If you have a kiddo or kiddos way into games, you may have heard them talk about Metroidvania games. They’re pretty popular for a game type with a completely nonsensical name. As a genre or game type, you tend to find them in smaller indie games. However, nowadays, even large blockbuster games use the core mechanics of the genre.
So, what are these games? What is a Metroidvania game? Why is it called that? What’s this all about? In this entry, we explore all that and give everything you, as a parent, need to know.