I’ve been revisiting anno 2205, infamously the ugly duckling of the Anno series of RTS games. I don’t mind so much the fact that it’s different, lacks customisation and random map generation - I’m bothered because the game is so slow to progress through on challenge settings, and it feels like a game designed just to artificially waste your time; in other anno games, you can always pull tricks to dig yourself out of economic crisis - selling off assets and surplus goods, completing quests for other parties, or taking loans. 2205 is very very confined in terms of what you can do to financially recover in the early game and forces you into a lot of military events.
Hollow Knight is an tremendous game, but it is also a terrible game, and while I true ending’ed it, looking back I spent more than half my playtime annoyed and ultimately don’t think the game is good when considered in full.
Wow, that’s incredible. I feel pretty much the exact opposite (and don’t get me started on Silksong, I’ll rave for days) but that must mean there’s a game I missed that’s your Hollow Knight? Please tell me about it!
I dunno, I play a lot of indie games and stuff but I won’t pretend to be some kind of refined critic or anything; many of my favorite games are pretty standard fare. But I do have my opinions and I’m happy to share them.
Are we talking just metroidvanias, or games in general? I’ll start with metroidvanias:
First off, some people consider Shovel Knight a metroidvania, I don’t really, but if you do then Shovel Knight is absolutely top of my list. That’s basically a perfect game for me.
But after that, my favorite metroidvanias are, roughly in order:
Ori & the Blind Forest - what a game! People often say the best part of Hollow Knight is the atmosphere and environment and I think Ori’s is at least as strong, and with an art style I enjoy more.
Guacamelee 2 - Look, I’ll concede that some of the jokes (especially background gags) were questionable from the start and have aged like milk, but in literally every other way I think Guacamelee 2 is an actual masterpiece. Just does an incredible job of taking the metroidvania formula and adding great touches of beat 'em ups and precision platforming. Incredibly tight, fluid, and intuitive combat and controls, and I loved how the vast majority of moves/upgrades were equally utilized as combat options and traversal tools. I think a lot of people bounce off the aesthetic and some of the questionable humor before getting into the game, but goddamn I personally can’t recommend it enough on sheer gameplay alone.
Guacamelee (1) Super Turbo Championship Edition - Everything I said about Guacamelee 2 just 2% less enthusiastically and about 8% less tight in controls.
The Messenger - Kind of Hollow Knight meets classic Ninja Gaiden? I feel like if you liked Hollow Knight then The Messenger is a really safe bet.
And now expanding outside the genre, here are some of my favorite non-Metroidvania games, but this time the only order they’re in is indies/small games first:
Enter the Gungeon - I think this the hardest game I’ve ever played, period. It’s also an actual masterpiece. I’m not good it, but I still absolutely love it. I’m late to the party and just purchased it in the beginning of 2026 and I already have over 100 hours in the game and I’ve only killed the past (“beaten” the game) once but I’m still obsessed.
Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark - If you, like me, rank Final Fantasy Tactics as one of your GOATs, you should play Fell Seal. It’s not a perfect game, but it is the closest experience I’ve ever had to FFT (including FFTA and FFTA2!) while not feeling at all like just a clone game. More people should play this one.
Cassette Beasts - Everything I said about Fell Seal & FFT, except about Cassette Beasts and the classic Pokemon games.
Celeste - Everyone should play Celeste, and it has one of the best sets of difficulty options in gaming so everyone can play Celeste. On standard, it’s delightfully hard as balls (at least the extra/side content), but if you’re not interested in that kind of challenge it never makes you feel lesser for choosing to make the path easier for yourself. The gameplay is fantastic, the art is adorable, and the storyline is better than both. Play Celeste.
Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale - This one is super niche but if you like cozy shopkeeper games or spent way too long in chapter 3 of Dragon Quest 4, then you should play Recettear. Peak of the genre, imo, though if this is your niche then Moonlighter is a very close secondary recommendation.
