Thank you for putting these together. I'm using many of your recommendations to choose what to play for my own channel. I'm playing Ender Lilies right now and Dead Cells is coming up soon!
It's nice to see a strict but fair judgment on Nine Years of Shadows like this. Presentation was incredibly striking and the devs do have clear skill, so i'm hoping the best for Mariachi Legends and future projects as well. Not familiair with Turbo Kid until this video. Interesting stuff there as well-- *may* look more into it, though at the moment my heart still belongs to Cookie Cutter. Doing my best to spread word on it where possible. Though i think i can smell and see similar love for Turbo Kid there! The lead dev Stefano wants, if support allows for it (fan feedback and sales), to substantially support CC for a long time to come with new enemies, areas, weapons, characters, quests, difficulty settings, on Twitter he's shown mentions of a battle arena NPC and other NPC designs-- it's his baby and I hope that through time, feedback and effort he can tell and share the story and world that he wants to share. Looking forward to future videos, and not just for CC. Wish you good luck and fun on future projects and games like these.
@@MetroidvaniaGuru You're most welcome! Yeah, there's quite a lot to it. There's a few interviews with Stefano here and there, with one of the most notable being this half-interview-half-documentary by a seemingly quite popular Italian channel called Emalloru. About 17 minutes long and has English subtitles. Tells of how CC started as quite a small project, with mainly himself and his programming teacher at Unity, and later developed into Subcult Joint, a team of about... 14 people in the last 2 years of development. Which isn't easy. Here's the video if you may be interested and time + opportunity allows for it. ua-cam.com/video/9Z62kIZZeP4/v-deo.html Some other stuff I learnt about Stefano and his vision through such interviews: He was really, really adamant to let the vision of Cookie Cutter be its own thing, knowing well how niche, off-putting and provocative it may be. Has stated he had over a hundred interviews with different publishers before he found one that was comfortable with letting CC be its own thing, and not interfere out of fear it'd be too unmarketable or trying to "course correct" it to be more profitable. And for some humor's sake from this interview, specifically on a segment on Cherry's design: indiegamesdevel.com/cookie-cutter-interview-with-director-and-artist-stefano-guglielmana/ "The vision was this waitress, definitely not a hot chick but a bad*bleep*ss rude girl, a little bit like a female Wario, and a lil bit like the one I knew from the gigs in the squat around Italy. They were dangerous, they would kick your *bleep*ss if you were trying to bother them, and they were always drunk and upset and lovely." I'm talking a lot on CC but no doubt do other MVs and games have their own development stories to tell, deserving to be told as well. For what I shared here, I hope this has raised your interest and made you smile a bit.
I played grimvalor on my phone on a trip. I enjoyed it quite alot because of that. Like the nier automata esque dodge, the fast pace, it tries to be fun and non restrictive. Glad to see it get some recognition. Thought i was the only one on the planet who's played this. Had 0 expectations so for that, its fun. Same devs did a mobile game called Swordigo, check that out. Super similar i also liked that, and play it on trips sometimes.
The sad thing with kickstarter's is a project might have a bigger scope then the amount of funds they actually get. I backed 9 years of Shadows and based on the kickstarter updates they ether had to go crazy graphics upgrade to the game or keep it lower graphics but with more content. They decided to go graphics after they showed a part of the game updated with it, and the comments were ecstatic about the new graphics overhaul. Its just a shame that they had to go one way or the other. I am assuming some of the ideas they had will be implemented into mariachi legends and other games they might make.
At your current pace, when will this tierlist be done considering more games are released quicker than you make these tierlist videos? 😅 Any plan to upload your own game play in the future?
Hello! Thanks for the feedback. Below is a link that lays out the Tier List in text form: docs.google.com/document/d/1TUqodvViwb_grtDLbGlwurOf4tkqpuuC4cSTTWaK4x8/edit?usp=sharing
I havent played even close to this many MVs but the ones I played I mosty agree. The only ones I would place higher are the Castlevania games in C tier. Like you said C is a good average game and they felt above that. Ofc its all a matter of taste but I wanted to give my 2 cents on it :) And I expected the Ori games and Metroid Dread to rank a bit higher because of the public reception but I have yet to play them so no opinion on that. Really nice videos btw keep up the awesome work!
