the best qualities of Uncharted 4’s gameplay to deliver one of the standout games of the year.

Cuphead:

Truly the Dark Souls of shooters—and we don’t mean that as a joke. This side scrolling run and gun game is exacting and brutally difficult, relying on pattern recognition, and all too eager to punish sloppy players. Cuphead is a marvel- the gorgeous art is probably what will catch your eye at first, but it will be the incredible gunplay and the thrill of conquering a hard boss that will keep you playing for days to come.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands:

GTA with friends- that’s the pitch of Wildlands, which puts you in an open world reimagining of Bolivia, and lets you buddy up with friends for all sorts of co-op mayhem. Mechanically, Wildlands is sound, if unremarkable—but it is the life it takes on when played with friends that makes it stand out. Throw in exceptional post launch support, such as the newly added PvP mode, and this is doubtless one game we will be talking about for a while to come.

Call of Duty WW2:

After a few off years, Call of duty roared back into form this year, returning to its World War 2 roots and reminding us all why we fell in love with this franchise to begin with. Featuring a cinematic, thrilling campaign, combined with an excellent multiplayer offering with some truly forward thinking ideas, Call of Duty: WW2 is without a doubt one of the best shooters of 2017.

Destiny 2:

Bungie’s follow up to their troubled shared world shooter is flawed, but its flaws only grate more because of how sound the core offering is. Destiny 2 retains the fun gunplay and addictive systemization of the original game, while also removing a lot of the fluff that plagued the original game, and layering on an actual meaningful campaign. It still has a way to go, and Bungie has recently announced updates to the game to fix it and make it more compelling for series veterans—but that only cements our love for the game even more.

Wolfensien II – The New Colossus:

Bethesda and MachineGames followed up on the 2014’s Wolfenstein with The New Colossus, and the new title lives up to the legacy of the original game. Creating a terrifyingly realized rendition of an alternate history in which the Nazis won, and pairing it with some high octane action, Wolfenstein 2 is a gloriously fun shooter which has something meaningful to say—something that is increasingly rare in today’s day and age.

Splatoon 2:

Nintendo’s follow up to their hit Wii U multiplayer shooter takes everything that was great about the original, and delivers it as is on the Nintendo Switch—but it adds some twists of its own. Whether via way of minor quality of life improvements, or the excellent Salmon Run co-op horde mode, or a great new campaign, or the amazing post launch support which has continued to add hundreds of new weapons, gear pieces, and many new maps—all for free, Splatoon 2 is a compelling, addictive shooter that remains one of the definitive experiences on the Switch.

Metroid: Samus Returns:

Metroid Prime 4 may be a way away, but Nintendo brought back Samus Aran in a big way with the fittingly titled Samus Returns, a remake of Metroid 2: Return of Samus for the Nintendo 3DS. More a reimagining in the framework of the older game than a remake, Samus Returns reminds us of why the Metroid franchise was so great and beloved to begin with, by sidestepping the loss of focus and vision that had plagued the last few entires in the series, and delivering a pure, compelling Metroid adventure—and one of the best shooters of the year.

Sniper Elite 4:

The long running fan favorite Sniper Elite 4 returned for its fourth outing this year, and delivered the best entry in the series yet. Adding in the scope for emergent dynamism from something like The Phantom Pain with the excellent gunplay and stealth the Sniper Elite series has always been known for, this is one game that deserves all the love and recognition that it can get- because warts and all, it is truly unique and compelling.

Nex Machina:

Nex Machina will be HouseMarque’s last arcade twin stick shooter, but what a way it is to sign off. Taking the same formula that made Resogun, Alienation, and Dead Nation so bloody compelling and thrilling, HouseMarque has delivered a frenetic, frantic shooter that demands a kind of mastery of the game’s rhythm that you can only get by relentless practice—truly in the tradition of old arcade games. It is not a stretch to say that New Machina is one of the best games of the year on the PS4—and that really is saying something.

Prey:

Arkane Studios’ incredible reboot of the Prey IP delivers a haunting immersive-sim of the kin that we have not seen in over a decade. Prey is a game with an amazing atmosphere, incredible combat, and oodles of depth and emergence, so that no two players will ever have the same experience. It is Arkane’s masterpiece.

Resident Evil 7:

Capcom revived the Resident Evil franchise in a big way with Resident Evil 7, which, eschewing the third person viewpoint that the series has held, and indeed helped popularize, for years for a first person one, returned to the kind of thrills and horror that made the series os beloved to begin with. Resident Evil 7 delivered psychological horror and gory action in equal measure, and became one of the best games ever in a series that is known for having some of the greatest titles of all time.

Day of Infamy:

Before Call of Duty: WW2 brought World War 2 shooters back into the mainstream, New World Interacitve’s Day of Infamy had already delivered Day of Infamy, a fantastic multiplayer World War 2 shooter that challenges players by taking away their HUD, crosshairs, maps, and in many cases, even respawns—how you do and survive in Day of Infamy will come down to how well you play, and how well your team is coordinated. It’s really different, in a sea of increasingly homogenized shooters.

