The best modern metroid-likes
Also State of Play, Disney Lorcana and justice for Rails and Sails
Hello there! This week we’re looking back on the best metroid-likes from the last two years (that’s right, I’m insisting on not including the “vania” in the genre name), going hands on with Disney’s new card game, coming to the defence of a maligned Ticket to Ride expansion, and more!
But first, Sony’s State of Play was kicked off this year’s not-E3 season earlier today, and it was … underwhelming? Viewed in a detached sort of way I can see how it tried to have something for everyone (though especially people who like games-as-a-service team-based shooters or ghostly Asian souls-likes), but it was noticeably aenemic when it comes to the big character action swings Sony is known for. I’ll take a new Astro Bot platformer any day, and I’m glad God of War Ragnorok is coming to PC, but other than that it’s a shrugging nod from me.
Open that map screen and get squinting
By Tim
Playing Animal Well the last couple of weeks has really put me in the mood for metroid-likes, so I’ve been revisiting games in the genre I’ve left unfinished. Animal Well is incredible and it adds so much originality to the formula, but I’m a sucker for a more regimented combat-and-power-ups platformer design. Luckily we’re living in a golden age for those, so here are my top five very metroidy metroid-likes from the last year or so. Note that I’m not including games here that veer a little too far away from the traditional formula, like the rougelike Rogue Legacy 2 or the “motorvania” Laika. There would be too many options if I did!
9 Years of Shadows A compact game with an admittedly bizarre shield and health system, this is nonetheless a fine metroid-like with a fun map and interesting upgrades. But what really puts it on this list is the incredible art. The operatic theatre themed world is dripping in style, the illustrated portraits and pixel art animations are gorgeous, and the blend of Japanese and Mexican influences makes for a unique vibe.
Afterimage A bloated or hard-to-navigate map should be a deal-breaker in a metroid-like, and combined with an indecipherable story and uneven levelling system this one has a few marks against it. But the silky movement and sprawling natural world — rendered in Chinese animation style — combined with some very familiar traversal upgrades evens things out.
Disney Illusion Island Yes it’s very simple, and it has no combat to speak of. But the map design and progression of upgrades is on point, and this is the only example I know of co-operative multiplayer working this well in a metroid-like.
Ultros An incredibly presented adventure which takes place on a giant psychedelic uterus. It’s another one that’s a bit lacking in the map department meaning you will get lost, but the world and writing is all super interesting and it’s cool to cultivate plants and eat alien organs.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown With a gratifying focus on platforming and some true genre innovations that improve the experience without moving it away from being a pure metroid-like, this one’s hard to top unless you insist on hyper-stylised visuals. Being able to mark the map, not only with stamps but with screenshots showing the exact roadblocks you faced there, is absolutely inspired.
What to play
The PlayStation Plus Extra catalogue gets some surprise additions this week, in the extraordinary Lovecraftian fishing adventure Dredge and Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2. These come as part of the yearly Days of Play, which will see many more additions to the subscription over the next two weeks including PS VR2 games and (for the first time) PS2 games in the Classics catalogue.
New to Game Pass this week is kooky puzzler Humanity, where you play as a magical shiba inu who has to corral a hoard of helpless idiot people to each level’s exit. There’s also dark fantasy RPG Lords of the Fallen, and weird physics co-op removals sim Moving Out 2.
Currently free on the Epic Games store is first-person multiplayer slasher Chivalry 2. Are people still playing an online team-based medieval romp from 2021? I dunno. The key art for the latest update (REGICIDE) seems to depict two identical kings in wildly impractical armor wailing on each other though, so if you’re into that sort of thing I say go for it.
Sacrificing Mickey so Judy Hopps can live
By Alice
This week I got the chance to play the new trading card game Disney is hoping is going to take the world by storm; Lorcana. Described by some as “Hearthstone meets Magic the Gathering”, Lorcana is all about sending Disney characters on quests to bring back “lore”. I’m sure there is a lot of actual lore to make the game make sense, and that’s going to be a big factor for some players, but same as with Magic, I’m not really fussed with the why, but the play experience.