Thanks! I’ll definitely take a look at the Castlevania again. It’s been a minute since I played them. Dread is exceptional, but as an MV I think it needs a little more focus. Same with the original Ori. Will of the Wisps, on the other hand. Fantastic game!
Great video as always and fair assessments. I don't know if it's just me, but the google docs link in the description doesn't work. What I wanted to check is, if you have Salt and Sacrifice in it, because I couldn't find it in the randomizer wheel in the beginning of the video. I'd love to get your opinion on it, since I'm considering buying it, after loving S&Sanctuary, but it seems that it changed a lot of things and reception was lukewarm to say the least. Can it not even be considered a Metroidvania anymore, is that why you don't have it in there?
Also, the Kickstarter comparison segments were very interesting. I believe it could even work as a premise for whole videos, like "Top 5 Metroidvanias that over/under-delivered what they promised"
Thanks! I’m glad you liked the vid! Sorry about the link. It should be fixed now. I have not played Salt & Sacrifice yet. I do own it. I’ve heard the changes make it NOT an MV, but I cannot confirm. I’ll try it out soon, and if it’s an MV, I’ll put it on the list. And I like your suggestion about the Top 5 list. I like that a lot…
@@Malyiannis The dev studio of Salt & Sanctuary have some previous games worth checking out as well, in the games Charlie Murder (goofy punk rock horror apocalypse with different "classes" and multiplayer options) and the Dishwasher games (Blood Samurai and Vampire Smile, very fast-paced and brutal hack-and-slash games). Although not Metroidvania games, these older titles are solid if those genres are of interest as well.
@@Malyiannis Oh yeah, it's got some of the craziest weapons i've ever seen in a character action/hack and slash type of game. Not just for the katanas, the dual meat cleavers, the electric blood magic (that *is* what it's called in-game), the brick on a stick wrapped in spiky bits, the chainsaw/minigun arm... but for the watergun/panini iron combo. You squirt enemies under and then use the panini iron (connected to a portable generator worn on the back) as an electric flail to bludgeon, burn AND electrocute the enemy all at once. Mobility with that thing is awful but the novelty remains unique. Hope you'll have fun with them if you ever play them! Can also strongly recommend Cookie Cutter. Metroidvania by a different studio, very solid gameplay and awesome visuals, animation and atmosphere with good music.
Firstly, you need to know Tunic is one of my favorite games of all time. Is it an MV? Not really. It’s not a platformer. However, some people categorize it as a “MetroidBRAINia.” That I can get behind 😆
@@MetroidvaniaGuru totally fair. I liked it a lot and don't know how else to describe going back and forth in different areas with new abilities. Thanks for the response and great content!
Thanks for the nice review of Turbo Kid! For your information, we added about 10 teleports to help with backtracking!
That’s big!
I may have to do an amendment in the next installment. Thanks for letting me know!
Thank you for putting these together. I'm using many of your recommendations to choose what to play for my own channel. I'm playing Ender Lilies right now and Dead Cells is coming up soon!
The Last Faith is very good! Worth a play
Agreed
It’s very good. I have a vid on it if you’re interested.
It's nice to see a strict but fair judgment on Nine Years of Shadows like this. Presentation was incredibly striking and the devs do have clear skill, so i'm hoping the best for Mariachi Legends and future projects as well.
Not familiair with Turbo Kid until this video. Interesting stuff there as well-- *may* look more into it, though at the moment my heart still belongs to Cookie Cutter. Doing my best to spread word on it where possible. Though i think i can smell and see similar love for Turbo Kid there!
The lead dev Stefano wants, if support allows for it (fan feedback and sales), to substantially support CC for a long time to come with new enemies, areas, weapons, characters, quests, difficulty settings, on Twitter he's shown mentions of a battle arena NPC and other NPC designs-- it's his baby and I hope that through time, feedback and effort he can tell and share the story and world that he wants to share.
Looking forward to future videos, and not just for CC. Wish you good luck and fun on future projects and games like these.
