Just been thinking about maybe looking into playing a metroidvania, and wondering what would work well.

In any case, here are some that I am sort of looking at:
* Bloodstained: Nice in that it's 40% off right now, and I do not want to pay full price for this game. I have enjoyed the GBA and DS Castlevanias, as well as Timespinner (which plays very much like this one). The problem is that it has no native Linux version, and nobody has told me how well it works (or doesn't work) with WINE (despite me asking multiple times), and I don't want to buy a game that isn't going to work.
* Alwa's Legacy: Not currently on sale (and while Awakening is on sale, it's included with Legacy), but looks interesting with outdoor areas and Battle of Olympus (a good NES game) being one of the inspirations (on the other hand, it also cites Solstice which I remember not really being that good, but that's partly due to the perspective combined with NES iimitations). (Also, it has a female main character, so it has that going for it, but so does Bloodstained.)
* Alternatively, I already have that one itch.io bundle for racial justice with over 1700+ items in it, so it probably has something that would work well. The problem is that there is too much choice here.

So, any suggestions?

Dust: An Elysian Tail
https://www.gog.com/game/dust_an_elysian_tail

Hollow Knight
https://www.gog.com/game/hollow_knight


There actually is a Metroidvania tag here on GOG

https://www.gog.com/games?search=Metroidvania&page=1&sort=popularity

Many of the games are on sale right now, though be sure to research each game as some may use the term "Metroidvania" loosely.

Maybe Cathedral?
https://www.gog.com/game/cathedral

Kinda sorta like Shovel Knight dressed like a metroidvania. I was a few hours in, but got sidetracked.
It controls well, looks nice and the music is not annoying.
Ah, and seems to work on Linux too, says the store page.

The Messenger is better, but is also different.

Have both games. Enjoyed Dust (though loses points due to male main character, voiced dialog, and can't entirely skip cutscenes (can only do so after dialog starts; some, like the one at the start, can't be skipped at all); can't play hollow knight on my machine without it throttling to the point of not being playable. Played some of Cathedral, but there are some frustrating design decisions, like infinitely respawning monsters that annoy you when trying to do some platforming, and that getting the first weapon upgrade, when I did it, required going through an area with a certain enemy type that I think was not particularly fair for that part of the game. I also don't like the system (also seen in Hollow Knight) where you lose money when you die and can't just reload to an earlier save because the game forcibly overwrites it when that happens. (Also, male main character.)

How about Shantae and the Pirate's Curse? That's a excellent one, with nice level design, music and funky characters. Bloodstained: RotN is very good too. Well worth it at this price.

How about?

https://www.gog.com/game/valdis_story_abyssal_city

It is one of my fav metroidvanias. ( i played it on steam)

I've seen an insta-fail section in a Shantae game (I *think* it was Risky's Revenge) and that's the sort of thing that is a deal-breaker for me.

Bloodstained is only worth it if someone can answer my question about that game and WINE, a question I have asked multiple times and not received an answer. Couldn't get it to work properly when I tried it many years ago, and I hear the game has permanent missables.

It has missables in a playthrough that is true. But it also has 4 different characters with different dialogs (and even different starting location for some) for more than one playthrough. So it has replayability and the game also has a bossrush mode.

For Bloodstained there is a Wine Wrapper on Lutris:

https://lutris.net/games/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night/

I've seen one person say it has stability issues but no other complaints.



With Proton the game has a Platinum rating

https://www.protondb.com/app/692850

so either install Proton seperately or you can use Gamehub and install the game using Proton wrapper.


I don't own the game myself so I can't give any personal experience sorry.

You can store your money with the old lady. Also, if I'm not mistaken, you can purchase an upgrade to lose less money when you die.
I don't remember the unfair enemy. And I'm not sure about the male char..

More game suggestions would be:
https://www.gog.com/game/guacamelee_super_turbo_championship_edition
https://www.gog.com/game/guacamelee_2_complete
https://www.gog.com/game/ori_and_the_blind_forest_definitive_edition

You can only store your money if you can reach the old lady (which you can't do before you complete the first level), and you need to pay increasing amounts to store more of your money, to the point where you may be spending more in increasing storage than you can put in that storage. It also doesn't help that there isn't any quick "warp to town" option here.

For the unfair enemy, it's a wizzrobe type enemy (in other words, it appears at a random spot, fires at you, and then disappears) that thoots in 3 directions and does way too much damage (for that point in the game) when it hits.

I also found one puzzle that has an accessibility issue, in that it's basically impossible if you're colorblind (unless you look *very* carefully at the screen), and there's no save point right before said puzzle. There's also a part shortly before that where you will likely die a lot figuring out what you need to do (because there are both fake and real spikes in the area), which means losing money.

(One other complaint, though not as severe, is that hearts and arrows that are placed in the level don't respawn if you die, so some passages get harder if you don't complete them the first try.)

I can test it for you but as previouly mentioned, there is no way you can play Bloodstained if you computer cant handle Hollow Knight.

Did you played Iconoclasts?
Yoku Island express is a very cool game.
Also Indivisible really caught my attention :D

Odallus: The Dark Call
https://www.gog.com/game/odallus_the_dark_call

Got this one and is quite good, can explore many areas, collect items, then return to open up more areas.

GOG did a stream of it recently if you want to preview it.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/640896489?filter=archives&sort=time

No, but I have watched it, and I actually do have the game in my account.
I actually have this game on my account, but haven't played it. (With that said, it does suffer from having a male main character.)