To be able to play cards (including ‘items’, ‘characters’ and ‘songs’), you need “inspiration” in your inkwell; ie you need to choose which characters you don’t want to play and instead put them face down in your ink well so you can tap them to play your other cards once a turn, like mana in Magic.
On the one hand, this is an excellent mechanic which means that you’re almost never going to get mana screwed. It makes it far more approachable for children and adults alike.
On the other hand, if you don’t pay attention to the lore, discarding characters to use them as ink is a horrific concept. Are we sending them to the chipper so we can write stories in their blood? Even for a company obsessed with killing fictional mothers to motivate children, that’s dark.
Another thing that I like is that this is a race to 20 lore. It’s not about getting big creatures to kill your opponent, but building up your own stable so you can explore. Sure, you can make Mickey Mouse kill (or “banish”) Peter Pan, but you could just as well focus on your own game and ignore the other players. It makes it particularly good for multiplayer and players of almost all ages.
I can’t yet tell if it’s going to be a hit. I kind of hope it will be, because I like it. It’s going to be interesting to see how it goes when it launches in Australian stores this weekend.
Bricks, Boards and Beginnings
by Alice
Ticket To Ride Rails and Sails gets a bad rap for being too long. It’s known as the worst of the Ticket To Ride franchise. However, I really like Ticket To Ride, and enjoy playing it for as long as possible (hence being overjoyed at playing the Legacy version), so I actually loved Rails and Sails.
As the name suggests, the gimmick this time is that there are both ships and trains. What’s interesting is that unlike tunnels and other mechanics in previous sequels, the rails and sails use different decks and pieces, and at the start of the game you need to choose your balance of trains and ships. Choosing the wrong balance means you will have to lose points to trade a ship for a train.
Having the two decks and two different kinds of pieces means that there are a lot more choices to be made during the game, which makes things are bit more interesting. There are also fewer routes going in and out of different ports, so the stakes for claiming certain areas are much higher in games with 3+ players.
Our playthrough took about 90 minutes, but it didn’t feel too long. Of course, this will depend on the group you play with.
My own criticism is that I think it perhaps would have benefited from a few more mechanics, oddly enough. Being able to build ports was appropriately challenging and rewarding, but I think having one extra thing to keep an eye on would have been nice during the extended game. Of course, if it actually had an extra thing, I reserve the right to have hated it if it wasn’t perfect, so I can see why it was limited to what it had.
Rails and Sails would make a terrible introduction to Ticket To Ride, but it’s a must play for TTR fans who wants a bit more to sink their teeth into.
Retro Esoterica
by Tim
May has historically been a very quiet time for game releases, but so not so quiet as to escape my monthly game anniversary shennaningans!
Now 15: Plants vs Zombies Thinking about PopCap practically causes me physical pain. Not because its games were outlandishly good, but because its story is a microcosm for how the expansion of the gaming audience via phones and digital distribution was railroaded by companies like EA to become gambling houses and free-to-play slums. Look at the beauty of the original PvZ (or Bejewelled, or Peggle), and despair at what those games are like now.
Also 15: Infamous Part of the first wave of what we’d now recognise as the modern open world character action game, Infamous was a landmark that remains influential despite having aged a bit awkwardly. The lightning powers that seemed so cool at the time have been well and truly trumped by the likes of God of War and Spider-man, while the innovative karma system now seems hilariously black-and-white, with the only choices heroics or ruthless villainy. ("Let the pedestrians take the food, or shoot them and keep all of the food for yourself!")
Now 35: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The very first TMNT game made off the back of the phenomenally successful ‘80s cartoon, this NES effort from Konami is surprisingly forward-thinking. With a top-down overworld connecting side-scrolling platform stages, and the four turtles essentially acting like lives (you can cycle between them but they’ll be locked out if defeated), it would still hold up today if it weren’t for the huge spikes in difficulty. Luckily modern emulation, and rereleases like The Cowabunga Collection, have save states and rewind.