Get Even:

Get Even is a hugely flawed game- there is no setting around it. And yet, for all of that, there is also no getting around how good it manages to be regardless. Whether it is because of its tense horror or incredible atmosphere, or the highly frantic combat situations that it puts players in, Get Even is an unpolished gem that we really hope gets a follow up so it cane tap into its full potential.

DOOM (Switch):

DOOM gets nominated for this category for the second year straight, thanks to the Nintendo Switch port- which is a technical marvel. To get DOOM running on a 6.2 inch tablet is in and of itself a feat- but to have that compelling, fast paced action with labyrinthine level design that made us all fall in love with DOOM last year to begin with, and pair it with the instant pick up and play nature of the Switch, elevates the experience beyond whatever knocks the degraded graphics have.

And as for the WINNER:

Prey:

Think of Prey as the Breath of the Wild of shooters—it is emergent, dynamic, and reactive to the player and their actions. If you think it, chances are you can do it. This potent gameplay formula, mixed with a haunting atmosphere that is almost second to none, a stunning art style, and a minimalist story that will actively make you uncomfortable, makes Prey the standout shooter of 2017.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

10 Best Video Game Remasters of 2017

Pramath — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 03:59:18 +0000

There is never a bad time to take an existing, beloved classic and revamp it for a modern age—which is exactly what remasters do. Taking older games and cleaning them up fo modern sensibilities, these often introduce new players to the wonders of some of the best games of all time. This year had some great remasters—here are our nominees for the best of them (this list also includes remakes and ports).

NOMINEES

Crash Bandicoot N’Sane Trilogy:

Naughty Dog’s bandicoot returned in a big way with this lovingly rendered remaster of the original three Crash Bandicoot games. As quality of remasters go, this one is probably indisputably at the top of the pack, taking as it did three PS1 era games, and making them look remarkable to behold in 2017. Oh, and it helps that the games are great to play through, too.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Switch):

Skyrim is one of the greatest and most beloved games ever- and now you can play it on the go on the Nintendo Switch. In and of itself, that is a revelation- Skyrim in bed? On the bus? In the bathroom? But Bethesda went the whole nine yards, and also decided to take full advantage of other features the Switch offers, including motion controls, some fantastic implementation of HD rumble, and for some reason, even Amiibos.

DOOM For (Switch):

The fact that DOOM runs on the Switch at all is a revelation—it is the full 2016 game, as is, ported to a 6.2 inch tablet. Yes, there are concessions that have been made—the resolution and frame rate are dramatically reduced for example. But the revelation that is playing DOOM on the bus or in bed more than makes up for those cutbacks.

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age:

One of the best and most underrated Final Fantasy games of all time was reborn this year with The Zodiac Age, and we got to see just how far ahead of its time it was when it first came out in 2006. With its hugely satisfying gameplay, and a politically charged story that is unlike any other in the series, as well as its great soundtrack and beautiful world, The Zodiac Age is an incredible remaster of an incredible game.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe:

If Mario kart 8 Deluxe had been how Mario Kart 8 had released to begin with, it would have been a 10/10 game. Taking the original title, and all its updates and DLC, and adding new items, new characters, and a staggering five new Battle Modes, with six new Battle Maps to boot, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the definitive version of the best Mario Kart game of all time, and one of the best games on the Nintendo Switch.

Metroid: Samus Returns:

To call Samus Returns a remaster or even a remake feels like a disservice to it- it is almost an entirely new game made within the framework of Metroid 2. And that’s what makes it so great- a brand new traditional Metroid with just the right mix of structure and predicability with something new around the corner.

L.A. Noire:

LA Noire was a flawed game, but a good one that deserved more success than it got- and it got the chance for that success with the remaster this year, that lets you experience it either in 4K (on PS4 and Xbox One), or VR (on HTC Vive) or on the go (on Nintendo Switch). Rockstar went all out with each individual new version of this game- they deserve mad credit for it.

Okami HD:

Okami is one of the all time classics, so the chance to play it again, on the PS4 an Xbox One, with remastered and cleaned up graphics that make its gorgeous art pop, isn’t one we are willing to pass up on. Throw in its incredible take on the Zelsa formula, and Okami HD is another great rendition of a fantastic game.

Full Throttle Remastered:

Taking the classic LucasArts adventure game, and remastering it for a new age, Double Fine’s Full Throttle Remastered brings one of the all time cult classics of the graphic adventure with all its charm and wit, and pixel hunting gameplay, intact to a new age.

StarCraft: Remastered:

Starcraft is one of the best and most influential games ever—and now, you can play it, exactly as it was, with modernized graphics and servers. Engage with the heyday of the RTS genre and the game that was an eSport before eSports were a thing, and weep at the fact that we are likely never to get as ground breaking a big budget RTS as Starcraft ever again- there is no longer any market for it. At least we will always have Starcraft Remastered.

And the winner is

Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy

Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy is actually a technical achievement. It is, functionally, a 1:1 remake of the original games with modern assets and modern code. In terms of sheer effort, this one should take the cake- but the fact that it gives you three beloved games, for less than the price of one brand new one, really seals the deal. Whether or not you are a fan of Crash, you owe it to yourself to give N.Sane Trilogy a try.