Best Metroidvania Games to Play in 2026
The Metroidvania genre has exploded over the last decade to the point where there are genuinely too many good ones to play. That's a wonderful problem to have, but it also means you need some guida...
February 28, 2026 · 11 min read
Been gaming since the PS1 days. I have opinions and I'm not afraid to share them. If a game respects my time, I'll respect it back.
The Metroidvania genre has exploded over the last decade to the point where there are genuinely too many good ones to play. That's a wonderful problem to have, but it also means you need some guidance on where to spend your time. I've played nearly every notable release in the genre since Super Metroid, and I have strong opinions about what separates a great Metroidvania from a good one. It comes down to three things: how the map reveals itself, how movement feels, and how the game rewards exploration with meaningful upgrades rather than collectible junk. Here are the best Metroidvanias you can play in 2026, ranked with clear favorites because anything else would be dishonest.
The Best Metroidvania Ever Made
Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight
Team Cherry
Feb 24, 2017
A 2D metroidvania with an emphasis on close combat and exploration in which the player enters the once-prosperous now-bleak insect kingdom of Hallo…
I'll say it plainly: Hollow Knight is the greatest Metroidvania ever made, and it's not particularly close. Team Cherry created a game so dense with secrets, so precise in its controls, and so vast in its scope that it redefined what indie games could accomplish. The world of Hallownest is an interconnected underground kingdom with over a dozen distinct biomes, each with its own visual identity, enemy types, and environmental storytelling. You can play for 40 hours and still discover entire areas you didn't know existed. That's not padding. Every corner of this map was designed with purpose.
The combat is simple on the surface. You have a nail, you swing it. But the boss fights are where Hollow Knight earns its legendary status. Each boss has distinct patterns that demand different approaches, and the difficulty curve ramps so naturally that you barely notice how much better you've gotten until you return to an early area and realize you can dodge attacks in your sleep. The optional endgame bosses, particularly the Pantheons, are some of the hardest challenges in any game, period. They're not unfair, though. Every death teaches you something if you're paying attention.
What truly sets Hollow Knight apart from every other game on this list is the atmosphere. Christopher Larkin's soundtrack is hauntingly beautiful, shifting from melancholic piano in the City of Tears to frenetic strings in the deepest caverns. The art direction uses a limited color palette to create mood in ways that more graphically complex games rarely achieve. And the lore, told through item descriptions, NPC dialogue, and environmental details, builds a narrative that rewards careful observation without ever forcing exposition on you. If you play one Metroidvania in your lifetime, make it this one. And if you've already played it, play it again. You missed something. I guarantee it.
The Best of the Rest
Metroid Dread
Metroid Dread
Nintendo EPD · Nintendo
Oct 7, 2021
Join intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran in her first new 2D Metroid story in 19 years. Samus’ story continues after the events of the Metroid F…
Metroid Dread proved that Nintendo still knows how to make a Metroid game, even after a 19-year gap between mainline 2D entries. The game is tighter and more linear than Hollow Knight, which isn't a criticism. Dread knows exactly where it wants to take you and moves at a pace that rarely lets up. The EMMI zones, where you're hunted by invincible robots through sterilized corridors, create genuine tension in a genre that doesn't usually make your heart rate spike.
Samus has never controlled better than she does here. The parry system adds a rhythmic quality to combat that makes even basic enemy encounters feel satisfying. Boss fights are aggressive and pattern-heavy, demanding quick reactions and punishing hesitation. The game respects your time, clocking in at around 8 to 10 hours for a first playthrough, which is lean for the genre but means there's zero filler. Every room serves a purpose. Dread is a masterclass in focused game design, and it's the game I recommend to people who think they don't like Metroidvanias. It might change their mind.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Moon Studios · Xbox Game Studios
Mar 10, 2020
The little spirit Ori is no stranger to peril, but when a fateful flight puts the owlet Ku in harm’s way, it will take more than bravery to bring a…
Ori and the Will of the Wisps is the most visually stunning game in the Metroidvania genre. Every frame looks like a painting, and the animation quality on Ori's movement is staggeringly fluid. But this isn't just a pretty face. Moon Studios rebuilt the combat system from the first game entirely, adding a weapon-based loadout system that gives you real options for how to approach encounters. The spirit blade, the spirit bow, the hammer. Each weapon has a distinct feel, and mixing them into your traversal creates a flow state that no other game in the genre matches.
The platforming is spectacular. Will of the Wisps has chase sequences that are so tightly designed, so perfectly paced, that completing them feels like finishing a drum solo. The game also pulls on your emotions harder than you'd expect from a platformer. The opening and closing hours are genuinely moving, and the soundtrack by Gareth Coker deserves every award it's received. My one complaint is that the game can occasionally stutter during busy scenes, even on powerful hardware. But that's a minor blemish on an otherwise extraordinary experience.
Combat-First Metroidvanias
Some Metroidvanias lean harder into the action side. If you want tight combat mechanics and intense encounters more than exploration puzzles, these are your games.
Dead Cells
Dead Cells
Motion Twin
Aug 6, 2018
Dead Cells is a rogue-lite, metroidvania inspired, action-platformer. You'll explore a sprawling, ever-changing castle... assuming you’re able to f…
Dead Cells blends Metroidvania exploration with roguelike structure, and the result is one of the most replayable games ever made. Each run generates a different path through interconnected biomes, and permanent unlocks between runs gradually open up new routes and weapon options. The combat is fast, responsive, and endlessly satisfying. Every weapon has a unique feel, and the build diversity means you can play aggressively with a broadsword or cautiously with traps and turrets. The game encourages you to find your style and rewards you for mastering it.
