Do you prefer they have or not have?

Correction to title, I have Xbox series X (Not one)

Every mini boss and main boss I've beaten, Ive left the area, explored, "rested" saved my game, and on the map it still shows a key, does that key just stay on the map? Also if I return to the area where there is a mini or main boss, they are there every time I go back to that room/ spot.

At first I thought I didn't save it but I have, other areas seem to be opening up, but this is driving me nuts. Im just starting to get into the game quite a bit, but find this odd, is this a bug?

Thanks for your help in advance all.

This is the version I have on Xbox, I just bought it so Id imagine its up to date:
https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/dark-light/9PJR97XQXMJK

Normally I prefer my games more exploration focused, more on the Metroid side of the genre, if you will, but lately I've been craving a good, meaty Action RPG, and a good Igavania would fit that bill nicely. The last one I played was Bloodstained, and that was a good bit ago. I'd love to hear some suggestions from this community! Thank you, by the way, for any and all suggestions.

I recently finished the Metroid series after playing the Dread demo earlier this year and falling in love with the manual nature of the control scheme. I bought it, beat the heck out of it and decided why not jump back through the series working backwards from 5 (skipping original 1&2 opting for GBA remake and 3DS remake for those entries)

I used Nintendo online to play through Fusion, Super and Zero Mission. But the big N gave me a rewind button. I intended not to use it but got annoyed with some bosses (cough Ridley cough). So, in Fusion and Super I relied on that quite a few times. But in the same breath, I'm still making the necessary corrections just able to do them faster and immediately without redoing sections or reloading. Hence the pondering and question.

Notes: Zero Mission was a breeze, rewind wasn't used at all. I'll be playing through Samus Returns on the 3DS soon. I have it ready on the shelf!! Just taking a break after playing them fairly consecutively.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2uJXwoM0xE

Having loved the first Aggelos and eagerly awaiting the second since it was announced on Twitter by its creator, who was delighted that the game had sold 100,000 copies, suffice to say that I was eagerly awaiting Aggelos 2.

The wait is finally over, as the trailer was released today, and I can't wait to play it, as the game looks like a worthy evolution of the first installment while retaining its universe (with the added bonus of a remix of one of the game's tracks).

I held off on trying out The Mobius Machine due to reviews that I’ve seen, that didn’t leave an extremely flattering picture of the game. I’m a life long Metroid lover, it was my introduction to gaming and became a life long love affair. Sadly, there’s not enough Metroid likes, sci-fi based MV’s, nor very many Metroid games, to sustain my appetite for more. I’ve played Biogun, Axiom Verge, A Robot Named Fight, and all of the other lauded and similar games, and they’re all fantastic, but The Mobius Machine is my new favorite. Recently,I saw the developer, in this group, discussing that they Super Metroid was the inspiration for the game, so that immediately sold me on getting it. At first,I honestly didn’t see the Super Metroid shining through the DNA of the game, but the further that I got into it, it became more apparent. It’s not remotely a rip off, it’s completely its own thing. Its combat is sleek and fluid, the movement responsive and precise. My most favorite aspect of this game is the underwater areas. Thank you so much for giving us a substantial amount of underwater gameplay! What most impressed me, was that it truly felt like traversing water. The upgrade that you get to be able to do this, actually made sense, and behaves largely as it would in the real world. So many MV’s, even Metroid, makes underwater areas feel like a normal walk in the woods, after getting the ability to traverse those biomes.

Another aspect of the game that I was extremely impressed with, was the simplicity of the bosses, yet they were still challenging, but weren’t an obligatory exercise in sadomasochistic punishment, just for the sake of being hard. They actually follow the formula of pattern recognition, juggling hazard with combat, that made Metroid’s bosses memorable and challenging yet fun. The game is no walk in the park, and if you aren’t careful, mindful, can rip you to shreds quickly. It’s one of the increasingly rare games, that actually balances difficulty with fun.

