Most Metroidvania fans can agree that, as far as the genre goes, Hollow Knight’s got all the bases covered. It’s got a massive interconnected world, rewarding non-linear exploration, and a no-buts approach to gameplay that isn’t here to hold your hand.
But, let’s be honest: we’re all tired of hearing how good Hollow Knight is. It’s a great addition to the genre, sure, but it’s far from the only good Metroidvania on the market.
The Metroidvania genre has grown to unprecedented levels in the past few years, and while not every game has been a home run, there are many that have outmatched Hollow Knight in terms of quality, difficulty, and even atmosphere.
Whether you’re looking for complex labyrinths, borderline sadistic combat, or beautifully rendered worlds dripping with lore, these titles have your back. No Hollow Knight playthrough required!
10 Haiku, the Robot
Everything’s Better with Robots
On the surface, Haiku, the Robot almost looks like a simpler, more straightforward Hollow Knight—that is, until you peel back the curtain and realize how deep this game really goes.
In Haiku, the Robot, you’ll take on the role of a tiny robot navigating a massive world of decaying machinery, fighting off hostile bots as you try to figure out what happened to your home.
Self-described as a “true Metroidvania”, this game will have you deep in the trenches of sci-fi Arcadia, piecing together clues, doubling back, unlocking hidden areas, and earning upgrades by completing tough challenges. And don’t even get me started on the bosses.
The boss fights in this game will simultaneously give you grey hair and give you a reason to get out of bed in the morning; you will literally not be able to sleep until you’ve found the perfect combination of dodges, rolls, and slashes, all deployed at just the right time to take them down.
Overall, if you’re looking for a game that’ll get you out of your Hollow Knight rut, then Haiku, the Robot is going to be your best bet. In fact, one user on Steam even went as far as to describe it as “Basically Hollow Knight, but with machines instead of bugs.”
9 UNSIGHTED
Save Everyone, or Save Yourself?
If you thought Hollow Knight gave you a little too much spare time to figure things out, then you’re going to want to set your sights on UNSIGHTED.
UNISGHTED puts you in control of Alma, an automaton waking up in a post-apocalyptic, war-torn Arcadia, where the very essence of sentient life, called Anima, is running out fast.
Every fellow automaton you’ve ever known and loved is either dead or about to be, because once that precious resource runs out, they’ll all turn into mindless killing machines, tearing each other apart until there’s nothing left.
Losing your sense of self is scary enough, but knowing you’ll turn into a murderous monster once you’re gone? It’s like the robot version of a zombie apocalypse.
Throughout the game, you and everyone you meet is on a literal death timer, counting down the seconds until you metaphorically “self-destruct”. You’ll need to race against the clock if you even want to save yourself, but to save your friends too? That’s a whole other ball game, friend.
It’s up to you whether you want to play it safe and focus on your own life, or put everything on the line just to give everyone a little more time.
8 Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus
Mythological Metroidvania Masterpiece
Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus could easily be Hollow Knight’s distant cousin—if Hollow Knight’s cousin smoked like the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland and couldn’t pass a drug screen if his life depended on it.
I know that sounds like a weird setup, but once you dive into this one, you’ll see what I mean. The entire game feels like a fever dream that you never want to wake up from; if this is what drugs are like, then I’ll take ten.
In this game, you play as Bō, a “celestial blossom” (fox tentaihana) descended from the heavens to fulfill an ancient prophecy. Your only weapon is your staff, which allows you to bounce, glide, and twirl gracefully through the air, along with shapeshifting into pretty much anything you need it to.
The enemies, along with everything else, are heavily inspired by Japanese mythology, so you’ll primarily be fighting yokai and other monsters of Japanese myth.
You can also learn arcane tea recipes to brew and drink to upgrade your staff, unlocking powerful new abilities that range from shapeshifting to crazy new attacks.
Its art style alone could honestly put Hollow Knight to shame, but the fact that there’s an amazing Metroidvania adventure under all that glamour? Yeah, sign me up.