Motion Twin has supported Dead Cells with years of updates and DLC that have expanded the game dramatically from its initial release. Boss fights have been retuned, new biomes add variety to the loop, and the difficulty options let you customize the challenge to your skill level. Calling Dead Cells a pure Metroidvania is debatable since the roguelike elements are dominant. But the way it handles exploration, ability gating, and world interconnection checks enough genre boxes that it belongs on this list. Some of my best gaming moments in the last five years happened during Dead Cells runs where everything just clicked into place.
Blasphemous 2
Blasphemous 2 has the best art direction in the Metroidvania genre. Full stop. The Game Kitchen's dark religious imagery, inspired by Spanish Catholic iconography, creates a world that's simultaneously grotesque and beautiful. Every boss is a twisted masterpiece of pixel art, and the environments range from gilded cathedrals to putrid swamps with a visual consistency that most AAA studios can't match. If you have any appreciation for art design in games, Blasphemous 2 will constantly make you pause just to absorb what's on screen.
The gameplay takes a significant leap forward from the first game. Three starting weapons, each with distinct movesets and traversal abilities, provide meaningful choice from the very beginning. The platforming is more varied and less punishing than the original, and the map design has more interconnected shortcuts that make backtracking feel intentional rather than tedious. The difficulty is firm but fair, sitting somewhere between Hollow Knight's toughest bosses and Ori's more accessible challenges. It's a game with strong convictions about its aesthetic and tone, and it never compromises. You'll either be captivated by its vision or put off by its intensity. I was captivated.
The Picks That Deserve More Attention
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Ubisoft Montpellier · Ubisoft Entertainment
Jan 18, 2024
Dash into a stylish and thrilling action-adventure platformer set in a mythological Persian world where the boundaries of time and space are yours …
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is the biggest surprise on this list. When Ubisoft announced a 2D Prince of Persia Metroidvania, expectations were cautiously low. Ubisoft's track record with anything outside of open-world games has been inconsistent, and the Prince of Persia brand hadn't been relevant in over a decade. Then the game launched and it was genuinely excellent. The time-manipulation powers create exploration puzzles that feel fresh in a genre where most ability gates boil down to "double jump to reach that ledge."
The combat system is deep enough to sustain the full runtime, with parrying, aerial combos, and time-freeze abilities that flow together beautifully once you internalize the timing. Boss fights are challenging and creative, often requiring you to use your traversal abilities offensively in ways the exploration doesn't prepare you for. The map snapshot feature, which lets you take photos of areas you want to return to later, is such a smart quality-of-life addition that I'm shocked nobody thought of it sooner. Every Metroidvania should steal this idea.
The Lost Crown is also paced well. It clocks in at around 15 to 20 hours, long enough to feel substantial but short enough that it doesn't overstay its welcome. Ubisoft Montpellier clearly studied the best games in the genre and understood what makes them work. If this game had launched under an indie label instead of a major publisher, it would be getting even more love than it already receives. Don't sleep on it.
Axiom Verge 2
Axiom Verge 2
Thomas Happ Games
Aug 11, 2021
You may have played Axiom Verge, or heard it referenced as a benchmark for indie “metroidvania” adventures. Axiom Verge 2 is part of the same story…
Axiom Verge 2 is a weird game, and I mean that as a compliment. Tom Happ's solo-developed sequel abandons the Metroid-style gunplay of the original in favor of melee combat and a dual-world mechanic that lets you shift between a normal environment and a glitchy digital dimension. It's slower and more experimental than its predecessor, which divided fans. But if you're open to a Metroidvania that prioritizes atmosphere and exploration over combat, Axiom Verge 2 offers something genuinely unique. The interconnection between its two parallel worlds creates navigation puzzles that no other game in the genre is attempting.
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights
adglobe · Binary Haze Interactive
Jun 21, 2021
Ender Lilies is a dark fantasy 2D Action RPG about unraveling the mysteries of a nation destroyed by a cataclysmic event. The fallen Kingdom of End…
Ender Lilies is a dark, melancholic Metroidvania where you play as a small girl summoning the spirits of fallen knights to fight for you. The aesthetic sits somewhere between Hollow Knight and a Studio Ghibli film, with watercolor-style backgrounds and haunting piano arrangements that set a somber tone throughout. Combat revolves around equipping different spirit abilities, each gained from defeating bosses, and mixing them into loadouts that suit different encounters. It's not as polished as the top-tier games on this list, and some late-game areas feel undercooked. But the boss fights are consistently excellent, and the emotional weight of the story, a kingdom destroyed by an endless rain that corrupts everything it touches, carries you through the rougher spots. Worth playing if you've exhausted the bigger names and want something with a distinctive identity.
The Metroidvania genre rewards patience and curiosity in a way that few other genres can match. The best games on this list don't just give you a map to fill in. They give you a world that changes meaning as you gain new abilities, new perspectives, and new reasons to look at old spaces with fresh eyes. Whether you're playing Hollow Knight for the first time or revisiting Prince of Persia's clever time puzzles, 2026 has no shortage of excellent reasons to get lost underground, behind walls, and between dimensions. Start with Hollow Knight. Work your way down. You won't regret it.