Best Sci-Fi Metroidvania Games

Highlights

• The Gunk is a sci-fi Metroidvania with 3D gameplay, featuring scavengers who restore a corrupted alien planet.
• Ghost Song is a Kickstarter-funded game that delivers a fantastic sci-fi Metroidvania experience inspired by Super Metroid.
• Axiom Verge sets a standard for retro styling in the Metroidvania genre with its great story, Metroid-inspired graphics, and combat elements.

One of the few genres in modern gaming that is kept alive almost purely by indie developers, the Metroidvania is a style of action-platforming game, usually side-scrolling in nature, which is inspired by classic franchises such as Castlevania and Metroid.

While many of the best Metroidvania games use similar settings to Castlevania, with fantasy and medieval inspirations, many others find a more futuristic, science-fiction-based setting by looking at the Metroid games that remain popular today. Many of these great games manage to produce extremely fun examples of how this genre can fit into gaming today, despite being made on lower budgets.

8 The Gunk

Metacritic Score: 70

Though it’s debatable that it falls squarely into the Metroidvania genre, The Gunk shares enough features with other MEtroidvanias to count as a sci-fi Metroidvania, even if it also takes place in 3D, an unusual feature for the Metroidvania genre which, even in modern day, is often confined to 2D side-scrolling games.

The Gunk is about a pair of scavengers who land on an alien planet that has been corrupted by a black slime that is destroying the environment. Players control Rani, who has a glove capable of collecting the gunk to restore the planet. Once all the gunk is removed from a biome, players can learn more about the environment as the planet begins to flourish again, making for a great allegory and some very fun gameplay.

7 Ghost Song

Metacritic Score: 79

A game that was initially funded through Kickstarter, Ghost Song had a long development journey and was finally released in 2022 after almost a decade of development. It didn’t disappoint either, delivering a fantastic sci-fi Metroidvania experience for gamers which was notably inspired by Super Metroid in many ways.

Filled with cosmic terrors, Ghost Song is a pretty standard Metroidvania, filled with new abilities to find, mysterious discoveries on a barren moon, and some impressive world-building. Fans who waited a long time for this one were impressed, and a Nintendo Switch port is also on the way.

6 Axiom Verge

Metacritic Score: 84

Another game that has since managed an impressive sequel, Axiom Verge is a more traditionally-styled 2D sci-fi Metroidvania platformer. Created by American indie developer Thomas Happ, Axiom Verge follows a scientist who awakens on an alien world after suffering a crippling injury.

With an incredible story that involves some strange lore, a graphical style that was very much inspired by Metroid, and great combat elements, Axiom Verge managed to set a standard for retro styling in the Metroidvania genre today and thus managed to become a franchise in itself.

5 Control

Metacritic Score: 85

A Remedy Entertainment game that took on sci-fi elements but was actually set on Earth, Control takes place in a skyscraper housing the Federal Bureau of Control, and features agents who deal with supernatural events that caused by of objects of power. Players take control of agent Jesse Faden, who has been put in charge of the FBC.

Control is another modern-styled 3D Metroidvania. The skyscraper, known as the “Oldest House” makes for a sizable map to be explored in a non-linear style. With a fascinating story to boot and a great skill system that makes combat incredibly enjoyable, Control is a truly great modern sci-fi Metroidvania.

4 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Metacritic Score: 85

The follow-up to Jedi: Fallen Order was actually an upgrade to the original according to many. Jedi: Survivor continues the story of Cal Kestis as he attempts to find the lost planet Tanalorr to help the Hidden Path escape from the Empire.

The excellent story that continues through this series, in addition to several upgrades to the Metroidvania elements present in Fallen Order, helped make this a roaring success that will likely lead to a third game in the series. The breadth of options and styles in combat is the most notably fantastic element.

3 Metroid Dread

Metacritic Score: 88

The most recent entry from either of the franchises considered responsible for the creation of the Metroidvania genre, Metroid Dread is a direct sequel to 2002’s Metroid Fusion, which had been a long time in the making.

Players once more follow bounty hunter Samus Aran as she explores the planet ZDR, where the parasitic race known as the X has survived and even thrived. Once there, Samus finds herself fighting for her life against the creatures in a fascinating story that furthers the lore of the long-dormant franchise, reawakening it with the first new entry in two decades.

2 Metroid Prime

Metacritic Score: 97

Controversially, the first Metroid game to enter 3D is still a Metroidvania, though there are some iconic elements of the genre not present. Considered an adventure game more than an action one at times, this entry is the highest-rated of the entire franchise on Metacritic.

Taking the fight to the space pirates on Tallon IV, Samus Aran has to uncover the secrets of Phazon, a radioactive substance the pirates have used to create monstrosities on the planet’s surface. The intricate story, the huge battle ending against Metroid Prime, and the magnificent way the series translated flawlessly into 3D all helped make this one of the best games of all time, not just in the Metroidvania genre.

1 Super Metroid

Metacritic Score: N/A

Despite being too old to be given a score on Metacritic, Super Metroid, alongside Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, was considered responsible for the creation of the Metroidvania genre. Many modern Metroidvania games take artistic, stylistic, and even combat cues from this game.

Super Metroid was the third entry in the Metroid franchise and one of the most popular SNES games ever. The game takes Samus Aran on another 2D side-scrolling adventure against space pirates as Samus tracks Ridley, the leader of the group, to get revenge for stealing the last Metroid. The story, world, and many of the gameplay elements are remembered today for their huge contributions to the world of gaming.

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