7 Laika: Aged Through Blood
Metroidvanias on Motorcycles
Laika: Aged Through Blood made me realize that not nearly enough Metroidvanias incorporate motorcycles into their gameplay.
In this game, you step into the cowboy boots of Laika, a fierce coyote mother on a heart-wrenching quest for vengeance in a post-apocalyptic, western world where the tyrannical Birds rule with an iron talon.
Fueled by your thirst for revenge, you’ll set out across the desert on your trusty motorbike, ready to tear those feathery bastards to shreds for what they did to you.
Along your journey, you’ll get to engage in thrilling vehicular combat, jumping through the air and shredding through your enemies without slowing down even a mile.
Every downed enemy means upgraded skills and weapons to make you stronger, and one step closer to taking down the oppressive regime controlling your people.
Unlike Hollow Knight’s bleak landscapes, this game throws you into a western-style world where the only things you can trust are your guns and your gut, and anything that tells you otherwise is dealt with promptly by the former.
Where Hollow Knight is a quiet, haunting journey, Laika is a full-throttle, rage-fueled reckoning, one that you’re not likely to forget anytime soon.
6 Islets
The Most Wholesome Metroidvania Ever
Islets is by far one of the most adorable Metroidvanias I’ve had the pleasure of playing. Every single one of these characters continues to live rent-free in my brain, years after I put it down.
In Islets, you play as Iko, a tiny but mighty warrior tasked with reuniting a world of disconnected, floating islands by reigniting their magnetic cores. Each of the islands possesses its own explorable zone, complete with its own secrets, enemies, and bosses.
Using your rickety airship, you’ll take to the skies and fly between these islands, navigating a fragmented world and fighting off sky-pirates all at once to save the people you love.
As you complete each island and they all begin to reconnect, the world itself expands, offering you endless new challenges to face and secrets to uncover.
Every island offers its own version of Metroidvania-hell, however, so don’t let the cutesy art style lure you into a false sense of security. This game is hard, regardless of what its visuals would have you believe.
That being said, Islets is a surprisingly wholesome Metroidvania that reminds us that sometimes, the hardest challenges come in the cutest packages.
5 Touhou Luna Nights
Weird in the Best Way Possible
Time-bending and reality-warping aren’t new concepts to the gaming scene by any means, but Touhou Luna Nights presents them in a way that’s much more approachable and exciting for the average gamer.
Developed by the same teams that brought us Bladechimera and Needy Streamer Overload, this Metroidvania stars Sakuya Izayoi, a maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, who’s been tossed into a strange, dreamlike world by her vampire mistress Remilia.
Now, if that doesn’t go toe-to-toe with Hollow Knight’s own story setup in terms of uniqueness, then I don’t know what will.
With your powers sealed and your questions unanswered, you’ll have to explore this strange, new world’s dangerous labyrinths, battle its bizarre yokai creatures, and eventually reclaim your lost time-manipulation abilities.
Without them, there won’t be any chance of getting out of this place alive, and giving Remilia a piece of your mind will be the least of your worries.
With every cleared area and yokai defeated, you’ll begin to gradually get your powers back, which will help you move forward. You’ll be able to stop projectiles midair, freeze time to sneak up behind your enemies mid-battle, and dodge your enemies’ attacks far more easily.
You won’t be bulletproof, but that won’t stop you from feeling like a literal god. Nothing makes you feel as powerful as stopping time mid-battle just to literally stab your enemies in the back.
4 ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist
Can Humans and AI Coexist?
As the highly anticipated sequel to Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights, Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist takes an even bleaker perspective on the Land of Fumes, creating an incredibly rich atmosphere for dark fantasy lovers and Metroidvania fans alike.
Set decades after the Rain of Death, the once-thriving Land of Fumes is now overrun by Homunculi, artificial life forms that, although originally created to advance the kingdom’s development, eventually went mad from the underground’s toxic fumes and turned that very same kingdom to ruin.
You play as Lilac, an amnesiac Attuner who happens to possess the only known power to save the Homunculi. Upon waking, you find yourself deep underground in a strange laboratory, where you’ll come face to face with many of the very same Homunculi directly responsible for your kingdom’s downfall.