Thanks you!
That’s awesome to hear about Cookie Cutter. I had no idea of the dev’s ambitions. I’ll have to make a vid on it soon to support it.
@@MetroidvaniaGuru You're most welcome!
Yeah, there's quite a lot to it. There's a few interviews with Stefano here and there, with one of the most notable being this half-interview-half-documentary by a seemingly quite popular Italian channel called Emalloru. About 17 minutes long and has English subtitles. Tells of how CC started as quite a small project, with mainly himself and his programming teacher at Unity, and later developed into Subcult Joint, a team of about... 14 people in the last 2 years of development. Which isn't easy.
Here's the video if you may be interested and time + opportunity allows for it.
ua-cam.com/video/9Z62kIZZeP4/v-deo.html
Some other stuff I learnt about Stefano and his vision through such interviews: He was really, really adamant to let the vision of Cookie Cutter be its own thing, knowing well how niche, off-putting and provocative it may be. Has stated he had over a hundred interviews with different publishers before he found one that was comfortable with letting CC be its own thing, and not interfere out of fear it'd be too unmarketable or trying to "course correct" it to be more profitable.
And for some humor's sake from this interview, specifically on a segment on Cherry's design:
indiegamesdevel.com/cookie-cutter-interview-with-director-and-artist-stefano-guglielmana/
"The vision was this waitress, definitely not a hot chick but a bad*bleep*ss rude girl, a little bit like a female Wario, and a lil bit like the one I knew from the gigs in the squat around Italy. They were dangerous, they would kick your *bleep*ss if you were trying to bother them, and they were always drunk and upset and lovely."
I'm talking a lot on CC but no doubt do other MVs and games have their own development stories to tell, deserving to be told as well.
For what I shared here, I hope this has raised your interest and made you smile a bit.
Can’t wait to see where Grime ends up on the list! Playing through that right now, loving it so far.
Could you cover Ato? The game deserves more love and attention.
I played grimvalor on my phone on a trip. I enjoyed it quite alot because of that. Like the nier automata esque dodge, the fast pace, it tries to be fun and non restrictive. Glad to see it get some recognition. Thought i was the only one on the planet who's played this. Had 0 expectations so for that, its fun. Same devs did a mobile game called Swordigo, check that out. Super similar i also liked that, and play it on trips sometimes.
The sad thing with kickstarter's is a project might have a bigger scope then the amount of funds they actually get. I backed 9 years of Shadows and based on the kickstarter updates they ether had to go crazy graphics upgrade to the game or keep it lower graphics but with more content. They decided to go graphics after they showed a part of the game updated with it, and the comments were ecstatic about the new graphics overhaul. Its just a shame that they had to go one way or the other. I am assuming some of the ideas they had will be implemented into mariachi legends and other games they might make.
At your current pace, when will this tierlist be done considering more games are released quicker than you make these tierlist videos? 😅
Any plan to upload your own game play in the future?
My thoughts exactly. New MVs are releasing at a quicker pace. Love the videos but at this pace he'll never be done!
@doc_081 Haha, me too! I'll be watching his new videos when I'm old and feel nostalgic for games released before 2050..
Sometimes it’s about the journey; not the destination 😅
As for my own gameplay, I’m getting closer. I’m using Decky Loader, and it’s… not ideal.
@MetroidvaniaGuru I agree wholeheartedly! Do things at your own pace Guru! 🤙
Do you have a still shot of the tier list posted somewhere? Thanks for these videos, really enjoy them!
There’s a link in the description. It’ll take you to a Google doc with a shot of the current List 👍
I have no idea what some of the games are from the thumbnails, you need a text version with the tiers please
Hello! Thanks for the feedback. Below is a link that lays out the Tier List in text form:
docs.google.com/document/d/1TUqodvViwb_grtDLbGlwurOf4tkqpuuC4cSTTWaK4x8/edit?usp=sharing
Better than Dread, Guess this will be my next one!!!!
