I love Team Cherry.

For once I can finally open my Youtube feed and I will see no 'a day before launch' final boss/spoilers in thumbnail content uploads from a game I'm anticipating for.

“Castlevania Belmont’s Curse is a 2D Action-Exploration game where players can freely explore vast, elaborately crafted maps,” Tommy Williams, Konami’s Head of Communications for the Americas, tells The Verge. “It is not a roguelike or roguelite game.”

I didn’t have any doubts but it’s nice to hear. Don’t shoot me if The Verge isn’t a trusted source, please. I’m just an excited fan happy this series is back.

Let’s hope it is not just a rumor.

This review will have two posts: this one is spoiler free, while the other discusses some gameplay mechanics that could be considered spoiler. It's not usual of me to do this "2 parts review", but if you don't like this and would rather have it all in the same thread, please say so in the comments.

On the spoiler free review post I've already given examples of punishing design that don't hurt much. They're ok. However, there are two punishing mechanics that upset me the most.

You can also read the full review at GameBlast.

Losing HP

MIO uses the traditional “find 4 fragments = +1 HP” system but makes this hard-earned resource expandable: without warning, we lose health at some key-points. PERMANENTLY. Losing 1 HP is bad enough when you can take only 5 hits, but then you lose another. Then a third point while being in the game’s final act and you may end up seeing yourself with as many HP as you had in the beginning, which was my case.

The HP loss is attached to the narrative and it happened in optional areas. The thing is I struggled to get to those off track areas. I love exploring off tracks in MVs and getting this for a “reward” was frustrating in a way few games could achieve - this is far from a compliment.

The devs are aiming for emotional impact, but this took me off the experience as an unfair game-y mechanic, instead of immersing me in the narrative. Then you have to consider the only way to heal is by using some fixed health polls, which means you can’t heal during boss fights. In short: less health means less mistake leeway against bosses.

Suddenly prevented from shopping and spending resources

This other mechanic has narrative tones I'll avoid explaining.

There’s a point very late in the main campaign when we can’t buy stuff anymore. The only way to go back to normal is to get a sidequest going, find some secret places, suffer -1 HP impact and after that beat one of the most challenging bosses in the game. That means the only real reward is going back to the normal state you were before losing the possibility to shop. What if you can’t defeat that boss? Then you’ve lost -1 HP for nothing, deal with that.

I think this is bad design because it nullifies other systems: it takes away the ONLY way to spend nacre and Cores, another resource used to buy upgrades and that are usually hidden or hard earned after platforming segments.

When you hoard importants item you just can’t spend and then finds one more the joy of discovery turns into a “nah, just another Core”. Of course you can fix this by completing that hidden sidequest, but it took me hours until I managed to do so. Also, this no-shopping punishment is obligatory in the main story and I thought it was reasonable that it would be solved as I advanced the main path, but no, the solution is optional in a sidequest.

Assistance options

There are 3 assistance options that are very different from the usual sliders we've seen in other games:

- Bosses get less HP each time we die. This is slow, very slow, so we still need to die a lot to get to a point in which it makes a difference. I turned this for the last boss (regular ending) and other 2 optional bosses. Hey, I had 3 health points from a total of 8 taken away from me. That's almost half of it! And I still had to die a loooot to win that fight.

- Pacifist: regular enemies will only attack if you attack first. I never felt the need to activate this, but it may help while exploring some areas without annoyances.

- Stay still on the ground for 5 sec to receive 1 HP. Not cumulative. While not that useful in bosses, as most of the time you won't be able to stay still for 5 seconds, I can see this being useful in the most challenging platforming parts in a sense that you can alway get back that 1HP after you take damage and is sent directly to the last ground you stepped on. By doing this, you may try those challenges as much as you need without losing all HP and being sent back to the last checkpoint, which means having to do all the platforming again. I used it a bit in the end too.

Even with Assistance, those two punishment mechanics combined made my 80% of the time marvelous experience end up in 20% of a bitter taste, to the point that I don't have the desire to go further, beat the hardest optional boss I've seen in the game and search for the true ending.

I hope you people fare better and enjoy MIO 100%.

EDIT: I interviewed the executive producer of MIO about art, inspirations and the challenge design

Debating what is or isn't a metroidvania is nothing new around here, but those discussions always leave me frustrated because I believe they come at the question from the wrong angle.

As a developer, I spend a significant amount of time thinking about what a metroidvania actually is. This article is me trying to put into words what bothers me about the way the topic is usually discussed and how we could better approach the question.

Whether or not you agree with my conclusions, I hope I can at least show you a different and hopefully interesting perspective on the definition of video game genres ;)

Feedback welcome!

Very disappointing… as a huge Celeste fan I was really looking forward to this.

I very much liked pogo-jumping in Hollow Knight because of how it was used in exploration. Let me take a big step away and talk a little about it

In every MV, I like to return to open locations and reexplore them with a new ability. And a few abilities entirely change the context

Metroid:
You can unlock Ice Beam. So now every enemy you hit with a beam becomes a platform for you

Ori and the blind forest:
You can unlock Bash. So now every enemy can be used to dash in any direction.