Valfaris - Realistically this probably isn’t quite “favorite” tier but it’s damn close, and considering that I constantly see this game on sale for under $4 I think it merits mention. A really fun retro shooter a la Contra with some interesting mechanics (like having to choose whether to sacrifice max health to establish checkpoints) and one of the best, clearest parry mechanics I’ve experienced. Add in a metal-centric soundtrack composed by an actual touring metal musician and I just think Valfaris is an excellent little hidden gem that almost nobody knows about. I do not like the sequel very much though, sadly.
Hades 1 & 2 - I feel like these games are already huge but imo they deserve every drop of praise they receive. Great games and some of the best dollar values ever in gaming.
Disgaea 5 - I love the whole Disgaea series for so many reasons but 5 is unquestionably the peak of the series, imo.
And then finally just for context, my other favorites that are big enough I don’t feel like they need to be recommended:
FFT (as mentioned), Dragon Quest 4 (best game on the NES and still underrated, imo), FF7, the Playstation Spider-Man games, Portal 1 & 2, Persona 5, Sid Meier’s Civilization 6, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (yes I think TPS is better than BL2).
Cheers ✌
Have you played the Trine series? It’s a platformer with similar atmosphere to ori and hollow knight.
I haven’t. I’ll add it to my list 👍
If you liked the messenger and shovel knight, you might wanna look into Bloodstained: Curse of The Moon. It was an NES style spinoff of the main Bloodstained game, and is a spiritual successor to the older pre-metroidvania castlevania. It’s quite a fun little game, short and sweet.
Well damn, that’s a super thorough answer! Thank you so much! ❤️
Those of that list I’ve played, I definitely enjoyed. Celeste in particular is special.
I haven’t played Shovel Knight but I’m really intrigued by Mina the Hollower from the same studio, and will likely grab it sometime!
I haven’t played many games from your list, but I can attest to
The Messenger, Ori & the Blind Forest, Celeste, Hades 1&2
being very awesome games; (I’m also happy you mentioned The Messenger specifically, great game and awesome soundtrack!)
Cool list. I can agree with everything said except for Valferis which I never heard of but want to check out now.
FFT is a pure masterpiece!
Well all I did was play them, but hey I’ll take the compliment on my good taste anyway, thank you 😋
Wow one of the only people ever that has also played Recettear, I really liked my time with it but didn’t finish.
I also didn’t like hollow Knight that much and wound up leaving it at like seventy percent complete but I did beat Ori which I liked more.
Have you checked out Moonlighter? I think anyone who enjoyed Recettear should check out Moonlighter; it’s a bit more focus and more Zelda-like, a bit less cozy.
Never even heard of it
Hollow Knight is definitely there for me. I’ve had trouble getting controller support on steam games (maybe this is intentional since they released a new controller?) so I’ve only been able to play keyboard… the controllers are clunky and the world at the beginning is empty and unengaging. I get that this is intentional design but I feel like it lacks clear direction for new players. The npcs speak with wall of text. No good for my brain.
I can’t even imagine playing HK with M&K!
I also think HK’s slow burn beginning is too slow. I did eventually get engaged but frankly the fact that I felt kind of ambivalent for much of my gameplay is a big part of my conclusion, though not as big as the design choices made for no motivating reason beyond to annoy players. The crossroads becoming blocked by infection is forever my #1 complaint about HK’s design. It serves no purpose aside from annoying the player. There’s no new skill challenge, it doesn’t make the game any harder or more engaging, it’s just tedious and time-wasting.
I find HK to be close to an amazing game, but I think from a game design standpoint the devs seem to conflate punishing with difficult, and that’s just a philosophical divide that I find myself too far the other side on to connect with fully.
Yes i hate this as well. Developers throw in things to make sure you have to spend more time playing the game. In most cases, they already have their money from you. They’d actually make more money by not wasting players’ time, and instead convincing them to buy the next game that the studio releases.
I tried it years ago and got stuck on the mantis boss, managed to get back into it around September cause I bought silksong on release to support the devs. Anyway I actually got through it that time and into skong which is a much better experience and one day I’ll start act 3.
Imo bosses are the best part of HK, I loved every boss fight.
If Silksong was promised to be 80% less tedious, I’d buy it in a heartbeat. But from what I’ve heard, that’s not the case, though of course I could be wrong.