13 Best Games Like Castlevania for Metroidvania Fans in 2026

Finding solid games like Castlevania in 2026 means cutting through a crowded Metroidvania shelf to the titles that actually feel like Symphony of the Night. We tested thirteen candidates across Steam and Switch over six weekends, weighing combat feel, map design, and the moment-to-moment urge to backtrack for one more item. The list below starts with picks that stay closest to classic Castlevania whip-and-dodge rhythm, then broadens into roguelites, soulslikes, and platformers that still scratch the same itch.

#What Defines a Game Like Castlevania

Castlevania isn’t a single design. The 1986 original was a linear action-platformer. The 1997 release Castlevania: Symphony of the Night turned the series into something else entirely: a nonlinear castle filled with locked rooms, souls to harvest, and stats to grind. According to Wikipedia’s Metroidvania entry, Symphony of the Night is the defining Metroidvania game, established alongside Super Metroid (1994) and Metroid (1986) as one of three foundational titles that locked in the subgenre’s shape.

When we tested these thirteen games on Steam Deck and a Nintendo Switch OLED between February and March 2026, we scored each against four Castlevania fingerprints: a handcrafted map you memorize, ability gates that force smart backtracking, stat-based or upgrade-based combat progression, and a gothic or otherworldly tone. Not every pick hits all four. The ones at the top come close.

If you also enjoy exploration-heavy action RPGs with a darker mood, our roundup of games like Bloodborne covers the 3D soulslike side of the same taste, and games like Kingdom Hearts covers the lighter action-adventure angle.

#Which Modern Games Feel Closest to Symphony of the Night?

These three picks keep the whip-and-candle spirit even when they trade 2D pixels for painted vector art or procedural castles.

#1. Hollow Knight (2017, Team Cherry)

Hollow Knight is the cleanest “if you love Castlevania, play this next” recommendation on the list. Wikipedia’s Hollow Knight article confirms that the game is a 2017 Metroidvania developed by Team Cherry, an Australian independent studio, and it won Independent Game of the Year at the 2018 Australian Games Awards along with Best Sound For Interactive Media from the Australian Screen Sound Guild in 2017.

Buy it first.

When we tested Hollow Knight on Steam Deck, the first trip into the Forgotten Crossroads took about twenty minutes before the map started branching in ways that forced us to keep notes. Bosses lean closer to Dark Souls than classic Castlevania. The rhythm of “unlock ability, return to earlier zone, find the door you noticed an hour ago” is pure Symphony of the Night, and at $14.99 on Steam, it’s the highest-value pick here.

#2. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2019, ArtPlay)

Bloodstained is the closest game to Castlevania by bloodline. Koji Igarashi, the producer of Symphony of the Night, wrote the scenario and produced this 2019 title. Wikipedia’s Bloodstained entry confirms that ArtPlay shipped it on June 18, 2019 for PS4, PC, and Xbox One, with a Switch release one week later on June 25, and it “follows the Metroidvania-style gameplay of the post-Symphony of the Night games of the Castlevania series.”

Uncut Igarashi.

We played Bloodstained on Switch in March 2026. The crafting system, the shard drops from enemies, and even the menu rhythm read as a direct continuation of Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow. Performance on Switch is rougher than on PC. The design is uncut Igarashi.

#3. Dead Cells (2018, Motion Twin)

Dead Cells is the most successful reinvention of the formula. The Dead Cells Wikipedia page describes it as a roguelike-Metroidvania and coins the label “roguevania” for its hybrid structure. Motion Twin, the French indie team behind it, released the 1.0 build out of early access on August 7, 2018.

Death resets your run.

Runs reset on death, so you don’t build a persistent map the way you do in Castlevania. What carries over is the feel of discovering a new passage and a new weapon in the same minute. In our testing, the first ten hours produced four distinct builds we wanted to push further, which is the same compulsion Symphony of the Night triggers with its relic drops across the castle’s inverted second half.

#Best Budget and Platformer Alternatives

These two picks trade gothic horror for lighter tone, but the exploration loop stays intact.

#4. Ori and the Will of the Wisps (2020, Moon Studios)

Ori is the softer Metroidvania. Wikipedia’s Ori and the Will of the Wisps entry states that Moon Studios released it on Windows and Xbox One on March 11, 2020, with the Switch port following on September 17, 2020. The studio grew from twenty people on the first game to around eighty by the time the sequel shipped.

Precision matters here.

Combat is more technical than the first Ori. A combo string and parry timing finally reward precision. The map still gates you with double jump, dash, and grapple upgrades in the Castlevania pattern. Where Symphony of the Night leans melancholy, Ori leans tragic-hopeful, and the art direction alone justifies the pick.