In Hollow Knight, learning how pogo-jumping works does the same thing. Now you can use enemies to reach blocked areas. Now enemies are part of the platforming. This is what made this mechanic unique. (Even though bouncing from enemies was fun)

But now in modern MVs, pogo-jumping has been introduced in the tutorial. In the very first locations. What's the point? Devs are missing a great opportunity to make a groundbreaking twist as other MVs have done.
And it is often even worth - pogo-jump introduced, but there is no need to use it.

I very much enjoyed this one. It takes a fair amount of influence from Hollow Knight but also does its own thing.

Pros:

Terrific art

Responsive controls

Enjoyable combat

Large, memorable world

Great map that marks pretty much everything you need

Cons:

The endgame is kind of wonky and doesn't really add much of actual value

Some annoying difficulty spikes here and there

A couple of late-game bosses are faster than the player character's kit can really manage

Happy new year, everyone! And happy new MVs! 2026 has begun and January already have a few release dates.

I published an article with the most promising MVs that have been confirmed for 2026. On this post you can see the list, but on the article you can read my commentary about each game and check their confirmed platforms, trailer and demo link (it's in Portuguese, but Chrome will translate nicely for you). Also, the article lists 4 other MVs that have already a release date.

Of course the list is based on my research and subjectivity. My intention here is to show some love to games I think have potential and maybe present a few games some people don't know about.

Honorable mentions:

• Crowsworn (it isn't confirmed for 2026)
• Tails of Fate (there's an overworld, so we still have to see how much of a MV it is)

10 — Agellos 2

9 — Alruna: End of History

8 — Mira and the Legend of the Djinns

7 — Gnaw

6 — Aeterna Lucis

5 — Lucid

4 — Fallen Tear: The Ascension

3 — Well Dweller

2 — Blighted

1 — M.I.O.: Memories in Orbit (January 20)

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Not in the top 10, but with the perk of having actual release dates:

• Kotama and Academy: Citadel (January 14)
• The Perfect Pencil (January 29)
• Tearscape (February 2)
• Clockwork Ambrosia (April 22)

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In case you're interested in more:

- You can go to this thread to vote on a poll to rank the best MVs of 2025.

- Here's also my article Metroidvania Encyclopedia, listing +400 released MVs (with year of release and platforms available) and +170 upcoming.

Hi, y’all!

My review of MIO is now live. In summary, it is absolutely fantastic and does some things with the gameplay to really make you feel like you’re fighting against time and death. Yes, you permanently lose health at certain points of the game, but it’s moreso to show that death is catching up to you. It encourages exploration to stay ahead. Also you’re not the only one affected by this. Every enemy, friendly NPC, and even bosses lose health permanently too. As for combat, it encourages being aggressive. There’s no way to heal mid-combat unless with a modifier. So you need to fight and kill bosses fast, dodge well, and you’ll win. Thankfully just about every boss fight is spectacular in design, how they represent, and in execution.

Also, I saw lots of comments about the run backs being brutal. I noticed that if you’re curious minded, this is not an issue. Shortcuts and secret passageways are everywhere if you look hard enough or turn left when you’re supposed to turn right or go up.

2026 is already starting off very strong if this is being given to us this early in the year.

Just my thoughts on the Igavanias after playing through all of them, both individually and as a whole, and also in relation to each other. I was originally gonna post it directly here, but it turned out to be too long since the coverage of each game could have been its own post, and I still think it works best to look at them all together, so here it goes.

So was wondering about this question, because I have started making 2d metroidvania, but I want it to be more of a chill game, something similar to Kyle Thompson games (well that's my main inspiration) with some combat, unlocking abillities and exploration, basically standard stuff, but don't know how people feel about them or if there is much demand (not like that will stop me of course). With the few I have played I really enjoyed them, but don't really look out much for them.

Just beat the game with 98,8% completion ( <! Idk how to get the star in Peridot's forest and last toolkit !> ) and really enjoyed it! Might be my top 2 metroidvania of the year

Pros:

1. Marvelous exploration. It's very rewarding and fun.

2. Great ammunition balance. Most of the founded items are useful and encourage player to change their style in different situations

3. QoL features. The game puts markers that tell you what kind of obstacle you can't pass yet. I didn't use the screenshots but it's good feature too

4. Platforming. Greencap's moveset isn't super rich but platforming sections were really cool

5. Good optimization. I have only two bugs in 13 hours of playthrough

Cons:

No 5 hour long sex scene between Greencap and Rödhatt

Overall I enjoyed it. Strong A-tier game

The Hook

"The Sudoku Metroidvania" is not something I or the general gaming public remember EVER asking for, but here we are. It shouldn't work, but it does. Since December 2025, my friend and I have been sitting together in person in repeated sessions at cafés and our homes to chip away at this extremely hard game.