I havent played even close to this many MVs but the ones I played I mosty agree. The only ones I would place higher are the Castlevania games in C tier. Like you said C is a good average game and they felt above that. Ofc its all a matter of taste but I wanted to give my 2 cents on it :) And I expected the Ori games and Metroid Dread to rank a bit higher because of the public reception but I have yet to play them so no opinion on that. Really nice videos btw keep up the awesome work!
Thanks!
I’ll definitely take a look at the Castlevania again. It’s been a minute since I played them.
Dread is exceptional, but as an MV I think it needs a little more focus. Same with the original Ori. Will of the Wisps, on the other hand. Fantastic game!
Great video as always and fair assessments. I don't know if it's just me, but the google docs link in the description doesn't work. What I wanted to check is, if you have Salt and Sacrifice in it, because I couldn't find it in the randomizer wheel in the beginning of the video. I'd love to get your opinion on it, since I'm considering buying it, after loving S&Sanctuary, but it seems that it changed a lot of things and reception was lukewarm to say the least. Can it not even be considered a Metroidvania anymore, is that why you don't have it in there?
Also, the Kickstarter comparison segments were very interesting. I believe it could even work as a premise for whole videos, like "Top 5 Metroidvanias that over/under-delivered what they promised"
Thanks! I’m glad you liked the vid! Sorry about the link. It should be fixed now.
I have not played Salt & Sacrifice yet. I do own it. I’ve heard the changes make it NOT an MV, but I cannot confirm. I’ll try it out soon, and if it’s an MV, I’ll put it on the list.
And I like your suggestion about the Top 5 list. I like that a lot…
@@Malyiannis The dev studio of Salt & Sanctuary have some previous games worth checking out as well, in the games Charlie Murder (goofy punk rock horror apocalypse with different "classes" and multiplayer options) and the Dishwasher games (Blood Samurai and Vampire Smile, very fast-paced and brutal hack-and-slash games).
Although not Metroidvania games, these older titles are solid if those genres are of interest as well.
@@jurtheorc8117 Thanks, this is some pretty deep lore about the studio, Vampire Smile especially looks pretty cool.
@@Malyiannis Oh yeah, it's got some of the craziest weapons i've ever seen in a character action/hack and slash type of game. Not just for the katanas, the dual meat cleavers, the electric blood magic (that *is* what it's called in-game), the brick on a stick wrapped in spiky bits, the chainsaw/minigun arm... but for the watergun/panini iron combo.
You squirt enemies under and then use the panini iron (connected to a portable generator worn on the back) as an electric flail to bludgeon, burn AND electrocute the enemy all at once.
Mobility with that thing is awful but the novelty remains unique.
Hope you'll have fun with them if you ever play them!
Can also strongly recommend Cookie Cutter. Metroidvania by a different studio, very solid gameplay and awesome visuals, animation and atmosphere with good music.
9 Years of Shadows F tier? Man that is wild that game is definitely not trash wtf lol
Why must you turn my comments section into a house of lies?
@@MetroidvaniaGuru the art of not watching the video entirely before commenting 😂
You gotta play pseudo regalia its so fun
Waiting for Lost Ruins…
I have a vid on it if you’re interested. It was one of the first games I analyzed for the channel.
And after watching that, I went and bought it)))) However, I want to see its score in the great tapestry of MVs.
I don't even know what versimilitude means and you used it twice haha
hmm Grim Valor I think I once downloaded this on my phone and then it told me you have to buy it.
I think that is a mobile port?
Sure is! It got a nice visual upgrade. At least on the Switch.
Anyone know if he's covered Unsighted ever?
Yep he placed it at A Tier.
Turbo kid for Xbox….. when?!?!
Also, do you count Tunic as a "proper" metroidvania?
Firstly, you need to know Tunic is one of my favorite games of all time.
Is it an MV? Not really. It’s not a platformer. However, some people categorize it as a “MetroidBRAINia.” That I can get behind 😆
@@MetroidvaniaGuru totally fair. I liked it a lot and don't know how else to describe going back and forth in different areas with new abilities. Thanks for the response and great content!
did you really get turbokid from randomizer? No shot!!! dude are you cheating? ;D
well you had proof in the pudding so I retract my doubts.
😆