LogFAQs > #979524271

Kenri posted...

Nah nobody calls Castlevania 1 or Metroid Prime Pinball a Metroidvania, so it's not anything related to those two series

Exceptions that prove the rule

Kenri posted...

But Aquaria and Hollow Knight don't fit either so there's clearly something else there.

But those 2 games are wildly different. The only similarity is they are action games where you can explore. Yet gamers HATE the term Exploration Action, even though it most precisely describes the similarities between all these vastly dissimilar games.

Hollow Knight is not actually "like" Metroid or SOTN or Souls. It takes elements from all of them, but each element is only a small part of the whole. And so Exploration Action is also just a small part of its whole, which is totally fine. It just means it's a pretty unique kind of game.

Gamers are obsessed with genres being concise and complete descriptions, but sometimes it just doesn't work. In that case you can use "___like" or "___ elements" and it's as close as you can get. Using a super specific and overloaded term like Metroidvania for some perceived convenience when it only matches like 1/3rd of the meaning is the most wrong option.