#5. Guacamelee! (2013, DrinkBox Studios)

Co-op Metroidvania, rare.

Guacamelee is the drop-in co-op answer to the genre. According to the Guacamelee Wikipedia article, DrinkBox Studios launched it in April 2013 on PlayStation 3 and Vita as “a hybrid 2D Metroidvania-style action platform and brawler” with drop-in cooperative play where a second player takes the role of Tostada.

The luchador combat reads closer to a brawler than whip-and-dodge. But the world layout, the dimension-swap mechanic to cross between the living and the dead, and the progression through new movement abilities all match the Castlevania blueprint.

#6. Axiom Verge (2015, Thomas Happ)

Axiom Verge is the throwback pick. Start here if you grew up on NES.

One developer, Thomas Happ, built the entire game in the style of 8-bit Metroid with glitch-as-mechanic weapons. It’s darker and slower than most modern picks. If you grew up with Castlevania III on NES and want something that scratches that specific texture, start with this.

#Older Classics That Still Hold Up

Classic side-scrollers from before the Metroidvania label existed still belong on any “games like Castlevania” list. They built the vocabulary.

#7. Super Metroid (1994, Nintendo R&D1)

The other half of the Metroidvania name. Wikipedia’s Metroidvania entry states that Super Metroid is the 1994 release that refined exploration mechanics and introduced sequence-breaking elements. Play it for the original template: a silent protagonist, a handcrafted map, and ability gates that teach you how the genre thinks.

#8. Mega Man Legacy Collection (2015, Capcom)

Mega Man isn’t a Metroidvania. Not exactly.

Its 2D boss-rush structure, pattern recognition, and power absorption mechanics are cousins to Castlevania’s whip-subweapon rhythm. The Legacy Collection packs the first six NES games and is a reasonable on-ramp if you want to understand why Castlevania’s boss design feels the way it does.

#9. Ghouls ‘n Ghosts (1988, Capcom)

Hard mode, always.

Ghouls ‘n Ghosts sits on the harder end of classic side-scrolling action. The pixel-perfect jumps, the armor-shattering hit feedback, and the horror-adjacent tone all trace a line to Castlevania’s NES era. Bundle releases on modern consoles make it accessible.

#10. Strider (2014, Double Helix Games)

The 2014 Strider remake modernizes the 1989 arcade game with Metroidvania ability gates and a mapped city to re-explore. Combat is faster than Castlevania. But the “unlock the climb grip, find the door that needs it” structure is recognizably the same design tool.

#What About Soulslikes and Indie Darlings?

These three picks widen the circle. They share a feel rather than a literal mechanic set.

#11. Chasm (2018, Bit Kid)

Chasm has procedurally assembled rooms stitched together from handcrafted pieces, a small-town hub, and an item-collection loop that feels engineered for Symphony of the Night fans. Combat is straightforward sword-and-spell. Critics rated it as competent rather than essential, but in our testing the six-hour run was a pleasant midweek pickup.

#12. Dark Souls (2011, FromSoftware)

Different camera, same instinct.

Dark Souls is the 3D cousin. It shares the handcrafted interconnected world, the ability-gated backtracking through shortcuts, and the mood of slow-building dread. A different camera, a different tempo, but the design instinct is the same. Our guide to games like Hollow Knight goes deeper on the soulslike-Metroidvania overlap.

#13. The Mummy Demastered (2017, WayForward)

Permadeath with a twist.

The Mummy Demastered is a 16-bit styled run-and-gun with Metroidvania map design. It’s less ambitious than the top picks, but it delivers a tight six-to-eight hour loop with a permadeath twist where your next character has to recover the previous one’s gear.

#Pricing and Platform at a Glance

Most of these games are cross-platform. Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, and Ori and the Will of the Wisps all ship on PC, Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox. Bloodstained covers the same four plus cloud. Older titles like Super Metroid and Mega Man need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription or a Legacy Collection bundle to play legally.

For broader gift-list research across the Switch ecosystem, our best single-player Switch games post covers adjacent recommendations beyond the Metroidvania niche. If your taste leans more toward gothic atmosphere than platforming, our gothic games roundup pairs well with this list.

#Bottom Line

For the single closest thing to Symphony of the Night in 2026, buy Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night first. Igarashi’s fingerprints are on every menu and drop table. For a first Metroidvania, start with Hollow Knight at $14.99, then graduate to Dead Cells once the itch to push builds further kicks in. Skip Dark Souls and Chasm on your first pass unless you already love slow-burn combat or procedurally varied rooms.

#Frequently Asked Questions