'', the player gains the ability to temporarily turn their human character into a chicken, allowing them to pass through low-height corridors and discover secrets. The term "Metroidvania" is most often used to refer to a platforming game that features a single large, interconnected map, generally with discrete rooms or sections. Not all areas of this map are available at the start, often requiring the player to obtain an item (such as a weapon or key) or a new character ability to remove some obstacle blocking the path forward. Often, this item is protected by a
boss character, providing story-driven challenges throughout the game. Maps are non-linear, and often require the player to traverse the map multiple times during the course of the game. Weaker monsters will inhabit other parts of the level, re-spawning when the player revisits those rooms, and often can be defeated to gain health, ammunition, or
experience points. Larger games generally feature save points as well as the ability to transport the player quickly between certain rooms on far sides of the map, eliminating tedious backtracking in the later parts of the game. Access to new abilities can also open up shortcuts that reduce travel time, as well as discover secrets that help to improve the character's abilities. For example, gaining access to
double jump or
wall jump abilities can give players more mobility, while obtaining the ability to transform into a smaller object can let the player slip through narrow corridors. As such, the genre focuses on exploration of a large world map, and advancement of the player-character abilities over time. Metroidvanias are sometimes referred to as "platform adventure games" due to this scope. Metroidvania is generally associated with game levels/maps that are laid out as two-dimensional side scrollers, with the player character moving left, right, up and down through the level. These games typically are rendered using two-dimensional graphics, but can include
2.5D-rendered games using 3D graphics engines but limiting player movement to two dimensions, such as the aforementioned
Shadow Complex, or with
Metroid Dread. An even earlier attempt at bringing metroidvania gameplay to a
first-person shooter was the console versions of the game
PowerSlave in 1996 and 1997, as opposed to the more traditionally linear PC version. Igarashi described what he believed were key elements in the genre. These include designing maps that encourage exploration but which still guide the player on a main path through the game and providing means where the player can be aware of where they are in the game world at any time. This can be accomplished by graphical themes through the game's world, visually unique milestones at key game point, overall map and player status information screens, and the means of moving around the map quickly. In a
1UP.com video discussion between Parish, Sharkey, and Chris Kohler of
Wired in 2007, the three discussed some older games that had elements associated with Metroidvanias but would not be considered true Metroidvanias, including games like ''Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
(1987), Legacy of the Wizard (1987), and Adventure Island IV (1994). They argued that such games, while having 2D platforming gameplay and power-up based progression systems, lacked good level design, which at their time had not been well-refined in the industry, and provided little or no information relayed to the player to help them to know where to go next, exemplified by the cryptic clues from Simon's Quest''. The three also agreed that as games transitioned from 2D to 3D, the true meaning of "Metroidvania" had become diluted, as 3D-based games can hide facets of Metroidvanias.
"Metroidbrainia" sub-genre In September 2015, the term "Metroidbrainia" was coined to describe a sub-genre of games characterized by progression systems which are gated entirely (or at least significantly) by player knowledge. Metroidbrainias are closely related to
puzzle exploration games and
adventure games such as
Myst (1993) and
The Witness (2016). ==Analysis==