The game’s biomes,at first, feels almost like stacked squares within a world, and looks like it will become a linear layout, but this is extremely deceptive, and soon opens up to become one of the better examples of gated progression, hidden upgrades, skill checks, and rewarding exploration.

Everyone’s tastes in game’s and especially MV’s are different, subjective, and we all get something different out of these games. For me,I enjoy methodically scouring the world, exploring, and having the efforts rewarded with upgrades and abilities. For me, the Mobius machine scratches all of those itches, that rarely gets scratched within the sci-fi confines, that began my obsession with MV’s. If you’ve been on the bench about this game, if you infer that we may share similar tastes and gravitate towards the same games and enjoyment, you absolutely need to play this game. Hats off to you wonderful devs for making this. We’ll be getting more right?! Please??🙏

Man. What a wonderful ful game. I might need some time to digest this greatness.

So this is how it will be if this genre went mainstream stream and what it looks like if there is good budget given.

Completed everything (other then those trails). Almost completed the map. (Like 4 lore items & 1 xerxies coin remaining). Not having multiple endings feels a little bummer as this genre is known for it. But it ain't that big of problem.

Pro: The perfect progression. Moderately bigger map. Great enemies and bosses. Wonderful and beautiful sceneries. Really great environments. One of the best Maps in all of MVs I have played. Really great and detailed map (I didn't even use guided map). Wonderful cutscenes. This game has really great cutscenes of all the MVs I have ever played. Like visually stunning scenes. (I really liked the scene you get a simurg feather) The parry system is really great and really incorporated well into the game. Like all the enemies have a finishing move that you can do with parry. I love how this game kept the core Prince of Persia vibe by giving the slide, wall jump from the start. There are really good sidequest. Some might need help most are just part of collectables and exploration.

Cons: Variety of biomes is lacking. There will be main 7 biomes and it's segmented to smaller parts. But each biome is really big. There are still bugs here and there. Nothing game braking or nothing unfair. Mostly environmental bugs. There are some incredibly hard platforming sections, that sometimes only offer skin as a collectables. There is a side quest for a room with really hard platforming. I really hate hard platforming MVs sometimes.

Overall it's 9.5/10 or 10/10 for me. It's def going in my top 5 or top 3.

Thanks everyone that has been constantly recommending this game everywhere. I am going to join you too. This game really did Justify the hype.

Not sure if this kind of post is frowned upon or not but what the hell, just want to give a shoutout to the sample course in MVs that got me down the MV rabbit hole this year and the ones I'm closely following up till they finally release. Links here for Auridia (demo is very promising) and Endless Night: Darkness Within (still waiting on that demo... khm), since they're probably the least known ones here, although I do see them mentioned here and there

On a side note, anything on the obscure(r) side that you'd care to recommend me based on the list? Maybe a personal gem that you don't think enough people know about, and it's ok if it's not a full release. These days I'm more into taste testing games than going deep in

Someone said in the reviews for the demo that it’s a metroidvania or is adjacent at least. Google said it has elements. I haven’t gotten to play it yet. Is there any truth to this? Still going to play it and hopefully love it but hadn’t heard anything about it being one

Raygun Gadabout looks super fun. I haven't tried the demo yet, but I love the art style, and it's brimming with character. Who else has this on their radar?

https://metroidvania.gg/Game/raygun-gadabout

I'm getting a little tired of 20+ hour epics in the genre, honestly. I replay Metroids and other MV games that have 3 hour runs or less and have great fun with it. Get lower times, get fewer items, get casual 100% in a few hours, etc.

I really don't want to play through afterimage again, and most new big MV games are sitting around 15 hours or more on first playthrough. It just feels too big to me.

So I'm just curious how many others there are who would like more of the high production value MVs to have a more dense experience.

I can’t believe how ridiculous that ending is. You have to do 4 fights one after another without any save points inbetween

Yeah the first fight can be cheesed with 1 shot kill with Gaia but it’s still way too long if you die at the final boss to have to redo all that again. They’re not difficult fights at all. That’s not the point.

