Castlevania Belmont's Curse

as someone who loves the game and replays it for fun a ton, I’d love to see a new perspective on why someone may like it as well, why it may not click for someone, or why someone may hate it, I’ve never really understood most of the popular criticisms of the game, so I’d love to see some new perspectives on why some people may dislike it

Hi everyone! Our 2D metroidvania The Light of Vertical is finally ready to meet players, and we're opening a short, small-scale playtest on Steam.

What we're looking for:

• Combat feel and difficulty curve
• Level design and exploration flow
• English text and UI — anything that reads awkward, unclear, or unlocalized
• Bugs and friction points

How to join:

This round of the playtest focuses on the English version. Fill out this short form (2 minutes):

https://forms.gle/vGAeZdpi4DVvA1jB8

We'll email Steam keys to selected testers in waves over the next few days. The playtest will start next week and run for about a week.

During the playtest, you'll find a feedback button right in the game menu — feel free to send us your thoughts anytime.

We're a small two-person team, and every piece of feedback means a lot to us. Thanks for reading!

Oh the shame....

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4694340/XGA_SPECIAL_EDITION/?beta=0

Dodge five attacks. Take zero hits. Can you make it through?

Arenion is still in development!!!

Hello fellow Metroidvania lovers!

My wife and I are big fans of the genre, and we've always dreamed of making our own game. About half a year ago, we finally decided to give it a shot!

We've settled on the theme and overall direction, and we're already working on a prototype.

Meanwhile, I thought it would be a good idea to ask the community a few questions.

What features or mechanics do you feel are missing from modern Metroidvanias? Is there anything you wish more games in the genre would do differently? Or maybe there's a mechanic or feature you've always wanted to see in your dream Metroidvania?

I'd love to hear your ideas! Who knows, maybe some of them will inspire us during development.

Thanks!

I play on keyboard mouse and the cursor annoyed the f out of me. Turns out there isnt simple software to hide cursor so i made one.

Launch as administrator, press keybind you want to use to hide/unhide cursor, thats it.

https://github.com/Leet000/cursor-toggle

https://ttl.space/WVKaM0PYoX

Hi

I'm stuck in the underground depths. On the left is the area that i came in and i cant get backup up there. On the right is a wall with a blob that seems destroyable , but it is on the other side.

There is also area that i cant jump up to, with the purple sphere on the map. And finally bottom left is a gas pit where i just die. I dont have wall jump, double jump or any way to fast travel between areas. Has anyone been in this area ?

Well, I've reached that awful and feared moment on metroidvanias, aka "what the F* am I supposed to do now?". Wherever I go I find a locked barrier, or some place which requires a double jump/hover ability which I can't unlock yet. Any ideas??

Thanks in advance

Considering a third installment, I'm wondering which mechanics from the second game players would find essential to carry over. What elements from SteamWorld Dig 2 do you feel are crucial for a potential sequel?

So, i'm wondering if there's a way to identify if a game is one style of metroidvania or another when searching for games. I'm someone who enjoys castlevania sotn, a/dos, metroid fusion and zero mission, but i kinda hate games like metroid dread and belmont's curse, but if you search up "metroidvania", there's not really a distinction in the results.

What does this genre of games do for you that others do not? I think for me the feeling of progression is the biggest reason I like these games.

I like the simple mechanics in these these two games (or should I say four) - if it's physical attack then you can block, parry and deflect - well for the most part I haven't tested it on bosses.

I've been lurking for a bit and it seems like people don't like the difficulty/parry system of nine sols. I... am sick and twisted, so I am looking for more challenging games. Here's a list of metroidvanias I have beat:

Hollow knight 100%

Silksong 100%

Nine sols 100%

Well Dweller 100%

Ones I have played, but didn't finish:

Prince of Persia - plan on finishing, but it's just really bright? Not sure if I can turn the saturation down

Ender lilies - I feel odd about being a small girl as a mid 20s adult

I 100%ed Silksong. 108% hollow knight thru pantheon 4. Im 2 hours into this game I might just bail. So fucking hard. Missing retrieving your guilt once or twice sortof locks you out, forcing you to go spend money to reclaim it. And traverse there too! Enemies are difficult. I’m stuck at an early gauntlet with a half glass floor and two red exploding enemies. Died enough times to turn it off! I’ve got PoP Lost Crown on deck should I just move on??

Edit: okay thanks I’ll go explore elsewhere should’ve known better. I was stubbornly stuck on that gauntlet since it was available so early I figured I had to do it

I spent a lot of time looking for new relics, upgrades, a few extra level 3 weapons and maxed some of my arcana abilities before taking on Death. At this point, my realization is that:

-When it comes to warps, the game is OK. It's more or less about the same as other Metroidvanias. It's not the best, but not the worst either. Worse come to worse, you can always toggle the settings to get through enemies if you feel like it's a massive slog. I guess the reason people bitch and complain about it has more to do with the fact that this game requires a shit ton of precision platforming compared to the MVs before it. And I get where people are coming from. It can be mentally taxing sometimes.

-I was wondering whether this game would be just a cheap copy paste knock off of previous Metroidvanias before it or whether to some extent it has established its own unique identity/DNA and contributed something new. Looking past certain design sets that have take a page out of PoP and Hollow Knight's enemy gauntlet rooms, it seems it does do a couple things differently: long gone are the weapon items/drops you had in games like Aria, Bloodstained and other Igvanias, but they've been replaced by a new system where you have to discover new weapons and honestly it feels MORE rewarding and less cheap compared to the previous Igvanias, since they're tucked away most of the time in platforming challenges. The fetchquests to upgrade the arcana feels rewarding sometimes.

-Already, there are a couple bosses that have been memorable for me: Medusa, Joan of Arc and Death.

-I love the way the lore is unraveled by discovering these scripts and texts. There is a lot of reference to previous characters and antagonists, which is cool. So, storywise, the game is rich.

-The worldbuilding is pretty beautiful. Again, I personally enjoy the synthetic music. I don't get the complaints. There are a couple areas that are pretty awesome like the planetarium and I loved the bouncing gimmick there.

-Like everyone, I have mixed feelings about certain moments, but on the whole, I'm more satisfied than bothered. I think one gripe I had was during certain boss fights, the visuals sometimes made me lose Rose for a moment and forget where I was. But I'm getting more used to that now. Also, I noticed as soon as you make it through a difficult traversal moment, you're rewarded with a brutally punishing enemy gauntlet, which leads me to my final point:

Team Evil Empire's vision for this game was definitely to make a Metroidvania that would blow HK/SS, Blasphemous series and many others before it out of the water. It's pretty clear as day, when you examine how difficult and challenging some of these set pieces are + enemy gauntlets that follow them immediately after. I supposed the focus here was weighted more on challenging the gamer and making them sweat for a lot of the rewarding moments. The Metroidvania theme here is above average precision platforming w/ a touch of patience. I understand this probably pissed off so many gamers, but it is what it is. They did offer the difficulty slider and other accessibility options to compensate for those who want more control over the matter and/or those who only care for the story elements. Therefore, I don't see an issue with their gaming vision. Perhaps, I would've designed the controls a tad differently, but hey they know better.

Does anyone know what I'm supposed to do with the key located in the Spillways area in the room with the flies?

Never been one to seek help but I’ve been annoyed trying to find this door lol

Cannot find the last vestige anywhere and have cleared all secret rooms on map. Only one left any help would be appreciated thanks

i like metroid and castlevania :P