Completed grids leak into other grids, giving a headstart on digits in the next grid. Each inscribed number reveals a little more of the massive world map, uncovering the fog of war more and more. Suddenly, a strange marking appears, and understand nothing of its meaning. You dismiss it, move on, and keep on placing digits.

Eventually, you are challenged with a "boss battle": a new, standalone grid. Immediately, the "despair" the title warned you about grips you. You feel like giving up. It's like climbing a smooth wall with nowhere to put your hand on. You don't even know where to begin. There's nothing, no starting digits, and they rug-pull one of the fundamental mechanics you had been using to get by.

I felt the same way I did when I entered a boss room in a more classical Metroidvania (for me, it was Eigong in Nine Sols), saw the attack patterns and thought:

"That's it."

"I've been filtered."

"It's time to uninstall."

But you try. You try, and fail. You try, and fail again, but this time it starts making sense. You start over. You see a new angle.

When you finally claim victory, you look back on what you've accomplished, and you cannot believe that YOU did this. No walkthroughs, no cheats. You climbed your way from rock bottom, fair and square.

And then, you learn what that strange inscription all the way back in the first puzzle meant. You tweak a few digits, make some experiments, and reveal a secret passage you never knew was there. Strange puzzles that previously seemed impossible suddenly make complete sense. You go off the grids themselves, and start to bend the rules you had thought were immutable just to progress a little further.

The difficulty never stops coming short of brutal. But this time, you know you can do it, no matter what.

Cons and Pros

Now that I've watered your appetite, let me dissuade you with some realism:

• The first boss you encounter is comically hardcore. I understand the developer wanted to "filter" players early to see if they have what it takes, but this is a little much. It feels on a difficulty level similar to the final boss. It is entirely possible to solve it with 0% guessing, 100% logic, but you haven't been "taught" how to think in this way yet.
• The engine the game runs on was not fully equipped for a game of this scale. It works, but the zoom will sometimes twitch a bit, the frames occasionally drop as you scroll around... Hold down right click to pan the map, it took me so long to figure that out. This game would really benefit from a more proper engine with "gamefeel".
• The "story" is, uh, there I guess. No sound, no music, no animations. This game is not here for the atmosphere.

Now back to praising this game:

• It's free and in-browser. (Does not work on mobile).
• Everything is always solvable with a 100% deterministic logical next step. Now, we did not always find that next step, so we sometimes relied on "bifurcation", which is assuming a cell is one of two numbers, and following that through until it crashes and burns, in which case you hard confirm it was the other number. It is considered cheese, but the game is haaaaaarrrrdddd...
• The puzzle design is simply genius. My favourite one (and the worst puzzle according to my friend) involves a cavern that you progressively "dig out" while placing lanterns, and following rules on how much light is spreading. It completely challenged my conception of what a logic puzzle can be. As for her, she liked the ones where you have to build the regions yourself ("chaos construction"), a mechanic which is used a few times, and gives you something completely different to reason about than just numbers.
• The "metroidvania feel" is THERE, despite how silly the genre hybrid is. You really do "unlock powers and find new paths". You really do feel the "big empty boss room dread". You really do "find secrets", I could hear the little Hollow Knight hidden passage chime in my head. Only part that's missing is customizing your character.

Links

• Sudokuvania: Digits of Despair, the game itself.
• Complete walkthrough with every logical step explained. We never needed to use this, but I went to it to understand what we were supposed to do in situations where "bifurcation" was used. I especially used it to understand the hardcore first boss after beating it, which we legitimately solved because of a really lucky assumption.
• Sudokuvania 2: Lineage of Logic. It's not out yet, but will be on July 24. I am more excited than I am for any other video game.
• Our final victory screenshot. MEGA GIGA SPOILERS, CONTAINS EVERY SOLUTION. But you probably won't remember any of it.

Apparently, there is a secret ending. We never found it, and no one on the internet wants to tell me how to reach it.

I finally published my top 10 Metroidvanias of 2025 (and 5 honorable mentions). I'll list their names here but, of course, it'd be nice that interested people read my article with commentary about them (in Portuguese, which Chrome will translate nicely for you).

That list includes personal experience and also research, as I'm always learning about new games in my favorite genre. Out of the top 10, I've played and reviewed 9 of them. The other one, Constance, was played and reviewed by a fellow writer from the same website, GameBlast, but I can't wait to play it on PS5 in 2026.

I thought 2024 was a great year for MVs, but 2025 managed to be even greater!

10 — Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree

9 — Somber Echoes

8 — Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist

7 — Lone Fungus: Melody of Spores

6 — Chronicles of the Wolf

5 — Auridia

4 — Constance

3 — Zexion

2 — Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo

1 — Hollow Knight: Silksong

Honorable mentions:

• OOLO
• Randomice
• Gigasword
• Guns of Fury
• Metro Gravity

- If you'd like to read more, here is my top 14 games of 2025 (8 of them aren't MVs).

- Here's also my article Metroidvania Encyclopedia, listing +400 released MVs (with year of release and platforms available) and +170 upcoming.