With no memories and even fewer allies, you’ll have to set out into the ruins of your beloved kingdom and beyond, facing various mad Humonculi and saving their souls one by one.
Along the way, you’ll have the chance to recruit allies to your cause; you’ll need all the help you can get if you want to find a way to restore any semblance of peace to the land.
But by the end of your quest, you’ll have a choice to make: will you save the humans who inadvertently destroyed themselves with their own greed, or Humonculi, mere victimized byproducts of that same human greed? The choice is yours, but trust me, no matter what answers you plague your gameplay with, you’ll regret it for days to come.
3 ANIMAL WELL
A Well Full of Puzzles
If you found yourself wishing Hollow Knight had more puzzles during your playthrough, then Animal Well is about to become your next obsession.
Where most Metroidvanias lean on combat to drive progression, Animal Well strips it away almost entirely, focusing instead on open-ended exploration, environmental puzzles, and creating an unforgettable atmosphere that frequently toes the line between existentialism and horror.
In Animal Well, you play as a little creature who emerges from a flower at the bottom of a mysterious well. Not entirely sure of where or even who you are, you’ll have to go deeper into the well for more answers, though they might not be the ones you expect.
The strange creatures of the well are just as mysterious: some are friendly, some are ominous, and some are just downright terrifying.
With no weapons to rely on, your survival will depend solely on the unusual items you collect along the way. Some will help you escape the clutches of more hostile creatures, while others will help you unlock new areas to explore.
Hollow Knight may have brought us acrobatic combat and near-flawless environmental storytelling, but Animal Well practically redefines the genre with its inventive use of puzzles, unsettling atmosphere, and unconventional progression.
2 Nine Sols
The Purrfect Sekiro-Inspired Metroidvania
If you loved the sharp, fast-paced combat of Hollow Knight but wish the stakes had been just a bit higher, then you need to turn your attention to Nine Sols.
In Nine Sols, you play as Yi, a long-forgotten yet admittedly adorable hero who was awakened to dismantle the reign of the 9 Sols, divine rulers who once protected humanity but now stand above it as godlike tyrants.
The combat is every bit as intense as you’d expect, and no amount of button-mashing is going to save you.
You’ll have to carefully aim, time, and plan your attacks ahead of time if you ever want a chance at victory, especially when you realize that you’ll be spending 90% of your battles deflecting enemy attacks like a fly swatter in a swarm.
These enemies did not come to play, and they’ll prove it with every slash and punch they throw at you. Honestly, you’ll probably spend more time dodging and rolling than anything else in this game.
It can get intense at times, but there’s so much more to Nine Sols than just its combat.
What makes Nine Sols really stand out in the genre is its setting: a “Taopunk” fusion of cyberpunk futurism, Eastern mythology, and cosmic mystery, all crammed together in an oven cranked to the max. You won’t find another game like it in the entire Metroidvania lineup, least of all in Hollow Knight.
1 Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Hollow Knight Wishes it Was This Good
If you’re looking for a Metroidvania that’ll put Hollow Knight in your rearview mirror for good, then you’ve just found it in Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
Acting as the long-awaited sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest, this game expands on everything that made its predecessor great and then some, with beautifully rendered environments and tight platforming mechanics that would put any platformer to shame.
In this game, you’ll once again be playing the part of Ori, except this time, you’re on a mission to find and save your friend Ku, a young owlet who was separated from you in a storm.
Along the way, your abilities will grow and transform with the forest around you, allowing you access into areas that were impossible to get into before, and transforming traversal into a near art form that’ll have you gliding through the trees like the forest spirit you were always meant to be.
The game’s story is told almost entirely through visuals, gestures, and music, and that wordless approach somehow speaks louder than any other emotional gaming experience I’ve had this year. Ori and the Will of the Wisps will have you in tears long before the credits roll; just keep a box of tissues handy and don’t say I didn’t warn you.
If you need a new, emotionally charged Metroidvania that’ll test your combat skills and detox your tear ducts, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is as good as it gets.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