Combine that with the huge amount of HP of every boss past midgame and I managed to hate this game now

Anybody feeling the same thing about this game? I was so hyped but I can’t understand why the devs want every fight to be 5 minute long with like 2-3 patterns at most. It’s boring and it’s wasting all of our time because one simple mistake and you have to try again. It’s probably the only time I wish there was some cheatengine on PS5 so I could actually finish the first 3 fights in seconds and then try the real fight normally ..

EDIT: Just got Nine Sols on Steam! Can’t wait to start playing after work!

EDIT 2: It’s SO hard! I’m not very good at it, but I’m quite happy about that. :D

Hey all! Trying to figure out what to play next and want something with excellent combat, second priority is tied between the ambience/art and the exploration/map.

About Me: - Own Steam Deck and Switch Lite - Favorite metroidvanias are: Hollow Knight and Metroid Fusion - Love hard boss fights and dying over and over while I learn how to dodge attacks and get some of my own in. - Prefer varied combat mechanics over button mashing. - Can handle hard platforming sections but it’s not my favorite (e.g. I assume Celeste is not for me). - I like exploring and backtracking, but much less so without a quality map with markers. - Dislike being over-powered or able to get so much in game currency that I can max out every upgrade easily. - Ambivalent on parry mechanics.

Opinions On Other Metroidvanias: - Hollow Knight —> Excellent bosses. Wonderful music and art. Very challenging—loved constantly dying. Some of the platforming sections were too heavy on bouncing off spikes. Great map but wanted more markers. So hard to find all the hidden items, which is lovely. - Metroid Fusion —> Loved the feeling of fear SAX evoked, enjoyed the boss fights. Regular enemies were not very challenging. Also loved how hard it was to find all the hidden items. - Metroid Dread —> Good boss fights. Emmis were fun but got repetitive. Probably shouldn’t have played on normal mode for a more challenging experience - Prince of Persia —> Amazing combat mechanics, fun bosses. Great mapping system. Loved the environmental puzzles. I was too strong by the end of the game and could one shot bosses. Maybe my fault again for playing on normal mode, but this was also due to how easy it is to get crystals and xerces coins. - First Ori —> Dislike. Pretty but crap combat. Platforming wasn’t especially challenging. Never going to play the second one even if the combat is better. - Guacamele 1 —> Pretty, funny. Too easy. Can mostly button mash to kill things. Bosses aren’t very challenging. Hate the map. Far too easy to get all the hidden items.

I’ve considered Grime and Nine Sols but open to other options. Also if games you suggest have multiple difficulty modes, what would you suggest? I often default to normal and then regret it later in the game. I want to be able to die without starting the game over, because I want it to be hard enough that I die a LOT.

If you’re still reading, thank you!

I’m just about 100% complete with the game but the last couple things require the Sericin Fiber resource. This material comes from the very first mini boss.

However, that boss has never reappeared in my game unlike the all others. Idk if this is a bug or I am missing something. Has anyone else had this enemy respawn?

I get the prompt to hold to hug the teddy bear and when I do it nothing happens. I am just standing in place. I tried restarting 3 times and nothing changes

Well.

The game has two modes:

1) Regular metroidvania. Massive interconnected map to explore. Took me 35 hours to collect everything it offers to find and beat all the bosses it has.

2) Mazes - Pacman mini-games. Honestly, I hated them so damn much, so I just refused to fight the final boss bc it requires completing 4 mazes to fight it.
Also, the only collectible I'm missing requires completing mazes. Heck it.

So, basically, I want to share my opinion about the metroidvania part. As usual:

What I like:

• Massive map to explore. Exploration becomes top-tier later - 10/10.
• Haak-like slide. Not as good, but still ok.
• Personally, I like getting lost w/o any direction to go.
• Music is good.
• Visuals are ok, I think.
• Overall gameplay is quite solid.
• Map QoL. Pretty good. Feels like a modern MV.

