# The 18 Best Metroidvania Games of the 2020s

> Hand-drawn indie darlings, big-studio comebacks and brand-new releases fight over the best map to get lost in. Which one earns your vote?

*By YPB Team · Published October 4, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-18-best-metroidvania-games-of-the-2020s*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Ori and the Will of the Wisps** — score 1000/1000
   Moon Studios' 2020 hand-painted sequel, with fluid movement and a tearjerker story.
2. **Metroid Dread** — score 756/1000
   Nintendo and MercurySteam's 2021 return of 2D Metroid, with Samus hunted by EMMI robots on planet ZDR.
3. **Moonscars** — score 665/1000
   Black Mermaid's 2022 grim tale of Grey Irma, a clayborn warrior in a dark world.
4. **Magical Blush** — score 665/1000
   Alkacer's 2026 elemental action-adventure, a Brazilian-folklore metroidvania starring the mage Arnin.
5. **Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights** — score 596/1000
   Live Wire and Adglobe's 2021 melancholic dark fantasy where you command fallen spirits.
6. **Nine Sols** — score 596/1000
   Red Candle Games' 2024 Taopunk action game built around parries and a sword-wielding cat hero.
7. **Animal Well** — score 596/1000
   Billy Basso's 2024 puzzle-box adventure packed with secrets in a dark, glowing cave system.
8. **Pseudoregalia** — score 517/1000
   Rittzler's 2023 3D, PS1-styled platformer where precise movement unlocks a sprawling castle.
9. **Cyber Shadow** — score 517/1000
   Mechanical Head Studios' 2021 retro ninja action-platformer in the spirit of NES-era Ninja Gaiden.
10. **MIO: Memories in Orbit** — score 517/1000
   Douze Dixièmes' 2026 hand-drawn game about a small robot exploring a drifting space ark.
11. **Alruna: End of History** — score 423/1000
   A 2026 nonlinear metroidvania set in an unusual dystopian fantasy, full of temples and puzzles.
12. **Blasphemous 2** — score 423/1000
   The Game Kitchen's 2023 sequel, a gory, religious-baroque metroidvania with three weapon styles.
13. **Hollow Knight: Silksong** — score 310/1000
   Team Cherry's 2025 sequel, starring Hornet on a climb through the bug kingdom of Pharloom.
14. **Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown** — score 310/1000
   Ubisoft Montpellier's 2024 swashbuckling platformer set on the cursed Mount Qaf.
15. **Ultros** — score 310/1000
   Hadoque's 2024 psychedelic metroidvania about a time loop inside a giant alien being.
16. **Haiku, the Robot** — score 0/1000
   Mono Studios' 2021 colorful action platformer starring a small repair robot in a broken world.
17. **Axiom Verge 2** — score 0/1000
   Thomas Happ's 2021 sci-fi sequel, swapping the original's blasters for a drone and an alternate world.
18. **Aeterna Noctis** — score 0/1000
   Aeternum Game Studios' 2021 huge, brutally hard platformer with over 4,000 rooms.

Tags: games, 2020s, platformer, metroidvania, indie games