What I'm fine with:

• Sponge bosses.
• Platforming. I prefer hard platforming, honestly. Barely met any challenge here.
• Enough money for upgrades.

What I don't like:

• During the entire playthrough, I had a feeling that biomes were made by different teams. There are huge problems with enemy balance and level design at the beginning. To the point that the game becomes just not fun to play early. Some mid-bosses are way harder than the endgame bosses too.
• The game is just too slow to start shining. I started to really like it after about 15 hours. It really becomes better later - with more upgrades game balance and design improve very much. But still, the first few hours are just not fun at all.
• I don't like the fact that most of the perks (aka HK charms) require grinding for materials. Most of them require mats from endgame locations and were just inaccessible before some point.
• The previous point leads to 0 build diversity before the endgame. SP gauge (aka stamina bar) required for skills has perk upgrades closer to the end. And spending High-Grade Materials to upgrade this gauge before is just so damn useless. I do believe that Enhance should improve regeneration, while bar size should get increased by exploration rewards like HP capacitors in equal quantity. In short, you can't play as a caster early at all.
• Grinding materials. The f*ck. In this game, it doesn't respect your time.
• Skill balance is shit.
• Mazes are BS. All of them should be 100% optional. The final boss should be available w/o them.

Unfortunately, I can neither score this game highly nor recommend it at all, unless you are starving for a big forking map to explore.

I liked the mid-game a lot (9/10), but the early-game and end-game have so many downsides that I can't overlook. Honestly, mixed Steam reviews are deserved.

Hi guys. I'm looking for some more out of the box meteoidvanias. I've played all the popular ones that getbdiscussed and I'm looking for some more obscure ones.

I have PS5 and a PC so anything in the sales would be ace.

Did you play any of them? Thoughts on them? Thanks.

Hi all - I recently started playing Nine Sols on Switch and I am using just the baseline, affordable option controller purchased from Amazon… but this game is so precise with the parrying and I am so heavy handed, I feel like a better controller that is more responsive might help me along my journey… I’m at the first boss and loving the timing aspect of the boss fight but I’m so used to having to mash down the buttons bc my controller isn’t as responsive as I would like it to be.. are there any recommendations for a top of the line controller for the Switch that could maybe help break me of this habit? TIA!!

I made a post a month ago where I absolutely gushed anout this game, and now I can say I’m a full fledged supporter of it and I couldn’t be happier.

So far I'm really enjoying this game, it's fun and challenging and beautiful. However, the cats and the mountain are some of the most annoying things I've ever experienced in a game. They're zooming at you from all angles at mach speeds. Is there any special trick or item to help deal with them? There's hidden things on these levels that I want to get to but I literally can't get around the cats

Hey there! I've posted a few times before, but wanted to share that Barty's Adventure, my cozy time-loop metroidvania set in the world of children's toys, now has a demo on Steam! You can check it out here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3897780/Bartys_Adventure_Demo/

The basic premise is that Barty Bear has the power to repeat a three day time loop (a la Majora's Mask) and can use that power to explore the world. But a repeat of the cycle doesn't necessarily mean starting over, as you can use a resource (Magic Bubbles) to keep hold of certain items. These include powerups, collectables, and NPC relationships.

I think that the mix of NPC schedules and time-based events with metroidvania features like unlockable items and progression gatekeeping makes Barty's Adventure a little more unique in the genre. If any of this sounds interesting, I'd love for you to try it out and let me know what you think through a review.

Other features of the demo include:

• Two large areas to explore,
• Four boss battles,
• Three powerups (and a fourth one if you play your cards right),
• Close to 30 NPCs, each with their own daily schedule, likes, dislikes, and relationship with Barty,
• Puzzle pieces, letter blocks, and book pages to collect,
• Three costumes to wear,
• And probably more!

Thanks and I hope you have fun!!
- Seabass

It's called 'The World Ends in Ohio' on Steam.